Humidifier Review: Best Humidifers

After reading our humidifier review you will be equipped to make the best purchase for your needs.

When will I need a humidifer?A humidifier is needed when the air in a home or room becomes dry. This typically happens in the winter. Dry air in a home can cause several things. Dry/raw throat, burning and dry nasal passages and skin; even furniture and wood floors can crack due to dry air. A humidifier will prevent all these occurrences.

Shopping for humidifers isn't very difficult. There are 4 different types of humidifers:

• Impeller/Cool Mist Humidifers use a spinning disk to disperse water into the air. A problem with these types of humidifiers is they can also spread microorganisms and dissolved minerals from the sitting water in the tank. This will result in white dust settling on your furnishings. To offset this problem use distilled water. Keep in mind however, the cost of the distilled water. This may not be bad for seasonal users.



• Ultrasonic Humidifiers are also called cool mist humidifiers as well. The big difference is instead of using a spinning disk, they use high-frequency sound vibrations to push water into the air. This is a very quiet unit and comes with a demineralizing cartridge that needs to be replaced every few weeks. This cartridge is used to pevent the white dust from settling.



• Warm-Mist Humidifiers boil water and release steam into the air. An extra perk to a warm mist humidifier is that it can also raise the temperature in a room which is great for winter usage. These units tend to be the least expensive. If you opt for a warm-mist unit, keep out of reach of children due to the boiling water. These humidifiers aren't recommended for anyone with asthma because warm mist can irritate the breathing passages.



• Evaporative Humidifers soak up water into a wick and blow out the moisture through a fan. These humidifiers have filters that keep organisms and minerals from being dispersed into the air. These are probably the best to buy, just be sure to change your filters and clean the units regularly.

Things to Remember:

• Too much humidity isn't a good thing! Anything 50% and more is a playground for mold, bacteria and dust mites. So find a unit that has a “humidistat” to regulate these things.
• Get the right humidifier for the right sized room. Getting a unit that provides moisture to 600 sq ft should not be in a 250 sq. ft. room! Or else you'll have that mold, dust mite problem mentioned earlier.
• Find a unit with an auto shut-off feature. This will shut the unit off once the water is depleted.
• Find a unit with a large enough tank for the room Small tanks will have to be refilled frequently.
• Removable reservoirs make for easy cleaning and easy fill-up.
• Don't forget about anti-bacterial functions! Make sure that's notated on the box.

That's it for our humidifier review. Below are three of the best humidifiers available. They have received the best reviews amongst the bunch.

Humidifier Review Recommendations:

V745A Vicks Humidifiers Warm Mist With 2 Comfort Settings ($42)

EE-5301 Crane Ultrasonic Cool Mist Humidifier With Auto Shut Off Feature ($45)



If you have a humidifier that needs to be repaired, Sears is a great place to get humidifier parts.

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