Winter is in full swing which means it's time to break out the humidifiers. Having forced air heat also means that pretty much everything dries out, especially your skin but also nasal passages. We have a cool mist humidifier, but wanted a second so we could have several in different rooms and/or floors of the house. As we searched our options (narrowing it down primarily by price first), we had a choice between two; a cool mist humidifier and a warm mist humidifier. Knowing the cleaning challenges of a warm mist humidifier, our choice was the
Duracraft 2 Gallon cool mist humidifier.
Water...... I.... Need... Water
We were definitely ready to try out our new little gadget when we brought it home. We were all beginning to get dry skin and the amount of static electricity roaming around should have reduced our bills (but alas it doesn't). The Duracraft humidifier is ready to go out of the box - just fill with water, which is extremely easy. The water tank has handles on both the top and bottom for ease of carrying once you have it full with 2 gallons of water. Unfortunately the water container is almost too easy to lift out as our 2-year old can also do it. With two settings (low and high) all you have to do is plug it in and turn the knob to your preferred setting and let the humidity flow.
Fanning the mist.
Designed with a sleek look that is rounded and curvy, the Duracraft doesn't have any issues blending in with a home’s decor. With white plastic casing and a clear water tank (so you can see how much is in there), there is no hideous clashing with bright colors and no odd shape that screams "Look, I'm a humidifier!", in the middle of your room. It also doesn't take up much room measuring only 8" X 13".
Covering a 12 square foot area (about the size of a bedroom), the humidifier works through both misting the water then using a fan on the top to force it into higher areas of the room. Our other humidifier would mist the water and then just spew it up out of the top. This mist would be so heavy it basically just fell to the floor and soaked into our thirsty hardwood making a mess of the area around it. I like that the Duracraft is misting the air and allowing for it to cover a greater area. The down side to the fan running is it tends to cool the air, which then causes us to turn the heat up higher.
The Humidifying Experience
In general, due to the fan producing a chill in the air, we tend to use our Duracraft at night (plus this helps us breath better). It is also runs at night because is becomes somewhat loud but not over-bearing (not like my
jet-plane fan anyway). My husband actually really likes this since he likes to have some white-noise while he sleeps (he would have a fan in the room all year if I let him). Sitting in our open living room, the two-gallon tank lasts approximately 10-12 hours while on the low setting. Since we tend to keep it on low in this open style room, it seems to produce just enough moisture to not make the air heavy yet help us breath a little better throughout the night. For around $30 this was an excellent addition to our home. We can now have two humidifiers to use just in case one of the kids has a cold and needs one right in their room.
