Humidifier Recommendations

You can buy a whole house humidifier (at a lowes or home depot kind of place). They are not very expensive and pretty easy to hook up. They only work with some kinds of heating systems, but its worth checking out. We have forced hot air and it works with that (and probably a few other types of heating systems as well). They take barely any maintenance and are MUCH easier than the room humidifiers that you are talking about. I would still use a regular room humidifier for the days when your kids have colds, but for just everyday winter dryness, this the whole house humidifier is great! Good luck

I don't know the brand name, but there's a humidifier that we use that can be put in the dishwasher. It's one of the cheaper ones out there & I believe both Target & Walmart sell it. It says right on the box that it goes in the dishwasher. It's so much easier to clean.

I highly recommend using distilled water in your humidifiers and changing the filter regularly. We have a Vick's brand. It hardly ever needs to be cleaned with the distilled water. They also make tablets that dissolve in the water that I have used that help keep it clean. I haven't needed them with the distilled water. I hope this helps!

Hi J.,

We use the standard Vick's vaporizer and love it and it's very easy maintenance. You can find them at basic drug stores / Walmart, etc.

Target and Bed, Bath & Beyond both sell an adorable one by Crane that's shaped like a frog. It works great in smaller rooms. I think any humidifier you get is going to need to be cleaned frequently, but this one is pretty easy to rinse out.

We have a humidifier in my daughter's room, but for the whole house, just put a big stockpot of water on the stove to boil. Every hour or so, add some more water to it. You can throw a few gallons of water into the air in your house in a day and you'll notice the difference immediately--waaaay faster than the usual humidifier. One of the things I also do is throw in a couple of cinnamon sticks or some orance peel and it will make the whole house smell nice (which works as a nice reminder to you to add more water to the pan as it boils off).

We are using the one by the American Red Cross. We purchased it at Target and it is great. The water does need to be changed each day and the unit must be cleaned each week. Does this help? I hope so.

Hi J.;

I'm not sure how much $$ you want to spend, but I have 5 humidifiers in my house, as my 5 year old has allergies and eczema etc. I must say the Venta humidifier we have upstairs is by far the best lo - no maintenance ever and it works great the only downfal is it is expensive. The one we have was $400.00, but so well worth the money! I think they make smaller ones, for like 200, but here's a link http://www.venta-airwasher.com/. We got ours at Bed Bath and Beyond like 2 years ago. I will eventually be replacing the other 4 with Venta's! Cleaning is a breeze and there are NO additional filters to buy!!!!

Good Luck.
D.

I recommend finding a cold-mist vaporizer. Warm air increases inflammation and swelling in the nasal membranes and capillaries, making a little one more stuffed up and prone to nosebleeds. I have a Purasonic (spell?) Mister that has a function that sterilizes the water with ozone. I think you have to find a dealer to purchase it though. A websearch should help you find a local dealer. Because it puts more moisture in the air, the room still feels warmer than the other rooms.

I love my Bionaire-it is the only humidifier that has lasted more than one winter with my family-mainly for the same reasons-I get tired of cleaning it every day, and this one also has a setting where you can set the humidity, and it will auto shut off when it reaches that level.

Good luck,
M.