Is a humidifier worth it?

December 22, 2021 7:33 AM

I've never used a humidifier before, but this winter, like every winter, the inside of my nose is dry and painful, so I'm thinking of getting one. Honestly, the last thing I want is another gadget to figure out and tend to. But if you use one, do you find it worth it? And is it enough to just use it at night while I'm sleeping?
posted by swheatie to Home & Garden (20 answers total)

I feel that the comfort it provides is definitely worth it, yes. If you decide to get one, make sure to closely follow the manufacturer's recommended cleaning instructions, especially if you have hard water.
posted by mezzanayne at 7:43 AM on December 22, 2021 [2 favorites]

I think so. I use one in winter and I don't wake up with dry mouth and throat as much. My skin feels less dry and cracky. I have a Honeywell model that the Wirecutter recommended but I guess a lot of people don't like? I like it just fine, it's easy to fill and it's quiet enough. There's very little to it so it's easy to clean.
posted by bondcliff at 7:44 AM on December 22, 2021

You can get a simple digital thermometer that also measures room humidity for about $10. That'll give you a quantitative sense of how dry your house (or just your bedroom) gets in the winter and how much of difference the humidifier makes. We use a humidifier in the winter - just at night with the bedroom door closed - and it makes a perceptible and measurable difference.
posted by LobsterMitten at 7:45 AM on December 22, 2021 [4 favorites]

In my experience, they’re a bit of a mixed bag.

With the plug-in cool mist humidifiers, you have to remember to dump them out and clean them so they don’t get moldy. I’m not convinced they work all that well either—or at least, ours didn’t.

We got a whole-house humidifier with our most recent HVAC replacement, and it works to a reasonable degree. However, it turns out that we can’t just simply leave our house at 60% humidity when outdoor temperatures are below freezing, because we’ll get all kinds of condensation on our windows. Our thermostat can automatically reduce the humidity in case of cold temperatures, but then, of course, the air gets dry again.
posted by vitout at 7:46 AM on December 22, 2021 [1 favorite]

I have one, I love it. It's made winters so much better for me, my skin is better my breathing better my sleep is better. I'm no humidifier expert but if you have one you can set the level of humidity you want and just leave it running all day works best for me as it's easier I don't have to remember to turn it on or off. The amount of work depends on the sort you get. I have giant wick one for down stairs which is maybe 2 minutes a day work and a fancy German venta one in my bedroom that takes about the same amount of work. I was given it they cost a fortune but I love it. It is kind of a payoff of what you are willing to spend to effort, wicks ones are less maintenance but you have to buy wicks and antibacterial solution. Steam and other sorts require watching out for hard water build up and cleaning each time you fill them to prevent bacteria as you can't use antibac solution in them. I find the cost (be it time or money) to comfort pay off worth it.
posted by wwax at 7:50 AM on December 22, 2021 [1 favorite]

i've had varying experiences with humidifiers and they tend to be too inconvenient for me, but i'd also recommend a saline nasal spray and a nasal gel like Ayr as cheap/easy additional measures!
posted by gaybobbie at 8:06 AM on December 22, 2021 [1 favorite]

I find it to be worth it - I tend to have sinus irritation, etc., at the beginning of the winter before I remember to turn on my humidifier. I just have one (a cool-mist Honeywell) that I move back and forth between my bedroom and my home office, which takes care of at least 70% of my day. The one I use needs to be refilled about once a day, the tank is supposed to be disinfected with bleach once a week (but I usually go two weeks), and it has a wicking filter that needs to be replaced every couple of months.

Besides the apparent staving-off-sinus-problems aspect, it also just makes my office feel more comfortable.
posted by mskyle at 8:06 AM on December 22, 2021

Response by poster: Thanks, everyone. I was leaning toward yes, and so I just ordered the wire cutter top pick. Wish me luck!
posted by swheatie at 8:13 AM on December 22, 2021 [3 favorites]

In addition to the nose and skin benefits, mine keeps me from accidentally static-shocking the cats when I pet them.
posted by humbug at 8:14 AM on December 22, 2021 [6 favorites]

Mine help with eye dryness. I have three of these and they do require care and feeding. We live in a house with lots of wood and used to always feel dry in here. We run them year round, day and night. Our furnace thermostats have indoor humidity measurements and on the rare occasions I turn them off for a day or two, it is noticeably lower.
posted by hilaryjade at 8:57 AM on December 22, 2021

I've owned several over the years and most of them have been incredibly annoying to take care of but I currently have this one and I. LOVE. IT. I keep one only in my bedroom because that's when and where I feel I need it the most, and I feel SO much better when I wake up. I definitely notice when it runs out and I've forgotten to refill it because I immediately feel shitty upon waking again.

I like that I can fill it from the top (this is a must) and that you can set a desired target humidity level (mine is around 50%). It turns off automatically when it reaches that level and turns back on when it drops 5% below that, so the room doesn't get overly moist and the water tank lasts a few days between refills. I completely share your feelings about managing too many appliances but it's not an understatement to say that this particular model has given me a LOT of joy.

Happy sleeping!
posted by anderjen at 9:17 AM on December 22, 2021 [4 favorites]

I also have sinus/nasal problems with dryness this time of year, so I keep a cool mist humidifier right next to my bed - a fairly small model. I do feel a bit better in the mornings, IF I run it on high all night - which then runs it right out of distilled water.

It's a bit of a hassle that maybe could be solved by getting a bigger model humidifier, but that won't solve the obscene amounts of distilled water I go through - a gallon every two nights, and that's with never running it at all during the daytime.

I'll be eagerly following responses to see if anybody has good solutions to those problems!
posted by invincible summer at 9:26 AM on December 22, 2021 [1 favorite]

This is the second winter we've had one of the recommended Honeywell-branded ones. They're fairly low-maintenance, very quiet and can't malfunction if they run dry. Even as a very light sleeper, I find the gentle blup blup blup that the reservoir makes every hour or so quite reassuring.

The wick gets super grotty looking near the end of its life, but it still works fine.
posted by scruss at 10:01 AM on December 22, 2021 [1 favorite]

I run one every night while I sleep. It's important to empty out any remaining water daily and give it a good cleaning (I soak a vinegar mix and scrub with a soft toothbrush) weekly.

If I miss more than two days I get terrifying bloody noses that erupt at the slightest sneeze or gentle blowing of my nose. Humidifiers are 100% worth it and effective at making me less miserable in the winter.
posted by TwoStride at 10:05 AM on December 22, 2021 [1 favorite]

Good luck. I have two humidifiers: a whole-house one for my main living space and a smaller one for my bedroom. I have a hygrometer that I keep around to figure out what the humidity is in the air. I am quite certain that it's really helped keep my sinuses a little healthier and my nose less dry when I sleep. Also a lot less static electricity. Plus the noise is calming. I don't use distilled water. I do add bacteriostat. I clean the big one out seasonally (rinse tanks in bleach and then air dry) and change the filters and the smaller one gets a good rinse when I refill it and refill the filters every few months. I have to refill the big one every three days and the bedroom one every week or so.
posted by jessamyn at 10:05 AM on December 22, 2021

The Honeywell by Wirecutter is OK-- mine has to run pretty much constantly or the filter dries out and doesn't work. When it's working, it's fine and does a whole room pretty consistently. I think a humidifier is worth it-- my hands and feet crack less and I don't wake up with a sore throat.

There are many downsides: I don't like running it when I leave for work so I have to open it up, flip the filter so the dry top end re-soaks, and start it up when I get home. It doesn't leak but the tray at the bottom gets grody (it sucks in dog hair and the UV light that is supposed to kill bacteria doesn't seem to do anything.) It's also as loud as a box fan constantly and has an intermittent watery blorp sound, so I use an ultrasonic in the bedroom so my partner can sleep. Those are my gripes about the Honeywell.

If you get one of those tiny ones that lets you attach a standard water bottle to the top as the water reservoir, marketed for travel-- they work great EXCEPT they will leak pretty bad. I solved this problem by putting mine in a mixing bowl whenever it was running so at least the water was collected.
posted by blnkfrnk at 10:31 AM on December 22, 2021

They are fussy but some time in my mid thirties a humidifier at night in winter began to make the difference between waking up and excreting various mucus types for the next half an hour and waking up and maybe blowing my nose briefly. I still don’t bother most of the time because I’m not a tidy enough person but I really should!
posted by Mizu at 8:48 PM on December 22, 2021

I love my humidifier. I originally owned the one that hillaryjade linked to from Honeywell. It worked great, but for Reasons, I needed one that was top filling, so last year I bought this one from Honeywell. I feel like it's more efficient than my original honeywell, and I love that you can set what humidity you want the room to be at.

I fill it up in the morning and in the evening, and I flip the filter whenever I refill the water. About once I week I soak the filter for a few minutes in a water/vinegar mix. Seems to extend the life of the filter. At the end of each season, I take it apart and clean the whole thing. (I probably should do this more often but i don't and it's fine.) I just use regular tap water, even though my tap water is pretty hard.

The biggest downside is that the filters are expensive and never last as long as you would like them to. I replace them once they get to a point that they aren't wicking correctly. Usually this is about once a month.

It makes a big difference for me. I don't get bloody noses anymore. My skin doesn't get as dry/cracked, which helps with keeping my eczema flairs under control. Most importantly, i have asthma, and I find the dry air really impacts my breathing. (I have an overly active, old school radiator in a small bedroom, so without the humidifier, the humidity is regularly at below 20%. The humidifier keeps me around 50 to 60%.)
posted by litera scripta manet at 6:13 AM on December 23, 2021

Moving from the east to west coast was what taught me that, yes, humidifiers work. Ideal humidity is generally seen as 40-60%, and that number can be much lower in the west, or indoors in the east during winter months when heating is on. Especially when I'm unwell, I find comfort when humidity is near the upper end of that range overnight.

Get whatever humidifier you fancy, but also do yourself and get a hygrometer so you can keep an eye on your indoor humidity.
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 6:32 AM on December 23, 2021

I will put in a plug for a cheap warm mist humidifier. I'm not sure why they're so unpopular, but some variation on this Vick's warm mist humidifier is what I have been using for years and I replace it whenever it breaks.

No filters to deal with, and I do very limited maintenance (cleaning between seasons...). They last between 1-5 years, generally, and for the price I'm fine with that.

I use it at night and I would not want to do the winter without it.
posted by Salamandrous at 9:20 AM on December 25, 2021 [1 favorite]