Humidifiers: Simpler is better?

You make so many good points. Especially the bright light on the humidifier. Love your jokes too. Thank you for your content and excellent delivery that makes what one would think is a boring topic interesting and engaging.

I had a frigidaire speed bake oven that did let the fan stay on the entire baking cycle. Then we ripped out our kitchen. My college age son, who basically lived off chicken tenders and was working plus going to school and also working at school on theatre productions, never had time for anything besides fast or convenience foods. While the kitchen was out, he got really tired of sandwiches and microwave food and finally convinced me to buy one. I love that it was so fast to use. Unfortunately, my speed bake oven died 2 months after our kitchen was back in, and it is an extinct feature, so we got one to match our other appliances a GE with airfry. The GE fan doesn't stay on and takes much longer than my old Frigidaire speed bake for that reason. I think the airfryer is here to stay.

now there just needs to be a de-humidifier video

It is common practice in Midwestern homes of new construction to build the humidifier into the HVAC system.

The energy consumption of a humidifier is irrelevent because energy is used to evaporate air which comes from the furnace. Furnace efficiency makes the end cost relevent.

Those console humidifiers have always been like that (having to fill the bottom too). It’s a bit of a pain but they work great.

I'm shocked there was no representation for the "metal bowl on radiator" method that Chicagoans use here! /lh

I'm not sure I can follow your argument that energy consumption is important if you talk about a device you plan to use while you need to heat your home. I mean it pales compared to heating system consumption and will actually lower the heat required by its consumption - as the energy loss will stay in your house.

So it doesn't matter if it uses 100 Wh or 200 Wh per liter or something banale like that, if you pump multiple kWh per day into your heating system.


Only exception of course if the electricity cost is a multiple higher than your heating medium cost, which shouldn't be the case for the US.

The mold/bacteria thing is pretty serious. I let water sit in an ultrasonic humidifier for a while before using it again, without a fresh bactericidal pack, and I'm pretty sure it gave us Legionnaire's Disease. Wiped out the family for a weekend. Could have been worse very easily. So yeah, gotta keep them clean and replace those antimicrobials.

There’s a second channel?? 🤯

Forgot to Total waste of money

Humidifier? I hardly know her!

Always. At this point I just throw a bucket of water on the floor every hour or so. Can't beat that effectiveness.

All this so you dont drink another glass of water?

I never use them because dust mites love humidity. My job is to make my room as inhospitable to dust mites as possible.

I think it would be better to have the water drip onto the wick from above and not depend on capillary action.

You can also just wet a towel completely and hang it to dry. Any room with a wet towel will be, humidified

This will never be needed in Scotland. :)

Menards is my favorite place to shop, I can never leave without grabbing some of that old fashioned candy.

Always use 5 stage RO/DI/UV

water from undersink I installed..seems to reduce maintenance required on Humidifier

I know this is over three year old but you did a surprisingly incompetent job at evaluating this technology. Usually you go quote in depth and talk about all the options. But in this video you seem to have done the absolute minimum required to seem objective.
I've lived with each type of humidifier you mention in multiple climates, from NJ to Phoenix, AZ to Asheville, NC.
You seem to overlook a major technology that affects a lot of our lives: reverse osmosis systems. One you have one of those (for all the myriad benefits they provide), humidification is a whole different game.
I freely admit I've not done any kWh/L calculations but My (admitiditly) subjective evaluation is that a high quality (meaning not the dime store junk you evaluated in this video) ultrasonic (ant heated) humidifier provides the highest combination of comfort (sound, refills and energy) of the lot. I currently use a heated US unit that will empty a 2.5G tank in less than 12 hours, it's completely silent except for the occasional an intermittent sounds of the water heating in the vaporization compartment. The swamp cooler/evaporative systems (in my experience) require a lot more cleaning than an ultrasonic unit, and the disposable wick is an environmental issue that, simply, doesn't exist with an ultrasonic unit. There are no disposable/consumable parts with an US umidifier, it's simply an act of physical de-scaling and cleaning.
I, generally, respect your process and determinations but I think you were really and truly off the mark on this one.
And yes, I'm basing this on having an in-home RO water purifier but I think everyone should have one. I cannot count on two hands the number of times my local water utility has (after the fact) said "hey, our water was, technically, unsafe during XXX timeframe, hope you boiled your drinking water during that time. Yes, RO units "waste" water (you can collect an use it for other purposes if you're determined) but you are all but guaranteed mineral and pathologically clean water for any use you see fit, including humidifying your house air.
I suggest that any objective ratings would include:: acquiring suitable water, frequency of refilling, ability to maintain relative humidity across changing conditions, convieneinve of placement.
To wit: My Ultrasonic unit has a ~1.2gal tank capacity(top fill), runs at about 30dB at 1ft, at draws about 60W when the heater is on (which is intermittent). My experience it this small (1fttL.8inW/14inH) unit that sits on my side table evaporates about 6G a day. and no bright blue lights at night.
Research will set you free, and for you video you seem to have done no more than visit your local Wallmart. Please do better. more like the research you've done on film vs HD, that redivulous red frige, Beta___, or any number of other topics. Sorry, but this video was the precursor for your "no thought November" series and you failed at the big picture.
One of the fundamentals you missed is that eval units become increasingly inefficient as the ambient humidity rises, asypyotically so. Whereas (for better or worse) ultrasonic units pump out the same mass of water regardless of the ambient humidity, just creating larger clouds... and possibly puddles. I don't know that you have the resources but I think this topic needs a TCO)(Total Cost of Ownership) evaluation combined with a subjective "quality of life" rating. TCO needs to include both an in-home RO unit vs buying distilled water as well as the longer term (vs instantaneous) power usage you speak to in the video.
This is one of this topics that seems simple on the surface but quickly becomes a maze of rabbit holes when you start digging and asking serious quesions instead of seeking views.

Get a stone cup on a string to your heaters. Problem solved :)

The reason Alec has so many humidifiers is to compensate for his sense of humor



Love this channel tho

I found that the moisture emitted is only as pure as the water you put in the tank, What's in the water will be vaporised... chlorine, minerals, chemicals... I bought a "humidifier" and ran it almost 24/7 for six months, assuring I kept it above the "ADD" mark. In six months, my throat became sore and on every surface in my living room, a white coating... Upon closer inspection of the humidifier, a hard-white coating had formed amongst the light white powdery film covering 'said' machine. I stopped using this machine. It's on my closet shelf "mothballed" for potential later use. John

(The operating duration will be affected by atmospheric conditions)

please do dehumidifiers too

i have a hunter evaporative permawick humidifier that actually has the pump idea you were talking about. the way this one specifically works.. the humidifiers wick doesnt actually stay submerged as it has a pump driven by the fan motor to draw water up n run it over a drip tray that drops water down into the filter from the top, keeping its wick fully saturated only during its run cycle. and the best part is with it being a permawick theres no damp paper to harbor mold

Blue LEDs are my favorite 😅

you could just pull the hose off your dryer in the winter and when you are drying you clothes you would both heat and humidify with energy you were already going to use. Might smell a bit like laundry detergent.

RE: mold/mildew ; How about fitting a cheap light timer and UV lamp or two to shine on the wick and troff(cant spell)? Future video? Thank you , well done!

I have to agree I really ha.. i mean "highly dislike" those blue displays too

In defense of the warm-mist/vaporizer/boiler types of humidifiers : If you use them in the cold winter, they double up as a mini space heater therefore their higher energy consumption will be mitigated by their contribution to heating your home, which you need to do anyway. I also think they are the less gross types of humidiers. I have one that uses a standard heating element so it is not finicky in regards to salt content. I just fill it with tap water once or twice a day.

Most people wash, boil water enough to keep moisture up

Cool mist are brilliant. Work great, low power draw and no media for mold to grow on or replace. Even hard tap water is fine. You just need to use a bit of vinegar every few moths to clean it.

Cool mist are brilliant. Work great, small size, low power draw despite going through 3 gallons a day, dead quiet and no media for mold to grow on or repurchase. Even hard tap water is fine. You just need to use a bit of vinegar every few months to clean it.

If you'll just replace your carpet with copper wool, ground it well and go barefoot, you'll solve the static shock issue.

I've been using a similar device for years, but slightly different. Instead of a wick, there is a giant rotating drum sitting in the water pool (with the fan above it). The drum is made of around 50 or so lamellae which each have a lot of surface area. Not too sure if this is an improvement over a wick or not, but it's doing a great job!

10/10 love the common tech breakdowns so much

Haven't even watched the video yet but I already know you will answer ALL of my questions, even the ones I don't have yet.

This guy thinks he's Andy Rooney.

Lol, the closed captioning

"with the blue ell eee deez."

I bought a similar walmart humidifier the other day. But unfortunately the cheap switch to power it on was not working very well. Spent a few dollars more to get the Vicks brand. Seems to be working well for me.

Question… can we add a HEPA filter/ air dust micro filter to clean the air? Ya know carbon filter or something