Humidifiers

December 9, 2018 3:59 AM

Did a humidifier make a meaningful difference in your quality of life if you deal with low humidity in the winter?

The heating in my apartment is extremely expensive so I supplement with a space heater to keep costs down. However, it is drying out my lips, nose, and skin like crazy (it's very clear it's the heater and not due to allergies or whatever).

A humidifier seems great, but even well-reviewed units (like from Wirecutter) have poor Amazon reviews. Right now I have a mini one I got a few years ago, but it only raises the humidity by 3% in it's 6 hour runtime in my small bedroom.

What I really want more than a product recommendation (which is fine) is whether a humidifier actually made life more comfortable when dealing with forced air in the winter.

posted by Aranquis to Home & Garden (40 answers total)

Oh god yes. I really REALLY notice if I forget to turn it on.
posted by fast ein Maedchen at 4:00 AM on December 9, 2018 [18 favorites]

Addendum: I have better luck sometimes with smaller ones that blow vapor right towards my face than with larger, fancier units that purport to humidify a whole room. YMMV, and you have to be diligent with cleaning, but I figure all that matters is the air I myself am breathing, right?
posted by fast ein Maedchen at 4:09 AM on December 9, 2018 [1 favorite]

Yes definitely. I have that Crane cool mist humidifier that's shaped like a teardrop, I keep it on my bedside table. It makes a big difference for me. I have problems with picking my skin and the humidifier helps me feel less itchy and dry so I pick a lot less. It is annoying to clean and a little noisy, but it's fine for my situation right now. If I have it running for a whole day it does seem to humidify my whole bedroom pretty well despite the heater, but it mostly just feels effective immediately when I start it at night as I get into bed.
posted by Mizu at 4:12 AM on December 9, 2018 [3 favorites]

I recently bought a humidifier for the first time for use in my bedroom at night and for me it has made a clear impact: I don’t wake up with the pain of dried out sinuses anymore! Also I think it has helped me stave off sickness (e.g. dryness is thought to be a key factor driving flu season).

I don’t even think it has to be any particular model just have a big enough tank and a strong enough output. I got a $30-40 Honeywell and am pleased with it so far.
posted by SaltySalticid at 4:26 AM on December 9, 2018

Yep! In fact, I need to turn mine back on today since it's gotten drier again.
posted by Mouse Army at 4:27 AM on December 9, 2018

Yes! We live in New England and have crazy expensive electric baseboard heating, so we mostly heat the house with a woodstove and a couple of space heaters. I was miserable every morning until my parents gave us a humidifier. It's an older Pureguardian from Costco similar to this one. It doesn't have any filters and it's pretty easy to clean.

I just bought one of the Wirecutter ones for the rest of the house. (It's the Honeywell.) I didn't realize it had a filter or a mercury-based UV bulb in it, so you have to be careful with the unit and bulb disposal.

My ultrasonic one has been way easier to deal with -- I kind of regret not just getting a second one of that kind.
posted by marfa, texas at 4:28 AM on December 9, 2018

Yes. Def helped. I have a whole house one, but it only can do so much. I now have one in each of the 3 occupied rooms. I got this Honeywell. It's so much easier to clean than the ones with the removable tank (like the Crane ones), since the whole top comes off.
posted by pyro979 at 4:39 AM on December 9, 2018

When the humidifier is on, my partner snores a whole lot less. The difference is pretty stark.
posted by Too-Ticky at 4:41 AM on December 9, 2018 [1 favorite]

Absolutely! I am much more miserable in winter without my humidifier. Two years ago, I got a mini one for my office, so now I have one at work and home. I second the Honeywell as it is so easy to fill and to clean.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 4:59 AM on December 9, 2018

Oh yes, a huge difference. I have the top pick from Wirecutter - two of them in fact - and they've worked great for years. Prior to that I had the Crane teardrop one and this one is much better. My skin feels much better, throat isn't as dry, overall better sleep quality.
posted by peacheater at 5:01 AM on December 9, 2018

Oh ya. Tremendous difference. Hair, clothes, skin, lips, even dust. I noticed in a million ways.
posted by chasles at 5:31 AM on December 9, 2018 [2 favorites]

I’m not sure what’s bad about the humidifiers that get negative reviews but I don’t think they really need to be that complicated. I grew up with very simple ones and they worked fine. I’ve spent most of my adult life living in a climate where it doesn’t get that dry but when needed I’ve even boiled a big pot of water on the stove (*watch it VERY CAREFULLY so it doesn’t boil dry*) to throw some moisture back into the air and that has helped a lot.
posted by needs more cowbell at 5:39 AM on December 9, 2018 [2 favorites]

Yes, it definitely helps! No more waking up at night feeling like my throat is cracking open.
posted by john_snow at 5:50 AM on December 9, 2018 [3 favorites]

Oh hell yes. I don't even have a full-on humidifier - I have a cheap vaporizer that I got from the drug for for like 20 bucks, and it has made the difference between "heater dries out my sinuses overnight which makes them generate snot like crazy to compensate" and "my sinuses stay calm and I can wake up without coughing like I've got tuberculosis".
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:04 AM on December 9, 2018 [3 favorites]

At home we run one in each of the bedrooms at night so we can sleep better, helps with sleeping soundly and avoiding yucky dry throat.
posted by lafemma at 6:09 AM on December 9, 2018

Yes, it helps tremendously, especially in smaller spaces like apartments. It can make an amazing difference, especially if you're like me and are prone to a lot of static electric shocks.

We've had an earlier version of this Honeywell unit for years and it's done very well for us. I'd definitely recommend it.

Throughout the years, we've tried many different humidifiers. The biggest issue we had with all of them has to do with the relative hardness of your water. Hard water is your enemy, and can result in a lot of calcification of the wicks/filters the different units use. The Honeywell unit is not immune to this, but the wicks it uses are relatively cheap and easily found. In our last home, the water was pretty hard and found we had to replace the wick a couple of times through the winter, depending on use. Today, we're in a new home with pretty good water and the wick shows no sign of calcification. Yea!

We used a console unit for awhile, but those things are just nasty to maintain. YMMV, of course.

We used a mist/vapor humidifier for awhile, but, thanks again to hard water, it left a thin film of white "dust" on every nearby surface. Ugh.
posted by Thorzdad at 6:11 AM on December 9, 2018

I use a hot-vapor one during the night when one of us is sick. Boils up a gallon or two of water into the room's air during the night; patient can breathe and doesn't get that terrible sore throat that you get when sleeping open-mouthed. Huge, huge difference.

This is different from the cold mist versions other folks are talking about; I have no opinion on those.
posted by fingersandtoes at 6:29 AM on December 9, 2018

Absolutely! My apartment's heat was unreliable last winter, leaving my bedroom cold, dry, and prone to giving fabrics crazy static cling. Because I was storing some key items for a friend who’d given up her apartment while travelling, I had access to an ‘Air-O-Swiss Boneco 7135’ humidifier, which I set up when dessication overcame stoicism… and this fixed everything about that situation.

This was an unusually high end humidifier with a large tank and the option to heat the mist to whatever temperature, leave it on for however long or switch on/off when the humidity drops below whatever percentage, etc. However, it eliminated the dryness, cold, and static (I didn't need a space heater) handily. Highly recommended if you have the means.
posted by Haere at 6:37 AM on December 9, 2018

I love my humidifiers. I have a central unit attached to my furnace, and supplement with a warm mist humidifier in the bedroom at night. It makes a huge difference, especially with static in my clothes and hair. Even the dog is so much less itchy when the humidifiers are going. I've also noticed that I can keep the temperature in my house a few degrees colder if there's some moisture in the air.
posted by little king trashmouth at 7:01 AM on December 9, 2018

Humidifiers make a huge difference for me too. I have rosacea that flares up when it's too dry, so I have two humidifiers going pretty much 24/7 in the winter. Together, I can get thr air in my house from sub 20% to around 35-40% (which is still lower than my ideal, but acceptable).
posted by insectosaurus at 7:24 AM on December 9, 2018

After we got a whole house humidifier installed I stopped getting minor nosebleeds every week or two in the Colorado winter.
posted by deludingmyself at 7:25 AM on December 9, 2018 [3 favorites]

I love my humidifier.

I've tried both the warm and cool ones. I get too cold with the cool ones but I love the Vicks warm one. It's pretty cheap so I don't mind replacing it every few years. It could be a good supplement or sometimes replacement for your space heater.
posted by Salamandrous at 7:48 AM on December 9, 2018

I do not recommend that you do this (it is unsafe and probably breaks fire code and I am no longer doing this), but in my apartment bedroom, I have definitely filled my insta pot to the brim, left the cover off, slow cooker mode on low, 10 hours. I slept much better -- I lived alone at the time but I probably snored less and got less parched.
posted by batter_my_heart at 7:53 AM on December 9, 2018

Yes! I even have a travel one that I take with me because waking up with a bloody nose is no fun.
posted by teleri025 at 8:03 AM on December 9, 2018

Yes! I have baseboard heating and touchy sinuses and once the weather starts getting dry, I'll wind up with sinus problems pretty quickly if I do not use a humidifier. I have a hygrometer in my house so I can check the humidity level to make sure it doesn't get too high. I have one of those old school console Sears/Honeywell ones (looks like this) where you just pour buckets of water (and a little "don't get mold" medicine) into the top of it every few days and it just runs and runs and keeps my place a lot more comfortable in the winter. People bitch about basically everything on Amazon, so I might either ask around to friends or buy one cheap on Craiglist or a thrift store to see if it makes a better difference than your current situation. So much less static! Such better feeling nose! So much less dry skin!
posted by jessamyn at 8:08 AM on December 9, 2018

Yes, absolutely - I can’t sleep through the night without one. I have one in my room and one in my young son’s that we use every night all winter. In my experience, the bad reviews are well deserved because humidifiers are generally terrible and last 2-3 years at best. I’ve tried many brands over the years and none have lasted. Now I just try not to spend too much and plan to buy another after a year or two.

Watch out for the way they can cool down a room as they humidify it. You may need to adjust your heating system or add a space heater. (I use an oil heater in my son’s room and an extra blanket in mine.)
posted by pocams at 8:28 AM on December 9, 2018

One more vote for it makes a difference. When my kids were young, we had the crane ultrasonic ones, in the cute penguin shape. They were messy and hard to clean and got gross. I bought last year the wire cutter Honeywell evaporative one, and I like it much better. Much easier to clean, and much less messy as it runs, and easier to fill. The repalacement filters (I plan on just starting with a new filter each winter) are not very expensive.
posted by leahwrenn at 8:40 AM on December 9, 2018

We have a whole-house humidifier and the difference in before and after is EXTREMELY noticeable. And I still stick smaller, portable ones in my kids' rooms at night when they're sick or if it's exceptionally cold and dry out and the whole-house one can't quite keep up.
posted by anderjen at 9:01 AM on December 9, 2018

Yes. I got a huge on that hold 4 gallons so & it will go through that in 12 hours in our open plan house. Besides helping with respiratory problems, snoring an dry itchy skin it also stopped us getting electric shocks touching doors knobs etc. We love our huge, ugly evaporative humidifier so much we're saving up for a whole house model. We also run a smaller one in the bedroom at night to help, I used to have an asthma attack pretty much every night going uptstairs to bed until we did. I also no longer get bronchitis every winter like I used to.

Which every one you get, make sure to change filters regularly & use an anti bacteria product & clean them regularly. The only people I know that have had problems with humidifiers don't put in the few minutes work a week to keep them in tip top shape.
posted by wwax at 9:14 AM on December 9, 2018

When I had a house with forced air gas, I loved the flow through unit attached to the furnace. I think it made me less susceptible to colds.

In my apartment, I have the Crane penguin and while it works well, it does need to be cleaned very regularly and (in my second winter with it) I believe that using tap water is degrading the air quality. I have mild asthma and find it hard to breath at night. The idea of buying distilled or demineralization water isn’t attractive to me for a number of reasons.

I’d had one of Honeywell evaporative models but found it too loud and slow.

I’m now on the lookout for something close to the large, console style drum evaporative units that were popular in the 70s.
posted by bonobothegreat at 9:26 AM on December 9, 2018

Yes! We put one just in our bedroom. It solves waking up in the night coughing with a parched throat, itchy skin, spontaneous nosebleeds, all sorts of things. We only put it on overnight. Such a difference.
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 9:29 AM on December 9, 2018

Yes! Cool mist / ultrasonic, and I failed at first because I put it on the floor. Now it lives on a small chair. I do have to occasionally scrub it because my water is very hard, but the dramatic difference in sinuses and skin is worth it.
posted by I claim sanctuary at 10:04 AM on December 9, 2018

I have an incredibly cheap warm one, like the probably the cheapest or second cheapest available at wal-mart. It works exactly as it is supposed to, and has for years. That is to say, for the warm ones* it's a pretty simple technology that doesn't need a lot of thought or special features for it to be beneficial.

*I don't know if the benefits are different between warm and cold, but it keeps my room warmer at night which is a good thing here in the winter.
posted by wellifyouinsist at 10:04 AM on December 9, 2018

The minor difference it made for my extremely severe dry mouth/nose/eyes was not enough of a benefit to outweigh the terrible impact the damp had on my chronic pain and arthritis, but if those are not factors for you then it will very likely only do you good for all the reasons mentioned above. I have thought of getting a small facial pore steamer type thing to use intermittently instead.
posted by poffin boffin at 10:27 AM on December 9, 2018

Yes, definitely. I have the wirecutter's top pick (this Honeywell one). I've only had it for 2 years, but I've been very happy with it so far. It's fairly low maintenance. I refill it roughly every 12 hours, and invert the filter every time I refill it. The humidifier definitely helped with things like dried out sinuses (no more bloody noses, etc), and just general comfort levels. I hate the dried out feeling of the air from the radiators during the winter. I'm much more comfortable with the humidifier.
posted by litera scripta manet at 10:38 AM on December 9, 2018

Another yes, big difference in my studio apartment with my new honeywell running (I used the Crane teardrop but it would break after every season, the honeywell needs a filter change but it's much better, and *much* easier to clean. Much better design overall tbh).

It keeps my nose and throat from drying out, which is great for sleeping and general health. Basically, I know its time for the humidifier when my two cats turn into lil balls of static then I'll run it 24/7 (on low when I'm not home but medium or high the rest of the time) til spring.

Highly recommend.
posted by ataco at 10:58 AM on December 9, 2018

At our previous home I had a whole house humidifier installed directly into the HVAC system. It made a huge difference, and being able to keep the temperature in the house a couple of degrees cooler (humid air feels warmer) meant the thing probably paid for itself over a few years. In our current rental we have an ultrasonic humidifier in the bedroom that runs every night in the winter. It definitely helps with seasonal bloody noses that my wife and I can suffer from.
posted by COD at 12:02 PM on December 9, 2018

Hell yes! I have forced-air gas heating and when the furnace gets turned on the humidifiers come out.

I use one in the bedroom and one in the living room and run them both 24-7. In those rooms I can pet my cats and not get shocked. In any other room we shock each other all the time. My skin and lips still dry out, but not nearly as bad as they would otherwise.

As for noise, I kind of like the fan and gurgle in the bedroom.
posted by irisclara at 12:43 PM on December 9, 2018

I found the standalone units to be super annoying, having to refill them all the time, and trying to keep the mold down. We installed a whole house humidifier and it is wonderful!
posted by Pig Tail Orchestra at 5:52 AM on December 10, 2018

I have a Honeywell HCM-350 that makes a huge difference for me. I run it overnight in our bedroom, and it takes the humidity from under 15% (the lowest my humidity meter will read) to over 50%.

It's fantastically, desert-style dry in the winter where I live. Without a humidifier, my skin cracks, and my sinuses are raw, if not worse. With the humidifier, I basically have to remember to put some hand cream on every now and again.
posted by Kreiger at 12:51 PM on December 10, 2018