The other day we found out that our youngest had the croup. Pretty nasty sounding cough accompanies the croup, but luckily, it didn’t seem that there was much damage. Mostly just dried out from the lack of humidity in the winter air. Our heat pump is badly in need of repair or else it might provide the needed humidity, but that’s another story for another time.
So we’re supposed to get a “humidifier”. Hmm. Seems to be lots of choices. Warm mist, cool mist, humidifier, vaporizer. How to choose? How indeed. According to the helpful lady at Wal-Mart, we should get cool mist (ie, a humidifier). From what I can tell, in the beginning there were only vaporizers. But as time wore on, dainty little hands were burnt from the warm mist produced. You and I both know that warm things don’t burn. That mist is downright hot. But I digress.
And so, with the advent of new technology, cool mist products were born. Now there are all sorts of selections and capacities. Auto-shut off, timed humidifying, you can probably even find a model that will brew coffee with that warm mist, too.
So after two nights of use, the cool mist clearance model we found at Target started smelling funny. Not bad funny, and not quite burning funny. It was more of that smoldering smell that electronics sometimes get funny. Which is to say that even if it doesn’t cause a fire, it’s likely to break soon. So back to Target I went.
But before buying another model, I pulled Google into the mix. Please be aware that if you should search on humidifiers vs. vaporizers, you’ll get a lot of hits on products for keeping your contraband moist. If you make it past those, you’ll find that generally speaking, there is little to no difference between the two products – except for that burning issue.
While I don’t want to seem callous, it occurs to me that a child who happens to learn this lesson the hard way will not be likely to have to learn it again. And our children are generally intelligent enough to at least not burn themselves severely even when they do test our advice. If you have very small children, however, you may want to keep this in mind. Close to the unit, the mist is hot. Try it yourself if you need convincing.
So with all that in mind, here’s my own opinion on the matter: Vaporizers are cheap. Ten bucks at Wal-Mart. Humidifiers aren’t. Water that is boiled is unlikely to harbor any bacteria of any sort. Warm air to me seems to hold water better than cold air. Normally I find warmer air to be more soothing than cold air. There are no moving parts on most vaporizers, as they just have a little heating element to do the boiling.
You’ll also not find a filter on the ten dollar model from Wal-Mart, for the aforementioned reason of not having any bacteria in the mist. And finally, because of the vaporizing action, you can add menthol or a similar additive to the warm mist to help even further. Guess which product we use now? And hey – someone else even agrees!
Comments
109 responses to “Humidifier or Vaporizer?”
I had the same confusion and made the wrong decision by buying two expensive cool mist humidifiers for my and my son’s room. They did help but the humidity level inside my house was still not satisfactory and the cleaning requirements were a bit annoying. Switched to the walmart 10$ vaporizers seven months ago and it has been so far so good. I clean it up once every week just to get the scales out of the heating element but there is not much risk of bacteria in the steam and the humidity levels are way higher than what I observed with cool mist. I add a pinch of salt the first time I fill up the vaporizer after the weekly cleaning and because the salt stays back in the remaining water, you may not have to add it everytime unless your drain away the remaining water everyday. For those with nose bleed issues in low humidity regions, I believe this might help ‘bigtime’ as it did for me (just based on my experience, I’m not a doctor).
The only caution is not to place this in a small room and close all the doors as it does its work too well resulting in heavy condensation overnight and mold growth in the long run.
I have been using a Vicks Vaporizer in my 6-month-old’s room for about two months now. Sebby has been stuffy for more than half of his little life, and I still can’t find anything to help him.
I use the liquid inhalant that you pour into the tiny reservior at the top of the machine.
Half way through the first night, I went into his room and I was choked by the overwhelming smell! I have since left his door slightly open to keep his room from becoming a cloud of camphor.
I have heard through word-of-mouth that babies can overdose on camphor, but I am wondering if this word of caution only applies to the vapo-rub or the liquid inhalant as well.
BTW, I bought the inhalant in the baby section at Toys-R-Us, so shame on them if it turns out that little babies can suffer complications from this stuff…anyone know?
From the EPA website:
Types of Humidifiers and Associated Pollutants
The two types of humidifiers which generally appear to produce the greatest dispersions of both microorganisms and minerals are:
* Ultrasonic, which create a cool mist by means of ultrasonic sound vibrations.
* Impeller, or “cool mist,” which produce a cool mist by means of a high speed rotating disk.
Two additional types of humidifiers can allow for growth of micro-organisms if they are equipped with a tank that holds standing water, but generally disperse less, if any, of these pollutants into the air. These are:
* Evaporative, which transmit moisture into the air invisibly by using a fan to blow air through a moistened absorbent material, such as a belt, wick, or filter.
* Steam vaporizer, which create steam by heating water with an electrical heating element or electrodes. “Warm mist” humidifiers are a type of steam vaporizer humidifier in which the steam is cooled before exiting the machine.
Note: Steam vaporizer and evaporative humidifiers are not expected to disperse substantial amounts of minerals. A steam vaporizer tested by EPA did not disperse measurable amounts of minerals; evaporative humidifiers have not been tested by EPA for mineral dispersal.
Hi River –
I can’t speak to the vaporizing of other chemicals, but I’ve not had any problems. As to the water, I just use tap water. It seems to work fine. I add a pinch of salt to help it get going faster.
Usually it will still boil, it just takes longer. You can experiment to find out what works for you.
But if you’re concerned about other chemicals, you might want to check elsewhere, as I am not a doctor (or a lawyer) – this is just from my own experience. Sorry.
Found this site looking for vaporizer info–I do like the steaming type vaporizer–but am concerned about chemicals that purify tap water.
Chlorine can be removed by standing 24 hrs.–or so I have heard–but chloramines cannot. You need more chemicals to remove those and that can get complicated.
I also wonder about the plastic in vaporizers–does hot water contain PCB’s disperse into the air? Distilled water can get expensive for some of us,but its worth it if its healthier.
Do I add salt to the water and how much? I am searching for a glass vaporizer like we had as a kid–that would at least eliminate the concern about plastic.
I have used the cold water type–several of them–they are noisy–and actually put out too much water–one made me think I was next to a waterfall.
If anyone knows anything about any health concerns relating to any chemicals that may vaporize along with H2O, please post them here.
Thanks for posting your experiences online for the benefit of all. I was doing a search to help me choose between a warm and cool mist humidifier.
Now I’m going to check out CVS and Target, and save myself $40.
I’ve been using a warm air vaporizer for years for lung congestion due to drainage from nasal polyps. I would get a little shortness of breadth, because the mucous drains down to the lungs. When it really bothers me I use a warm air vaporizer and it really helps clear it up and I can take full deep breadths.
Then I had this bright idea to buy to cool mist humidifiers with all the bells and whistles for $99.00 each x 2. Big mistake. Yeah, they created a lot of humidity in the rooms, but I felt like crap and by breathing was worse.
The simple old warm air vaporizer can’t be beat. I remember my mother using it in by bedroom when I was a very young kid. Listen to Mom. They already had it figured out. Trying to re-invent the wheel didn’t work. I’m going out and buying 2 more warm air vaporizers and cranking them up.
When it gets a little too warm in the room, guess what. Open the window a little…problem solved.
Good luck to all, hope this helped…
I’m glad I found this site. My husband and I are also victims of which to buy. Our doctor told us at first to use a cool mist humidifier and then a month later when our infant daughter was sick again we were advised to use a warm vaporizer. So needless to say we now have both. In the long run, whether you are using warm mist or cool mist, moisture is moisture. That is what helps keep the musous loosened. However, it would make sense that warm mist would keep the passage ways opened to get the mucous out where cool mist I would think restrict the passage and not allow for the drainage to occur as well. We prefer to use the warm vaporizer.
Thank you. My daughter has nose bleeding and we already have a Vicks vapor. at home and was planning to buy a cold mist humidifire thinking the cold mist is better. Now I can save my money and continue using the vaporiser.
I have long preached the advantages of a vaporizer(warm) and am constantly getting shot down by doctors and pharmacists to use a humidifier. Most of my friends don’t own either, a fact that I find amazing since they are a godsend when you are sick.
I have used warm vapor all my life and started listening to the doctors recently about cool air. Well, it may help but it doesn’t do the job of warm vapor.
It just didn’t make sense that cool air would loosen mucus. I had to go with what made sense. Call me bitter but I think my doctor only says humidifier because if someone gets burned by the hot vapor he’s afraid of being sued.