Vaporizer Vs. Humidifier

In winters, the air becomes very dry. On top of that, if you are suffering from cold, nasal congestion or allergies, you are most probably in a bad state. Your health care professional or a friend may recommend that you should keep the air in your home humid. This can either be achieved by a humidifier or a vaporizer.

Before we get into the details, let us tell you they basically work on different principles, but have the same goal of humidifying the room. Both of them have their positive points as well as their drawbacks.

► Humidifiers are actually machines, that are used to moisten or humidify the air in the house. These are normally used in cooler climates, when due to the usage of heater, the air in the house becomes too dry for comfort and also, it becomes very difficult to breathe.

Vaporizers help in moistening the dry air in the house, but vaporizers release hot vapor into the air. There is a heating element in the vaporizers, which helps in releasing steam. On the other hand, humidifiers release cool moisture droplets into the air. The basic difference between them is that one emits cold vapors, while the other one emits hot vapors.

► Apart from this difference, there are some other points, which you would want to consider, now that you have got into the humidifier vs. vaporizer debate. If you are planning to buy a machine for your child's room, then humidifier is the best choice.

The reason is, a vaporizer always has warm or boiling water in it. If the child accidentally goes near the machine or puts his face on the steam emitting from the machine, there are chances of the child getting hurt. Hence, often humidifiers are chosen in houses with small children.

► If you compare the costs, most certainly a humidifier is a cheaper option. At the same time, in terms of costs incurred later, a humidifier turns out cheaper, as there is no cost of heating the water involved in a humidifier, which is true of a vaporizer.

► A vaporizer scores over a humidifier in that, it kills bacteria and there is no growth of mold, as boiling of the water kills the bacteria and prevents the formation of molds. Whereas, there are chances of mold or bacterial growing, if you have a humidifier and you need to clean it every day using soap water.

However, in both the cases, it important to make sure that the water reservoirs are kept clean. Both of them will humidify the room and there are chances of bacteria or mold growth. Therefore, cleanliness will have to be maintained in either of the cases. It is best to wash the water containers at regular intervals with a disinfectant soap for hygiene.

Hopefully, this comparison gave you an idea as to what is best suited for your climate and budget. You may come across terms like cool mist vaporizer and warm mist humidifier. Cool mist vaporizers are actually humidifiers. Same is the case with warm mist humidifiers which are nothing but vaporizers. It's just a different way of referring to the same machine.