Do you have a humidifier? If so what kind?

I have a Sunbeam Health at Home humidifier. It works okay, for a small room, but with the sort of furnace I have (think 78,000 BTU space heater) I could probably use another humidifier. I use it mostly during the winter in my office to keep the MHC humidity levels up. They hate it dry; in fact, too dry of air will cause them to die.

It has a high and low setting, holds about a gallon of water, the only drawback is the heating element gets covered with hard water crud pretty quick, and keeping it clear of that crud is somewhat of a pain in the ass.

I have two humidifiers, one is a cool mist the other has a heating element. Don’t know the brands off the top of my head but they’re the basic ones available at Target or Walmart or such.. The one with the heating element seems much more effective, both require cleaning on a regular basis, but the cool mist one will start to grow mold on the wick very quickly, even with a water treatment, if it isn’t emptied and run dry.

I have an AprilAire model 5000 central humidifier on my furnace. I have to change the filter pad at least once yearly, but other than that, it pretty much takes care of itself.

I have a Kenmore warm mist 3 gallon humidifier that I would recommend. The filter needs changed about every 2 months, but it’s really no big deal. I have had it about 6 years and drag it out once I turn the heat on for the winter. I get very congested when I don’t use it. I don’t know if it is safe to have with babies.

@RedPowerLady Humidifiers are safe & effective for baby nurseries.
Here are some marketed for this purpose. They work best (remain cleaner) if you use this drop in or a solution and only use distilled water.

a himidifier and a vicks vaporizer are essential if you have a child.

@casheroo Oh I never thought of the vapor rub, thanx for that tip.

Not just the vapor rub, which does come for babies..but a vicks vaporizer. We use ours any time our son gets a cough or congestion still.

Baby vicks was one of the first things I bought when I found out I was pregnant. The vaporizer is essential @casheroo!

My mom used to use a humidifier when we were congested. It did help, just as getting into a steamy shower helps. It was the old fashioned sort that in essence boiled water until steam came out into the room.

One thing to keep in mind, however, is that some of the modern ones need to be kept scrupulously clean as mentioned above about the “cool wick” humidifier.

This is really good information. Thank you so much.

Just an update. After having this information I did a bit more research based on what you all told me about cool vs. warm and cleaning and such. Hubby went out and bought us a warm mist humidifier that has a compartment for the Vicks. It worked wonderfully!!

@RedPowerLady Sounds like the one I have, I like it way better than the cool mist.

@gussnarp Ya hubby said it wasn’t too spendy either which is nice. From the research it seems the warm mists are better for colds and such, I know it helped with mine last night.