Humidifiers

A humidifier is useful all year to add moisture to the air, helping prevent everything from allergies to dry skin, snoring, and even furniture damage.

What is a humidifier and how does a humidifier work?

A humidifier is a small appliance designed to add moisture to alleviate dry air in the home. The purpose is to prevent irritation that dry air can cause, including exacerbating allergies and asthma, congestion, dry mouth, nose bleeds, dry skin, and even snoring. Humidifiers work by releasing cool or warm air into the room, adding humidity so it doesn't remain too dry.

Humidifiers are especially useful for those who suffer from seasonal allergies, or for use in homes with babies, young children, or elderly persons who might find difficult sleeping in especially dry environments, which can lead to stuffy noises and coughing.

Humidifiers can also help prolong the life of wood furniture, preventing damage caused by too much dry air, like shrinking, splitting, and cracking. They can also provide optimal conditions to encourage house plants to grow.

Which humidifier is best?

The first thing you’ll notice when shopping for a humidifier is that there are several different types, and they mainly fall into three categories.

Cool mist humidifiers are a type of humidifier that will release a cool stream of air or mist into your room’s air. This type of humidifier will create mist by evaporating water or using a type of diffuser to create water vapor. They are a great choice for warm summer months when the room is already warm, and you can use them to increase humidity to help with dry skin, dry throat, or general congestion caused by seasonal or other allergies. An air humidifier is an example of a cool mist humidifier. When shopping for a cool mist humidifier you’ll find a popular choice is the Dyson humidifier.

Warm mist humidifiers will send out a stream of warm mist or steam. This type of humidifier will boil water inside the appliance to release steam, and it will be very helpful during cold winters because they add humidity to dry air caused by furnaces or other types of heating. Adding warm moisture to the room helps with seasonal colds or flu and can also alleviate allergies and respiratory issues like asthma. When shopping for a warm mist humidifier you may want to look at Honeywell humidifiers. They offer both warm mist models as well as cool mist models.

Ultrasonic humidifiers are a type of humidifier that use ultrasonic vibrations to disperse water droplets into your air. You can find ultrasonic humidifiers that emit a warm mist as well as cool mist ultrasonic humidifiers. They are a good choice if you’d like to move your humidifier from room to room as they can add refreshing dose of mist to spaces of all sizes, and they can help in the summer or winter when you have breathing issues or congestion.

When should you use a humidifier?

When to use a humidifier? A humidifier can be handy all year 'round. In the summer months, air conditioning (AC) running on high can cause the air to become dry, especially if there's high humidity outside. In this such climate, a humidifier can help.

In the spring and summer months, a humidifier can also help alleviate sinus issues due to high levels of pollen and mold.

You'll likely, however, find the greatest humidifier benefits in the winter when the furnace is cranked to heat the home, thus pulling a lot of moisture from the air. Using a humidifier, in fact, might even help add warmth to the home so you can turn down the furnace and save on electricity and utility bills.