How To Clean a Humidifier

Everyone who's used a humidifier knows how great they can be. Adding a little moisture to a room during the drier months of the year can make it instantly more comfortable. To keep your household healthy and your humidifier in top working order, it's important to keep it clean. Read on to find out the best ways to clean your humidifier.

How Often Should Humidifiers Be Cleaned?

Though this answer will vary depending on who you're asking, most sources recommend cleaning your humidifier every three days. That may seem like a lot of work, but the truth is that it's important to keep your humidifier clean to avoid breathing in harmful mold or bacteria. Over a few days, you may start to see sediment buildup on the sides of your water reservoir that you'll also want to clean out. That's not to say that you'll need to do a full disinfecting session every three days, but you should at least aim to get the sediment out with vinegar.

How to Clean a Humidifier with Vinegar

As we mentioned above, one of the best ways to free your humidifier of sediment build up is to soak the reservoir with a mixture of white vinegar and water. Your humidifier's instruction manual will give you the proper measurements to suit your model's particular water tank size. If you find that there's some extra stubborn buildup, give it a scrub with a clean cloth after the soak. Once clean, rinse everything out with water until the smell of vinegar is no longer detectable. This should more or less handle your weekly maintenance, but you'll also need to do a little more aggressive cleaning at least once a month.

How to Clean Mold and Bacteria Out of Your Humidifier

When you want to give your humidifier a more thorough cleaning, it's going to take a bit of effort. You're going to need to take it apart and wash everything out with a strong cleaner. To really make sure you get all of the mold, bacteria, and any other harmful substance that might be floating around in your humidifier, wash the whole thing out with a bleach and water solution, or a hydrogen peroxide solution. Again, your humidifier's instruction manual will provide the proper proportions for the mixture. Just make sure you never mix bleach and vinegar together, as they will create a dangerous toxic gas when combined. Once you clean out the humidifier, rinse it, then let it air dry before using it again. You don't want any leftover cleaning solution in it when you go to use it.

Maintaining Your Humidifier

The best way to keep your humidifier in good shape is to make sure you routinely change your water. Make sure you empty out the water reservoir after every use, let it dry, and refill it with fresh water when you're ready to use it again. This is an important element in maintaining the cleanliness of your humidifier.

Though it can be a bit of a hassle, cleaning your humidifier is a very important task to make sure you stay comfy and healthy. If you stick to a cleaning routine on a weekly basis, and make time to do a more thorough cleaning once a month, then your humidifier should serve you well for a long time. Stay clean and breathe easier!