The problem of excessive air dryness in apartments has been worrying young parents since long ago – to solve this problem, our grandmothers and mothers would hang dry towels on radiators and put basins with water around the room. In our days, the process of maintaining a desired humidity level has become much more simple – anyone can purchase a special device and never worry about dry air again.
Air humidifier is especially important for children, as both newborns and older kids should live in comfortable conditions, otherwise they will have constant problems with health.
How it Works: Operating Principle and Configuration
The main purpose of any air humidifier is to maintain a certain humidity level in a room. Some models may also perform other important functions – for example, warm up or cool down the air.
Operating principle of humidifiers is rather simple: special fan collects dry air from the room, filtrates and cleanses it and releases it back cleaned and filled with moisture.
Air humidifiers’ design vary according to the manufacturer, so one humidifier for baby can look like a minimalistic box, another – like an unusual animal.
Why is Air Humidifier Needed in Kids’ Room?
In doctors’ opinion, climate in a child’s room plays vital role in his correct development and good health.
Humidity level in a room should be at 50-70%, as recommended by doctors. It is especially important during heating season, when hot radiators can dry air up to 10-20%.
The higher the temperature, the dryer the air is, the more liquids are used by the body for moisturization. As a result, child has problems with lungs, blood thickening, dry nasopharynx, and lots of other unpleasant consequences.
To avoid the mentioned problems and strengthen child’s weak immune system, maximum comfortable conditions should be created at home, and air humidifier is the best helper for this.
Reviews: Pros and Cons of Air Humidifier for Kids
Pros
Usage of air humidifier in kids’ room has a range of undeniable advantages, such as:
- Decreases concentration of dirt and bacteria in the air (provides preventative care for respiratory tract and against nasal congestion)
- Prevents skin over-drying (decreases risk of getting skin problems)
- Provokes deep and calm sleep
- Provokes child’s development and learning abilities
Harm: Is It Dangerous and Does It Have any Disadvantages?
While meeting the requirements of operations manual of climatic equipment, humidifiers are completely safe for people.
But specialists highly recommend not to use steam-type devices in kids’ rooms. They release hot steam of 140 degrees, which may easily give child a burn.
Another potential danger is the possibility of air over-moisturizing, which negatively affects child health. This problem is solved by getting a device with built-in hydrostat – when reaching a target level, the device turns off automatically.
Types of Humidifiers for Kids’ Room
Traditional
According to CuteLittleDarling, traditional-type humidifiers are the simplest ones. In them, air passes through special filters and water gets evaporated naturally without heating.
Distinctive advantages of traditional humidifiers are:
- Ability of tap water usage
- Low price
- Evenness of moisturization
- Purification of air from impurities
- Simple maintenance
But to maintain a desired humidity level, the device should work all the time – it’s work is not quiet, so it’s not very suitable for kids’ room.
Noiseless Ultrasonic Humidifiers
Operating principle of ultrasonic devices is to spray moisture through high-frequency vibrations of the membrane.
Ultrasonic vibrations of the emitter in the device’s body create a cloud of fine water droplets through which air passes before entering the room.
The main advantages of such devices are:
- Noiseless work
- High efficiency
- Safety of usage
- Wide functionality
But the main condition for the operation of ultrasonic humidifiers is the usage of filtered water, otherwise their filters will quickly get clogged and fail, and white plaque will form on nearby surfaces.
Steam Cleansers
Operating principle of steam humidifiers is often compared with water simmering in an electric kettle. Such devices heat up water and emit steam that saturates everything with moisture.
The advantages of steam devices are:
- Operation on tap water
- High efficiency
- Automatic turn-off function in case of water boil-off
- The ability of usage as a nebulizer
At the same time, steam humidifiers consume a lot of energy, as their usage in apartments with kids and pets may be dangerous due to the possibility of getting burns.
Climate Systems
Operating principle of climate systems is based on the usage of a special filter that cooperates with a fan. In some cases, it can be replaced by a special construction.
The important thing is that such humidifiers don’t only maintain humidity at a desired level, but also purify it from any impurities. These devices have a wide range of modes, noiseless work, high-quality purification and minimalistic design.
The main disadvantage of climate systems is their high price.
Air Washers
The so-called air washers are disk cleansers. Their operation is that the fan draws air into the device and passes it through rotating disks that get periodically immersed in water. With this, all contaminants drawn from the air remain in the water, while cleaned and moistened air stream enters the room.
It should be noted, that such devices:
- Consume little energy;
- Don’t require disks replacement;
- Work quietly;
- Cleanse air of impurities;
- Don’t require usage of filtered water.
At the same time, air washes have a high cost and impressive sizes, so device of such type may not be suitable for many people.
