How to Choose the Right Humidifier for Your Plants

Plants love humidifiers. The additional moisture a humidifier pumps into your air benefits you as well as your plant babies. But buying a humidifier for the first time may seem like a daunting task since there are so many types. Here is a handy rundown to help you pick the right one for you and your plants!

Evaporative, Ultrasonic, or Steam

Evaporative humidifiers use a wick to absorb water from the humidifier’s tank. As the water evaporates, the humidifier’s fan blows the water vapor into your air. Evaporative models come in all sizes and can cover single rooms or your whole house.

Ultrasonic humidifiers don’t have wicks. Instead, they have an internal disc that vibrates at an ultrasonic frequency. This vibration breaks the water into tiny droplets that form a fine mist. That mist is then blown into the air by the unit’s fan.

Steam humidifiers use simple steam to humidify your air. These models have a heating element that boils the water. As the water boils, steam is released into your air. Steam humidifiers don’t use wicks, either.

How to pick: Humidifiers are rated by the square footage they cover, so pick a model that is rated for your area. For small homes and single rooms, any type of humidifier will work nicely. For a whole house, you’ll typically want to go with an evaporative model.

Pro tip! Evaporative models will need a wick replacement about every 30-90 days, depending on your water. If you don’t want to deal with wick replacements, you can always put smaller units in each room. Keep in mind that smaller units do require more frequent refills.

Warm Mist or Cool Mist

Warm mist humidifiers and steam humidifiers can slightly raise your room’s temperature, but not by much – you probably won’t even notice the difference. Cool mist humidifiers are just that – cool. The mist is typically the temperature of the water in the unit.

How to pick: Just choose your preference! Both you and your plants will benefit from any mist temperature. Can’t decide? Our DUET and MESA units feature both a cool and warm mist setting, so you can have both in one unit.

Features

Some features are more important than others for your plants. Keep these in mind while you’re shopping:

• Capacity and run time – The larger the water tank, the longer the run time. Smaller humidifiers with a tank capacity of around one gallon typically run up to 12 hours before they need a refill. If you want a longer run time, go for a larger water capacity. Some whole-house humidifiers, like our Valiant, will hold five gallons of water and run up to 55 hours between refills.
• Lights – Here at AIRCARE HQ, we love lights! If you want a fun glow in your plant room, then look for a humidifier with an LED. Our AURORA, AURORAmini, and NOVA models have a multicolored LED. Just set your humidifier on your favorite color, or let the LED rotate for your own personal light show. The NOVA has a night mode setting that lets you turn off the lights and the display while you sleep.
• Other bells and whistles – Humidifiers have come a long way over the decades and now include many modern features like remotes, thermometers (for monitoring your room temperature), timers, and essential oil diffusers. And if you just read that sentence and thought you’d like all of those features, check out our PILLAR.

Humidifiers are a great addition to your home and plant rooms. If you have any questions about choosing a humidifier, give us a shout! Our customer care team is available by phone, email, or chat.