Humidifiers - What Are They and How Do They Work?
If you live somewhere dry like the northern United States or the western regions, then you probably already know exactly what a humidifier is and what it does - it keeps your lungs, skin, and hair happy and healthy. But, even if you live somewhere that's not a particularly dry region, you may be surprised to learn that the humidity inside your house can be far too low, and you too would benefit from the effects of a humidifier. Our bodies are made up of vast amounts of water, so it goes without saying, that we do require a decent amount of humidity in the air to maintain healthy skin and healthy respiratory linings.
In the cooler seasons, like fall, and winter, the temperature drops outside, and the air dries out. The air then dries further when you turn on your heating in your house, causing the remaining moisture in the air to depart too. I bet it would surprise you to know that the average heated home is almost two times dryer than the Sahara Desert! The recommended and comfortable level of humidity is said to be around 40 - 50%, your home could be only half of that level during cooler months when you have the heating turned on!
Have you ever wondered why it’s easier to get sick during the winter months? While it’s partly to do with the fact that people spend more time indoors, grouped together, it also has to do with humidity. Your throat is lined with a mucus which acts as a barrier to protect you from invasion by bacteria and viruses, but, it can only do its job when it’s moist. When it gets too dry, the mucus thins out and gets too much lower levels of defense, leaving you more prone to catch a viral infection or consume dangerous bacteria. This is why the common cold, sore throats, tonsillitis, and bronchitis are all so common around winter time - because your throat linings aren’t as moist as they should be, due to the lack of moisture in the air, both outside your home, and inside it!
It’s not just your throat and nasal linings that suffer without moisture in the air, your skin can suffer too, being too dry and causing cracks. Your hair is also far more manageable, frizz-resistant and glossier when it’s not dried out.
So, what can you do to help protect yourself during these times? Unfortunately, there's very little you can do to increase the humidity outside of your home, but you can increase it inside your home, helping to keep your linings nice and moist, ready to protect you against these viral infections during the winter months.
When it comes to choosing a humidifier, you have a number of choices, the first is whether you get a hot humidifier or a cold humidifier - you want the hot version! Hot humidifiers are more effective at raising humidity than their cold counterparts. Hot humidifiers force more moisture into the air by forced evaporation, and they leave any contaminants like mold and bacteria behind in the reservoir, keeping your air free from bacteria.
Cold air humidifiers work in a similar way, but they don’t retain the bacteria and other contaminants, meaning your air is humidified, but still just as full of the harmful bacteria, mold, and other nasty things which you don’t want to be breathing in.
When you have found the humidifier you want, you need to also get a tool called a humidity meter so that you can measure the current level of humidity in your room. These are fairly cheap and available at almost all hardware stores. You can pick one up for around $10 and they will give you an accurate reading of the humidity level in your room.
You want to get your humidifier on an elevated surface, so somewhere like on top of a cupboard, or upon a strong shelf - also make sure you put something like a metal pan underneath the device, as all humidifiers do have a little bit of leakage, so by placing it on a tray or pan, you’ll avoid any damage to your furniture.
It’s also good practice to place a fan behind the humidifier too, this will help the humidity get around the entire room, it will also help to prevent creating a hot spot on the ceiling directly above the humidifier unit.
You want to place your humidity meter away from the actual humidifier, place it at the opposite end of the room, and wait until it gives you a reading of 40% humidity. Once it does, you can reduce the power of your humidifier from full to off, turning it back on when the humidity levels drop below 35 - 38%.
Very little maintenance is required for most humidifier units, all you need to do is make sure the water reservoirs stay full and give the heating chamber a clean every couple of weeks to keep it free of mineral deposits.
Most humidifiers have a standard operating life of around 3 years, their lifespan is this short due to the effects of water and heat on the components. You can help to make sure you get the most from your humidifier by cleaning out the reservoirs and the heating chamber and the end of each heating season, and only using the humidifier when you have the heating turned on in your home, or if the humidity in your room drops below 35 - 38%.
40% is a comfortable level of humidity and provides you with enough moisture in the air to ensure your skin, hair, and respiratory linings are all adequately moist, enabling them to do their job and stay healthy and happy. While there are many different brands and types of humidifiers on the market, with varying prices ranging from fairly cheap to very expensive, they all provide the same basic function. The difference in price usually relates to the brand name, the area of space which they can effectively humidify, or features, such as integrated moisture meter to measure the humidity in the room. But, they will all do the same job, so it’s up to you to find out which humidifier best suits your needs and your budget.