Cool Mist Humidifier

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Rncail

New member
Joined
Aug 8, 2018
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Ontario
Does anyone know of a cool mist humidifier that *doesn't* soak the carpet?

We started out with a Sunbeam Cool Mist Ultrasonic, and I'm not sure if it's leaking or if the water mist is simply dropping to the floor and collecting, but the carpet is wet after one use. Obviously I don't want the mold issues that might come from prolonged use of this one.

I've also read reviews on the Vicks Cool Mist Humidifier , and unfortunately it seems that many people have the same complaint about that one.

Having used warm mist humidifiers for years for my own sinuses, I know that a humidifier can work without soaking the floor, but my only experiences have been with warm mist. We trying to go with a cool mist for the nursery, but will look at other options if none of those work successfully.

So do all cool mist humidifiers (ultrasonic or impeller) result in a wet floor??
 
I can't really help with what humidifier to use, but you really don't want to use any humidifier around a chinchilla period. If the humidity gets above 50% you are likely going to be dealing with fungal and mold issues with your chinchilla. Ideally you want the humidity to stay around 40%, just like with temperature, lower is better.

If you personally need a humidifier in the same room as the chin, like if it's in your bedroom, I would move the chinchilla to another room.
 
It gets 20% in our house in winter and I develop bronchitis in such conditions so we always run a humidifier from late fall until spring rains bring our 1800s hardwood house back to normal. My reptile and chinchilla hobbies sometimes conflict a bit too so it's a fine balance some parts of the year with part of the house even running a dehumidifier in the summer. I find the ultrasonic ones are more useful for quickly raising a small area rather than spreading far so if you want it to be 60% where you are sitting and 40% a room over they work best.

On the cheaper end for just raising a portion of a room try taotronics or the smaller of the innogear brand on amazon. I have a tiny aromatherapy style innogear next to me on my desk that only raises humidity for about 5-10' around my chair before it's back to matching the rest of the house. You have to watch where you get water in these cheaper humidifier/aromatherapy misters because they tend not to seal all of the designs as well as they should. Flooding the underlying electronics is usually what causes them to cease functioning completely and some can be touchy about water levels. Those 2 brands though don't usually spit water when the level is not ideal or have tanks with seals that can leak as easy as some. My tiny one doesn't even use a tank but just a basin you refill daily so with a splash shield on the lid there is nothing to leak. Just a fan gap under the lid that if you pour water out wrong or spill while filing can kill it instantly.

Also if you use distilled or too pure of water in some brands that don't make a fine enough mist the large droplets will pick up dirt, get too heavy, and land around the device. The ultrasonic plates or even worse those that combine cotton swab filters with ultrasonic wear out faster with hard water but the water spreads better in some situations. Don't go by how fine of mist they say they produce since they all claim the same thing.

Then I have an old (8+ years) air innovations brand that is ultrasonic like the less robust taotronics and innogear that runs as good as the day it was bought, never leaked, never collects water around it, and despite being desk size could fog up a small bedroom. Currently it is DIY rigged to go straight into a reptile enclosure. It was probably closer to $200 compared to the less than $40 of the other brands I mentioned and my computer desk innogear was less than $20.

For raising the whole house 10-20% we have the smaller of the kenmore quiet care series and the almost identical essick aircare. They are the fan driven, evaporative 2-4gallon tank size ones that look the same and even use the same wicking filters. Might even have interchangeable tanks despite listing a different gallon capacity. They have a humidistat built in so you can set them to 40% and auto shutoff instead of how the ultrasonic ones just let you adjust the mist to more or less depending on current need. Used off CL is usually fine if you rinse it with vinegar and replace the filter. I've found them for $20-$25 in summer when they are otherwise $80-$100 humidifiers new.
 
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