Ultrasonic vs Evaporative Humidifier for Baby: What’s Best?
What kind of humidifier is good for baby or for you – ultrasonic vs evaporative humidifier for baby?
If you are a parent, you know that you ask this question a lot. And you ask it regarding every product that you buy to use with your baby.
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So, what is best between ultrasonic vs evaporative humidifier for baby? The best kind of humidifier for baby is the safest kind. Make no mistake about it. Before you think about volume, before you think about cool mist humidifier or warm mist humidifier for baby’s room, you will think about safety.
You see, when you are out there in the kitchen or in the garden doing your chores, you want peace of mind.
You do not want to worry too much that your baby will cause him or herself harm with the evaporative humidifier.
Thankfully, baby safety is something that manufacturers have really put into mind. Thus, as a parent, you can be assured of safety of your baby if you do the following:
- Choose the best type of humidifiers for baby’s room
- Play your part in enforcing safety in baby’s room. This means placing the humidifier in the best place possible
- Buy a humidifier that is specifically made to be used in baby’s room
Evaporative vs Ultrasonic Humidifier for Baby’s Room
Choosing the best humidifier for baby’s room does not just come down to picking either a cool mist, warm mist evaporative or ultrasonic humidifier.
There is much more involved.
But first, here are brief explanations about ultrasonic and evaporative humidifiers:
What Is An Ultrasonic Humidifier?
It is a type of a cool mist humidifier that is designed with a ceramic diaphragm that vibrates at a very high frequency to turn water into tiny droplets.
These droplets are blown into your room as mist using a small fan inside the appliance.
Many parents choose an ultrasonic humidifier for the reason that it is quiet when in operation. But so are others, but this one is quieter.
When you buy it, you can be sure that it is not going to wake baby up.
How do ultrasonic humidifiers work?
However, silence is not the only benefit that you get with an ultrasonic humidifier. To touch a bit on how it works, ultra high frequency sound is passed on cold water in the tank, which causes a fine cool mist to form.
This cool mist is then dispelled into the room by a small fan. This makes the dry air more breathable for your baby.
Is there a difference between ultrasonic vs cool mist humidifier?
Not really! But most cool mist units are non-ultrasonic humidifiers.
The biggest benefit about using an ultrasonic humidifier for your baby’s room is that it is cool mist. Therefore, there is no danger of having hot water in the same room as your baby.
Is there then any downside to this humidifier all is it all glamour and glory? Apparently there is! For example, it does not have a filter in its design.
OK, that is a double-edged sword right there. On the one hand, you do not have bugging filters to clean or replace. That means low running costs, which is a benefit.
On the other hand, lack of filters in the ultrasonic humidifiers means that the mineral deposits found in our water are dispersed into the room together with the fine cool mist.
There… you have it. Your baby could be breathing in some minerals with the cool mist.
However, to counter the above disadvantage, just make sure you use demineralized water in the tank.
You may also look for ultrasonic humidifiers with a special cartridge that captures all the minerals. That way, only clean and unadulterated mist is dispersed into the baby’s room.
Remember, minerals in the water also cause the formation of humidifier white dust. However, you can always find the best humidifier without white dust.
If you would like one of these filters, you can buy your ultrasonic filters from Amazon.com.
What is an Evaporative Humidifier?
In the search for the best humidifying unit, you will definitely come across evaporative humidifier vs cool mist? But first, what is an evaporative humidifier?
In the evaporative humidifiers, an integrated fan pulls the dry air in your room into the humidifier. This air passes of a wick filter that is saturated with water and absorbs a lot of it.
The now wet air is then blown into the room thus increasing the humidity level in the room.
Would I recommend an evaporative humidifier for baby’s room? I definitely would. However, I will explain briefly how an evaporative humidifier works.
One of the homemade humidification methods that you can use is to place a bowl of water in your room. As the water evaporates, it saturates the room with moisture. And the air becomes smoother and more breathable.
However, a bowl of water in the room would be a bit too slow. Sometimes, we want to humidify our rooms immediately, and therefore this simple method would not work.
Besides, you would not know how big a bowl should be. You will not be able to set the level of humidity that you want.
How evaporative humidifier works
The modern evaporative humidifier is very effective. It is also referred to as cold evaporation humidifier. This is designed with a wick and a fan.
As you know, a wick is absorbent, so its work is to absorb and draw water upwards to the fan. The fan then whips (for lack of a better word) the water around fast to produce a fine cool mist. This is then dispelled to the room.
Evaporative humidifiers that come with filters are good for baby’s room. The reason is that the filter captures all the mineral deposits found in the water.
We say humidifiers that come with because some do not have filters. The latter may be cheaper to run, but you do not want your baby breathing in all that mineral dust.
You can buy your evaporative humidifier for baby’s room on Amazon.com. The main benefit of buying here, or indeed any other online marketplace is that you get more variety and better prices. You may also read reviews left by other users before spending your money.
Is warm mist humidifier good for baby?
In the above two sections, you have realized that I was practically waxing lyrical about the ultrasonic vs cool mist humidifiers for baby. However, it does not mean that warm mist humidifiers are bad for baby’s room.
In fact, there are times when it is recommended that you use a warm mist humidifier for baby. Congested nose, sinus issues and sore throat are just some of the reasons to use a warm mist humidifier for baby’s room.
The main issue with a warm mist humidifier for baby is safety. You have to be careful where you place it because hot water is quite a hazard. You do not want a pet knocking the humidifier over and scalding your baby.
If you can place the warm mist humidifier away from the reach of pets and baby, you can go ahead and buy one. You will need it.
Ultrasonic vs evaporative humidifier? How to buy
One of the things that most people ask is: Are ultrasonic humidifiers safe? But again, this question is also asked of other types of humidifiers too.
Now that the issue of ultrasonic vs evaporative humidifier has been dealt with, what other factors should we consider when buying one?
After all, knowing the best humidifier for baby requires us to know many things regarding size, price, features and much more.
1. The size of the humidifier
Humidifiers are rated according to the size of room that they should humidify. Thus, when buying one for your baby’s room, you should consider the size of the room itself. Big rooms need big humidifiers and vice versa.
If the baby’s nursery is small, well, perhaps a small desktop humidifier is going to be alright. Usually, room humidifiers are small.
A wickless humidifier like the PureGuardian H920BL Ultrasonic Cool mist that you can buy on Amazon.com can be used to humidify a baby nursery, a bedroom, and even a small office.
Usually, this kind of information will be contained in the description of the product, so be sure to read that first before placing your order for this ultrasonic cool mist humidifier.
You do not want the humidifier to be too large. You want it to fit in the place where it is used without taking up too much space. Thus, a small tabletop model is going to suit your baby’s needs just fine.
2. The humidifier runtime
Between the ultrasonic humidifier vs evaporative humidifier, which can run longer? It depends on the size of the humidifier and the space that you are humidifying.
The runtime is the time that a humidifier tank can last. The longer the better! Usually, we say that if it can run for ten hours without needing to be refilled, that is a good runtime.
Many ultrasonic humidifier vs cool mist types come with two settings, so depending on which you choose the tank can last longer or a shorter time.
Bigger humidifiers can run for days on end without requiring you to fill the tank. However, what you want for baby’s room is something small, one that can save on the space.
If your place has really dry air, you may want to try a humidifier that can last longer so that you do not have to awake in the middle of the night to add water.
However, in case it runs out of water before you are home or before morning, the thermostat enables the appliance to turn itself off.
3. Humidifiers filters prevent white/gray dust
Between the evaporative vs ultrasonic humidifier, the latter causes more humidifier white dust.
Although this sounds like some fancy thing, it is not.
It is the result of the mineral deposits found in most of the municipal water finding their way in the cool mist from the dispenser.
This means that the air that your baby is breathing could have these mineral deposits.
Well, most other humidifier resources will tell you that these minerals land on the furniture and turn into white dust. However, they may not tell you that the same minerals will be present in the air that your baby breathes.
If your humidifier lacks filters, you will be facing the white dust trouble. For baby’s room, you should always look for a humidifier that has filters, or has a cartridge that captures these mineral deposits.
Most importantly though, find out what type of water is available in your area. Hard water is the most notorious for the formation of white dust.
Ultrasonic humidifiers don’t have filters
Most of the ultrasonic humidifiers lack filters. Before you buy one, read the description. However, it is not every time that you will need a humidifier with filters.
So as you seek to know What kind of humidifier is best for baby, if you have soft water, or if you intend to use demineralized water, do not worry about filters.
Evaporative humidifiers are a good choice because most of them have filters. However, still, some of them do not. So, look around carefully before buying one if you have cold water at home.
One important thing to note is that non ultrasonic humidifiers with filters do a good job. However, they cost more to run.
The filters will need to be cleaned and eventually, to be replaced. Humidifiers without filters just required to be cleaned, that is all.
4. Ultrasonic vs evaporative humidifier noise
Humidifier noise is one of the biggest considerations for baby’s room. Your baby should be able to sleep through the night even when the cool mist ultrasonic humidifier is running.
When considering silence during operation, the ultrasonic humidifier comes to the forefront again. When discussing why ultrasonic humidifiers are a good choice for baby’s room, we said that they do not use fans.
That is why they are quiet.
One thing that you should note though is that all humidifiers produce a certain amount of noise especially when they are on high setting. What you should look for is one that produces the minimal noise as compared to others.
If a humidifier produces a gentle hum that is referred to as white noise, experts say that such noise actually lures babies to sleep.
5. Price of ultrasonic vs evaporative humidifier
When all is said and done, knowing what kind of humidifier is best for baby and getting it comes down to the price. Ultrasonic humidifiers are cheap and they come in many sizes and styles.
This does not mean that evaporative humidifiers are costly. On the contrary, you can find very affordable models.
Expensive does not always guarantee high quality, but … dirt-cheap for sure guarantees poor quality. Thus, you want to find a balance between price and quality so that you get a good humidifier affordably.
Thankfully, you can buy the best humidifier for baby on Amazon.com where you will find more variety hence better prices.
Without doubt, evaporative humidifiers are much cheaper as compared to their ultrasonic counterparts. However, on the flip side, they come with filters that require to be cleaned, and replaced from time to time.
They may also generate more noise than the ultrasonic humidifiers.
6. Why you need of a humidifier for baby’s room
This should have come first actually. Now, many people buy ultrasonic or non ultrasonic humidifiers for their baby’s room because there is low humidity. Or because it is winter when the air is generally drier than in the warm seasons.
Consider what humidity level you need in your baby’s room. If the air is not too dry, maybe a small and inexpensive cool mist or warm mist humidifier will do just fine.
That you are considering what to get between ultrasonic vs evaporative humidifier shows you are in need. Thankfully, there is something for everyone in the market.
However, if your baby has been showing dry lips and skin, some problem in breathing because of the dry air, you need a humidifier that can run full time.
Thankfully, there is the best evaporative humidifier or ultrasonic humidifier for every kind of need in the market.
Also note one more thing … just because you feel the air is comfortable enough for you, it does not mean that it is as good for your baby.
Babies have more sensitive airways and lungs. Thus, you might want to ask your doctor how much humidity you need in your baby’s room.
The bottom line is this … if you need to run an ultrasonic or evaporative humidifier for a long time, then you need a high quality one. It will cost you more, but nothing is more valuable than your baby.
Wrapping Up
Eventually, you will buy the wick humidifier or ultrasonic (wickless one) that is best for you and your baby. Thus, apart from the price, you will also consider the convenience.
The solution is to do your own research, until you find something that fits your budget and will help your baby.
Hopefully, this information will help you to know what kind of humidifier is best for baby, between ultrasonic vs evaporative humidifier for baby.
