I recently bought an ultrasonic humidifer after a recommendation from wirecutter but after doing some research I am returning it. I think the tone of this arti

I recently bought an ultrasonic humidifer after a recommendation from wirecutter but after doing some research I am returning it. I think the tone of this article is a bit alarmist but there is a truth here: ultrasonic humidifiers significantly increase measured PM2.5 particles in the air. PM2.5 is used here because they are tiny and will travel deeply into your lungs and can be absorbed into your bloodstream. Now, with respect to the _kind_ of particles that ultrasonic humidifiers put into the air... well it's whats in your water. If you have easy access to distilled water then ultrasonic humidifiers can be both efficient and you don't have to worry about particles. I think there is some reason to believe that the particles in your water even if absorbed into your lungs are less likely to cause damage than say PM2.5 smog particles just from a comparative point of view. As someone who used to get bronchitis from sinuses too often I both want to use a humidifier and also not worry about this sort of issue in the first place so for me it's just not worth evaluating the risk not that there is enough information to do so anyway. My opinion is get a simple hot or cold evaporative humidifier, clean it regularly because you should be doing that anyway and move on. I think it's pretty useful to use a few drops of some water treatment as well since it will reduce bacterial and mineral buildup. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3922954/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3922954/ > These results indicate that aerosol particles released from ultrasonic humidifiers operated with tap water initiated a cellular response but did not cause severe acute inflammation in pulmonary tissue. Additionally, high mineral content tap water is not recommended and de-mineralized water should be recommended in order to exclude any adverse effects. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/51859262_Indoor_particle_concentrations_associated_with_use_of_tap_water_in_portable_humidifiers https://www.researchgate.net/publication/51859262_Indoor_par...