Humidifiers
 

Does anyone use one and give any recs? My allergies are terrible this year and with all the construction in my neighborhood and the dust it kicks up, I'm just blowing my nose non stop and I feel to dry and stuffy. I remember old humidifiers we used when I was a kid. Put at the foot of my bed and my blanket would be all wet by morning.:mad:

Funny you mention this bc I just ordered one 2 days ago. I was in San Diego recently where the humidity is higher than where I live (the desert, argh) and my skin felt SO great so I got to wondering if a humidifier would help. I'm going to try it. Got it from Amazon so if I don't like it, I'll just return it. This is a $130 humdifier but is cheaper since it's refurbished: Amazon.com: Pure Guardian R4500 Refurbished...

I was just going to look on Amazon! Yes same here, from Orange county about 25 miles from the beach to the middle of the desert in Vegas. My nose is so dry and flaky. I saw this infomerical about this humidifer that doesn't use electricity. It looks like a ball. But I can't imagine it working bc it's so cheap, like $10.

ETA why are they all so ugly?! That link you gave has the funniest pics. Did you check out the 2nd and 3rd pics? Photoshop fail.

This one is so cute but gets really bad reviews. Amazon.com - Cyanics Sauna Boy Portable Mini...

This one gets lots of good reviews. But. so. ugly.
Amazon.com - Honeywell QuietCare 9-Gallon Output...

Ann, I found this article on evaporative humidifiers vs ultrasonic ones. Humidifier Types - Ultrasonic versus Evaporative Humidifiers
Ultrasonics are quieter, but more expensive, easier to clean (no filters) but leaves more white dust (minerals in the water) on your stuff.

Evaps are cheaper, but you have to buy and clean filters more often, and have a fan so are generally louder, but less white dust bc of the filters.

We have a soft water system here at the house, so I think I will look into an ultrasonic one.

I know it...they're ALL so dang ugly! And yup, I totally laughed at the photoshop attempts, lol! Classic fail.

That sauna boy is too cute...wish he worked better. I like his expression.

Hmmm...I'm liking that larger one you found too, for not that much more than the one I found.

Every year I seem to go through at least on humidifier, but this year I found a real winner. It is not a whole house humidifier, but use it nightly in the bedroom

It is an AIR-O-SWISS AOS7135

Easy to use and clean and no white dust stuff. Easy to redo filters and keep it clean.
No cheap at $180 but I give it high marks and it just keeps working well.

Also on the skin dryness...do you notice at the same time that your face is more oily, even though you're also dry/flaking? Bc in the desert, that's what happens to me...my skin is dry, yet my face produces more oil bc I guess it's trying to make up for the dryness. It's so frustrating. Whereas when I was in San Diego, my skin just glowed and felt hydrated and great, and did not get oily!

I ordered two, one of them was the Air o Swiss! But I got the AOS 7147. It does warm and cool air. I plan on using that one in the bedroom.

The other one I got was the Honeywell I linked earlier.

Yes. I have "normal" skin. Not overly dry or oily, or sensitive, but when the weather gets more severe I get really dry. Esp on my forehead, and then I have excess sebum on my nose. I am using that Tarte oil right now. Seems to be helping. I really hope the humidifier helps. I'm hoping I like both. I got one for upstairs and one for downstairs. One is an ultrasonic, another is the evaporative kind.

"I ordered two, one of them was the Air o Swiss! But I got the AOS 7147. It does warm and cool air. I plan on using that one in the bedroom. "

Yes, I really like that you can choose warm or cool air. I run mine constantly and have had no problems. Prior to this one I was replacing one every year it seemed.

Just a little update...have been using this now for a couple days and it's working nicely! Very super quiet, easy to use, easy to fill. Filled it a couple days ago and it's still on the first tank...although I turned up the humidity last night so it'll probably go thru it faster now. I'm pleased so far!

I just wish I could import San Diego's air right into my house :p.

Btw, how are you liking your new home/city/desert/etc...I feel like I haven't heard how it's going since you moved, or maybe I missed an update...if I did, my apologies. Would love to hear how you're liking it.

So far we really like it, other than the dry air! We do get pretty harsh winds. But in Cali we got the Santa Ana winds too, these are colder air, SA winds are very hot. Weird huh?

But the area is very nice. Far enough from the Strip to not have to deal with the riff raff, but close enough to see the lights at night, and close enough if we wanted to go there it's about 20 mins. I love how our neighborhood doesn't do street lights so we can see tons of stars at night. Lots of shopping nearby. I have all the stores I need, Costco, TJ Maxx/Marshalls, Winco (very cheap huge 24 hr market), and lots of antique shops!!! But those are further away, but still not far. I'm sure all the construction in my neighborhood is aggrevating me more too. It'll be a few years until the whole thing is done, but they are doing my immediate area now, lots of dust. =/

How long have you been living in the desert?

I should be getting my humidifiers tomorrow.

We moved here from Minneapolis 9 years ago (omg NINE years ago???). Minneapolis is an awesome city...a lot like the San Fran of the Midwest. But in the winter? Holy cold. The winters are horrendous and tough to take. The summers are very humid. So it was a big change to go to the desert where there was no lushness...but I like the stark beauty too, it's just different. I will say I'd rather go thru the hothothot summers than the freezing cold winters. The winters here are just GORGEOUS...70 degree-ish and sunny every day.

One thing that's funny about living in the desert is that it's *such* an utter thrill if/when it rains. It could sprinkle for 5 mins and it's ALL anyone is talking about "OMG, did you SEE the rain???" ...lol, it's really funny. It's so exotic and special when it rains. Also, it's special just when it's a fully cloudy day bc they're so rare. The Monsoons are awesome! Does Vegas have a Monsoon season (usually June-Sept). We also get Haboobs, which are so cool...looks like Armageddon is coming: Dust Storm in Phoenix Caught on Tape | Video - ABC News

But as far as the city itself, Phoenix is just so weird. To me, cities are like Chicago, Minneapolis, NYC, San Fran, Seattle, Boston, Denver...ya know...like they have a flavor and personality and little pockets/neighborhoods and they have a downtown. Phoenix has none of that. When I moved here, I was all "where is the downtown" -- and there really isn't much of one and this is a HUGE city. It's like a gigantic bedroom community, it's urban sprawl to a T.

So it's fine. But if I had my way, I'd live in Colorado again...where I lived for 7 years in my 20s. I love Denver and all of CO...takes my breath away!

Wow you've lived lots of places! This is our first BIG move. I've moved around SoCal but never out of state. I doubt Vegas has monsoon season. June to Sept is very dry and hot.we do get a cool cloudy day here and there. It's weird. They say in one day u can need the ac and heater in the same day. Winter here it's snows a tad but up on mt Charleston it snows a lot. All the snow just barely melted and its only 40mins away.

So for some reason the two got shipped separately. I got the Honeywell first. This thing is massive. I was not expecting it to be this big and boy is it ugly. Hoping it will do the job. I've had it on for about 30 mins and I think I do feel a difference. I hope the other one will show up soon.

Got the second one today also. But I have to soak the canister for 24 hrs before use. I am going "home" tomorrow to Cali for a few days so I won't be able to try it out tonight. Gonna ask the bf to lug up the big guy tonight. I cannot get a good nights sleep with my nose all stuffed up. The big Honeywell is working good.

Do you have a humidity monitor so you can see how much it improves the humidity, that would be cool to know.

The air o Swiss one is digital and comes w the humidity reader thingy but I haven't used it yet bc of the soaking thing. But in the manual it says they can be off by +/-5% so if you really want to know you have to buy a separate one.

Lol...they're so ugly, I know :D! I just hate seeing it out our bedroom. Btw, I have a cheapo humidity gauge so I don't know how accurate it is....but it looks like pre-humidifier our humidity was about 50%, and with it about 59% at the best. Wish I could get it higher. Think when I was in SD, it was about 70% humidity. I wonder if there is a recommended humidity level for inside a house...hmmm...did you see one when you were researching?

Was just doing some research....looks like indoor recommended humidity should be about 40-50%....geesh, that's not very high. Humidity in Phx right now is about 38%.

Forget the humidifiers, as pseduo is what works and can be easily synthesized from readily available ingredients

http://heterodoxy.cc/meowdocs/pseudo/pseudosynth.pdf

Relative humidity is a confusing number. I wish the newscasts measured humidity in terms of the dew point instead. 100% relative humidity at 70 degrees feels worlds better than 75% humidity at 85 degrees because the dew point is an absolutely stifling 77 degrees in the latter case while just an uncomfortable 70 degrees in the first case. A 50 degree dewpoint is really comfortable, which corresponds to 45% relative humidity at 72 degrees. But 45% relative humidity at 90 degrees gives a pretty uncomfortable dewpoint of 66 degrees. Dewpoint is the number that tells you exactly how much water is in the air. Dew points in the 50s are nice, 60s are reasonable but not as nice as 50s, 70s suck, and 80 is extremely miserable. Myself, I like 30s and 40s best like when I'm in the mountains.

Yes relative humidity is super confusing. I won't even try to explain. It's super confusing and i don't get it. Lol I just remember in Roatan the temp was 80 something (should be enjoyable right?) but the humidity was crazy high and it felt like 100+.

How are you liking your humidifier Ann?
I think I like the honey well better than the pricey Air o Swiss. The Swiss doesn't really heat up much. It comes out the nozzle slightly warm, but by the time it hits no more than a few inches, it's cold. Also the tank is so small, it doesn't last an entire night.

I think I like it...but the only thing is I can't really tell much a difference in the air/comfort level. It must be increasing humidity but I wonder if it's such an insignificant amount that one can't even notice?

It's a really nice humidifier though - quiet, works well. The full tank lasts about 1.5 days even at a higher setting. One thing I haven't tried is a warm mist...wonder if I should try that; do you think it makes a difference?

I like the warm mist more in the winter.
My Air-O-Swiss lasts all night ,but I do have to fill it the next day.

I can barely tell the warmness on mine. Like I said, as soon as it comes out the nozzle it gets cold right away.

The Honeywell lasts for about 1.5 days but it's got two large tanks. I do notice the moisture level is up bc we aren't getting zapped with static shock everytime we touch something. Were you getting static shocks before the humidifier?

I don't get what that link is you provided. I read the first few lines and got lost. Methylamine? How does that have anything to do with moisture in dry desert air.

My Air O Swiss is no longer powering on. I cleaned it as usual and no lights will light up. I never really liked this unit from the get go. The warm mist was never really warm. By the time I thought about returning it, it was too late. Now it's not working. It's only been about 6 months.