heating appliances

What is a radiator humidifier?

A radiator humidifier is a simple household appliance that can be attached to a radiator and used to increase the mositure content of the air of the room. They are attached to the radiator by hooks and usually hang down the front of the heating appliance. The radiator’s heat causes the temperature of the water to rise. As the water temperature increases, it begins to evaporate into the surrounding air. They are simple to use and work by adding water which is used to keep the air of the room moist.

This can be a good thing for people who suffer when the air becomes particularly dry. Symptoms for these people include dry eyes and a dry painful feeling in the back of the nose and throat. It is not only for health reasons that these convenient household items are worth considering. When the air becomes particularly dry, this can cause damage to wooden and leather furniture. Problems can arise where by the life span of these items is reduced.

The radiator humidifier pictured is a ceramic radiator humidifier. As you can see it has a lovely flower design printed on the front. So it is possible to find aesthetically pleasing pieces that are also practical in nature. Ceramic radiator humidifiers look good when you hang them from a cast iron radiator.

The humidifier tool above is long but not particularly wide. This makes it safe with regard to being unlikely to spill water. However the surface area of the water it contains is fairly small. This means that the rate at which the water evaporates is not particularly high. There are other styles of radiator humidifiers that can be attached to heating appliances that are much wider than they are tall. This has the effect of increasing the effective water surface area which therefore means that the water evaporation rate will be higher. Therefore wider radiator humidifiers can be seen to be more effective than their tall counterparts.

When choosing a radiator humidifier it really comes down to what one views as important. If you prefer the taller versions then buying two or three will increase the available water surface area. So a few different tall items can have the same effect as one of the longer versions. It is possible to find these kinds of radiator humidifiers at hardware stores or by ordering online. They are excellent options to increase the moisture of the air in your home. The price is also favorable. It is much cheaper to buy these kinds of humidifiers than some of the more expensive electrical appliances that can cost hundreds of dollars.

Central heating systems may cause the atmosphere inside your house to dry out in periods of cold weather outside. This may cause a variety of adverse effects such as electro-static shocks, dry out of the eyes, skin problems resulting from the drying effect from the radiators and permanent damage to fine art and wooden furniture.

Even though radiators are essential in many parts of the world to keep us warm their use often results in a drying of the air. A reduction in the surrounding moisture may result in personal discomfort and damage to household furniture. There are different options that can be used to combat this drying effect caused by typical household radiators.

The three options that will be discussed in this article are:

• humidifiers
• radiator humidifiers
• radiator humidifier attachments

humidifiers

There are a wide variety of humidifiers that are available in the market today. Wikipedia has a list of these on its website.

I have used two of the different kinds of these spot humidifiers with varying success. The so called evaporative humidifier style did not impress me too much. A good point is that they require very little energy to run. The water they use is not heated and is simply absorbed by the filter, and depending upon the relative humidity of the surrounding air, and then released through evaporation into the surrounding space. The problem I encountered with this one was that after going away for a few days and forgetting to drain the unit before I left, I returned to find all manner of mold growing inside the machine. This put me off using it again!

A different kind of humidifier that I much prefer, even though it is more energy intensive are warm mist humidifiers. These appliances boil water inside and release steam into the surrounding air which helps to keep things moist. Boiling the water and making steam is thought to be a safer way to provide moisture to the room that the humidifier is being used. This is because micro-organisms will be killed during the boiling process.

radiator humidifiers

Humidifier radiators are not particularly common. They can be used to provide much needed warmth and also give off mist that can be used to humidify the atmosphere. This can help the health of the people in the room, for example helping us to avoid that dry nose and throat feeling. Also a lack of moisture can have an adverse effect upon many kinds of wooden and leather furniture.

radiator humidifier attachments

Rather than purchasing expensive units that must be cleaned with chemical products to kill bacteria and reduce bad odors it is possible to find reasonably priced humidifying units that can simply be attached to existing radiators. The Snow Joe radiator humidifier is one such product. All that is required is to fill the unit with water and attach it to your radiator and it can be used to humidify the room. As the heat of the radiator increases, the water held in the Snow Joe unit slowly evaporates. This diffuses moisture into the surrounding area which has positive health benefits.

These attachments provide an easy and economical way to humidify a room or area. As they are simply radiator attachments they can be moved from room to room and provide portable room humidifying.

Depending upon where you live, you may or may not even have a need for a humidifying solution. For those of us who feel the effect of dry air on a daily basis, radiator humidifier attachments are a very simple and effective way to stay lubed up.