Humidifiers help you in keeping the humidity of your place at a moderate level and in maintaining a suitable environment in your house. If you have been suffering from sinus infection, dry skin, or cold due to the low moisture content in the air, installing a humidifier can definitely make your environment more comfortable.
There are so many types of humidifiers available in the market today. Although these humidifiers have the same purpose, there are a few differences in their designs and workings that you should know before choosing the right one for yourself.
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The most commonly used humidifier is evaporative humidifier, also known as wick humidifier or cool moisture humidifier. This device usually works with three basic components and is effective in humidifying considerable area. In this article about humidifiers comparison, we’ll be taking evaporative humidifiers to compare other types of humidifiers.
1. Evaporative humidifiers vs steam humidifiers
Let’s compare names first, shall we? Evaporative humidifiers aka cool moisture humidifiers vs steam humidifier aka warm mist humidifier. See? Names CAN tell a lot!
Like the names suggest, evaporative humidifiers generate cool mist to humidify the room. Steam humidifiers generate warm mist or steam. This point can help you in making a choice about which humidifier to buy for your house. If you’re living in a hot neighborhood, you might want to go for an evaporative type humidifier. If you’re from a cold region, a steam humidifier can help you with your humidity as well as the cold.
Steam humidifiers work by heating up the water used for creating the steam so its okay to use normal tap water as removal of all the germs and bacteria present in the water is ensured, which is usually not the case with cool mist humidifiers. You have to use distilled water in that case.
Evaporative type humidifiers consume less energy as compared to steam humidifiers. Safety wise, steam humidifiers should be kept out of children’s reach to avoid accidental burns.
Evaporative humidifier has its own benefits. Likewise, there are also alternate uses to steam type humidifiers. You can use them to dispense medication. When the water is heated, the inhalants are released into the air and into your body without any difficulty. Steam humidifiers are best for cold climates.
2. Evaporative humidifiers vs Air washers aka forced air humidifiers
Now the comparison is between an evaporative humidifier and Air washer humidifier.
Air washer is a hybrid appliance that combines an air purifier with a humidifier. Which means, it not only humidifies the air, it also cleans it of any impurities such as dust, pet dander, dust mites, pollen, and other airborne particles. These devices make use of the impeller technology, as compare to evaporative humidifiers which use a wick to filter out the impurities and a fan to disperse the moisture. Like evaporative humidifiers, air washers also release cool mist.
Air washers usually comprise of around thirty or more rotating discs which capture and remove the impurities and generate clean and properly humidified back in the room. Air washers can be used to humidify a large area, just like evaporative humidifiers. Although they usually require the same amount of maintenance too.
3. Evaporative humidifier vs Ultrasonic cool/warm mist humidifier
Ultrasonic humidifiers are probably the most advanced and consequently, more pricey humidifiers available in the market. These humidifiers use a vibrating metal plate instead of the wick model of the evaporative type humidifiers. You can find ultrasonic humidifier in both warm mist type and in cool mist type models, unlike evaporative type humidifier which only produces cool mist.
The process is just as cool as the name this humidifier has. The metal plate vibrates at an ultrasonic speed to break the water droplets into tiny bits and then a noiseless fan introduces the fine mist into the room.
In the warm mist type ultrasonic humidifiers, water is first heated up to about 176 degrees. The mist is then created but does not exit the humidifier till the temperature drops back to 104 degrees when it’s slightly warm to touch.
Unlike evaporative humidifiers, in which the filters need to be changed frequently, ultrasonic humidifiers are very low maintenance. If you can afford an ultrasonic humidifier, it is probably your best option.
Depending on what your requirements are and where you dwell, you can now make the right decision for yourself. So check out your space and see which one you need.
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Working of Evaporative Humidifiers
Working of Ultrasonic Humidifiers