When you or your child are sick, your doctor may recommend using a humidifier or cool mister to add moisture to the air. Humidity can help break up congestion and relieve some symptoms of the common cold, sore throat, asthma or bronchitis. Even if you are not sick, a humidifier or mister will maintain a comfortable humidity level in your home, preventing dry, chapped skin caused by the weather.
How a Humidifier Works
A traditional humidifier adds moisture to the air by passing water over a heating element. This causes the water to boil and convert to steam. Steam naturally rises, and it is released through a vent in the unit.
How a Mister Works
There are two types of cool misters on the market. The impeller style creates water vapor by spinning a disk at high speeds within the basin of water. A fan draws small water droplets up and blows them out of the unit.
An ultrasonic mister generates high frequency sound waves that pass through the water basin. The oscillation of the sound waves causes some of the water to convert to a very fine mist.
Health Risks
Both humidifiers and cool misters present health risks in addition to their benefits. A humidifier can be dangerous, especially in homes with children or pets. The steam it releases is hot enough to cause serious burns. If a child or pet knocks over the unit, they could be splashed with boiling water.
Cool misters can release thousands of microorganisms into your home. Bacteria, mold spores and viruses thrive in warm, moist environments. When the mister converts water to vapor, many of those microorganisms remain and are blown into the room. A humidifier boils the water before it is released into your home, killing those microorganisms before they are released.
Use and Maintenance
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recommends using only distilled water in cool misters. Normal tap water contains various minerals that build up inside the mister, which will create scale. Scale is an ideal breeding ground for microorganisms. A cool mister can also disperse the minerals in tap water into your home, forming a fine white dust over the surfaces in the room. The distillation process does not remove all minerals from water, but it is the more efficient than other processes.
You should keep any humidifier or mister scrupulously clean at all times. Every third day, empty the unit and wipe off any mineral deposits, scale or film that has grown on the surfaces of the unit. Always unplug the unit before you clean it, and be sure to clean and dry it thoroughly before storage.
Personal Preference
The choice between a humidifier and a cool mister comes down to personal preference. Both humidifiers and misters produce about the same level of humidity, so you should use the one that poses the least risk for you and your family.
