Types of Humidifiers
There are two broad categories of humidifiers: ducted and standalone. Ducted humidifiers are directly connected to the heating and cooling systems of homes.
They use the existing ductwork in homes to dissipate moisture slowly and steadily across the entire house. Installing such humidifiers is a daunting task that requires the skills of a technician.
Standalone humidifiers are the more common type of the two. They may either take the form of room humidifiers that are perfect for humidifying one room at a time or large multi-room humidifiers. Console or multiroom humidifiers are powerful enough to humidify several adjacent rooms at a time.
- Standalone humidifiers are effective, portable, and easy to use. You plug them into the wall socket and switch them on to humidify the air in your house. There are three types of standalone humidifiers: cool mist, warm mist, and ultrasonic.
- Cool mist humidifiers disperse moisture that is at room temperature. When you leave your cool mist humidifier running for a while, the room’s ambient temperature falls slightly. Running a cool-mist humidifier is cheap because you do not incur the extra power costs of heating the water.
- Warm mist humidifiers dissipate moisture that has been heated and then cooled slightly. Warm moist humidifiers are quite costly to run because they have a water heating mechanism. Nevertheless, humidifiers can be of great use in helping you fight off the flu and cold. The heating process kills off all the germs found in the water you use in your humidifier.
- Ultrasonic humidifiers combine the benefits of cool mist and warm mist humidifiers with special technologies to minimize the noise. Such humidifiers have lower noise levels than either cool mist or warm mist humidifiers. Ultrasonic humidifiers are perfect for bedrooms and children’s rooms because of their low noise levels.
How do you Size a Humidifier for your House?
Standalone humidifiers are designed for either small, mid, or large-sized rooms. Humidifiers designed for small spaces can effectively humidify rooms that measure less than 500 square feet.
Mid-sized humidifiers are ideal for use in small bedrooms or study rooms that measure about 500 square feet. Large humidifiers work well in big living rooms that measure more than 1,000 square feet.
You will hardly get the ideal humidifier for your house if you go with the room size that is indicated by the manufacturer. You should factor in many other things apart from the room size to get the right humidifier.
Notably, you will need a bigger humidifier if your house is poorly insulated. This is because a lot of the moisture ends up lost in the air that flows out of a poorly insulated room.
Things to Consider when Choosing a Humidifier
It may be challenging to get the right humidifier because of the large number of available brands. You can consider the following things when choosing a humidifier.
Ease of Cleaning
The design of your humidifier determines the ease of cleaning it. It takes longer to clean a humidifier with an intricate design than one with a simple design. Also, it may not be easy to disassemble and reassemble the components of some humidifiers. Thus, go for humidifiers that can be quickly cleaned.
The Noise Levels
The noise level of humidifiers varies considerably. Some standalone humidifiers produce enough noise to interrupt light sleepers. If you intend to use your humidifier on the bed side, always go for those brands with very low noise levels. Avoid humidifiers that have very high levels of over 40dB.
Essential Oil Tray
Essential oil tray has become a common feature in modern humidifiers. One can use the tray to include special oils for scenting the room. Alternatively, you can put medicinal additives on the tray to help people who have flu or cold. Go for humidifiers that have the essential oil tray so that you can practice aromatherapy in your home.
Controls
Humidifiers that are Wi-Fi-enabled are ordinary nowadays. You can control such humidifiers using an app on your phone. In some cases, one can use voice to adjust the way the humidifier operates.
Check the size and positioning of the controls. Some humidifiers have only one button that you can use with great ease. Others have simple touch-buttons on their surfaces. It is better to get a humidifier that has fewer control buttons that are correctly positioned.
Humidistat
The humidistat helps you to personalize the performance of your humidifier. The humidistat reads the relative humidity of the air in the house and automatically adjusts the humidifier’s performance. It is more comfortable and convenient to use a humidifier with an inbuilt humidistat than one that lacks this feature.
Auto Shut Off
The auto shut off feature in humidifiers prevents accidents by instantly shutting off the device when the water tank is empty. The feature also protects your device from getting damaged in case of water in the tank running low. Check out this feature when choosing a humidifier for your home.
Tips for Maintaining a Humidifier
Humidifiers, like all other devices, need to be maintained and serviced regularly. It is an excellent idea to keep your humidifier in good shape always. You will save a lot of money that would otherwise have been spent to replace a faulty humidifier. Here are a few tips on how to maintain your humidifier.
Carry out deep cleaning once every week
Deep cleaning a humidifier entails dismantling the entire device and cleaning every component separately. You will use a soft brush, water, and detergents to clean every part of your humidifier thoroughly. This procedure is essential to prevent the growth of molds in your humidifier.
Replace the water daily
Often, you will find some water remaining in the water tank of your humidifier. This is common if you have a humidifier with a large water tank or do not let your device run the whole day.
Always remove the water that remains in the water tank of your humidifier. Leaving stagnant water in the humidifier increases the chances of mold and mildew growth. You do not want to have mold growing inside your humidifier because of its damage.
Use Distilled Water
Hard water contains dissolved salts. If you use such water in your humidifier, the salt particles get dispersed with the moisture. The particles may settle on surfaces in your house as a white dust or cause lung irritation when people breathe the air that contains them. Distilled or demineralized water does not contain such salts; thus, use this kind of water in your humidifier.
Best Humidifier For 500 Square Feet – Reviews
1. Crane Ultrasonic Cool Mist Humidifier
The Crane Ultrasonic Cool Mist Humidifier is excellent, thanks to its unique design and commendable performance. It has a genuinely exceptional water drop-inspired and minimalist design with a matching sparkling white finish. You can take advantage of its unique appearance to enhance the room’s internal feel in which you place it.
This humidifier has only one large knob for control purposes. You can use the easy-to-reach and perfectly positioned knob to change every aspect of its operation, including the humidification mode.
Cleaning and maintaining the humidifier is a breeze. You do not have to worry about removing and separately cleaning a filter because this humidifier does not have one. Also, you do not have to incur extra expenses replacing a filter when you own this humidifier.
However, like all devices, the Crane Ultrasonic Cool Mist Humidifier has its shortcomings. The most notable one is that it dissipates cool mist only. Thus, you will have to get another humidifier if you fancy warm mist for humidifying the air in your room.
Pros
- Easy to clean and maintain because it does not have a filter
- Easy-to-use one-knob control
- Unique water-drop design provides aesthetic value
Cons
- The humidifier dissipates cool mist only
2. Elechomes HTJ-2119 Ultrasonic Humidifier
The Elechomes HTJ-2119 is an easy to use and highly functional humidifier because of its broad range of excellent features. Operating this humidifier is a walk in the park.
First, it has a large LED display with all the indicators that one may need to monitor its performance. Second, it comes with a universal remote control that perfectly fits into your palm. You will enjoy controlling this humidifier from the comfort of your seat or bed.
Additionally, the Elechomes HTJ-2119 has a large top-fill design water tank that can hold up to 4.5 liters of water when full. The large water tank can keep the humidifier running for well over 35 hours. The long run times will be highly beneficial if you do not wish to refill and check on your humidifier every often.
Sadly, this humidifier is prone to falling when it gets accidentally knocked. It has a narrow base that does not provide all the support needed to maintain it in the upright position. Nevertheless, you can get around this disadvantage by keeping it away from places where it is likely to get knocked.
Pros
- It has long run times of up to 35 hours because of its sizeable 4.5-liter water tank
- Easy to refill because of the top-fill design of the water tank
- It comes with remote control for your convenience
Cons
- It is prone to falling when knocked accidentally
3. Keecon 8L Humidifier
The Keecon 8L Humidifier can be an excellent companion if you are looking for a humidifier that operates silently. This humidifier has a noise level of about 26 decibels. You can barely hear it when it is running in a quiet room. Thus, this humidifier is ideal for the rooms of your children as well as bedrooms.
Refilling the large water tank of this humidifier is a straightforward process because of the top-fill humidifier design. You only need to unlatch the water tank and add more water before enjoying the fantastic performance of this humidifier.
More so, you will have an easy time maintaining this humidifier because it does not require a lot of attention. You will be required to ensure that you clean its components thoroughly once per week only.
However, this humidifier dissipates cool mist only. Running a cool-mist humidifier creates a cold breeze in the house after a while. Nevertheless, cool-mist humidifiers, like the Keecon 8L one, can effectively humidify the air in your room for the comfort of everyone.
Pros
- It has three-speed settings for personalized performance
- It has an essential oils tray for aromatherapy
- Ideal for use in bedrooms and children’s rooms because of its silent mode of operation
Cons
- The humidifier dissipates cool mist only
4. Stadler Form O-021 OSKAR Evaporative Cool Mistless Humidifier
One of the defining features of the Stadler Form O-021 is its evaporative mode of operation. This device emits large amounts of moisture into the air in your home without mist. You will find it quite useful, especially during the winter days when the house’s air can be dreadfully dry.
Moreover, you can adjust the performance of this humidifier using the controls. Alternating it between the high and low mode adjusts the amount of moisture that it dissipates and the area that it can cover. Ideally, the humidifier is sufficient for keeping the air in small to mid-sized rooms humidified.
If you would like to carry out aromatherapy, then the Stadler Form O-021 may be the right humidifier for you. It has a large fragrance dispenser that you can use to create the right atmosphere in your house in addition to humidifying the air.
Although the Stadler Form O-021 perfectly rests on any flat surface, it is less portable than you would expect it to be. Its large size and box-like design make it difficult for one to carry it across rooms.
Pros
- Excellent performance: it can disperse 2.4 gallons of water per day
- It can be used for aromatherapy because it has a fragrance dispenser
- Ultra-silent mode of operation
Cons
- The humidifier is quite bulky
5. Crane Warm Mist Humidifier EE-5201GR
It is effortless to clean and maintain your Crane Warm Mist Humidifier EE-5201GR. Its water tank, cap, mist chamber, and other components can be detached and reattached within seconds. This makes the cleaning process straightforward and quick for your convenience.
This humidifier is great for use when you need to deal with cold or flu symptoms. It has an internal heating process that boils the water first before the dissipation takes place. The warm mist that this humidifier produces helps deal with the breathing problems that one experiences when they have flu or cold.
Besides, you can personalize the performance of your Crane Warm Mist Humidifier EE-5201GR using the control settings. The large knob on the side of the humidifier can be used to adjust the device’s speed from zero to two.
Sadly, you will have to bear with the additional heating costs when using this humidifier. But this is not a significant issue if you consider the benefits of having a warm mist humidifier in your home.
Pros
- Perfect for relieving the symptoms of colds and flu
- Disperses germ-free moisture because of the heating process
- Whisper-quiet operation
Cons
- Its small water tank that can hold 3 liters of water only requires constant refilling
- The humidifier consumes a lot of energy because of the heating process
6. HemingWeigh Humidifier
The HemingWeigh Humidifier has several unique features that make it a highly functional humidifier. It has a nozzle that can rotate 360 degrees.
This design of the nozzle enables the humidifier to dissipate moisture in all directions in the room. Thus, the humidification procedure is instant and quite effective in small to medium-sized rooms in your home.
This humidifier has a large tank and a very long run time of over 32 hours. Having a humidifier with a long run time and a large water tank saves you a lot of time that you would have wasted refilling it often.
However, you will have to cope with the demands of cleaning such a humidifier. You will take a long time disassembling this humidifier and cleaning all its parts.
You can comfortably control this humidifier either using a remote control or the touch button on its body. It has a few controls that you can use to adjust every aspect of its operation.
Pros
- It has an inbuilt humidistat
- Long run times of 32 hours because of a sizeable 4.5-liter water tank
- Easy to operate using the remote control
Cons
- The humidifier is slightly noisy
7. KEECOON Floor Filterless Humidifier
The incredible feature of the KEECOON Floor Filterless Humidifier is that you can use an app to control it. It is Wi-Fi-enabled; thus, you can use voice commands to adjust its mode of operation. This smart control capability is vital if you would like to connect the humidifier with other smart devices in your home.
Apart from the three control options, this humidifier has exceptional performance capabilities. When running optimally, it discharges 300 milliliters of moisture every hour. This means that it can create a comfortable indoor environment within a few minutes after switching it on.
It is worth mentioning that this humidifier has a relatively high noise level of 40dB. Some humidifiers designed for small and medium-sized rooms have very low noise levels of even less than 30dB. You will have to bear with the noise that this humidifier makes when running.
Pros
- It has three control options: manual, remote, and smart
- A powerful humidifier that discharges 300 milliliters of moisture per hour
- Personalized performance using the auto mist off feature
Cons
- The noise level of 40dB is high