One of the biggest benefits of having a humidifier in your home is lower energy bills. Because lower humidity makes you feel colder, you may find yourself running the heat more often. By raising your relative humidity just a little, you can make your current temperature feel warmer and lower your energy consumption.
Having a humidifier can also help make it easier to maintain hardwood floors. Keeping the boards properly moisturized can help prevent damage and lessen the need for chemical conditioners.
Humidifier anatomy differs greatly from type to type, but they do all have a few features in common. First, they will all feature some sort of water reservoir or basin, usually located on the bottom of the device.
This is the source from which your humidifier will pull the moisture that it will then disperse into your home. A humidifier will also often include some sort of fan or steam jet. This helps to disperse the moisture being created into your home faster, ensuring that your home stays at the proper humidity levels. And many models have an ultraviolet light that shines on the water as it passes through the humidifier to kill any bacteria. Humidifiers come in a variety of different sizes depending on where and how they are to be used.
The smallest humidifiers are travel-sized, small enough to fit into a carry-on bag. These are a good option if you plan to travel someplace with extremely low humidity or if you have sensitive skin. The next size up in humidifiers are the ones equipped to handle one room. These are the most common, and you may have a few of them placed in high-traffic areas of your house.
And then the largest humidifiers, whole-house models, hook directly into your HVAC system for consistent comfort throughout your home. One of the simplest models of humidifiers is the evaporative humidifier. Rather than using heat or some other vaporization measure, these rely simply on the science of evaporation. A bowl of water set on the counter might work the same way as these humidifiers, albeit less efficiently.
An evaporation humidifier includes a wicking filter and a fan to better disperse humidity out into the environment. These humidifiers are self-regulating, meaning they will manage on their own how much moisture they put into your house.
When humidity starts to reach a certain level, less moisture will evaporate out into the air, keeping things at an equilibrium. A steam humidifier is a type of warm humidifier. As the name might suggest, this device boils water and then releases the steam out into your room. This has the same effect as when you take a hot shower with the bathroom door closed. Steam humidifiers are some of the simplest models and so tend to be the most affordable. You can also add medicated inhalants or essential oils to these humidifiers for a more therapeutic experience.
An impeller uses a fan and speed to break up water into droplets rather than using heat to convert it into steam In these humidifiers, a rotating disk flings water at a comb-like diffuser.
This diffuser breaks the water into a fine mist that can float out into the air as a cool fog. Impellers are usually an affordable model of humidifier since they use a fairly simple mechanism.
Instead, Hill recommends using regular soap and water and scrubbing every wet surface before rinsing clean with water. A telltale sign you have a problem is if you see white dust around the humidifier. There are a few features to look out for: We recommend looking for top-fill reservoirs because they are easier to fill and seem to have fewer leak issues than tanks with caps on the bottom, which tend to drip on the walk back to the humidifier base.
Generally speaking, top-fill tanks also have larger openings, making them easier to clean. The components under the reservoir, however, are always going to be a cleaning challenge. This humidifier can switch between hot and cool mist.
It also has a six-liter tank and a wide opening for cleaning. A cute design and built-in night-light make this humidifier perfect for nurseries. The Strategist is designed to surface the most useful, expert recommendations for things to buy across the vast e-commerce landscape. Some of our latest conquests include the best acne treatments , rolling luggage , pillows for side sleepers , natural anxiety remedies , and bath towels.
We update links when possible, but note that deals can expire and all prices are subject to change. Account Profile. Wirecutter even skipped impeller models entirely from their recommendations, as other types of humidifiers are far superior. Steam humidifiers sometimes called steam vaporizers or warm-mist humidifiers take advantage of a heating element that boils water, much like how a coffee maker heats up water before brewing coffee.
The steam created is slowly released into the air, increasing humidity. These are usually targeted toward those with cold or flu symptoms, as the warm moisture is great at relieving a stuffy nose and sore throat. While all of these types of humidifiers work in different ways, they do have some things in common. Mainly, they all have a gravity-fed water reservoir that holds around a gallon or so sometimes more, sometimes less.
Secondly, some but not all humidifiers have an ultraviolet light on the inside that shines on the water as it passes through to kill bacteria. Many humidifiers will also have filters to trap mineral deposits and sediment in the water before it makes it way through the humidifying process. The wick filter in an evaporative humidifier serves this purpose, whereas other types of humidifiers have a dedicated filter. If you are standing in the middle of a desert that has not seen rainfall for two months, or if you are breathing air out of a SCUBA tank , then you are experiencing low humidity.
Air contains a certain amount of water vapor. The amount of water vapor any mass of air can contain depends on the temperature of that air: The warmer the air is, the more water it can hold. A low relative humidity means that the air is dry and could hold a lot more moisture at that temperature. For example, at 20 degrees C 68 degrees F , a cubic meter of air can hold a maximum of 18 grams of water. At 25 degrees C 77 degrees F , it can hold 22 grams of water. If the temperature is 25 degrees C and a cubic meter of air contains 22 grams of water, then the relative humidity is percent.
If it contains 11 grams of water, the relative humidity is 50 percent. If it contains zero grams of water, relative humidity is zero percent. The relative humidity plays a large role in determining our comfort level. If the relative humidity is percent, it means that water will not evaporate -- the air is already saturated with moisture.
Our bodies rely on the evaporation of moisture from our skin for cooling. The lower the relative humidity, the easier it is for moisture to evaporate from our skin and the cooler we feel. You may have heard of the heat index. The chart below lists how hot a given temperature will feel to us in various relative-humidity levels.
If the relative humidity is percent, we feel much hotter than the actual temperature indicates because our sweat does not evaporate at all. If the relative humidity is low, we feel cooler than the actual temperature because our sweat evaporates easily; we can also feel extremely dry.
Since it costs a lot less to humidify the air than to heat it, a humidifier can save you a lot of money! For best indoor comfort and health, a relative humidity of about 45 percent is ideal. At temperatures typically found indoors, this humidity level makes the air feels approximately what the temperature indicates, and your skin and lungs do not dry out and become irritated.
Most buildings cannot maintain this level of humidity without help. In the winter, relative humidity is often much lower than 45 percent, and in the summer it is sometimes higher. Let's see why this is. Here's what happens in winter to make it feel so dry in our houses. Let's say that the outdoor temperature is 0 degrees C, or 32 degrees F.
The maximum amount of water that a cubic meter of air can hold at this temperature is 5 grams. Now you bring this cubic meter of air inside and heat it to 25 degrees C or 77 degrees F. The relative humidity is only 23 percent:.
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