Q: What is the difference between a cool mist and warm mist humidifier?
A: Cool mist humidifiers generate a cool mist that makes the room temperature cool to feel. These are most popular as they are safe, effective, and are also baby-friendly.
Evaporative and ultrasonic humidifiers fall under this category. Warm mist humidifiers are most useful in cold weather, and they boil the water before releasing a warm mist into the room.
Q: What is the purpose of installing a humidifier in your home?
A: The entire purpose of installing a humidifier in a home is to combat low moisture content and dry air due to cold weather or dry areas. It helps in maintaining an optimal level of humidity, which can help prevent many health risks such as breathing issues, colds, flu, and asthma. It also prevents the structural damage that can happen to your furniture or other infrastructure due to low humidity.
Q: What is the ideal level of humidity one should maintain indoors?
A: For a healthy living, the ideal level of humidity should be anywhere around 30-50%. However, if it is below 30%, the low humidity results in health problems such as breathing issues, or colds, and flu. Too much humidity, on the other hand, can lead to the growth of molds and structural damage inside your house.
Q: What does a humidistat do?
A: A humidistat, sometimes referred to as hygrostat, is a device built directly into the humidifier. Its sole function is to monitor and maintain the relative humidity in the room on the set or preferred level. Other than reading the humidity level in the air like a hygrometer, it also helps maintain the optimal level of humidity in the house.
Q: Do humidifiers generate sound?
A: The sound produced varies from the humidifier to humidifier. Not all humidifiers produce a lot of noise. Evaporative humidifiers generate what you call white noise, which eventually disappears into the background noise. Warm mist humidifiers are a bit less noisy than cool mist humidifiers since they don’t use fans. Ultrasonic humidifiers, however, are not noisy at all.
Q: How often should the humidifiers be cleaned?
A: If your humidifier uses hard water, then it is recommended that you clean it up weekly. Make sure you change the water daily since standing water can make way for bacteria, mold, and fungi. Also, humidifiers usually come with a product manual that has specific instructions regarding how to clean and maintain your humidifier.
Q: Is the white dust on the surfaces due to the humidifier?
A: The white dust produced by the humidifier is due to the hard water. If your humidifier is using hard water into steam, its minerals settle on the surface as white dust. However, it is mostly harmless. If you do not wish for this to happen in the future, go for distilled or purified water.
Q: How often do I need to replace the filter?
A: For cool moisture humidifiers, on average, you should replace the filters once every 1-2 months. The frequency of replacement depends mostly on the usage and hardness of water that you use. Some humidifiers also come with an inbuilt indicator, which will indicate to you whenever there’s a need for change. Although warm mist humidifiers do not require a similar filter as in cool moisture humidifiers, they do need regular cleaning.
Q: Can I leave a humidifier overnight?
A: Leaving most humidifiers on for the whole night is not unsafe or risky in any way. These humidifiers can operate for 24 hours or 36 hours straight. All you need to take care of is the optimal humidity in your room environment if your unit does not have an inbuilt humidistat. If it has a humidistat, you do not have to worry at all. You can look for a humidifier with auto- shut off, and sleep mode for a restful sleep.
Q: Does a cool-mist humidifier help in cooling down the room too?
A: Yes, cool mist humidifiers can help cool down the temperature as well. However, the unit that you are using needs to be efficient enough and have a coverage capacity for your entire room.
Q: Is it safe to use essential oils in my humidifier?
A: No, the use of essential oils or scents of any sort is not at all ideal in a simple humidifier. You should not add anything like this to your humidifier, as it can cause damage to the unit. These ingredients can erode the surface, making the humidifier less durable. It can also result in unit malfunctioning. Adding essential oil directly to the water supply will affect the humidification process.
To enjoy essential oil therapy, you should get a unit that has an oil tray for this purpose.
Q: What type of water should I use for their humidifier?
A: The type of water to use for a humidifier varies based on the type of humidifier you use. Distilled water works best with all humidifiers, but that can mean spending a lot of money. Hard water works well with evaporative and steam models. As for ultrasonic humidifiers, you might need to clean or replace the cartridge a lot if you are using hard water.
Q: What is the difference between humidifier capacity and humidifier output?
A: Humidifier capacity is the maximum amount of water a humidifier can hold. It can vary anywhere between 0.5 to 6 gallons or more. Humidifier output, on the other hand, is the maximum amount of steam generated from the water per 24 hours. The output varies anywhere from 1 to 14 gallons or more per day. Generally, humidifiers tend to have more production, as compared to their capacity.
Q: What is the best place to put or install a humidifier?
A: Most smaller humidifiers work best in a single room space. However, there are whole-house humidifiers designed to maintain humidity in your entire home. For such humidifiers, you can follow the instructions on the product manual for installations. However, for smaller units such as evaporative humidifiers, you should place them 2-3 feet away from the wall, curtains, or furniture. An area where nobody will trip over it and kids can’t reach it is ideal.