Humidifier Buying Guide

Cool Mist Humidifiers

If you live in a warm, dry climate you’ll want to look at cool mist humidifiers because in addition to adding moisture back to the air, they can also help cool a room. Although they’re more energy efficient than their warm mist cousins, they’re not as quick to raise humidity levels. Cool mist humidifiers come in three types: evaporative, impeller, and ultrasonic humidifiers and all but the evaporative humidifier can release minerals and/or bacteria into the air. If you have allergy sufferers in the house or know you won’t be diligent about frequent filter changes and/or using distilled or de-mineralized water, stick with an evaporative humidifier.

Evaporative humidifiers, sometimes called wick humidifiers, use fans to blow water through a wick filter, which traps mineral dust and bacteria. The filtered water evaporates, bringing moisture to the air. The amount of evaporation depends on the humidity of the room. In a low-humidity room, the evaporation will occur faster; in a high-humidity room, evaporation will occur relatively slowly. This makes wick or evaporative humidifiers self-regulating, meaning you don’t have to worry as much about the humidity level in a room becoming too high.

Impeller humidifiers use a fan without a filter, so the water is blown out along with the bacteria and minerals that are trapped by filters in the evaporative models. For this reason, evaporative or wick humidifiers are generally preferred over impeller humidifiers. If you don’t want to be bothered with the added cost or maintenance a filtered humidifier requires, an impeller might be right for you, but keep in mind that most experts agree that this inconvenience is outweighed by the bacteria-trapping benefits filter provide.

Lastly, you can choose an ultrasonic humidifier. In general, ultrasonic humidifiers are the quietest of the three cool mist humidifier types, making use of vibrations at ultrasonic frequencies to release very small droplets into the air in the form of cool mist. They share the dangers of impeller humidifiers or releasing bacteria and minerals into the air, but if noise reduction is an issue for you, it might be your best bet so long as you clean the unit often and use only distilled water when it runs.

Warm Mist Humidifiers

For colder climates where winter dryness is a concern, warm mist humidifiers (also known as steam humidifiers or vaporizers) are the best option to soothe skin and other irritations. Warm mist humidifiers boil water to eliminate bacteria and then release moisture directly into the air by way of steam and it’s the boiling process that makes them need more energy than cool mist humidifiers. If you or a member of your family suffers from frequent winter colds, coughs or croup, a warm mist humidifier allows you add medicated inhalant to the water to be released during the humidifying process.

Another benefit of warm mist humidifiers is the warmth of the mist may actually help heat the room and let you turn down the thermostat down a notch or two. If you’re worried that a warm mist humidifier presents a burn hazard when it’s in a child’s room, look for models that mix steam with cool air to minimize that risk. Some humidifiers also come with the ability to switch between warm mist and cool mist functionality, which, if you’re planning to use the humidifier year-round, is the best way to go.

Capacity and Humidity Levels

Humidifier capacity is measured in square feet and should be clearly listed on the box or in the user’s manual. How much capacity do you need? A general rule of thumb is that a portable or room humidifier is typically good for 400-600 sq ft; a console humidifier can be useful in an area around 1000 sq ft, such as an office or apartment; and a furnace or forced-air humidifier can provide enough moisture for an entire house. It all depends on where you want it and much humidity you need to achieve your desired comfort level.

A comfortable indoor humidity range is 30-50 percent. As the air temperature drops, it is necessary to lower the humidity level to prevent condensation from forming on windows and cool surfaces. If you don’t want to be bothered checking for that, some humidifiers feature humidistats, which can measure the humidity in the air and turn the humidifier off when the desired humidity level is reached.

Maintenance

If you purchase a humidifier that has a filter, be sure to factor in the cost of replacement filters, their availability and how easy they are to change. Failure to change often enough can result in bacterial growth, as well as releasing ‘white dust’ into the air which can become a health hazard and lead to breathing problems. You’ll also want your humidifier, if it’s a warm mist model, to be easy to fill, so if the one you’re interested in looks like it won’t fit under a faucet, be sure it includes a hose to make refills a snap. Keeping your humidifier clean is essential, not only to maintain air quality but to extend the life of the humidifier. If you have a dishwasher, choose a humidifier with a dishwasher-safe reservoir for the ultimate convenience.

Added Features

Like any appliance, you can purchase a basic model or one with added features. Humidifiers are no different. If you want set it and forget it, choose a humidifier with a humidistat, which measures the humidity in the air of the room and allows you to set a desired humidity level that the humidifier will maintain. Auto-shutoff functions are useful to turn the humidifier off when the desired level of humidity has been reached, and for when the water reservoir runs dry–in fact, if you’re purchasing a warm mist humidifier it must feature an auto-shutoff when the reservoir is empty to prevent fire hazards. For allergy sufferers or if anytime health matters are a concern, you’ll want to focus on high-end humidifiers which feature air filtration systems. These filtration systems not only filter the water before releasing it into the air, but also help to clean the air itself, by removing pet hair, pollen, and other allergens.

Need to know more?

• How Humidifiers Work
  http://home.howstuffworks.com/humidifier.htm
• Humidifiers: Choosing the Best Humidifier for You
  http://www.allergybuyersclub.com/humidifiers-cool-mist-warm-review.html
• Use and Care of Home Humidifiers
  http://www.allergyconsumerreview.com/home-humidifiers-care.html