Humidifiers bring relief to the dry winter months
You don’t have to subscribe to humidifier magazines (like Tina Fey’s character “Liz Lemon” on 30 Rock) to recognize their benefits. For those of us who live in areas where the air can become unbearably dry at any time of year, the symptoms are common: dried-out skin, throat pain, itching in the eyes, sinus headaches, and more. The exhaustion that regularly accompanies these feelings can make it hard to search for a solution, but luckily humidifiers can help combat these uncomfortable issues.Buying your first humidifier can be confusing if you don’t know what you’re looking for. Most humidifiers are evaporative or wick models, in which a fan blows in order to evaporate water. The water evaporates more or less quickly based on the humidity of the room, so these models are effective self-regulators, but their wicks can easily become moldy. Steam humidifiers (powered by boiling water) are especially recommended for those with sinus problems that require medical inhalants, as the inhalant can be blended with the water vapor. Boiling also filters out bacteria and impurities in the water source, unlike evaporative models. However, check to make sure that these products have good reviews, as the lower-quality ones have a tendency to catch fire and melt.At ConsumerSearch.com, Kenmore, Honeywell, and Air-o-Swiss take the top marks among humidifier makers. Most of these are cool-mist humidifiers, which use a rotating disc to diffuse water.