The Historic District

In my experience, houses are typically dry when the heat is running much, whether you have steam or hot water radiators. Have you measured the humidity in your house? I don't get static shocks but it's still quite dry (frequently ~30% humidity, even less in extremely cold weather). Artificial carpeting is often a source of static buildup. But wait . . . if you had radiant heat in the floors there was probably no carpet. So much for my theory. But I can't imagine steam heat doing much for humidity if it's working right. My parents put pans of water on the radiators in that house.

No I like my circulated hot water system best. There are no drafts from air movement so no dust blowing around, my system is very quiet & efficient. I have an indirect water heater which is a separate zone off the boiler; never a cold shower. Fortunately I live in South Central PA so I don't really need A/C either!

We have both forced air for heating and cooling, and hot water radiators. Don't replace your radiators.

I won't go into the back-story for how we ended up with both (Bought a house with freeze damage). But having both, I can say there is no comparison between forced air heating and hot water radiators - heating with hot water radiators is much, much, much nicer. It's a more even heat, it's more quiet, you will feel more comfortable.

Heating with hot water radiators is far superior to forced air. In fact, forced air with a furnace is the K-mart equivalent to home heating.

Most contractors who work with forced air are ill-informed to speak about hot water heating - they are two distinct skill-sets. Not all, but most. So if you are talking to contractors who specialize in duct-work mechanical heating and cooling, you should view their opinions about forced air heating vs. heating with hot water radiators with skepticism.