How to choose a humidifier for your home

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How to choose a humidifier for your homeIn winter, when the heating devices are working at full capacity, the air in our houses and apartments becomes dry. Hence, there are a lot of negative consequences in the form of dry skin and mucous membranes of the respiratory tract, exacerbation of allergic diseases, etc. But getting rid of these troubles is easy - you just need to purchase a humidifier. Today the market offers us three types of humidifiers. There are no absolutely ideal ones, since each has its own advantages and disadvantages. It is precisely about these features that we will talk about in this article.

Cold steam

This type of climatic device works on the principle of cold evaporation: a built-in fan draws air from the room and drives it through a humid evaporator. Since humidification occurs naturally, there will be no overmoistening of the air in the room. If the humidifier is equipped with an automatic hygrostat, it will switch off when the maximum humidity (approx. 60%) is reached.

How to choose a humidifier for your homeThe productivity of "cold" humidifiers is 150-300 ml / hour, and the power consumption is 15-50 watts. They work almost silently and do not attract attention, so they can even be used in children's rooms and bedrooms.

Depending on the model, cold steam humidifiers can simultaneously aromatize, ionize and disinfect the indoor air. The main thing here is to timely change the water and filters in the device. Unfortunately, due to the high hardness of the water, the filters built into the humidifiers are not able to completely purify tap water, or they can cope with it, but for a short period of time, from which the filters quickly become unusable. To ensure that white stains on your furniture are avoided, it is best to use pre-purified or distilled water.

Hot steam

Hot steam humidifiers work on the principle of an electric kettle. These are the most efficient devices that can evaporate 300-700 ml of water in an hour. Thanks to this, a working humidifier quickly raises the humidity level in the room to 60%, and if it is not turned off in time, then up to 80-90%. Therefore, many similar devices are equipped with an automatic hygrostat.

In practice, hot steam humidifiers are used not only in residential premises, but also in greenhouses and conservatories, where high humidity is very necessary. But for children's rooms, such devices are not suitable, since the child can burn himself, attracted by gurgling technology.

No matter what kind of water you put into the “hot” humidifier, there will always be sterile steam at the outlet. But in the case of using ordinary tap water, the container will have to be periodically washed from scale. But you won't have to spend money on the purchase of cleaning filters.

The main disadvantage is the high power consumption (300-500 W), but due to the high performance, the humidifier will not work for a long time.

Ultrasound to assistants

In ultrasonic humidifiers, water is converted into steam by a special membrane that vibrates under the influence of current at a very high frequency. A built-in fan drives this steam out, which is why when looking at a working device you can see a stream of mist coming out of it, which quickly dissolves in the air. There are models of "cold" humidifiers that heat the water to about 80 ° C to get rid of most harmful microorganisms, but the steam comes out warm (about 40 ° C).

Cold steam humidifiers operate almost silently and consume little electricity - 35-50 W (up to 150 W for models with preheating). The productivity is 150-400 ml / hour.Not every water is suitable for these appliances. It is advisable to use distilled or water purified by a reverse osmosis system. This will avoid white deposits on furniture, household appliances, etc. If the humidifier has a built-in filter cartridge, then it will have to be changed regularly (about once every two months).

How to choose a humidifier for your homeUltrasonic devices are the most equipped. They can be equipped with automatic hygrometer, remote control, LCD display, filter clogging and minimum water level sensors. Naturally, all these "gadgets" affect the cost of the device. Nevertheless, ultrasonic humidifiers, even the most equipped ones, are quite affordable.

A complex approach

There is another type of humidifier, which, in parallel with the main duty, do an excellent job of cleaning the air from house dust, odors, and microorganisms. Such devices will primarily be appreciated by asthma patients and allergy sufferers. Their principle of operation is in many ways similar to cold steam appliances, but some models do not have built-in filters and at the same time they are not picky about water quality. However, air “washers” are quite noisy and expensive.

Let's go to the choice

Having decided on the type of humidifier, you should find out how much room it is needed for. If the unit does not have sufficient performance, then it will not cope with its task, even if it works day and night long. Each humidifier at maximum capacity is capable of serving a certain area of ​​the room, which is always indicated in the technical data sheet.

The next point is the volume of the tank. The more, the less often you will have to add water, but in this case, do not rely on the compact size of the device. It is desirable that the container be transparent or at least translucent, and the humidifier itself turns off or emit a signal when the water runs out.

If the device will work at night in the bedroom, then choose the quietest model. You will hardly find an absolutely silent humidifier, because even a “hot” device gurgles during operation. Be sure to check the noise level before buying, as well as the convenience of pouring water into the container.

Fedorov S.


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