Humidifiers: Simpler is better?
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN links it whenever humidifiers come up as the go-to explainer favoring simple evaporative designs over ultrasonic ones.
What it is
Technology Connections explains why humidity matters and compares the main types of humidifiers, including evaporative and ultrasonic designs. It covers how and why you would add moisture to indoor air.
Recommended by 5 HN commenters across 4 different months, 2021 to 2026.
What Hacker News said
Strong rec bcjordan · 2022-09 · on “Interest in heat pumps has increased dramatically in recent years”
Came here to post this :D The TC channel is definitely a hacker's eye view in to all the technologies that we take for granted every day. Tons of fascinating tech history covered, too. Other fun ones: - a defense of the simple drip coffee maker [LINK] - why do the turn signals not sync up when you're at a stop light? [LINK] - how humidifiers work and ehy the simple swamp cooler style are pretty ideal [this video] - why dishwasher detergent packs are stupid (use powder/liquid) and why you should use the pre-wash slot and not bother pre rinsing your plates [LINK] - why do light switches click? [LINK]
Recommends dirktheman · 2021-02 · on “Dyson air purifier outperformed by cheap DIY box fan filter in Marketplace test”
Technology Connections did an episode on air humidifiers a while ago: [this video] The fan and filter size matter the most. Most of these things are hugely overpriced for what they are.
Recommends riggsdk · 2021-02 · on “Humidifier: Healthy or Harmful?”
Technology connections covers quite a bit of ground on various types of humidifiers and their up/downsides: [this video] [LINK] [LINK]
Recommends xaduha · 2021-04 · on “The health benefits of better air”
Ultrasonic one is my first, only started paying attention to all this stuff because of 2020 and went all in, just trying to make my home a less crummy place. Watch this [this video] Optional follow-ups: [LINK] [LINK]
Recommends cheschire · 2022-03 · on “Why is it hard to buy things that work well?”
Were your humidifiers just not good at making air moist? Or were they completely non-functional? Technology Connections had a good video on the quality of humidifiers: [this video]
Cites garfieldnate · 2021-04 · on “The health benefits of better air”
Technology Connections did a video on humidifiers, and if I remember correctly the evaporative ones weren't actually slower than the ultrasonic ones: [this video]
Cites an-internet-guy · 2021-12 · on “Avoid Ultrasonic Humidifiers”
Yes. We recently moved up to a place with real winters, and I got a series of humidifiers. I run air quality sensors indoors (yes, multiple), and indeed the ultra sonic ones kicked up a CRAZY amount of PM2.5s, PM1s, and PM10s. We now only use evaporative humidifiers. And of course, this guy has a video for this! [this video]
Cites schiffern · 2026-03 · on “Microplastics and nanoplastics in urban air originate mainly from tire abrasion”
>I think not using an ultrasonic humidifier would be better stated as only using distilled water with ultrasonic humidifiers The common misconception is that they're "safe" if you only ever use distilled water. In reality they still atomize gunk and bacteria from the tank, because nobody ever cleans & sterilizes their dehumidifier tank often enough. Distilled water users still report high indoor particle counts when it runs, which is how you know it's ineffective as a mitigation). The cost of distilled water every year (even making it at home) means ultrasonic humidifiers are the most expensive option too. Just use an evaporative pad humidifier. [this video]