It is possible to use ultrasonic humidifiers safely.
Regardless of how they’re used, we don’t know for sure that ultrasonic humidifiers are dangerous.
Absolutely true! However, as typically used, ultrasonic humidifiers might cause health problems. This is supported by an abundance of peer-reviewed research papers. It’s also the quiet opinion of many different government agencies.
The good news is that the problem is trivial to solve: Steam and evaporative humidifiers don’t have the same issue.
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Ultrasonic humidifiers create tiny droplets of water, including any dissolved solids. The water quickly evaporates, leaving the solids in the air.
Many peer-reviewed research papers have shown this can lead to high particle levels.
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Most of the above experiments miss a big potential concern with ultrasonic humidifiers: Bacteria and fungus buildup happen within days, and once they’ve taken hold, they are almost impossible to fully remove. This was shown by Grieble et al. (1970) who concluded that daily sterilization was the only way to avoid the problem. Recent research (Yang et al., 2021 Tyndall et al., 1995, Suda et al., 1995) came to similar conclusions.
We ran one for an entire fall season overnight and we're sick with what we dubbed 'humidifier lung' after learning that it was our new device that did it. I'll only use cool mist humidifiers from...
We ran one for an entire fall season overnight and we're sick with what we dubbed 'humidifier lung' after learning that it was our new device that did it.
I'll only use cool mist humidifiers from here on out.
I also had gotten one of these ultrasonic humidifiers and got sick much more quickly after getting it. I recall using distilled water initially as I know that's what it instructs to use, but I...
I also had gotten one of these ultrasonic humidifiers and got sick much more quickly after getting it. I recall using distilled water initially as I know that's what it instructs to use, but I can't recall anymore how long I did that or if I got tired of doing that because it's not like I just have tons of distilled water sitting around to keep filling it up or if I did it would cost more, so I feel like I probably did end up using regular tap water. I think I returned it within 30 days so I didn't have it long but I felt noticeably worse with it on pretty quickly.
I even recall looking online about the necessity of distilled water, though I presumably didn't do a very good search because I know now that the blower humidifiers I think you can use without distilled water but the ultrasonic ones are substantially worse if you don't use distilled water. It's possibly that I only searched humidifier and distilled water and found a source saying that its not necessary but not realizing that it may have been specific to blower type humidifiers.
What we've taken to doing, which has worked pretty well for us, is exclusively using reverse osmosis water from the store - we fill up from one of those dispensers at the grocery store (WinCo, in...
What we've taken to doing, which has worked pretty well for us, is exclusively using reverse osmosis water from the store - we fill up from one of those dispensers at the grocery store (WinCo, in our case)
5 gallons for $2, which is super reasonable in my opinion. This has allowed us to go a week or so between cleanings without any buildup or slime issues. Before when we were using "filtered" water, it was a constant battle to keep them clean.
Distilled water would work as well, but tends to be more expensive in my experience.
Well this article made me sufficiently paranoid. I ran an ultrasonic humidifier all Winter. I did use distilled water, because I found tap water resulted in a heavy calcium spray and it quickly...
Well this article made me sufficiently paranoid. I ran an ultrasonic humidifier all Winter. I did use distilled water, because I found tap water resulted in a heavy calcium spray and it quickly got gunked up. I haven't had that problem at all since switching to distilled. No evidence of slime or mold.
Still, I'll be cleaning this thing thoroughly with white vinegar, and maybe retiring it now that the cold season is coming to a close. I can't handle the dryness of Winter so I'll probably break down and bring it out again next year. I'm really not sure I'll be able to clean it once or twice a week though, as manufacturers recommend. That's a tough sell!
Something that I found very effective instead of a humidifying machine was just an open container of water on top of our heater. (Sometimes with dried orange peel or cloves in for scent.) As the...
Something that I found very effective instead of a humidifying machine was just an open container of water on top of our heater. (Sometimes with dried orange peel or cloves in for scent.) As the heater ran the water would naturally evaporate into the dry winter air, and so it kept a more comfortable humidity without needing a separate device. Though it is really dependent on having the heat coming from a spot where you can reasonably have a source of humidity.
From the article:
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We ran one for an entire fall season overnight and we're sick with what we dubbed 'humidifier lung' after learning that it was our new device that did it.
I'll only use cool mist humidifiers from here on out.
Edit** apparently blower humidifiers aren't labeled 'Cool Mist'. Oops!
"Cool mist" is the marketing name for ultrasonic humidifiers.
Ah, my bad. Whatever the cool air blower humidifiers do.
I also had gotten one of these ultrasonic humidifiers and got sick much more quickly after getting it. I recall using distilled water initially as I know that's what it instructs to use, but I can't recall anymore how long I did that or if I got tired of doing that because it's not like I just have tons of distilled water sitting around to keep filling it up or if I did it would cost more, so I feel like I probably did end up using regular tap water. I think I returned it within 30 days so I didn't have it long but I felt noticeably worse with it on pretty quickly.
I even recall looking online about the necessity of distilled water, though I presumably didn't do a very good search because I know now that the blower humidifiers I think you can use without distilled water but the ultrasonic ones are substantially worse if you don't use distilled water. It's possibly that I only searched humidifier and distilled water and found a source saying that its not necessary but not realizing that it may have been specific to blower type humidifiers.
What we've taken to doing, which has worked pretty well for us, is exclusively using reverse osmosis water from the store - we fill up from one of those dispensers at the grocery store (WinCo, in our case)
5 gallons for $2, which is super reasonable in my opinion. This has allowed us to go a week or so between cleanings without any buildup or slime issues. Before when we were using "filtered" water, it was a constant battle to keep them clean.
Distilled water would work as well, but tends to be more expensive in my experience.
Well this article made me sufficiently paranoid. I ran an ultrasonic humidifier all Winter. I did use distilled water, because I found tap water resulted in a heavy calcium spray and it quickly got gunked up. I haven't had that problem at all since switching to distilled. No evidence of slime or mold.
Still, I'll be cleaning this thing thoroughly with white vinegar, and maybe retiring it now that the cold season is coming to a close. I can't handle the dryness of Winter so I'll probably break down and bring it out again next year. I'm really not sure I'll be able to clean it once or twice a week though, as manufacturers recommend. That's a tough sell!
Something that I found very effective instead of a humidifying machine was just an open container of water on top of our heater. (Sometimes with dried orange peel or cloves in for scent.) As the heater ran the water would naturally evaporate into the dry winter air, and so it kept a more comfortable humidity without needing a separate device. Though it is really dependent on having the heat coming from a spot where you can reasonably have a source of humidity.