Steam Humidifier Basics

Posted on January 24th, 2009 in Information by Humidifier Guide

You’ve been told by someone to get a steam humidifier and you have no idea what it is. They may have told you to get it for the sake of your furniture or because they’re looking out for your health – either way, a steam humidifier is a respectable purchase for any household that needs just a little moisture in the air.

Simply put, a humidifier moistens the air or increase the amount of water around. This is important for a number of reasons. Dry air can make even the strongest person grow weak and creates stress and fatigue. For hard workers, that can easily cripple what would’ve been a productive day of work. You even become more prone to getting a cold. Wooden objects like musical instruments or furniture could become cracked and sometimes irreparably damaged. The list goes on. A steam humidifier changes all of that.

A steam humidifier, also sometimes called a warm mist humidifier or a vaporizer, creates mist by boiling water and essentially having it evaporate into the air. This naturally increases the amount of water in the air. There are other kinds of humidifiers out there but a steam humidifier is often suggested for colder areas. Some humidifiers can unfortunately reach immense prices, sometimes to the tune of approximately two thousand dollars. It is because of this wide range of price that any potential buyer should first figure out if they even need it. They have objects called hygrometers that can tell you if you have too little or even too much water in the air which helpfully come with most modern humidifiers.

Do note that there is a common debate as to whether a steam humidifier or a cool mist humidifier would be better. Each has their own strengths and weaknesses. Steam humidifiers, due to the need to heat up the water before they actually function, use more electricity that most of their cool mist equivalents and that may turn off some people to buying them. Of course, they come with the bonus of boiling their water, essentially sterilizing it. Germs or bacteria or other things in the water could accidentally be dispersed by a cool mist humidifier and could actually make breathing harder rather than easier. Both require a healthy amount of maintenance to ensure that mold or other unwanted things don’t grow in it.

At the end of the day, it is truly up to you to decide whether a steam humidifier is worth it or not.

Tags: , , , ,

Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Netvouz
  • DZone
  • ThisNext
  • MisterWong
  • Wists

Post a comment