As practice shows, it is possible to choose the right humidifier for a house or apartment only after a thorough study of the issue. Starting from what you need it for and whether there is a need to purchase this device at all. If you study user reviews about humidifiers, then on the forums such quotes are often found: "bought, used, abandoned in the closet." So that a similar story related to the useless waste of money does not happen with you, we recommend reading this material. You will find out when it is necessary to have a humidifier in the house, as well as by what criteria to choose it correctly.
Why do you need a humidifier in the house
It's no secret that too dry air in living quarters is harmful to people who are constantly in them. This is also stated by state sanitary standards, according to which the relative humidity in a house or city apartment should lie in the range from 40 to 60%. If in summer this figure is quite easily achieved thanks to open windows, in winter, with working heating batteries, humidity can drop up to 20%.
Such a mismatch causes discomfort even in adults, let alone children, especially in infants. In the first months of life, a small organism only learns to independently regulate body temperature and adapt to the environment. So there is absolutely no need to put him in such extreme conditions in which adults live already “out of habit”. Comfortable humidity in rooms for a child under the age of 1 year is 50–55%, a household air humidifier is definitely useful here.
Of course, you can do without any humidifiers for the children's room, doing wet cleaning several times a day, tying an open bottle of water to the battery, or using other folk remedies. With a hygrometer, you can even control the humidity level. But the presence of such a device will give you confidence that the problem has been solved, and even in the most comfortable way.
To make sure why you need to choose a humidifier is quite simple. Before you make a purchase, you need to purchase or take for a while a familiar hygrometer from your friends and track the humidity indicators of the air in the house for some time. If they do not fit into the range of 40-60%, then it makes sense to choose and buy a good humidifier, especially for a children's room. Then you will be sure that the purchase will not subsequently become useless trash lying in the closet.
Often, on forums that discuss different household appliances, there are negative reviews about various moisturizers. Some of them are expressed by people in whom children or other family members suffer from various diseases, in particular, the respiratory tract. If you have such a problem, you must be very careful, and before choosing a household humidifier, be sure to consult your doctor.
Varieties of devices
Now in the distribution network you can find 3 types of devices that differ in the way the water evaporates and saturates the room air with moisture:
- steam;
- mechanical;
- ultrasound.
Note. In addition to these varieties, there are climatic complexes that combine a humidifier, an ionizer and an air purifier. They are well-automated and equipped with an LCD display as well as a remote control.
Steam devices are the simplest and operate on the principle of an electric kettle. In them, the evaporation of water is carried out in the traditional way - by heating with a small electric element.Water from the tank enters the chamber with a heater, where it evaporates successfully and goes out through a special hole. Some models of steam humidifiers are equipped with a container for aromatic oils that evaporate with water and add pleasant odors to the room.
The device with direct heating is equipped with means of safe operation - a liquid level sensor and shutdown in case of accidental rollover. But it should be remembered that the steam leaving the humidifier is quite hot, and the case of the device itself heats up during operation. These drawbacks are deprived of a mechanical type humidifier, where moisture from a filter soaked with water is literally blown out by a fan. The latter has 2 or more operating modes, and the antibacterial filter itself and the silver rod immersed in the tank add to the device the functions of cleaning and ionizing the air.
Ultrasonic air humidifiers are considered to be the most progressive by right, where water, passing through softening, falls under the action of a membrane that oscillates with the frequency of ultrasound. With this effect, tiny particles are intensively torn off from the surface of the water, sublimated by a small low-speed fan to the atomizer. The best humidifiers, those that are more expensive, are equipped with a display that displays information about the temperature and humidity in the room.
For reference. Both mechanical and ultrasonic air humidifiers are equipped with automation that turns off the device when capsizing or lack of water in the tank.
How to choose the right humidifier
When we decided that we choose a humidifier specifically for the child, we should rely on such criteria:
- The device must not be hazardous to children during use.
- When making a choice, one must take into account all contraindications and recommendations of doctors.
- It is better if the device in the children's room does not light up the display or make noise with a fan.
Note. Many humidifier models produce gurgling sounds that are not heard in the noise of a store or mall. But at home in the night silence, the gurgling can seem very loud and annoy even an adult.
When it comes to small children, the choice of an air humidifier comes down to the selection of a suitable model of an ultrasonic apparatus. Steam and mechanical ones are not the best option, since the first ones are hot, and the second ones make a lot of noise due to the operation of the fan. Although, if your child sleeps quite soundly, you can choose a mechanical humidifier with a quiet fan. Which ultrasound device is better for you to decide, but the luminous display in the nursery is definitely useless.
Although ultrasonic humidifiers occupy the first position in the ranking, they have one drawback that must be taken into account. If you fill in the tank with ordinary, even filtered water, then soon all surfaces in the apartment will be covered with white salt coating. Therefore, the appliance should only be filled with distilled water so that furniture does not have to be washed.
To determine which of the mechanical humidifiers is the best, you need to ask the seller about the cost of replaceable filters and how often they are replaced. Most likely, they will answer you that you need to change the filter infrequently, but in fact it all depends on the degree of air pollution in the apartment. In addition, we choose a humidifier with the quietest fan, although this will probably cost more.
What is good about the steam apparatus is the absence of any plaque in the room and the impeller noise. It is well suited for common rooms or workrooms, such as offices. The main disadvantage of the device is its high electricity consumption. It is estimated at hundreds of watts, while other humidifiers count by tens. That is, with the continuous operation of the heating element, you will find increased electricity bills.
An important point.When choosing a humidifier for a private house or apartment, consider the size of the area served by the device. No need to select a device with a large margin, focus on the technical specifications indicated in the product passport.
By the way, the presence of a built-in hygrometer in the humidifier does not mean at all that it is the best. The fact is that the sensor is located near the source of humidification and therefore can give incorrect readings reflected on the display. Rather than overpay for this beauty, it is better to buy a separate hygrometer and place it in the right place, in particular, at the child’s bed. So you can confidently control the state of the air.