Humidifiers are almost a necessity nowadays during winter and in dry areas. Humidifiers help maintain humidity in rooms by adding moisture. This is done by using either warm mist or cool mist. New humidifiers buyers are often confused which humidifier to buy. In this article, we list the differences between cool mist humidifiers and warm mist humidifiers to help you decide which humidifier is best for you.

Cool Mist Humidifiers

Cool mist humidifiers disperse a comfortable stream of cool and room-temperature mist throughout your environment. These humidifiers are further subdivided into evaporative or ultrasonic technologies. Cool mist evaporative humidifiers use an internal wick filter to absorb water while a fan blows the air through the filter. This process causes the water to evaporate throughout your room as an ultra-fine, invisible mist. Cool mist ultrasonic humidifiers, on the other hand, create mist by using ultrasonic vibrations.

Cool mist humidifiers are usually more energy-efficient as they do not need to heat the water before creating mist. They are also way safer compared to warm mist humidifiers as they do not have the risk of burn accidents in environments where children or pets may get a steam burn by getting too close or a water burn in case they topple the humidifier and spill the hot water over them.

Cool mist humidifiers have a couple of drawbacks. The first one is that they are usually noisier on account of the fans present in them. The other is in areas which are cold and dry – here, cool mist humidifiers make the room colder.

Warm Mist Humidifiers

Warm mist humidifiers create moisture by boiling water and releasing steam as a stream of mist. The steam raises relative humidity in the room. This also weighs down dust and allergens, so they fall out of the air and make the air safer to breathe. The boiling process also kills bacteria and mold in the water adding to the health quotient of the releases steam. These humidifiers also raise the temperature of your room during winter and are better suited in areas which are cold and dry.

These are very quiet as they do not have a fan, though some ultrasonic warm mist humidifiers are also available. They are also more expensive to operate due to the additional electricity needed for heating the water. Warm mist humidifiers are not as well-suited for large rooms as compared to cool mist humidifiers. They are ideally suited for smaller rooms. These are also more difficult to maintain since cleaning mineral deposits left behind during the boiling process, tends to be a tedious process.

Summary

If you have kids or pets around, then going for a cool mist humidifier is your best option. If you don’t have kids, then your decision is usually based on whether the usual temperature of the area you live in. Cool mist humidifiers work best in warm areas whereas warm mist humidifiers are best suited for cold areas. If you have allergies, then again warm mist humidifiers are the preferred choice for you.

Let us know if you found this article comparing cool mist vs warm mist humidifiers useful – we would love to hear your comments.

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