Air Purifier vs Humidifier: Which One Should you Pick?

It feels exhilarating when you get home to breathe in fresh and relaxing air after a hectic day out in the streets, breathing in all sorts of contaminated air, including petrol fumes, acrid smells from dumpsites, and industrial wastes.

Air purifiers and humidifiers improve the air you breathe at home, though they work differently. So, it will depend on the requirements to choose the right suitable that will impact your home. So, would you go for an air purifier or humidifier for asthma? Let’s try to answer this in the following few paragraphs.

Air Purifier vs Humidifier

An air purifier’s work is to trap and get away with contaminants in the air, leaving freshly cleaned air. The air purifier features a fan and a filter. Still, due to technology, today’s air purifiers might have air ionizers that trap dust, pollen, and pet dander by first charging them so that they get heavy and fall to the ground. An air purifier allows air to pass through it, contaminants are removed from the filter, and clean air is returned to the room.

A humidifier adds moisture to the air by boiling water into steam and vibrating it with ultrasonic technology or evaporating water using a fan and a wick.

Air Purifier vs Humidifier – Explained

Humidifier

Some of the benefits one gets from the use of a humidifier are:

• The heating units tend to dry air in a room when moistening skin and hair during winter. This causes your hair and skin to dry; a humidifier will help reduce your body’s risk of dryness.
• A humidifier can also help reduce the risk of you being able to catch the flu. Study shows that high humidity levels make virus particles less likely to be infectious. Most people buy air humidifiers for babies so their little kiddos do not contract so many airborne diseases.

Types of Humidifiers

1.Central Humidifiers

They are built from air conditioners or heating systems; their work is to add humidity to the air.

2. Evaporators

They blow moisture through a moistened filter.

3. Impellers

They are rotating disks that run at high speeds to vaporize water.

4. Ultrasonic

It uses ultrasonic vibrations to produce cool, moist air. They are usually quieter since they have a fan.

• See Also: Are Humidifiers Safe For Dogs?

Factors to consider while choosing an Air Humidifier

• Size

Different humidifiers determine different sizes of rooms to be used to affect significantly. Room humidifiers are small and should be easily portable to transport them to any point. Larger humidifiers can be used for the entire home or in large organizations.

• Mineral Dust

Mineral dust is a film of dust seen on furniture after the humidifier has run for a long time. The solution is to ensure that this humidifier does not produce any mineral dust. Also, ensure that the water you use running the humidifier is distilled.

• Automatic shut off

Automatic humidifiers help save energy and prevent you from getting into fire accidents, especially when water in the humidifier gets used up. Humidifiers without automatic shutdown options are risky since they do not shut themselves off when the water is off.

• Level of Noise

Check on how noisy your humidifier can be before buying. Choose a humidifier that will not distract your everyday activities due to noise. When you have a baby, you want a quiet humidifier that does not distract your sleep.

• Maintenance

Humidifiers need to be cleaned with water; cleaning the humidifier is difficult. Filters also need to be changed regularly; this will bring effectiveness to your surroundings. Choose a humidifier that is easy to clean and with low maintenance costs.

Our Top Three Choices of Best Humidifiers

1. HUPRO Cool & Warm Ultrasonic Humidifier
2. Levoit humidifiers for large room bedroom (6l) warm and cool mist
3. Everlasting Comfort Cool Mist Humidifier for Bedroom 

Air purifiers

From the beginning of this article, you now know what an air purifier is and how it works to ensure that air is cleaned up by removing all pollutants and trapping dust particles, pet danders, pollens, and other allergens.

Types of Filters in Air Purifiers

1. HEPA Filters

These types of filters trap pollutants up to 0.3 microns in size. These particles can only be seen through a hand lens since bare eyes cannot easily see them.

2. Activated Charcoal filter

This type of filter traps odors in the room, leaving the room with fresh, clean air. You will want it if kitchen smoke or cigarette smoke is produced in your house and irritates one of the family members.

3. Electrostatic precipitators

These are used to charge particles passing by the filters. Electrostatic plates must be changed regularly to maintain the filter’s efficiency.

4. UV light air purifier

They use UV rays to kill germs floating in the air. Be careful not to go for UV light purifiers that release ozone air since this can cause lung damage and irritability in your respiratory system.

5. Ozone generators

Purifiers containing ozone generators help get rid of odors. They are mainly used in large rooms such as hotels. Exposure to areas with prolonged levels of ozone can cause damage to your lungs and other respiratory problems.

Factors to consider while choosing an air purifier

• Compatibility

Different air purifiers are designed to be used in different room capacities. You can buy an air purifier for a slightly larger room to save energy bills. This will make the cleaner effective even at low-speed settings.

• Noise level

Noise levels depend on operational settings;  lower-speed settings have lower noise than high-speed settings. While purchasing an air purifier, check on the decibels it produces at high and low settings. This ensures that the air purifier is not disrupting your home, especially during sleeping times.

• HEPA filters

Look for genuine HEPA filters, not HEPA-type filters. True HEPA filters capture down to  0.3 microns in the air. HEPA-type filters are a poor imitation of genuine HEPA filters and will capture as many air impurities as possible.

• Asthma and allergy certification

Asthma and Allergy Foundation, in association with Allergy Standards Limited, has created a certification program. Before they certify a product, they have to run the air purifiers and make tests to prove that they remove the most harmful particles. Go for filters that are Asthma and Allergy certified; they won’t fail you.

Read also: Best Air Purifiers for Pet Allergies and Asthma

• CADR

This shows the overall speed of cleaning the air for a particular room size. CADR is measured in Cubic Feet Per Minute. CADR of air purifiers is based on standards set by the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers(AHAM).

• ACH

This shows the number of times the entire room gets filtered per hour. A higher ACH will give a faster rate of filtration. Make sure you do frequent filtration. This helps reduce the chances of leaving pathogens in your environment.

• Rate of ozone emission

Before buying an air filter, test whether it emits ozone gas. Ozone gas causes damage to one’s respiratory system.

• Maintenance

Check on how you have to replace your filters often. Some air purifiers have washable filters; check how long your filter can stay before washing. This prevents your air purifier from damaging or producing odors due to overused filters. When choosing an air purifier, check the maintenance cost for energy consumption and filter replacement.

Our Top Choice of The Best Air Purifier

1. Coway AP-1512HH Mighty Air Purifier
2. Winix 5500-2 Air Purifier with True HEPA
3. Medify MA-25 Air Purifier with H13 HEPA filter

Air Purifier vs Humidifier Comparison

Air Purifier vs Humidifier – Can you use them together?

Yeah sure. Because both perform entirely different functions and are all productive and help improve and maintain one’s health.

Note that you shouldn’t use visible mist humidifiers together with any air purifiers in the same room. But an evaporative humidifier can be used with a cleaner in the same room. The reason for taking this caution is that a humidifier produces a mist, which can make an air purifier dampen its filters, making it ineffective; you can also avoid this by placing them at opposite ends in a room.

For good operation and outcome, ensure that your humidifier and air purifier are well cared for to increase productivity and outcome.

A humidifier only requires frequent cleaning. It is also good to use distilled water rather than tap water to avoid the risk of adding mineral particles to the air, which may cause harm to one’s lungs.

To maintain an air purifier, on the other hand, clean the washable filter or replace it if it is a HEPA  filter.

Humidifier & air purifier combo – A life changer

Thanks to the world’s fast advances in technology, if you are thinking of buying both a humidifier and an air purifier, you will be even happier to know that there are air purifiers and humidifier combo, two in one. If you are looking for the best humidifier and air purifier combo for your baby, you will be happy to know you can get that.

With these combinations, you will trap contaminants in the air, add moisture to the air, and reduce space and the cost of energy consumption.

Factors to consider while choosing the best air purifier humidifier combo

A humidifier and air purifier combo is not just a combination of devices, but it should also perform these tasks effectively to show it is worth the required purposes.

1. Filters — Make sure that the filters can remove all present impurities in the air, leaving fresh air. I would advise you to go for genuine Hepa filters that filter up to 0.3 microns of air impurities.

2. Maximum room size that your machine will work in–choose a machine capable of humidifying and effectively removing contaminants in the room provided.

3. Runtime— Runtime refers to the time you use the humidifier before filling. It depends on the tank size, speed options that the humidifier has, and the time the machine stays in operation.

4. Water tank capacity — Smaller tanks are easy to fill since they are easily portable, though they have a short runtime; more giant tanks operate for an extended period before the next fill, though they are heavier to move around.

5. Noise — Consider the decibel ratings of the air purifier humidifier combo; let it not be a distraction to your home.

6. The auto shutdown feature humidifier combo should at least have an auto timer to switch off; this advantage will help save energy when the device is not needed.

Our Top Choice of Best Air Purifier and Humidifier Combos

1. Sharp Triple Action Plasmacluster Air Purifier with Humidifying Function
2. BONECO H300 – Hybrid Humidifier & Air Purifier

Air Purifier vs Humidifier – Conclusions

People experiencing winter seasons experience dry weather, making their noses feel stuffy, even nose bleeding. Humidifiers are used to increase timidity; they are mainly effective during dry weather.

There is an increase in the level of air pollution nowadays, making people get allergies and deteriorating their health immunity. Air purifiers are used to clean up the air in the room. Both an air purifier and a humidifier can be used to improve air quality. So, air purifier vs. humidifier – which one should you pick? It’s your choice to know which device to own according to your condition.

You can also own both; technology has allowed people to own an air purifier and a humidifier combo. It’s upon you to make your own choice.