Best Home Humidifier
Winter air that's been heated is dry air, and the fix is to keep indoor humidity between 30 and 50 percent. Hold that number wherever the unit sits. Past it, the right humidifier is the one sized to the space you're filling. A room takes the Levoit hybrid. The second pick is the Honeywell evaporative unit, and evaporative units add moisture invisibly. A whole house takes the AprilAire. A bedroom, a living room and a whole house are three different jobs. Sizing each one is the whole decision.
Best Humidifier for Living Room
The best humidifier for a living room covers the space and runs long enough that you stop noticing it, and that's the Carepod. A 4-liter tank runs up to 30 hours and covers spaces up to 500 square feet, so a living room gets mist all day on one fill. Three mist settings and a built-in timer let you set the output and shut it off on a schedule instead of by hand. The tank is stainless steel and dishwasher safe in three pieces, so cleaning it is a dishwasher cycle rather than a scrub.
The best humidifier for a bedroom is the Vicks TopFill.
Best Humidifier for Large Room
The best humidifier for a large room is an evaporative one, and the pick is the Honeywell evaporative unit. It adds moisture through a , and that filter is soaked and replaced as part of cleaning the unit. Evaporative units disperse less of what a standing-water tank can grow than ultrasonic and impeller units do.
The best evaporative humidifier for a large room is the same unit, because output is the whole question at this size. When you want the whole house covered, the alternative to using a humidifier room by room is a central unit installed in the home's heating and air-conditioning system, which controls humidity throughout the house. The best humidifier for a whole house is the AprilAire, a fan-powered evaporative unit rated at 21 gallons a day at high speed and 19 at low speed, pulling heat from the furnace plenum.
Size a whole-house unit by the building's treated volume in cubic feet and by how tight it is, not by floor area: a tight 8,000-cubic-foot building needs 3.3 gallons a day, and a tight 56,000-cubic-foot building needs 23.4.
Best Humidifier for Small Bedroom
The best humidifier for a small bedroom is the Vicks TopFill, which you refill at the tank or at the sink through a wide flip-top lid. A 0.6-gallon tank runs up to 24 hours per filling on the low setting with no filter to buy. It's aimed at small rooms, which is the point: a machine sized to a bedroom rather than to a house.
Dry air makes mouth breathing more likely, and mouth breathing makes you snore and raises the odds of waking with a cough, a nosebleed, or a dry mouth. Sleep is where those three land.
For adults in a small bedroom, the best humidifier for a small bedroom is the same 0.6-gallon unit, and tank size is the whole test. A baby's room raises one more question, and it's about the mist rather than the tank.
Best Ultrasonic Humidifier for Bedroom
The best ultrasonic humidifier for a bedroom is the one that keeps the room quiet and refills in place, and that's the Dreo. It is an unit rated at 28 dB. Its maximum coverage is 300 square feet and its mist is 5-micrometer ultrafine. A 4-liter tank runs up to 36 hours, and the tank top-fills without coming off the base, so the jug goes to the unit instead of the unit going to the sink.
For a baby's room, the best ultrasonic humidifier for a bedroom is the same unit. A humidifier for a baby's congestion relieves a stuffy nose and helps break up mucus so it can be coughed up, and this one is quiet enough to leave in the room overnight.
Tap water is the thing to keep out of the tank. It leaves white dust on surfaces and crusty scale inside the unit, and scale can become a breeding ground for microorganisms.
If the humidifier is going in a baby's room
Choose cool mist rather than warm mist: a warm-mist unit can burn anyone who gets too close. Fill the tank with distilled water to keep a tank's minerals and microorganisms out of the air. Place it several feet from the bed, around 2 meters, and set it to 40 to 50 percent so the setting stops the unit instead of the clock.
Is It Healthy to Sleep with a Humidifier
Sleeping with a humidifier at night is healthy when the room sits at 40 to 50 percent and unhealthy above 60. Dry air irritates the nose and lungs and aggravates whatever is already going on there, and moisture is the answer to that. A humidifier is good for a cough for the same reason it clears a stuffy nose: it thins mucus, so coughing and blowing your nose move something. Moisture also soothes irritated airways and leaves them less reactive during an asthma or allergy flare-up.
Empty the tank and wipe every surface dry and refill it daily: that routine is what reduces the growth of microorganisms. The risks of sleeping with a humidifier start above 60 percent, where condensation leads to mold growth. Excess moisture also feeds dust mites and molds in a home, and a tank that holds standing water grows microorganisms a mist can carry into your lungs.
If water beads on your windows or walls
Water on windows, walls or pictures means the humidity has gone past where you want it: move the unit, turn its humidity setting down, or use it less often.
Best Levoit Humidifier
The best Levoit humidifier is Levoit's hybrid: 1.58 gallons of water, an effective range of 430 to 753 square feet, and up to 50 hours on the low mist setting before the tank runs dry.
The hybrid part is the switch between warm and cool mist. In auto mode the unit turns the warm mist off to keep the noise down. For a nursery, run it in cool mist. That combination is what makes it the best Levoit humidifier for a bedroom and for a baby's room at once.
Are Air Purifier and Humidifier Combos Good
An air purifier and humidifier combo for home is judged on two halves, and the filtering half has a published bar to clear: a HEPA filter removes at least 99.97 percent of dust, pollen, mold, bacteria and other airborne particles 0.3 microns in size. The humidifying half is a portable unit. The portable pick is the Dreo.
What Are Consumer Reports' Top-Rated Humidifiers
What decides the unit here is the space you're treating, so start with yours. A small bedroom takes the Vicks TopFill, a bedroom takes the Dreo, a room takes Levoit's hybrid, and a whole house takes the AprilAire. Match the unit to the space and the choice is settled.
Questions
What indoor humidity level should a home humidifier hold?
A home humidifier should hold indoor humidity between 30 and 50 percent. That is the range for heated winter air, and it is the number to hold wherever the unit sits. For sleep the target narrows to 40 to 50 percent, because above 60 percent condensation leads to mold growth, and excess moisture also feeds dust mites and molds.
Is it healthy to sleep with a humidifier?
Sleeping with a humidifier is healthy when the room sits at 40 to 50 percent and unhealthy above 60 percent. Dry air irritates the nose and lungs and aggravates whatever is already going on there, and moisture is the answer to that. Empty the tank and wipe every surface dry and refill it daily, which reduces the growth of microorganisms.
Is a humidifier good for a cough?
A humidifier is good for a cough because it thins mucus, so coughing and blowing your nose move something. Moisture also soothes irritated airways and leaves them less reactive during an asthma or allergy flare-up. Dry air makes mouth breathing more likely, and mouth breathing raises the odds of waking with a cough, a nosebleed or a dry mouth.
How often should a humidifier tank be cleaned?
A humidifier tank should be emptied, wiped dry and refilled daily. That routine is what reduces the growth of microorganisms, and a tank that holds standing water grows microorganisms a mist can carry into your lungs. Tap water is the thing to keep out of the tank, because it leaves white dust on surfaces and crusty scale inside the unit, and scale can become a breeding ground for microorganisms.
What is the alternative to using a humidifier room by room?
The alternative to using a humidifier room by room is a central unit installed in the home's heating and air-conditioning system, which controls humidity throughout the house. Size it by the building's treated volume in cubic feet and by how tight it is, not by floor area. A tight 8,000-cubic-foot building needs 3.3 gallons a day, and a tight 56,000-cubic-foot building needs 23.4.
Should a humidifier in a baby's room use cool mist or warm mist?
A humidifier in a baby's room should use cool mist rather than warm mist, because a warm-mist unit can burn anyone who gets too close. Fill the tank with distilled water to keep a tank's minerals and microorganisms out of the air, and place the unit several feet from the bed, around 2 meters. Set it to 40 to 50 percent so the setting stops the unit instead of the clock.