It is important to maintain the humidity in your house at 40 to 55 %. However the use of the heater can drop the humidity to as low as 5% which can bring affects to your health, furniture and even your utility bills. This is because lack of humidity aggravates respiratory problems and sucks moisture from furniture to make them fragile. So the best thing to do in such situations is to install a humidifier in your home.

There are humidifiers found from various companies in various shapes and sizes in the market. You have to make your choice for a humidifier while keeping not only your comfort and health into consideration, but also the type of heater you have, the hardness of your water and the cubic footage of your home. You can compare different types of humidifiers with knowledge of the cubic yardage of your home, so that you get maximum relief for your home.

There are three types of humidifiers available; the row-thru, by-pass and steam humidifiers. The row-thru humidifiers work through evaporation where it only replaces the amount of moisture it can handle, and this depends largely on room temperature. The most common humidifiers are the by-pass humidifiers, which are the common furnace humidifiers. The third humidifier, the steam humidifier works on the same principle as vaporizers used when one has cold.

If you want to add humidity to a single room, then the room size humidifier should suffice as it only has to be placed on a table top to return moisture to the single room. However if you need moisture in the whole house, then you need a free standing unit or central humidifier that is tied into the heating system of your home. It is generally better to buy a larger humidifier than you need so that you maintain a higher moisture level than is required in your home. With this, you are ensured of proper level humidity all year round.

Humidifiers are also divided on the type of water vapor it releases; which are warm air and cool air humidifiers. In the case of warm air humidifiers, the water is heated and released as water vapor. The consumption of electricity here is equivalent to heating water in a kettle. The water is boiled here mainly with the intention of disinfecting water and liberating bacteria free water vapor into the air.

The cool air humidifier releases cool water vapor and is perfect for families with small children. It is with the help of an evaporation wick, impeller or by creating ultra sonic sound waves that water is dissipated as a cool mist. Though this humidifier uses less electricity than a warm humidifier, it needs constant replacement of the filter.

So you have to choose the best humidifier you want while keeping your budget, the maintenance costs and the purpose the humidifier has to serve when buying a humidifier.