Do You Put Water in a Humidifier

Do You Put Water in a Humidifier?

There are so many appliances that deal with Air Quality available on the market. Some clean air, Some add moisture, Some reduce moisture.
Humidifiers are one of them that can get confusing. What do they do? How do you use a humidifier?

For instance,

Do you put water in a humidifier?

Yes. Humidifiers come with a detachable tank that you fill with water.

The purpose of a humidifier is to add moisture to air that is too dry.

When the humidifier is filled with water and turned on, it disperses water droplets into the air, either by misting or vaporizing it.

Humidifiers are usually considered a winter appliance. That’s because
dry air is typically more problematic in the winter months. Dry chapped lips, crusty or bloody noses, dry coughing, are all symptoms that you can experience when the air is too dry.

Dry air can have an effect on the amount of dust in your home also.
Dust can also cause you to have issues with your respiratory system as well as dry out your skin.
Dust can also affect things like laptops and other electronics.

Adding a humidifier during the low humidity season
to your home or office can help you reduce the amount of dust in the air.

Providing extra moisture to the air can make the dust wet enough that it will clump together and fall to the surface.
Adding moisture to the air with a humidifier can also give dust an adhesive quality that will keep it from kicking back into the air as long as the humidity stays at a good level.

Do you put hot or cold water in a humidifier?

Cool or Room temperature water are are best . No need to mess with hot or scalding water. A warm mist air purifier will heat the water on its own. Also very cold water doesn’t create mist very well.

What kind of water do you put in a humidifier?

Filtered or distilled water is better because it has less sediment that can get into your air or clog up your humidifier filter.
Tap water is okay if the water is not known to be extra hard. The Vicks V5100 cool mist humidifier owner’s manual calls for tap water.

 

Both will add humidity to the air equally. But cool mist humidifiers are generally known to ease allergy and sinus symptoms better.

There are advantages to both.

Warm vapor humidifiers typically have some type of tray or compartment to add Vicks or eucalyptus oil.

Breathing warm vapor with Vicks added to the mix can open up your airways nicely.

But without adding some type of enhancement like Vicks, warm vapor tends to cause your nasal passages to swell which could make it harder to breathe.

Warm mist air purifiers also heat water to a boiling point. So they can be quite dangerous if knocked over.

Do you put hot or cold water in a humidifier?Should a humidifier run all night?

A Humidifier is a great way help you sleep when you have sinus issues that can dry out your nose and throat.

It is safe to leave it running all night as long as the humidity level in your home calls for it.

Is it safe to leave a humidifier running when it is out of water?

The water in the humidifier does nothing to help it cool down the humidifier itself, so there is no danger of overheating if it runs out of water.

Cool mist humidifiers can be quite loud and have a calming effect comparable to listening to rain loops or white noise.

The sound from a cool mist humidifier can be a sleep aid as much as the cool mist emitting from the humidifier.

The only real danger to leaving a humidifier running all night is if your humidity level is already high enough.

Can you over humidify a room?

Too much humidity can exasperate breathing problems as much as low humidity.

One of the reasons that is true is that heavy humidity levels facilitates the growth of dust mites.

One of the most common household allergens is dust mites. Dust mites actually get there nourishment from the humidity in the air.

How long should I run a humidifier?

The ideal humidity in the home is 30-50%. If you were humidifier has a built-in automatic shut off, setting it at 40% RH is a good number.

If your humidifier does not have a automatically shut off when the target humidity is reached, then you will need a hygrometer to measure the humidity and manually turn off you were humidifiers when the desired humidity is reached.

A hygrometer is a inexpensive item that looks a lot like a thermometer but instead of measuring the temperature in a room, it measures the humidity.

One thing to remember when purchasing a humidifier is they must be kept clean. Failure to do so will create an environment for mold to grow inside of your humidifier and the Humidifier filter.
As you can imagine water recirculating through a contaminated filter kind of goes against the point of purchasing a humidifier in the first place.

What kind of water do you put in a humidifierSummary

A humidifier is a great way to add moisture back into the air when you are suffering or dealing with the effects of dry air.

If you are not familiar with a humidifier or the way one works, it is actually a very simple machine then anyone can figure out very quickly.

Operating a humidifier basically comes down to filling the removable tank with water, plugging it in and turning it on.

But there are some more specifics that will help you get the best out of using a humidifier and help you decide which type of humidifier is best for you.

You might choose a cool mist air purifier if your primary reason for operating a humidifier is for health reasons related to dry air such as dry or cracked lips, nose bleeds, dry cough, etc.

Cool mist humidifiers run a little louder than warm mist humidifiers but the sound combined with the humidity actually make a great white noise machine to help you sleep.

Warm mist humidifiers are less loud.
They also create a small heater effect there can help heat up a room.

Warm mist humidifiers also usually come with a compartment to add Vicks or some other type of essential oil to help you breathe.

The main concern with warm mist humidifiers is that they do heat water to a boiling point to create steam and if they are knocked over there is a chance of someone getting burned.

And remember that humidifiers must always be kept clean to avoid mold growth inside of the humidifier and the Humidifier filter.

Published by

Dennis Reed

Dennis Reed Owner and Author @ BreatheBetterAir.org