Air humidifier is one of the most important parts of your HVAC system. But you need to change them every once in a while, and this sometimes can be annoying. Sometimes, we even do silly mistakes in handling the air humidifiers.

Imagine you are all brushed up, flossed and ready to close your eyes. Just when you go to your bed and try to fall asleep, your air humidifier looms large. You can’t think but wonder the tank is almost half full, then why don’t I just re-use the last night water and save myself from an extra household chore?

I don’t know about you but this is a sign of laziness and you know what they say about laziness.

Anyways, let’s talk about why we are here for. Let’s start with the most common mistakes that we make with air humidifiers.

1. Using water enriched with minerals will clog the air humidifier

We use our air conditioning units all the times. But how often we check what’s happening inside our central ac unit?

– Almost never.

And we certainly don’t know what is happening inside the air humidifiers in our houses.

To understand what happens in your air humidifier, there are few things you need to know. First of all, the tap water that goes inside an air humidifier is not 100% pure. You can argue over the fact that you use the same water to bathe, drink and cook. But the water we use contains a lot of different minerals. Some of the minerals are harmful to humans and some of them are beneficial. But none of this matter for the air humidifiers. Harmful for humans or not, the minerals in the water will clog the filter of air humidifiers.

So, the best is to use clear distilled water with the minimum amount of minerals in them.

2. Using harmful mineral-enriched water can be harmful to lungs

As I have mentioned earlier, the water we use in the air humidifiers contain a number of minerals.

Now, I also said that it doesn’t matter if the minerals are harmful to humans or not. But it was because harmful or not, the clogging can be caused by any kind of minerals. But when it comes to human health, the minerals being harmful matters.

If the clogging is caused by minerals that are harmful to humans, you must consider the consequences. You and your family’s lungs are in real danger if the minerals are harmful and they are clogging the air humidifier. Long term exposure to this air humidifier can cause several lung diseases including asthma.

3. Using high mineral-enriched water can clog the air humidifier and cause bacteria to grow inside

The clogging of air humidifier doesn’t only harm your lungs, if the clogging is not addressed at the right time, bacteria and other microorganisms can grow in the air humidifier.

4. Clogging makes the air humidifier less efficient

As you have most probably guessed by now, these clogging due to minerals makes the air humidifier less efficient. This means higher energy bills. So, to avoid this, make sure the water doesn’t contain undissolved minerals.

How to take care of your Air Humidifier?

Taking Care Of Your Air Humidifier by Rifat


1. Don’t use tap water, use distilled water

The regular tap water is not the best option for filling the tank. The tap water that you use for cooking or bathing contains minerals and other undissolved particles. That’s why it is best to use distilled water in an air humidifier. And don’t worry - this distilled water can be found any grocery shop near you.

2. Never use water from previous use

Many people make the mistake to leave the water inside the tank from the previous uses. It is advised to empty the tank and the base. Then towel them and ensure they are ready for reuse as you refill the tank with distilled water.

3. Deep clean the air humidifier filters

Every once in a while, you need to deep clean the filters, tanks and base of the air humidifier. The interval between two deep cleaning can be 3 days to one week, depending on the usage.

Here’s how to deep clean –

a) First of all, unplug it and disassemble all the parts.

b) Take some vinegar in a bowl. Then wash each part of the air humidifier with the vinegar. Let the vinegar sit for a while before you rinse it.

c) Fill the tank with a mixture of water and bleach. Make sure the proportion of them is one gallon to one tablespoon. To make the proportion relative to the tank size, I would suggest a pinch of bleach in the water. Also, fill the tank halfway, don’t fill it entirely. Now, close it and keep it aside. Keep the closed tank filled with bleach and water mixture for 20-30 minutes.

d) After half an hour, you can rinse the parts. You can use regular tap water to rinse it. Also, make sure you rinse until the smell of bleach is gone. If the bleach smell is intact inside the tank, the smell will spread all over the room.

e) Now, put each component where they were and close the air humidifier. Plug it and enjoy the controlled environment around you. Also, make sure you do this at least once a week.

See the summary in this infographic – Taking Care Of Your Air Humidifier [Infographic]

Bottom line

Now that you know what mistakes we make with our air humidifiers and how to prevent these from happening, you can take care of the air humidifier properly.

Remember, cleaning the filter of your air filters is as important as air duct cleaning and AC maintenance & repair. So, unless you don’t want to suffer from asthma or any other respiratory diseases, you must not forget to clean and replace the filters.