THE PATHFINDER TO YOUR AIR HUMIDIFIER
The most important things to know
to choose meaningfully.
DESCRIPTION
Air humidifiers are devices that release water into an indoor environment to increase the humidity of the air.
The humidity level of an indoor space should ideally be kept between 30% and 50%. A dry environment, especially typical in wintertime when heaters remove the humidity from the air, can lead to several problems for the health such as dry skin, cracked lips, dry eyes, irritated throats or aggravated respiratory issues. It can also impact your home, for instance, damaging your wood furnishings or peeling off the wallpaper. On the other hand, an over the humidified environment can increase the presence of air pollutants such as bacteria, dust and mould that grow asthma triggers and allergy symptoms.
Having an air humidifier that activates automatically when a certain level of humidity is reached or at a specific time during the day can help you prevent or remedy some health problems.
BENEFITS
Time saved thanks to scheduled turn on and off of the air humidifier.
Quality of life improved thanks to a properly humidified air.
Peace of mind increased thanks to direct access to humidity readings.
No direct impact on home costs.
TYPES
There are three main types of air humidifiers:
They require a forced-air heating system and are directly connected to the home's water supply. They are the most suitable solution in case you need to humidify the whole house. They should be operated through a humidistat that automatically turns on and off the humidifier when predefined humidity levels are reached. Within this type of air humidifiers, we can distinguish between:
- Drum humidifiers: these include a small water tank and a rotating belt. When humidity level drops, they use the furnace blower to evaporate the water that passes over the rotating belt and to disperse it through the house's supply ducts. It is essential to clean the water tank recurrently to prevent mould formation.
- Flow-through humidifiers: in this case, it is used as a foam or aluminium pad. When the humidity level drops, water from the water supply soaks the pad, and the warm air from the furnace evaporates and disperses it through the house's supply ducts. There is no water tank, for which mould formation is avoided and maintenance time decreased -the filter pad needs to be changed periodically. Additionally, a drain to collect the excess of water flowing through the humidifier will be required.
- Steam humidifiers: these use electric probes to evaporate water and disperse the steam through house's supply ducts. Mould formation is not an issue. They might be the most expensive to install and operate, but at the same time, the most effective solution.
These use a heating element to evaporate the water and disperse the resulting warm mist. They can raise indoor temperatures, which might be something helpful in winter but not so much in summer or if you live in a sunny location. They are suitable for small areas like bedrooms. Although they may require more electricity than other types of humidifiers, during the boiling process, they eliminate potential bacterias, and as a result, the steam dispersed can be healthier. Some warm mist humidifiers come with filters to trap particles that need to be replaced recurrently. In general, warm mist humidifiers are quieter than cool mist humidifiers because they do not come with a fan. Common types of warm mist humidifiers are:
- Ultrasonic warm mist humidifiers: these use a vibrating technology that breaks heated water into smaller particles resulting in a warm mist.
- Vaporizer warm mist humidifiers: these involve a heating element in the water tank. Water produces steam that is slightly cooled before being dispersed as a warm mist into the air.
These disperse an ambient-temperature mist, and as a consequence, the electricity consumption may be lower than in warm mist humidifiers. As well, they are suitable for larger areas than warm mist humidifiers. Common types of cool mist humidifiers are:
- Ultrasonic cool mist humidifiers: these use a vibrating technology that breaks water into smaller particles resulting in a cool mist. These type of humidifiers do not use filters. To prevent the creation of white dust, it is advised to use distilled water and, as with the rest of humidifiers, to clean the water tank recurrently. Ultrasonic cool mist humidifiers usually are very quiet.
- Evaporative cool mist humidifiers: these use a fan and a wick filter. The water flows from the small water tank to the wick filter where the fan blows it. As a result, part of the water is transformed into a cool mist. Depending on the model, the price of the wick filters varies.
- Impeller cool mist humidifiers: in this case water together with rotating discs retain dust and other large pollutants returning clean humidified air to the room. This type of humidifier can typically cover a larger area compared to other types of humidifiers, but it also requires regular rinse.
VARIABLES
Before selecting a humidifier for your home, there are some aspects that you may want to consider:
While furnace humidifiers are the advised way to go to humidify a whole house, can consider both warm and cool mist humidifiers as a valid solution to humidify homerooms. Although generally, cool mist humidifiers will provide better results in terms of energy consumption and area covered going through the rest of the decision variables below and adding the price dimension will help you make a final decision.
Ultrasonic, vaporizer, evaporative or impeller are the different techniques used by humidifiers with varying impacts on maintenance and energy costs.
Make sure that the air humidifier is suitable for the space that you intend to humidify. Selecting a humidifier with higher coverage area than required can create moisture and therefore become detrimental for your home.
Selecting a quiet air humidifier is essential, especially if you want to place it in your bedroom and plan to keep it running during the early stage of your sleep.
In case you want to have the accountability of selecting among different speed settings, look for this feature in your air humidifier. It can be useful to achieve a specific humidity level in a short time or, when combined with essential oils, to reach a higher smell intensity.
Some air humidifiers integrate humidity, temperature and water level sensors that provide added functionalities to the user. Some of these are the capacity of predefining a humidity level for your room so that the device can activate itself when the value is below the predefined one or the possibility of receiving notifications when the water tank needs to be refilled.
Depending on the area that you need to cover, you may prefer an air humidifier with a higher water tank. This feature will increase its' maximum running time decreasing as a consequence the number of refills. Capacities range from 100ml to more than 5 litres. Make sure that the tank will fit under you water tap.
Water tank capacity and operating speeds are variables that influence the maximum running time supported by an air humidifier. Think about the use that you are going to do of it and select a device that can meet those values.
Some air humidifiers have the possibility of activating themselves automatically when the humidity level of the environment is below the predefined value by the user.
This feature refers to the possibility of creating schedules for air humidifier. It can be useful if you want that it activates automatically every day at a specific time of the day, like before going to bed or just before you arrive home.
Some air humidifiers integrate additional features that convert them into excellent oil diffusers, cooling fans or ambient lights.