Did you know that temperature is very important to the air quality in your house? With that, you need to consider what to use in your humidifying device.
So, do you put hot or cold water in a humidifier? It is better to put cold water in your humidifier in many cases. Using cold water will extend the humidifier life, is much safer for kids and is better for your health.
Below are some of the reasons why you must use cold water in humidifiers:
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Using Cold Water Is Better for Your Health
FDA or Food and Drug Administration emphasizes that cool mist is good for easier breathing. Basically, cold water produces air that is cooler than usual, which shrinks your nasal passages.
Hot water, on the other hand, will provide you with warmer air. This is a great thing for other cases, yet can be dangerous for several health conditions.
Warm mist also has the tendency to make nasal passages swell, which results in breathing difficulty.
Using Cold Water = Longer Humidifier Life
You have to remember that hot water contains more minerals compared to cold water. Therefore, the odds of the mineral deposits in the humidifier are greater once you use hot water.
Coldwater may prevent the accumulation of bacteria and mold because of the absence of mineral deposits.
Without the breeding grounds for dangerous microorganisms, your humidifiers would prove its purpose for a lot of years to come. This contributes to the factor of durability.
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Use distilled water and do regular cleaning to your humidifier in order to minimize mineral deposits, mold, and bacteria.
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Much Safer for Kids
Accidents may happen anytime and unexpectedly. There are times that these can be worse with hot water. If you get very close to warm mist humidifiers, you could burn yourself due to hot steam.
It’s much scarier if you have kids in your home.
Even worse, once someone hits humidifiers accidentally and spilled hot water, it could result in serious burns. You don’t want this to happen, right? So, use cold water instead.
Mistakes to Avoid When Using Humidifiers
If you’re using humidifiers to improve some annoying allergy symptoms due to dry air like scratchy nasal passages or dry throat or eczema or tight skin, you should watch out for some mistakes you could be making in the use and care of your unit.
You must also follow all instructions of the manufacturer from maintaining and using your humidifier, or else, the unit could exacerbate and cause some new symptoms for the allergy sufferers.
Some of the mistakes you must avoid are:
Letting the Levels of Humidity Rise High
To keep the humidity level stable, you should watch out if that rises above the acceptable levels since while humidity can enhance your allergy symptoms, too much humidity could make allergy symptoms worse.
This is the case if you have allergies to mildew, molds, and dust mites. Check the level of humidity and decrease it once the room feels moist and dense.
Ignoring Levels of Humidity in Your Home
Humidity is basically the water vapor level in your indoor air. The humidity level in your home may either help you ease your allergy symptoms or could hurt them once humidity gets out of your control.
You must keep the level of humidity below 60% during summer and you must keep the relative humidity at 25% to 40% during winter.
While a lot of humidifiers come with a built-in humidistat to measure relative humidity, you may purchase separate moisture and humidity meter for more accurate measurement and check the indoor relative humidity.
If you are using humidifiers to help particular allergy symptoms, check the level of humidity frequently and keep the humidity stable.
Using Tap Water for Your Humidifier
It makes a white dust mineral residue around your room and in your tank, once you fill the unit with any unfiltered tap water, against the instructions of the manufacturer.
Such mineral deposits may promote the growth of bacteria in your humidifier and you’ll be breathing them as they’re disbursed into your home’s air.
For such units, the manufacturers would specify the unit with purified, distilled or demineralized water or using water demineralization cartridge or filter.
To avoid allergies due to minerals in the water and growth in the unit, never use tap water, especially if it isn’t recommended by the manufacturer.
Not Cleaning the Humidifier Often
Since you’re breathing the air that is affected by the humidifier, you should follow the specific directions of the manufacturer on the ways to maintain and clean the unit effectively.
If you don’t clean the filter as well as the thank as frequent and in the exact manner described by its manufacturer, the unit may breed mold, bacteria, and mildew.
After that, spew allergens in the air through the mist. Remember that dirty mist may worsen allergy symptoms.
Therefore, you have to ensure that you are cleaning your humidifier in accordance with the instructions of the manufacturer.
Let Water Sit in Your Humidifier
Do not let water sit in your humidifier for several days between uses as a film may form on the top that could breed bacteria in the enclosed tank.
Empty water always and clean tanks once not in use or when skipping use for a day.
Follow the directions in the manual for wiping down or cleaning your humidifier with bleach or hydrogen peroxide to inhibit bacterial growth and dry and rinse thoroughly so that harmful chemicals won’t be released in indoor air.
Once you have noticed algae or bacteria is building up in the unit, it is recommended to use special water treatment formula to make everything under control.
The Bottom Line
To make your humidifier long-lasting, you must use cold water instead of a hot one. It’s also much safer as well as more refreshing.
But, never hesitate to use hot water during the cold season. Use cold water when the weather is hot and whenever it’s necessary.
