Radiator heat vs. forced hot air?

[spaniel]

We are thinking of buying a house. I have some concerns regarding radiator heat in some o fht older homes (as opposed to forced hot air). I'm wondering if you guys have any opinion as to which is better for dry eye. I have actually had a great summer with CL wear on top of my transplants with the nice humidity and warmer weather. But plaese--- any opinions as to which type of "heat" dries out the eyes more??

[kitty]

As a radiator heats with moist heat and forced air does not, common sense tells me that radiator heat should be more dry eye friendly. Forced air means blowing air and that means dry eyes. My home has baseboard heat and even though there is no fan blowing the air, my air is still very dry when the heat is on. I use a humidifier during the winter months when it is not raining. In other words, you need to consider the outside climate and the indoor humidity levels in addition to the type of heat that you have.

[Guest]

My heating here in the UK is radiator heat, ie, there is a boiler on the wall that circulates hot water through all of the sealed radiator units. I could only imagine that forced air heat is actually very drying indeed.

I also put a container of water on top of each radiator (just to try and increase humidity - remember to change it regularly, don't want bacteria breeding) as well as having a humidifier (steam) in my bedroom.

Fortunately, we are having a mild season so far in the UK so haven't had the heating on a great deal yet - long may it continue.

Take care

Ian

[spaniel]

Hey thanks you guys. So it seems two votes for radiators over forced heat...
Any more opinions??

[Rebecca Petris]

Make it three. Dried-out warm air is bad enough, but moving air is worse.

[Silverlady]

Me too

Make it four. NOthing I hate worse than having to sit in a doctor's office with my eyes closed due to the air blowing in my face. Or having to close my eyes while I'm trying to watch some tv, because the heat just came on and the vent is blowing in my eyes. We have central heat and air and it's forced air. And the air in the winter always feels cold to me when it's blowing out, whereas you can back up to a radiator and feel the warmth. Also can sit a pan of water on it if necessary.
Billye

[Lucy]

Well, here in the "north" we are expecting snow tonight. So, as you can imagine our furnaces are running. It's ain't fun. I haven't even dug out the humidifier yet. It seems as though we had A/C on a week or two ago.

The absolute worst is being in the car! You must run the heat to defrost the windshield even if you don't mind freezing to death. Your eyes are toast immediately. So, for those of you thinking about "it," we are actually THERE.
Personally, I have forced air (of course). Our furnace is fairly new and was installed with a new A/C unit at the same time. I will not be changing heating styles anytime soon!

[spaniel]

Oh yes, indeedy-I do know about cold,living up north with the car heat. So you guys, if we buy a 100 year old house-i can then think of a radiator as sort of a "plus".!!!