SIOUX CITY -- Curt McNaughton remembers years ago when his mother placed a pot of water on the stove in the dead of winter. She'd boil it just to release steam and get moisture moving throughout their farmhouse.

"People used to expect dry conditions in he winter," says McNaughton, branch manager for Dennis Supply, a wholesaler for local contractors.

Mom doesn't need to get to the boiling point any longer -- not since furnace humidifiers have burst upon the scene. These gadgets, some of which attach to the top of furnace, take water from the furnace as it circulates air through the house. A trickle of water rides with the air to all corners of the home.

"You get equal humidification throughout the house," says McNaughton. "It ends up giving you that uniform comfort we've come to expect."

No longer is the top story of a three-story home the place to avoid. Gone are kitchen windows steamed to a fog because the boiling pot is working overtime.

Gone are sky-high heating bills, cracked hands and chapped lips.

There are more than 100 furnace humidifiers on the market. McNaughton's firm seems to favor Aprilaire units, a name that suggests the introduction of moisture into the air.

"I have one in my furnace," he says. "I had it installed when I built the house. It allows me to set my thermostat two to three degree cooler than I would if I didn't have one."

McNaughton sets his thermostat at 67 degrees and saves some money throughout the five-plus months his furnace churns out the heat.

"If your house has adequate moisture you don't need to keep the temperature up as much," he says. "The other benefit is that it aids in preventing dry skin."

Other homeowners with maladies like nose bleeds and respiratory issues can be aided with something as simple as a $100 furnace humidifier. Most units come with a humidistat that measures the moisture present in the house. A normal range is generally anywhere from 30 to 50 percent and many have automatic controls that take homeowner monitoring out of the equation.

"Modern units now can also measure the outside temperature and will adjust the humidity level," McNaughton says. "And they'll shut off automatically when they get to a pre-set level."

Keeping the home from drying out each winter also saves on construction and replacement costs. Wood furniture, for example, lasts longer and serves its home better when there is adequate humidity in the house. Beyond furniture, wood flooring can dry in an arid Siouxland winter. Joints can separate as wood contracts and expands.

"Just about any new furnace in the past 15 years has had a humidifier installed," McNaughton says. "With tighter houses being built and more energy-efficient furnaces around there's an expectation of comfort throughout the house. People have come to expect it in every room."

If you don't have a furnace humidifier or need more information, contact your local heating contract.

"In 95 percent of the houses out there," McNaughton says, "they can add on a central humidifier to the furnace."

The boiling water can then be used for cooking.