Do We Really Need Humidifiers?

Tuesday, December 8th, 2009 at 12:13 pm

theairhumidifiers During cold winter months, air gets drier causing a variety of cold and allergy symptoms. Besides, dry air can harm wood furniture and paint. Because of that you are advised to use a device which will bring the humidity in your house to the optimal level- a cool mist humidifier. And not just that; it will reduce static electricity in the home. Cool mist humidifiers, are also known as evaporative air humidifiers. They function by using a fan to blow water through a wick filter. After that the cool mist of water is evaporated into the air. On the other hand, there are warm mist humidifiers. In comparison with cool mist humidifiers they heat water before sending it into the air and they generally make less noise. However, you should be very careful when you use them as you might get easily burnt due to the heat. Furthermore, they use more electricity because they heat water. Since their heating mechanism kills bacteria, they don’t need a filter. Cool mist humidifiers are perfect for people who live in warmer areas because they cool the air.

Air humidifiers can appear in various forms, and they mostly differ in size. For example, tabletop humidifiers, or room humidifiers, are made to be used in one room only since they are of small in size. On the other hand, you can get console models which are larger units and are designed to control the humidity of multiple rooms. However, before you buy a console humidifier, check how much of the area it can cover and then decide whether it will fit your room. All console humidifiers use cool mist. Next, there are furnace humidifiers which are a little bit expensive, but, as the name suggests, they are professionally installed in the furnace ducts and are used to treat the whole house. Although they are more expensive initially, furnace humidifiers require less maintenance and are less expensive to operate annually.

Make sure to clean and disinfect a humidifier frequently. Follow the manufacturer instructions on how to clean the filter and change it from time to time. Otherwise, mold, mildew and bacteria might grow. The humidity level, which is optimal for your household should be between 30 and 50 percent.

Also, when you decide to purchase air humidifier, don’t forget to take another thing in consideration- a humidistat. As it was mentioned before, a low humidity can cause dry nasal passages, and high humidity can cause the growth of bacteria and mold. By providing a humidistat you will not have these problems anymore, as it controls the humidity level and keeps it within an adequate range. What’s more, in your local hardware shops, you can find an instrument called a hygrometer that measures the amount of humidity in your home.

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