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 and are suffering. Your health care professional or a friend may recommend that you should keep the air in your home humid. This starts the vaporizer vs. humidifier debate. Before we get into the details of a humidifier and a vaporizer debate, let me tell you they basically work on different principles, but have the same goal of humidifying the room. The most important thing to understand is that if they were the same, why would there be different names for them? Although, some people do claim that they are the same, it is not so. In other words, vaporizers and humidifiers are not synonyms. Both of them have their positive points as well as their drawbacks.

Vaporizer Vs. Humidifier - Debate

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. Now are you wondering what is a vaporizer? Vaporizers also 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 help in releasing steam. Vaporizers heat the water and then release vapors. 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 answer. 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 cost of a humidifier and a vaporizer, then most certainly a humidifier is a cheaper option as compared to a vaporizer. 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, a vaporizer kills bacteria and there is no growth of mold, as boiling of the water kills the bacteria and prevents the formation of molds. Whereas on the other hand, there are chances of mold or bacteria growing, if you have a humidifier installed in the house. However, you can battle this problem by cleaning the humidifier every day using soap water.

Another area, where a vaporizer scores over a humidifier is, that a humidifier disperses the harmful natural minerals into the air. One of the benefits of humidifier is that the natural minerals are deactivated in a vaporizer, since the water is heated. At the same time, any other harmful content, also does not make way into the air, as boiling kills or deactivates them all. If one wants to make use of a humidifier, but does not want minerals being released into the air, then one can use distilled water in the humidifier.

However, in both the cases, it important to make sure that the water reservoirs are kept clean. Both of them will humidify the room, hence chances of bacteria or mold increases. 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, so that there is no growth of bacteria in there.

Cool Mist Vaporizer Vs. Humidifier and Warm Mist Humidifier Vs. Vaporizer

Having understood the basic difference between vaporizer and humidifier, let's settle the dust on the two common debates in vaporizer vs. humidifier debate. The first of the two debate is cool mist vaporizer vs. humidifier and the other one is warm mist humidifier vs. vaporizer. After my research, I have come to a conclusion. When people refer to cool mist vaporizers, they actually mean a humidifier itself. They are not different from one another. Same is the case with warm mist humidifiers and vaporizers. It is just a different way of referring to the same machine. In other words, cool mist vaporizer is a humidifier and a warm mist humidifier is indeed a vaporizer.

After having read about vaporizer vs. humidifiers, it is now up to you to decide, what would you prefer to get home. If you stay in warmer climates, you would want to go in for a humidifier, as the warm air from the vaporizer might make you uncomfortable. At the same time, if you have small children or pets at home, then you will have to take them into consideration, when you decide to buy any one of them.