Honeywell - Easy To Care Warm Mist Humidifier (HWM445, HWM445B)

I’ve had good success with this Honeywell model. Warm waist is better so you don’t have that goo building up. I do have to descale mine every month or two because I have hard water but other than that it works great. I put it on a smart plug and just have it automatically run a couple of hours per day over the winter to keep my house at a nice humidity level https://www.honeywellstore.com/store/products/easy-to-care-warm-mist-humidifier-hwm445b.htm

I'm in a similar sized place and after going through a bunch of humidifiers over the years, the 6000s is the only unit that keeps the humidity consistent without a bunch of maintenance. I've had mine for about two months... there is maintenance but it's much easier than many other models out there. At a minimum: 1. When the tank is empty, dump out the remaining water, rinse the tank and dry before refilling. 2. Run dry mode at least every 3 days to dry the filters and dry the rest of the parts when dry mode completes. 3. Once a month, dry and remove the filters and run a solution of citric acid through the system for 30 minutes. Run clean water for 10 minutes, then remove and rinse/dry everything before reassembling. For my first month I did more cleaning: rinsing, brushing and drying the filters during every refill, washing the tank with soapy water during every refill, and washing all the parts with soapy water weekly. After the first month I started feeling I was going overboard and scaled back to the minimum maintenance above, which is what Levoit recommends. If I start noticing grime, I'll wash with soapy water once a week. The only alternative I can recommend is the warm mist Honeywell HWM440/HWM445, but you will be filling the tank much more often and keeping the heating element clean with vinegar is pretty time consuming if you have really hard water (I was soaking it in vinegar weekly for 1-2hrs, and even after that would need to scrape and scrub the minerals to actually get it clean).

The warm mist humidifiers should be safe if they're of decent quality. Teflon starts to degrade at 230\*C (around 450\*F) and that's when they become a problem for birds - I don't have the personal data to prove they don't go that high but given water boils at 100\*C, I'd be concerned if a warm mist humidifier, which is basically a big specialized kettle that boils a little bit of water at a time, reached temperatures that high. Just having the presence of Teflon isn't enough of a danger, it must be sufficiently heated to start decomposing or degrading (although still best to avoid as much as possible to not risk things like manufacturing byproducts being present - you could always run it in a different room with a vent for a few days). I'm in Canada though and have used the Honeywell Warm Mist humidifiers without much issue. AFAIK you want to avoid the ultrasonic mist humidifiers as it sends everything into the air. I don't have experience with non-ultrasonic cold mist humidifiers, but you can watch this [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHeehYYgl28&ab\_channel=TechnologyConnections](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHeehYYgl28&ab_channel=TechnologyConnections) The other option is to make a DIY swamp cooler which is what I was thinking of doing, AFAIK/understand you have a reservoir of water in a container/bowl (pyrex container) and drape a towel in it so the water diffuses up the towel. Have warm air circulate through the towel and it'll add some humidity to the air. It's appealing to me because it's easy to change out and wash the towels regularly, and clean the reservoir. Downsides - probably not as effective as a humidifier, you have to protect the reservoir so your bird doesn't fall in and drown, and the risk of having water near a heater or electronics. Haven't done it though.

Not sure why it needs to be those three, I have 4 Honeywell warm humidifier that works well around my home.

I LOVE my Honeywell warm mist humidifier. I got it from target. It’s like $39 and can pump out a gallon of water every day. Fun side note, since we have hard water, mineral deposits can build up on the inside of your humidifier. Either clean regularly with white vinegar or use bottles of distilled water.

Get a warm mist humidifier. It'll make your space feel cozy, and winter colds will be a thing of the past. My go-to ones are by Vick's and Honeywell. They look identical, with different branding, but can usually be found everywhere, online and in drug stores.

It's also cleaner, and safer. No worries about spreading bacteria, or mold, through the air, because the unit needed to be clean, and no dust from your water evaporating leaving it's mineral content behind on your furniture. I tried cool mist once, to see why they were so popular, and they made the room feel cold an clammy. Blech! I think people like them because you're less likely to deal with burns from kids, or animals messing with it. It also uses less energy since there's no heat source, but the result are sub par.

they are fine. If you have the ability to do the steam one its insanely good at getting moisture in the air and cost effective. The hot water loopback ones are pretty good, mine will keep my house maintained if I cycle the fan.

honestly, you want either a steam powered humidifier if you have the money and forced air to do it, or if you have to get something else, make sure its a HOT water humidifier. The ultrasonic humidifiers are pretty much useless in CO and waste a lot of energy. I have two Honeywell hot air humidifiers that can handle about 1000 sq ft each.