Lately a mysterious button has started to pop up on a variety of different appliances. The “ION” button has made its way onto air conditioners, tower fans, and dehumidifiers.
Another appliance that has gotten the Ion treatment is the Humidifier.
What is a Humidifier Ionizer?
An Humidifier Ionizer or sometimes called “Anion” humidifier is a humidifier that disperses negative ions and also disperses moisture. Essentially it is a combination appliance that incorporates a humidifier and a ionic air purifier.
An article in the US National Library of Medicine states that when:
Based on the “Lenard effect”, water shearing appliance has been designed to generate NAIs. Water shearing produced only superoxide ions (O2−) which was bound to clusters of water molecules to form the structure O2−(H2O)n , and was essentially regarded as a natural source of NAIs. NAIs generated by the “Lenard effect” might improve erythrocyte deformability, thereby aerobic metabolism.
Also “The ionizer had the ability to kill the bacteria, and ion capture dramatically reduced its bactericidal effect”
In Layman’s terms:
Negative Ions can help reduce airborne bacteria
What does an ion humidifier do?
An ionizer on a humidifier serves two purposes.
- Clean the surrounding air as the humidifier adds moisture to the air.
- Reduce the level of mold and bacteria associated with humidifiers.
Humidifiers are notorious for the amount of cleaning and maintenance they need to ensure that they do not become a breeding ground for mold and other organisms.
Adding an ionizer function to a humidifier can reduce and even destroy much of the contamination related to this issue.
An article in the US National Library of Medicine states that when:
Based on the “Lenard effect”, water shearing appliance has been designed to generate NAIs. Water shearing produced only superoxide ions (O2−) which was bound to clusters of water molecules to form the structure O2−(H2O)n , and was essentially regarded as a natural source of NAIs. NAIs generated by the “Lenard effect” might improve erythrocyte deformability, thereby aerobic metabolism.
Also “The ionizer had the ability to kill the bacteria, and ion capture dramatically reduced its bactericidal effect”
In Layman’s terms:
Negative Ions can help reduce airborne bacteria.
Anion humidifier benefits
1.Cleaner air2.Comfortable humidity levels3.Less chance of the humidifier to become a germ farm4.Negative ions make the atmosphere feel lighter
Humidifier vs. Ionizer
The purpose of a humidifier is to add moisture to a room. Low humidity is usually associated with winter because the climate is typically more dry during those months.
It’s not only the climate dictating the humidity in the winter, it’s also the fact that the house is usually closed up with the furnace running non stop and drying out the air.
And having the house closed up in the winter introduces more problems than one.
Not only does the air become very dry and miserable especially when you have a cold, the air quality begins to become very unhealthy to.
The first place people start with to solve the problem is buying a humidifier.
A humidifier is a must in the winter. Keeping a cool mist humidifier near your bed in the winter can be the difference between getting a good night’s rest or not.
But a humidifier does not solve the problem oh the recirculated air quality in your home becoming a breeding ground of germs on its own.
And compounding the issue is the fact that the humidifier must be cleaned often to keep it from becoming a mold distribution machine all on its own.
When a humidifier gets dirty with mold and other organisms then turned on, it disperses mold spores and bacteria into the air and is able to travel further because it is contained in humidity droplets that act like small vehicles for the germs.
An ionizer is a machine that cleans the air by emitting ions. this works because ions have both negative and positive polarities.
When the ions are dispersed from the ionizer they snap together and trap anything in their way inside of the new bond.
As the new bonds clump together, they become too heavy to float and fallout of the ambient air. (The air you breathe)
Can you use an air purifier and humidifier together?
Absolutely, and you should. Indoor air pollution and dry air are both associated with keeping a house closed up with the heater running.
When the furnace is running non-stop it dries out the air which dictates the need of a humidifier.
Keeping the doors and windows shut to keep the furnace doing its job means that the indoor air quality is suffering.
The air in your house must be kept clean as much as the relative humidity kept in the 30 to 50% range.3 ways a humidifier actually performed as a air purifier
3 Ways a Humidifier can Clean Air
A Humidifier actually effects the air in more ways than just adding moisture. Humidifiers can actually have a cleaning effect on the air as well as adding humidity.
- Dust. When the air is dry, dust control can be much more problematic. By adding humidity to the air in a room through the use of a humidifier, the moisture emitting from the humidifier will moisten the dust in the air and cause it to fall to the surface. Similar to a rainstorm that can leave the air feeling fresh after washing the air, a humidifier can have the same effect, especially in the vicinity of the device
- Viruses and bacteria. Though much is said about how humidifiers can be the source of germs when they are not properly maintained, very little as mentioned about how adding humidity to the air can cause bacteria to be encapsulated inside of humidity droplets and become too heavy to float, thereby removing the bacteria from the ambient air that you breathe.
- The Lenard Effect. Water can actually be a source of negative ions. The Lenard effect is the discovery of the formation of negative ions through shearing water. Though the amount of negative ions created in a humidifier maybe miniscule, the potential for the creation of ions in a humidifier is still there.
Recap
Have you wondered what the ion button on a humidifier is?
Some humidifiers incorporate a ionizer along with their moisturizing function.
Ionizers disperse ions into the air the make the contaminants in the air too heavy to float so that they fall out of the air you breathe.
An Anion or Ion humidifier adds moisture to the air and gives you the option of adding ions to the air as it is doing so.
Do they work?
A ionizer humidifier is a good ideal because both a humidifier in an ionizer are useful when the house is shut up for the winter.
Both a humidifier and a ionizer fan work best in a relatively small space. So that is another area that they seem to be congruent in.
Both humidifier and ionizers utilize a small fan to.
And lastly, these humidifier ionizer devices all seem to be using the plasmacluster ion system which is easily the most effective ionizers on the market.
My takeaway is that a humidifier and an ionizer combined,
is a better combination of two technologies that actually complement each other,
than say a fan ionizer that blows entirely too fast and hard to get any good use out of ions.
Ion humidifiers are not exactly setting the world on fire and the selection if you wanted to purchase one is pretty miniscule.
There’s a brand called lMXDCS that is selling a travel combination device that includes a humidifier and an ionizer. This is a great idea for people who do a lot of traveling and stay in a lot of different hotels.
Not only are hotels full of contaminants in the air, the climate from City to City can be humid or arid at any point.
Having a humidifier handy that you carry in your suitcase is an excellent ideal.
Another device is called a revitalizer. The Revitalizer he is a humidifier, air purifier, and a aromatherapy diffuser all in one device.
The revitalizer doesn’t have a built-in ionizer but it uses the water shearing technique by pulling air into the bowl and flinging water against the inside of a bowl walls.
Air washers use water as a filter to clean air in a process similar to the “Lenard effect”.
These appliances are natural humidifiers also that come with their own aromatherapy scents that are formulated to place into the water without clogging any equipment.
