Need a Humidifier?
A humidifyer is good to have around during the dry winter months, especially during resting hours. It’ll keep the nasal passages nicely moisturized so you don’t wake up with respiratory ailments. I was searching for a new one after last year’s gift broke. The ultrasonics never seem very reliable, usually breaking down after one season. And with the evaporative units, you can’t ever find a place to get new wicks.
Basically, there are two methods for getting moisture into the air — through evaporation or forcibly breaking the water molecules into such small particles that they become water vapor, e.g. an ultrasonic humidifier. The evaporative is usually a wicking element with a built-in fan. However there’s a new type being manufactured called air washers, which are similar, but they use a cylindrical plastic element that has a grid, kind of like some types of plastic colanders and rotates in a pool of water. They claim this washes the air and also regulates the air humidity without over saturation since it’s based on evaporation.
I decided to go with another ultrasonic unit since the air washer was too expensive (>$200USD). A very nice review was found on the net comparing two mid-level units. I ended getting the Venta since it was 35% cheaper than the Air-O-Swiss and was available locally at Bed Bath and Beyond. It also has a built-in water filter to minimize white dust, which is a common trait of all ultrasonic units since they basically vaporize all the elements still dissolved in your water including the minerals, which are the source of the white dust. Plus the filter is significantly cheaper than in the Air-O-Swiss units. So far I think it’s helping a bit, but nowhere near their claim of 0% dust. The warming feature is a bonus since it’ll keep the temperature from dropping too much in the room. I find that keeping the setting between 30-35% RH is a good idea. Like the review says, the built-in hygrometer under-reports the humidity level. I ended up with a digital hygrometer as well to monitor the unit. All in all seems like a good buy, so far. We’ll see if it can last into next winter…
Edit: After doing a little more research, it looks like the EPA has a write-up on humidifiers as well. I’ve been wanting to try distilled water to see if that works better.