Collection: Humidifiers

Home Humidifiers

A humidifier adds moisture back into indoor air that heating systems dry out, and that shift is easiest to feel in winter. Households commonly use them to ease dry throats, chapped skin, and the stuffiness that comes with a cold, and to keep a bedroom comfortable enough to sleep through the night.

Room humidifiers are sized for a single space such as a bedroom, nursery, or office, and larger console units cover an open floor plan. Cool mist models move air through a wet wick and are the common choice for a child's room, since nothing inside gets hot. Warm mist models boil water and release steam, which some people prefer for the warmth it adds to a cold room.

Designs made for children's rooms are a category of their own. Manufacturers such as Crane shape their units to look like familiar animals, which makes the humidifier feel like part of the room rather than an unfamiliar machine humming in the dark. The output and the tank size on those models still matter, so read them the same way as any other unit.

Upkeep on a humidifier is short but not optional. Tanks and basins need regular cleaning so that standing water does not turn into a problem of its own, and wick or evaporative models use a humidifier filter that has to be changed on a schedule. Most manufacturers state an interval for that filter, and hard water shortens it, so check the manual for the model on hand.

Tank capacity, run time between refills, and how quiet a unit stays on its low setting are the specifications that decide whether a humidifier gets used all season or ends up in a closet. Matching the unit to the size of the room is the step that makes the rest of it work.