It is necessary to keep the relative humidity level in homes between 30 to 50 percent, with the ideal level being about 45 percent.
Humidifiers are great tools for helping you maintain a healthy humidity level in your homes if low humidity is common. Low humidity or lack of moisture means the air in your house will be dry.
Without decent moisture, you open yourself up to all the illnesses that come with dry air: dry nose and throat, dry skin, and an increased chance of catching a cold. Aside from all the ways your body suffers, dryness can also affect your home. Low humidity can destroy wood and drywall, causing your wood floors to shrink and even make pianos out of tune.
Humidifiers add moisture to your room using either warm or cool mist technologies. Since both types have pros and cons, familiarizing yourself with the differences between warm and cool mist humidifiers will help you choose the best one for your requirements.
Choosing between a cool mist or warm mist humidifier depends on your needs, but if you can’t decide, take a cool and warm mist combination humidifier.
Cool Mist Humidifiers
Cool mist humidifiers disperse a stream close to room-temperature mist. There are two types of cool mist humidifiers – evaporative and ultrasonic.
Cool mist evaporative humidifiers use an internal wick filter to absorb water while a fan blows the air through the filter. The water evaporates throughout your room like an invisible mist during this process.
Cool mist ultrasonic humidifiers use ultrasonic vibration technology to produce a micro-fine cool mist silently released throughout your environment.
Cool Mist Humidifier Pros
- Cool mist humidifiers can add moisture to small and large areas, even entire houses.
- Cool mist humidifiers use less electricity because the water is not heated before it is dispersed.
- Cool mist humidifiers are safer for young children in the home. That’s because a warm mist humidifier works with a heating element that heats the water in the container to create a steam mist that is expelled into the room.
Cool Mist Humidifier Cons
One disadvantage to cool mist evaporative humidifiers is noise. Since these devices use fans to cover your room with moisture, they can be slightly noisier than other humidifier types.
Additionally, the cool mist usually makes breathing easier for asthma and allergies.
Warm Mist Humidifiers
Warm mist humidifiers boil the water before releasing it into the room. This steam is like a soft spray of warm water instead of a vapor focused on the area near the humidifier.
Warm Mist Humidifier Pros
- Warm mist humidifiers are often rated healthier since the boiling process kills waterborne bacteria and mold, which prevents them from entering the air you breathe.
- They are a little quieter than cool mist humidifiers.
- Many people have found these humidifiers more comfortable for use during cold winters.
Warm Mist Humidifier Cons
- Warm mist humidifiers are not for large areas. They work best in small areas like bedrooms and offices.
- Warm mist humidifiers are more expensive to operate.
- They require more frequent cleaning because warm water in the unit encourages bacterial growth.
Are Cool Or Warm Mist Humidifiers Best?
There is no winner here; it depends on your needs. So, if you have children in the house or need to humidify large areas, you should use cold mist humidifiers. And if you want a quieter humidifier to kill some bacteria, use warm mist.
Cool mist humidifiers are more popular because they are cheaper, and there are many more models to choose from.
