10 Common Humidifiers and What They Do

Getting Started with Humidifiers

There are many health and property benefits that humidifiers can offer homeowners. A good humidifier can help relieve sore throats, cracked skin and itchy eyes. As well as offering these health benefits, adding a humidifier to the home can also reduce cracks in furniture and paint. A humidifier can also reduce the amount of static electricity in the air. Winter is when the majority of humidifiers are purchased. The dry skin and sore throats of the season drive people around the country to buy more than 10 million humidifiers a year. A home should have a humidity level between 30 to 50 percent, but this level can often drop below 10 percent when homes are sealed off from outside air and running the furnace all winter. A good humidifier can get the humidity level in a home back to the ideal range, but shoppers have to be wary about which models they buy. It is important to buy humidifiers that offer functionality rather than style. Some models are expensive due to the way they look, but they will do little to add humidity to the air. Also, don’t make the assumption that an expensive model is better. Some of the more economically priced models will outperform their more expensive counterparts.

Types of Humidifiers

When shopping for the perfect humidifier for your home, the first thing you must understand is that there are three different types of humidifiers available.  These three types of humidifiers are tabletop, console and in-duct. Here is a look at the advantages and disadvantages of each type.

Tabletop Humidifiers

These are small, portable types of humidifiers that are the perfect size for humidifying a single room. Tabletop models are generally the cheapest option when it comes to buying humidifiers. Their portability is a point in their favor, but their ability to humidify only small areas is a mark against them. Their small reservoirs are also a bit of a hassle because they need to be refilled often.

Console Humidifiers

A console humidifier will be larger than a tabletop humidifier, but they are still designed to be portable. They are usually set on wheels that make them easy to move from one room to another. Console humidifiers are large enough to humidify a couple of rooms, but they cannot humidify an entire house. They have larger reservoirs that do not have to be refilled frequently.

In-Duct Humidifiers

These are the best option if you want to humidify a whole house as efficiently as possible. They are especially useful in homes that are located in areas with long winters where the furnace is on for months at a time. An in-air humidifier is placed within the home’s HVAC system, and this allows it to instantly humidify the dry, heated air that comes out of the furnace. These are the most expensive types of humidifiers to purchase, but they are the least expensive to run. They are also convenient because they are hooked into the home’s plumbing system, which means that there is no need to refill a reservoir in an in-duct humidifier.

Features

Here is a range of features that shoppers can look for when they are buying humidifiers:

• Humidistat. This feature monitors the level of humidity in the air, allowing the humidifier to shut off when the humidity level is ideal. This saves energy and keeps a home from becoming too humid.
• Quiet. An ultrasonic humidifier uses a vibrating nebulizer to disperse the humid air it generates, which makes it much quieter than models that use fans.
• Timer. A model with a timer will allow users to run their humidifiers to keep their homes humidified on a set schedule. This saves energy and allows you to keep the unit off when no one is at home. If you do use a unit with a timer, make sure that the humidifier runs for a few minutes every few hours. Water that sits stagnant in a reservoir for hours at a time can breed harmful microorganisms.

Brands

There are several brands of humidifiers for shoppers to choose from. Crane makes quality humidifiers that come in a wide range of stylish choices. Essick is a well-respected humidifier manufacturer that specializes in making console and in-duct humidifiers. Holmes is a top-selling brand that makes utilitarian models of humidifiers that do a good job but don’t look particularly stylish. Honeywell sells a wide range of good-quality tabletop and console humidifiers at mass-market retailers. Hunter sells plain-looking humidifiers that are solidly built.