Different Types of Air Humidifiers

Saturday, August 22nd, 2009 at 9:12 pm

airhumidifiersbuy Air humidifier is a home device that increases humidity in a single room, or in the entire home. If you want to humidify only your room, there are point-of-use humidifiers, whereas furnace humidifiers are connected to a home’s HVAC system in order to humidify the whole house.

There are various types of air humidifiers. However, the most universal one is an evaporative, or wick air humidifier consisting of several parts: reservoir, wick and fan.

Wick

The water in the reservoir is absorbed by a kind of filter called wick. Evaporation of water from the wick depends on relative humidity. It implies that a room with low humidity will have a higher evaporation rate than a room with high humidity. This type of the air humidifier regulates the humidity by itself, which implies that the amount of water vapor is logically reduced when the humidity of the room increases. Wick should be cleaned and replaced regularly. Otherwise, the air humidifier will stop humidifying the area and the water in the tank will stay at the same level.

Fan

The fan is connected to the wick and blows air onto it, helping the water inside evaporates.

Other types of air humidifiers

Other types of air humidifiers are: warm must humidifier, impeller or cool mist humidifier, ultrasonic humidifier, and a non-electrical humidifier. Although they function in different ways, the results are the same. Therefore, it is up to you to choose the one the one you will get the most benefit.

Warm Mist Humidifier is a kind of a humidifier that boils water which is turned into steam and released into the air. In comparison to cool mist air humidifiers, it is much better for your health to use warm mist humidifier as steam is sterile and minerals-free. Besides, more electricity is needed to boil the water.

With Impeller Humidifier or Cool Mist Humidifier the water is thrown by a rotating disc at a diffuser, making fine drops float into the air.
Ultrasonic Humidifier has a small metal diaphragm that vibrates at ultrasonic frequency. It generates small water droplets that leave the humidifier in the form of a cool fog. Ultrasonic air Humidifiers should be cleaned regularly to avoid the growth of bacteria which may be projected into the air.

A Non Electric Humidifier as the name suggests uses no electricity at all to power the unit.

Forced-Air Humidifiers

It is a good choice to set airhumidifier right into the furnace in a building which has a forced-air furnace. Also, they can be used in order to prevent wooden objects, antiques and other furnishings from damage which may appear due to the very dry air. When it is cold, they may help in saving substantial energy, which will enable people feel warmer as the humidity increases. However, you must not forget to put air humidifier out of work, if air conditioning is used, since air conditioners incompletely function by reducing indoor humidity.

Disadvantages of using air humidifier

When providing a humidifier to your home, you must be familiar with some disadvantages. It can cause reproduction of dust mites or the growth of harmful mold, which may be very risky especially for your children and elderly. An instrument called a humidstat can measure the relative humidity that should be kept between 30% and 50%. Nowadays, in order to get rid of mold and bacteria, a Microban technology has been developed.
On the other hand, it may happen that the tap water has lots of minerals, then the ultrasonic or impeller humidifiers will create a “white dust” (the most common mineral in tap water is calcium), which usually falls on furniture, and attract static electricity.

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