If you’re looking for the purposes of air purifier vs. humidifier vs. dehumidifier, you’ve come to the right article. What exactly makes them different from each other? What are their benefits and drawbacks, and how can they help your home and business as a whole?
With the technology present today, air purifiers, humidifiers, and dehumidifiers all look the same, but they all work differently. For instance, there’s one for air pollution and the others for air humidity, so it depends upon what you need. We will look into each one and compare which one could be the best for your home, business, or indoor space.
What’s the difference between a dehumidifier and a humidifier?
Humidifiers and dehumidifiers differ from the following:
- Indoor humidity. While both do the job for handling humidity, there’s a difference:
- A dehumidifier does the job by lowering the humidity in your room or area. This makes the dehumidifier more suited for areas that are very humid, such as tropical countries, rainforests, and the like. Too much humidity could cause mold spores to appear so that you will less likely catch viruses. This is also applicable for countries with frequent rain showers.
- A humidifier works the opposite way: it adds humidity to the air. This would make it suitable for countries that have cold, dry air, such as in Europe or North America, or anywhere in northern countries or parts of the world. Since they don’t have a lot of humidity, they can benefit from a humidifier, which moistens the air to keep your skin from drying.
- For treating respiratory problems. Both of these can be used to alleviate coughs, cold, and the like. However, they also have differences:
- A dehumidifier works best for asthma because asthma patients get triggered more if they have been exposed to humid air. Therefore, dehumidifiers work best if you often get asthma attacks.
- A humidifier, on the other hand, works best for those with sinus problems or cold because this is where their nose and throat get dry. If you often suffer from a dry spell for your throat or nose, a humidifier can help add moisture to the air.
- For your skin and climate. Wherever you live, humidity does play a role in what your skin feels like. Here are the differences between the two units and when to use them best:
- Dehumidifiers work best if your work area or home is very humid and you feel all sticky and gross all the time. This is characterized by frequent sweating and the inability to sleep at night even if you’ve just washed your face or took a bath. Sometimes, the weather could be cold and rainy but you still feel greasy, especially if you have oily skin, so maybe the humidity is the problem.
- Humidifiers, on the other hand, work best if your common climate is dry or you get dry skin most of the time. If you feel like your AC unit is drying you up worse than usual then you may need to add a dehumidifier to the room. Dry skin could also be characterized by chapped lips, so it may be that you need more humidity in your indoor area.
Which is better: dehumidifier or air purifier?
Both of them are actually good over the other in their own way, since they have different usage. However, when it comes to the following topics, here’s what you should choose over the other:
- For removing allergens: air purifiers are the best way to go. This is because dehumidifiers cannot really remove pollutants in the air – they can only take away humidity or lower it, as they lack a filtering mechanism. On the other side of the story, air purifiers have true HEPA filters and even carbon filters to get rid of smoke, dust, and whatever the heck there is polluting your indoor air.
- For cooling the air: we think that both work well in this case. Dehumidifiers could lessen the humid air, which also cools your feeling. At the same time, air purifiers have fan speeds that can help move the air in your room. Both of these two devices can help take some load out of your AC unit or electric fan so you can get a cooler feeling, especially in the summer heat.
- For humid air: dehumidifiers are obviously the one to pick. Air purifiers are NOT exactly dehumidifiers at all since they are a different unit. Dehumidifiers are the ones to choose if your air is too humid and you want to lower it to avoid the sticky feeling. However, that doesn’t mean that air purifiers and dehumidifiers can’t work together! (See below sections)
Can I use a humidifier with an air purifier?
Yes, you absolutely can! Humidifiers do a separate job of helping to increase the humidity of the room that you want to clean up, while the air purifier helps to clean it from pollutants such as dust, dirt, and the like. One such air purifier would be the Honeywell HPA160 HEPA Tower.
However, be careful when using a humidifier too much, as a lot of humidity in your room could cause mold spores to appear and cause bad smells. Nonetheless, it can be canceled and cleaned up if your air purifier has carbon filters and true HEPA filters that can negate not only bad smells and pollutants but also possibly mold spores.
Do I need a dehumidifier if I have an air purifier?
Yes, you also do need one. Dehumidifiers can help lessen the likelihood of mold because it lowers the humidity in your room or area. In the same way, as we mentioned in how to get rid of odor in the bedroom, some air purifiers also do have UV killing lamps and true HEPA filters that can kill mold spores or trap them.
As with humidifiers, be careful with dehumidifiers as well. If your humidity is too low then that could cause you to have very dry skin and may even cause allergies. Make sure that your humidity levels are just right while you are using it with an air purifier.
Can you run a dehumidifier and air purifier at the same time?
Absolutely. There’s no conflict with either of them. In fact, you can use both of them to kill mold spores in your house if your weather is too humid. Getting rid of mold means less of the funky smell, especially when your room smells like body odor.
To do this, you’ll need to have a UV lamp or at least a True HEPA filter for your air purifier so that it can effectively trap or kill mold spores. A considerable air purifier with that filter could be the Philips 1000 Series Ac1215/20 Air Purifier (White).
After that, the dehumidifier can prevent them from coming back by removing humidity or lessening it in your home space.
Air Purifier vs. Humidifier
These two units differ greatly when it comes to operation, as air purifiers are mainly for allergens in the air while humidifiers are for adding humidity. Let’s have a look at some of their benefits:
Air purifiers can help the home and your business in terms of:
- Cleaner air. We’ve talked about the effects of air pollution in points, and one of the ways to combat it is to use an air purifier.
- Less sickness. You’ll probably catch less cold, allergies, asthma attacks, flu, and the like if you have cleaner air.
- More customers and guests. Your patrons will definitely keep coming back once they’ve realized that their indoor space is clean, safe, and easily breathable.
- Great for pets. Aside from bathing them regularly, it also helps if their surroundings are kept clean, especially when they leave their scent all over the place due to pet dander.
Humidifiers have their own set of benefits, such as:
- No more dry air. Most of the time, dry air can be irritating because it can cause you to catch sickness more, such as irritating cough or sore throat, and the like. Dry air can be lessened by humidifiers.
- Less irritating colds. Your throat will less likely to be dry if you have a humidifier by your side.
- Less dry skin. If you get chapped lips and dry skin that constantly needs moisturizing, consider getting a humidifier for your home or office space.
Air Purifier vs. Dehumidifier
Air purifiers and dehumidifiers differ greatly in their use. While dehumidifiers work to lessen the humidity in the air, the air purifier cleans up the air by trapping allergens and the like into its true HEPA filter.
Both of them, however, can be able to handle mold spores in excessively wet areas, such as your basement. Also, both of them could have different settings to operate, whisper-quiet modes, low consumption of energy, and a pleasant appearance that could possibly match your interior design.
Conclusion
To wrap it up, air purifiers, humidifiers, and dehumidifiers are all different from each other, but you can definitely have them work together for a common goal of freshening your indoor space, whether you have a business or just want to chill at home.
Always remember that these are all unique units that do their job. The next time someone asks you how they are different, point them to this article! They’ll thank you!
