Humidifiers are game-changing devices that can radically improve your health if used properly. Practicing proper humidifier safety will ensure your device operates at maximum capacity and creates a healthy, flourishing environment for you and your family.
Are Humidifiers Safe?
Humidifiers are perfectly safe for use in your home if you follow your device’s maintenance requirements.
Ultrasonic Humidifiers
Ultrasonic humidifiers operate by vibrating a metal disk at sonic speed, which pulverizes the water in the water tank into a fine mist, which is then dispersed into the room.
The downside of ultrasonic humidifiers is that any bacteria, mold, microorganisms, or chemical cleaning supplies present in the device water tank will also be dispersed into the room.
If your ultrasonic humidifier is not properly maintained, it can lead to adverse health effects. Ultrasonic humidifiers perform best if you use distilled water in your water tank and follow your device’s maintenance guide.
Warm Mist Humidifiers
Similarly, vaporizers or warm mist humidifiers boil the water from the water tank to create a warm vapor, which is released into the surrounding environment. When you boil water, it kills any minerals, bacteria or microorganisms that thrive in moist environments. As a result, you can use any type of water in your vaporizer: tap, bottled, or distilled. If using a warm mist humidifier, you must proceed with caution. The water tank can be extremely hot to the touch as a result of boiling water in the tank. Warm mist humidifiers are not recommended for children’s rooms or nurseries.
Evaporative Humidifiers
Evaporative humidifiers do not run the same risks as ultrasonic or warm mist humidifiers.
Evaporative humidifiers like Canopy operate by drawing in air from the room, pushing it through a moistened filter and releasing newly hydrated air back into the room. The filter componentry in evaporative humidifiers prevents any unwanted contamination from being released into the room.
Canopy’s evaporative no-mist technology produces invisible clean moisture. Forget the weekly trip to the store and added expense of distilled water, Canopy’s anti-microbial filter catches bacteria and metals in the water while it’s SPA (Smart Persistent Airflow) technology stops mold from growing. Canopy is safe for children’s bedrooms and nurseries.
Tips to Properly Use a Humidifier
Humidifiers are perfectly safe home appliances. In fact, a humidifier can augment your overall health and wellness if used properly!
Below are a few helpful tips for proper humidifier use:
- Regularly monitor home humidity levels
- Clean your humidifier regularly
- Use distilled water (if required)
- Avoid sitting water
Tip #1: Regularly Monitor Home Humidity Levels
Do you know the relative humidity (RH) level in your home right now? You can check your smart thermostat or grab an inexpensive hygrometer from Amazon to assess the humidity levels in your home.
Lower temperatures, persistent wind, and regular use of the furnace are common causes of dry, indoor air. Chances are, the RH in your home is lower than the optimal range, which can lead to a slew of health conditions and uncomfortability. The recommended range of RH in your home is between 40% and 60%; the higher the RH in your home, the more moisture content in the air and vice versa.
While dry, indoor air can wreak havoc on your sinuses, skin, hair, throat, and increase your chances of illness, home humidity levels that are too high can create a harmful living environment. High humidity levels can lead to the development of mold and bacteria and make your home space unbearable.
Tip #2: Clean your Humidifier Regularly
In order to ensure safe use of your home humidifier, regular cleaning and maintenance is an imperative step.
You should always check your device manual for maintenance schedules and recommendations before cleaning your device. It is generally recommended to clean your humidifier once per week with a white vinegar solution and wipe down your device daily after use.
For most humidifiers, this can be a very tedious process. If you’re a regular humidifier, you’re probably familiar with this. Well, we’re here to change that. Drum roll please...Canopy is dishwasher safe! Just toss your Canopy in the dishwasher, and you’re good to go! (We really mean it when we say hassle-free hydration).
Regularly cleaning your humidifier device after use prevents the build-up of mold, bacteria, grime, and other potentially dangerous residents of your water tank.
Tip #3: Avoid Sitting Water
Sitting water is a breeding ground for bacteria, microorganisms, and more. Never use your humidifier if the water has been sitting in the tank for longer than 24 hours.
Rinse out your humidifier water tank and wipe down with a clean cloth after each use. Replace the water tank daily with fresh water (distilled or tap based on your humidifier’s requirements).
With Canopy, you’ll never need to worry about water sitting in the basin. Canopy runs until the filter is completely dry to avoid sitting water, build-up, and potential mold growth.
What is the Safest Humidifier for a Baby?
You would do anything for your little one to keep them safe and free from harm. Anything. Choosing a safe and high quality humidifier is no exception!
When choosing the safest humidifier for a baby, you should look for a cool mist humidifier that is easy to clean with a disposable filter.
Cool Mist
Cool mist humidifiers are recommended for babies and young children as opposed to vaporizers or warm-mist humidifiers. Vaporizers create warm mist by boiling water in the device’s water tank. As mentioned above, vaporizers can get hot… Hot enough to burn! You know who just loves to touch everything? Babies and young children.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends using cool mist humidifiers in your child’s nursery to avoid burns. If you have a secure ledge or shelf that is out of reach from your child and you can effectively hide any device cords, a warm-mist humidifier may be an option.
Easy to Clean
Let’s be honest: children are a lot of work. While you surge with pride at each new milestone, you also learn that milestones tend to bring new responsibilities and stressors. You have enough to do, there is no need to add yet another responsibility of cleaning a complicated humidifier device.
In order to safely use a humidifier, you need to follow a regular maintenance schedule: daily wipe downs and weekly deep cleans. This can be a very laborious task if your humidifier has complicated componentry or hard-to-reach nooks and crannies.
Choosing a humidifier that is easy to clean is crucial to keeping your device in tip-top shape and creating a healthy environment for your smalls. Canopy humidifiers have completely dishwasher safe componentry, which means that your weekly deep clean just got incredibly easy. Load up your dishwasher, press start, and scratch humidifier cleaning off your to do-list.
Disposable Filter
In the same vein as the maintenance feature discussed in the previous section, choosing a humidifier with a disposable filter makes your device that much safer.
A filter will trap any dirt, debris, or bacteria that forms in your humidifier water tank. Canopy’s antimicrobial disposable filter is incredibly easy to maintain; just toss your old filter every 45 days and replace with a new filter. Easy, peasy.
Canopy offers a filter subscription service that automatically sends you a brand new paper filter every 45 days. No thinking necessary!
