By now, most people understand the benefits of having a humidifier in their home. Humidifiers can make a huge difference in terms of respiratory health, healthy skin, overall comfort, preventing wooden furniture and fixtures from becoming brittle and cracking, improving air quality in the home and many other considerations. Nevertheless, the humidifier you choose will have a huge impact on the quality of air in your home. Cheaply built humidifiers won’t last or do an adequate job of humidifying the air. The more expensive humidifiers may not do an adequate job if you do not choose the right one for your environment, either. The marketing materials for these devices may or may not accurately describe a unit’s ability to humidify the air. So how do you choose a humidifier for your environment? Consider the factors listed below and ask yourself a series of questions.
What type of heating and cooling system do you have in your home? This question is a logical place to begin, as the answer to this question will have a big impact on the effectiveness of the humidifier. If your home has a forced air furnace, you may find that a central evaporative humidifier built into the furnace’s main vent would be the way to go. These humidifiers have an automatic water feed and are especially efficient as they deliver moister air throughout the house. The cost is a bit more upfront for the unit and installation, but generally cost less to operate and require much less maintenance. If your home is heated and cooled other ways, a centrally located console-type humidifier or portable humidifier will probably be the best way to humidify your home.
Next, consider the size of your home or the room(s) that you wish to humidify. For a house with four or five rooms, choose a humidifier that can output between two and three gallons a day and is easy to fill. Generally, rooms under 120 square feet in size require a humidifier with a reservoir of 2.5 gallons or slightly less. Rooms between 120 and 400 square feet will need a three- to four-gallon humidifier. For rooms over 400 square feet or open areas with no doors or hallways, choose a humidifier with a reservoir that can hold four or more gallons of water.
Does your home have a water softener to condition hard water? If so, any humidifier you choose will require less maintenance. If your water is hard, look for a humidifier that will be easy to clean as harder water contains more minerals, and scale will build up more quickly and impair the performance of your unit. Hard water or soft, plan on conducting routine maintenance at least once every three days to keep your humidifier operating properly. Remember that the more you procrastinate cleaning, the more time and effort it will take to keep your humidifier clean. Follow the cleaning instructions that came with the humidifier.
Next, consider the monthly and long-term costs of operation and any health-related considerations specific to you and your family. There are two main types of humidifiers-cool mist humidifiers and warm mist humidifiers. Warm mist humidifiers heat the water and vaporize it to humidify a room. They tend to use more electricity and are more expensive to buy, but do not disperse minerals into the air as some cold mist humidifiers do and heating the water kills many pathogens that cause illnesses. Central evaporative humidifiers are usually the least expensive to operate.
Cool mist humidifiers humidify the air via evaporation, an impeller that disperses water into fine droplets, or an ultrasonic diaphragm that produces vibrations to disperse water instead of a fan. Evaporative humidifiers use a fan to disperse water stored in a filter or wick of some kind and, depending on the make and model, can produce the most mist of any other type of humidifier. If you go this route, make sure to buy an evaporative humidifier with an antibacterial wick and housing. If noise is a consideration, ultrasonic humidifiers are usually the quietest during operation.
No matter which humidifier you choose for your home, make sure that it has adjustable fan speeds and a humidistat that will automatically shut it off when your desired level of humidity is attained. When setting the humidity level, shoot for at least 30 percent humidity in your home and a setting between 40 and 50 percent is usually ideal. Place your humidifier at least six inches from an inside wall, and if you’re trying to humidify most of the house rather than one bedroom, put it centrally on the first floor as the warm moist air will rise to the second floor. Watch for condensation on the windows in the colder months. If you find it, lower your humidistat a bit to prevent the growth of mold and mildew.
When choosing a humidifier for your home, it’s best to take a long-term approach and not buy the most inexpensive humidifier even if it is only for one room. If you’re willing to pay a little more for a good one and maintain it according to the instructions, you and your family will enjoy many years of healthier, humidified air in your home, save money in the long run and reap all the other benefits of moister air year after year.
William Lea, President of FiltersUSA.com, sells the best Honeywell Humidifiers available on the market today on his company’s website. Furnace humidifiers can make a huge difference in the air quality in a home in the winter months and prevent many respiratory ailments.