It’s winter, which means it’s humidifier season. If you struggle with dry skin, allergies, or you’re currently suffering from a cold, you might be leaving yours on all the time — or you’re scrolling through yet another humidifier review roundup to pick a model to buy. Should you buy an ultrasonic or vaporizer? Warm fog or cool? Should it be a top-fill design? Are all parts dishwasher safe? How big of a tank do you look for?
A full market new-fangled, very special Home GadgetsHumidifiers are a classic device with a modern(ish) incarnation available since the 1960s. Over 20 million According to Statista, were sold in the US in 2019, but they’ve only become more popular and sleeker in the past few years, as people become more concerned. Air quality in their homes. According to Amazon, over 100,000 units This is a popular humidifier Purchased last month.
But while most of the sleek gizmos we like to buy during Black Friday sales exist, in theory, to optimize our lives, humidifiers add a bunch of hassle — taking care of it becomes just another annoying chore in your family’s never-ending squabbles, no mold or bacteria. A thorough scrub should be done every few days to make sure it doesn’t grow. There is no shortage of humidifier models on the market, but you may be hard-pressed to find one that you truly love rather than just endure. People looking for buying advice online often qualify their question: How do I wade through the options to not only find a humidifier that works well for my space, but also is not A complete the pain from clear?
The short answer is that there is no magical way to avoid humidifier maintenance. A humidifier is supposed to be full of liquid, and where there is moisture, mold and bacteria will grow.
What’s more, there are real dangers to misusing a humidifier. More research is needed on the long-term health effects of using them, which is somewhat disconcerting considering how common it is as a household item. The worst accident that can happen to a robot vacuum is that it runs over one Unpleasant surprise Your dog is left on the floor. With a humidifier, you’re breathing in particles that cause more serious health problems than the device solves. Yet for how risky and frustrating they are, consumers continue to seek out, test, and debate the worst humidifiers on the market.
Why We Love to Hate Humidifiers
Humidifiers, in their basic form, are extremely simple – you can increase humidity by placing a bowl of water near a radiator. (Whether it will make a meaningful difference is another matter.) Dry air can worsen any congestion you have, strip moisture from your skin, aggravate your asthma, and even harm your houseplants. Humidity decreases in winter because the colder the air, the less water vapor it holds. But it’s not just the frigid conditions outside that contribute to unbearably dry air in winter. “It’s the heat you’re using in your home that often reduces humidity,” says Allen St. John, senior technology editor Consumer ReportsNote that he sometimes rejects the heat instead of using a separate machine to bump the humidity. (If you don’t control your own heat, this may not be an option.)
Older humidifiers often look like creepy contraptions And most were used in hospital settings to help people with respiratory problems. In the latter half of the 20th century, they began to be advertised as consumer-grade products for home use. Three types are available today: ultrasonic, which uses vibrations to turn water into a mist; Evaporators, which use a fan to help evaporate water into the air; and warm mist humidifiers, which boil water to create steam.
“Most things on the market tend to be ultrasonic at this point,” says St. John. They are generally easy to use and generally quiet.
But all types of humidifiers come with trade-offs. Ultrasonics seem to emit much more particulate matter than vaporizers (more on that later); Not only can vaporizers be loud, but you may need to buy and replace a filter or lamp. With warm mist models, you run the risk of scratching yourself (or a household pet or child) if you hit the humidifier. Neither is particularly easy to maintain: the Environmental Protection Agency advises Clean a humidifier every three daysThat requires taking it apart and getting into every little crevice to remove dirt and emptying the tank daily to reduce microbial growth.
“You don’t want to leave a humidifier lying around that’s just wet. Any moisture around the machine should be wiped away. It’s also important, though, what cleaning agents you use and how well you rinse the humidifier before turning it back on,” says St. John. It’s also important to be careful — you don’t want to inhale any harmful chemicals, in South Korea. Humidifier Disinfectant which was widely available until 2011 Associated with the deaths of over 1,800 people.
Considering how frustrating they can be, people often have emotional opinions about humidifiers, according to Thom Dunn, who writes Wirecutter’s Humidifier Guide. “It’s a perennial thing — I’m always hearing reader feedback about it,” he told Vox
A few years ago, there was a significant amount of reader complaints and speech Wirecutter named that around Honeywell HCM-350 Humidifiercurrently $67.99 at Amazon At the time of publication, their top pick for several years. The Humidifier Guide is “easily one of the most volatile reader comment sections,” says Dunn. The team ultimately removed HCM-350 from their recommendation. D top pick now is $109.99 Levoit LV600S. Unsurprisingly, several recent comments disagree with the choice. One of the latest comments read: “I think it’s crazy the Honeywell HCM 350 is no longer a top pick.” (McSweeney’s even lampooned (How even the most recommended humidifier will inevitably disappoint.)
This constant debate about the least annoying humidifier may also be fueled by the fact that it’s a product that some replace every few years. Many models are relatively inexpensive, and “it’s easy to say, ‘I didn’t really clean this, now this thing looks like a science experiment,'” says St. John.
Humidifiers are becoming more popular (and somewhat less ugly) in the “indoor economy.”
There’s another obvious reason that humidifiers are so scorned by consumers: Many of them are big, unwieldy and, frankly, ugly. The good news is that we can have a slightly more interesting design as we age. We have already seen the premiumization of kitchen gadgets, from Toaster oven from Espresso machineAnd a few years ago, Window air conditioner started to get Short edit very now more brand is provide Humidifier Thanks for a comprehensive update to the Millennium Smooth”air careWellness trends — including not just humidifiers, but also candles, diffusers, air purifiers — turn your indoor air into a premium product that will blend into your home decor.
“It goes with a certain dominant wellness aesthetic.”
Thom Dunn, author of The Wirecutter
Some consumers are shelling out big bucks for these nicer, more expensive models that can cost upwards of $150 while not holding as much water or moisture as well as the expert-recommended picks. “It goes with a certain affective wellness aesthetic,” Dunn says.
Consumers with discretionary incomes are investing more money in creature comforts for the home in general. “One of the things that we started with the pandemic – and I don’t think has completely disappeared – is something that we refer to. Internal economy”, says Amy Eisinger, head of content at wellness digital publication Well+Good People are “really investing in making their space feel like a sanctuary.” Some are installing infrared saunas in their homes, Eisinger notes.
Even if your bedding isn’t rotten, you’re spending more time at home These days more than, say, a decade ago – and the money we spend can shift alongside that fact. An entire TikTok genre ad features a woman is coming home from work And embarking on a complex ritual using niche smart home gadgets: She sanitizes her clothes with a UV light wand in the foyer, runs her earrings through a jewelry cleaner, washes some vegetables for dinner. Ultrasonic deviceGives herself a foot bath and pours a glass of something strong from a swirling decanter while watching a show on her phone. Everything is clean and nothing hurts. Perhaps, in such a world of ultra-modern optimization, your indoor air is also always the perfect humidity.
The potential dangers of a humidifier may not outweigh its benefits
The real problem with humidifiers isn’t just the annoyance of caring for them, though, it can be a serious health hazard.
“What most people don’t know about ultrasonic humidifiers is that they make a lot Small particulate matter,” said Jonathan Jarry, a science communicator at McGill University’s Office for Science and Society. They “aerosolize the minerals present in the water” which means the purity of the water you are using in the humidifier can seriously affect the air quality in your home.
A few years ago, University of Alberta scientists published the study It appears that ultrasonic humidifiers using filtered and untreated tap water release high concentrations of particulate matter “during extreme air pollution events in major metropolitan areas.” A 2023 paper Published in Journal Science of Total Environment Safe-drinking tap water used in ultrasonic humidifiers can leach dangerous levels of metals that are more harmful to inhale than to ingest, such as manganese. In short, using anything other than distilled water in your humidifier means you’re breathing a lot of stuff into your lungs that you probably don’t want. (Evaporative humidifiers can also emit particulate matter, but to a lesser extent.)
EPA by recommending Using only distilled water in humidifiers, however, is easier said than done. To be clear, boiling water is not the same as distilling it, and bottled drinking water is usually not distilled. Distillation requires boiling water to “turn into a vapor and leave any impurities behind, and then take that vapor and turn it back into a liquid,” Jarry says.
How much distilled water you’ll need depends on how dry the air is currently and the room you’re humidifying: a small space under 400 square feet may need a machine with a 1.5 gallon tank. CNETwhile areas larger than 1,000 square feet may require a 3-gallon. two Distilled water five gallon barrel On sale at Amazon for $42.99 at time of release; A much cheaper option might be to buy a water distiller for your home, or sign up for a distilled water delivery service, but this adds another step and expense to using your humidifier.
It is not clear how much public awareness there is of the harm caused by particulate matter emitted by humidifiers. According to a recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ReportMany Americans have misconceptions about the purity of tap water. A third of respondents to one survey thought tap water was sterile, and a quarter said they used it for humidifiers. (An unscientific Reddit poll on r/New Parents A majority of the 228 respondents a few years ago indicated that they also used tap water in humidifiers.)
The big question mark surrounding the safety of these popular products adds another hurdle for consumers trawling the market for a humidifier that won’t make them miserable. The perfect all-in-one portable humidifier that mists water for you, cleans itself and sings you a lullaby at night. (Dyson Air purifier and humidifier combo does, but its regular price is $999.) If you’re not ready for the commitment of bringing a humidifier into your home, the healthier option — for both your lungs and your sanity — might be to simply opt out.
