Tell me about your humidifier/vaporizer

[DrSally]

DS was not sick for the first 2.5 years of his life, so I never had to deal with a baby with a stuffy nose. DD is on her 2nd stuffy nose and it really interferes with her sleep. I need to get a humidifier or vaporizer for her room. I know that a hot humidifier can be dangerous, but it would only be on when she's sleeping. I guess DS could get in there and in trouble with it. That said, which is better for stuffy noses, vaporizer or humidifier? Do I need one with a filter? Do I need to use special distilled water? Should I clean it with a watered down bleach solution to prevent mold? Should I be using it all the time to keep the kid's noses moist and prevent colds? Any BTDT info would be helpful, TIA!

[fortato]

I was just coming to post something similar...

We have the Crane Penguin cool mist humidifier, but it is leaking and I do NOT like that I can't clean the tank... it gets sort of scummy, and the rest of it is hard to clean too... And since I replace the water daily, it would be expensive to keep using distilled water.

My Pedi recommended a cool mist humidifier because there's less chance of scalding. Plus, you're looking to add moisture to the room.

Any recommendations?

[WatchingThemGrow]

We use bacteriostat http://www.amazon.com/Holmes-S1708-Bacteriostat-Cool-Humidifiers/dp/B000BRKYU8

and cleanse clean http://www.amazon.com/Holmes-S1710PDQ-U-Cleanse-Clean/dp/B000MAJQ12/ref=pd_sim_hg_1

to keep our Crane Frogs (and our elephant) happy and clean.

[sarahsthreads]

We use bacteriostat http://www.amazon.com/Holmes-S1708-Bacteriostat-Cool-Humidifiers/dp/B000BRKYU8

and cleanse clean http://www.amazon.com/Holmes-S1710PDQ-U-Cleanse-Clean/dp/B000MAJQ12/ref=pd_sim_hg_1

to keep our Crane Frogs (and our elephant) happy and clean.

Yeah, we have some Crane branded cleaner that was near the humidifiers in Bed Bath & Beyond that we use to keep our Crane Frog and Dragon clean. We do use distilled water most of the time, but we typically only run them when the kids are already sick and we run them until the water runs out, clean them, fill them back up, and run 'em again until the water runs out. Repeat until cold symptoms are gone. We have *very* hard water, so if we didn't mostly use the distilled I doubt the frog (who is 3 years old) would still be alive and kicking.

We originally bought a mega expensive cool mist humidifier before DD1 was born, that took two different kinds of filters and had some sensor that would perfectly regulate the humidity in the room, yadda, yadda...and within three months, despite religious emptying and cleaning, it was starting to grow mold. So we tossed it and when we eventually replaced it (not until the next winter) we bought the Crane figuring that if we were going to have to buy a new humidifier every year it may as well be a cheap one - and with very minimal care it's lasted for three years now. So this winter we added a dragon for DD2, and now I want the elephant for my room. (After my horrible bout with the flu last month I'm convinced that DH and I should have a humidifier on hand for when we're sick too!)

Sarah :)

[DrSally]

I was looking at the crane ones at Target and noticed they don't have a "filter". Is that necessary?

[Thatchermom]

You can add a filter to the crane animals. It is supposed to help with the "white dust" problem these types of humidifiers have. I've never noticed a difference between the times we have a filter in our cow and when we don't.

[Beth_in_CT]

We have a Holmes Warm Mist and I LOVE it! It does not have a filter, but I clean it regularly and it has helped me so so much. We plan to use it for baby too. By the time she is old enough to burn herself on it, we will either get a cool mist one, or put it where she can't get to it.

[WatchingThemGrow]

We have a Holmes Warm Mist and I LOVE it! It does not have a filter, but I clean it regularly and it has helped me so so much. We plan to use it for baby too. By the time she is old enough to burn herself on it, we will either get a cool mist one, or put it where she can't get to it.
Does your warm mist one make a uniform, constant noise or does it "cook" and then stop? We bought one for our room, and DH and I both had trouble sleeping with the random noises it would make in the cycle. The Cranes have a uniform "hum" that's peaceful. So, yeah, we have an elephant trunk shooting up into the master bedroom. I love it.

[o_mom]

We have two of these: http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=2630422

You can run many parts through the dishwasher and I feel like we can get it plenty clean. The filters are permanent, so no replacing them. We also had a Honeywell one that I didn't like at all (DH's purchase, lol).

We had a warm one until DS2 got burned. You really need to put them in the middle of the room or you will get condensation on the walls. We were getting them ready for bed, had plugged it in and then DH forgot something and put DS2 down to go get it. He crawled over and tried to grab the steam. It wasn't a bad burn, thank goodness, but could have been worse. I also know that someone here had a child burned when they had a middle of the night puking and forgot the warm mist humidifier was running.

[ltmommy]

I don't mean to hijack the thread, but are any of these particularly easy to clean? I have a warm mist one that I am pretty happy with, except I don't use it much because it is a royal pain to clean. They recommend you soak it with vinegar for 20 minutes to clean out deposits and then with bleach for a while to prevent mold. I always forget and then am afraid to use it. I see all of these antibacterial and antimicrobial humidifiers, but none of them mention the cleaning process.

[fortato]

The thing I hate about the Crane Penguin we have is that it has too many hard to wipe places where I can't get clean enough...
AND- as I found out the other night- it's leaking somewhere. Not safe and ruined the top of the night stand.

[lisams]

We have tried so many humidifiers out there, and in the end what works the best for colds for us is the cheap Vick's vaporizer. It boils the water so it kills ans bacteria, it's so super easy to take care of (swish some vinegar around, rinse, let dry), no filters to replace or worry about what's growing inside of them, and it's quiet. We have 2 Crane humidifiers but they just didn't do much. I don't feel that they really helped up the humidity enough to make a difference (but we live in AZ where the air is very dry, so maybe that's why?)

With the vaporizer I only run it at night and make sure it's turned off and stored in the bathtub for the day before my toddler is running around.

[wendibird22]

We have a Vick's filter free cool mist humidifier (http://www.vicks.com/products/humidifiers). It seems to work well, runs relatively quietly, and is pretty easy to clean. This is the 2nd winter we are using it in DDs room. I will say that the buttons have blue and green indicator lights that glow pretty brightly and for some reason scared DD at first. We do add bacteriostat to the water and put clean water in each night.

I will also add that last winter we bought a whole house humidifier and it has help immensely!!! It cost us about $450. It hooks up right to our furnace. DH and I no longer run a humidifier in our room and we have much less stuffy noses, dry skin, etc. It really was worth every penny!

[daniele_ut]

I will also add that last winter we bought a whole house humidifier and it has help immensely!!! It cost us about $450. It hooks up right to our furnace. DH and I no longer run a humidifier in our room and we have much less stuffy noses, dry skin, etc. It really was worth every penny!

We just put in 2 new furnaces and a whole house humidifier. We live in a dry climate and after 9 years I am still not used to it. So far there is much less static. I am hoping that the dry skin that has plagued me will clear up a bit too.

For sickies, though, we still use our Crane Penguin. I'll have to try the bacteriostat and cleaner stuff since we have such hard water

[DrSally]

Thank you for the suggestions and tips! I think I will go with the cool mist b/c with 2 kids, I can't guarantee one isn't going to mess with it while the other is sleeping. I will also remember the tip to put it in the middle of the room so as not to wreck the walls. We do actually have a whole house humidifier, but DH insists on keeping it pretty low b/c we have wood windows and it would warp them if we set it too high.

I will also try to find one that either has a constant hum or is relatively quiet, rather than one that goes loud then off, then loud again.

So, in addition to the bacteriostat and cleaner stuff, you should clean it out with vinegar or bleach?

[DrSally]

OK, now I can't decide between the Crane Penguin--cute, no filter, but reviews said can that there are a lot of duds that don't work right and can easily stop working right if dropped (I can see DS bumping into it or messing with it if I put it on a table in the middle of the room)

OR

this Vicks cold mist http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000TN7MO/ref=pd_luc_mri?%5Fencoding=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&v=glance

Larger tank (in reality I would empty it every day), easier to fill than the Crane, can wash the tray in the dishwasher. But, has expensive filters and the high setting is loud (I'd prob use it on low since it's in a bedroom).

[maybaby2009]

Just returned it because it did absolutely nothing even in a small room? Any suggestions other than Crane and Vicks?

[ahrimie]

OK, now I can't decide between the Crane Penguin--cute, no filter, but reviews said can that there are a lot of duds that don't work right and can easily stop working right if dropped (I can see DS bumping into it or messing with it if I put it on a table in the middle of the room)

OR

this Vicks cold mist http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000TN7MO/ref=pd_luc_mri?%5Fencoding=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&v=glance

Larger tank (in reality I would empty it every day), easier to fill than the Crane, can wash the tray in the dishwasher. But, has expensive filters and the high setting is loud (I'd prob use it on low since it's in a bedroom).

I have the Vicks Cool Mist but only after a few months, something happened and it only blows out air and no "mist". I know this because I didn't have to refill for DAYS and the water level never went down.

I've had the Vicks Warm for a few years and it hasn't failed me ever. I love it so much I bought another one for my room. It has 2 settings and I've noticed if put on the 2nd setting, it makes a little gurgling noise but it's pretty constant. The low setting is fine and doesn't do that.

I've also noticed that the Vicks warm seems better at getting treating stuffy noses. I've tried both in DD's room since they recommend a cool mist for little ones. The Cool Mist made DD's room really cold though and her room was already cooler than the other rooms in the house--which didn't help her colds. On the low setting, it didn't seem warm/hot enough to scald or burn anyone either but I'm sure you still have to be careful.

ETA: I just double checked the Cool Mist one I have.. and it's not from Vicks (only our Warm is). I don't know what I was smokin'... I kept wondering why the Amazon link you had was for much more than I had paid. I bought a generic one that looks just like the Vicks one: American Cross.

[o_mom]

Just returned it because it did absolutely nothing even in a small room? Any suggestions other than Crane and Vicks?

I like our Hunter Care-Free Plus that I linked above. It has permenent filters, so no replacing those, fairly easy to clean and puts out plenty of mist.

[DrSally]

I just got the Vicks cool mist from Amazon. Still waiting for the bacteriostat in a separate shipment. I don't really want to use it until I get that b/c I used a cheap mini one in DS's room last night and I noticed water pooled in the base and there was some green growth! Prob did more harm then good, he has a junky cough and stuffy nose this morning.

[DrSally]

I like our Hunter Care-Free Plus that I linked above. It has permenent filters, so no replacing those, fairly easy to clean and puts out plenty of mist.


I must have overlooked your link. That looks like a good one and I was just at Walmart the other day. I like that it doesn't need filters. If my Vic's ends up going kaput, I'll look into this one.

[AngelaS]

We have a variety of warm mist humidifiers. Mine all make a constant noise with an occasional bubble in the tank. They all work well. One actually works so well that if I leave it on HIGH all night long, water condenses on the ceiling. Oops. If I'm only using it a night or two I don't worry about cleaning it. If I'm not putting it away by the third night I have some cleaner stuff I bought once upon a time that I pour a capful into the water and it cuts down on buildup.

[jammytoast]

We've had the Crane Frog running all winter for 3 years going strong and just bought the penguin for our room. If you have a whole house humidifier (our empties into the laundry sink), I stick a jar under it to capture that water and have had no scaling/lime build up.

It does get kind of moldy and funky, so will wipe the base out weekly and soak the bottom of the top reservoir for 20 min about once a month in a bleach/water solution to kill the mold. If I didnt have the runoff water, I'd soak in vinegar weekly.

[DrSally]

We have two of these: http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=2630422

You can run many parts through the dishwasher and I feel like we can get it plenty clean. The filters are permanent, so no replacing them. We also had a Honeywell one that I didn't like at all (DH's purchase, lol).

We had a warm one until DS2 got burned. You really need to put them in the middle of the room or you will get condensation on the walls. We were getting them ready for bed, had plugged it in and then DH forgot something and put DS2 down to go get it. He crawled over and tried to grab the steam. It wasn't a bad burn, thank goodness, but could have been worse. I also know that someone here had a child burned when they had a middle of the night puking and forgot the warm mist humidifier was running.

So, DS threw a major fit, and I mean major this morning when I moved the new Vicks humidifier to DD's room for her nap. She finally caught DS's cold after several weeks and had a rough night sleeping. DS was crying and so distraught that he was still sick too and still needed it. Once he calmed down enough that I could communicate with him, I told him we would buy another big one so each of them could have one. Not sure if it's a waste of $$, but they're likely to be both sick at the same time I suppose. I looked on your link and saw this is in stock at my Walmart, so I'm going this afternoon. I like the permanent filter thing, since the filter on the Vicks is expensive and very delicate.

So, ugh, now I have to go back to Walmart...

[JamesT]

Is anyone familiar with this Enviracaire humidifier? It's a bit pricey.... is it worth it? Think its better than the other options suggested in this thread?

http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=14798269