Adorable and Effective

Crane cow humidifier is one of the many adorable animal humidifiers sold by Crane. It is an ultrasonic humidifier in which water droplets are dispersed in the air by high energy acoustic motions. This is achieved using membrane vibrating at high frequency. The water droplets are carry out using a small power fan. Consequently, it is very quiet. You may dial the strength of this unit. The maximum power consumption is 34 W, equals to a small power light bulb. Though you will not operate at its full power mode, so the power consumption is less. For ultrasonic humidifiers, higher power does not always equal to higher humidification. At very high power, large water droplets will be dispersed in the air, but they are too heavy to stay in the air for long, so they will eventually fall on the ground. Thus, it is more efficient to disperse finer water droplets.

The unit is being sold around $30, extremely inexpensive. Although the specification sheet states that it can operate in 11 hours with one galleon of water, it can actually run 24 hours. This specification sheet also states that it can be used for a room up to 500 square feet. Although it can increase humidity of a large 500 sq ft room, it takes very long. This unit is more effective for bedrooms, around 200 sq ft. I have verified the humidity change by using a hygrometer.

A few things need to be mentioned about this great unit. This unit does not have any extra feature, such as bacterial killing capacity, UV lamp, water filter, night light. It is a very simple unit: an ultrasonic device and a small power fan. Therefore, there is no additional replacement cost. On the other hand, it suffers the typical shortcomings of ultrasonic humidifiers. They disperse water and anything in the water. If there are minerals in the water, it will disperse these minerals in your living space, and if the water is very hard, you will see the so-called white dust around your place. Consequently, try to use filtered water or distilled water if you can. If the water has bacterias in it, the ultrasonic humidifier will also disperse them in the air. Thus, it is important to change the water frequently, every 1-2 days, and clean the unit at least once a week if not more often. Otherwise, you will notice microbial growth in the water: sticky residue in your water tank. This can be a hassle in the long run.

There is a very simple, cheap and safe method of eliminating bacterial growth in the water. You can put a very amount of home-use grade (3%) hydrogen peroxide in the water. I put about 1 teaspoon of the home-grade peroxide in 1 galleon of water. You may even able to use less. Do not put too much hydrogen peroxide and do not put the humidifier next to you head.