What’s The Difference Between A Humidifier And A Diffuser? – Benefits And It’s Pros & Cons

Some people are mistaken for understanding that there is no difference between a humidifier vs a diffuser.

Both the Humidifier and Diffuser look the same in appearance, making it a little challenging to choose between them. But both have some differences that make them different from one another. However, they both will complete your needs. If you live in dry areas where the moisture level is shallow, you must use a humidifier. Because of low humidity, you will be infected with various diseases like flu symptoms, cold, and congestion.

The humidifier is also very beneficial for asthma patients by giving them fresh air for breathing. On the other hand, with the help of a diffuser, you can add your favorite essential oils to the air by diffusing them but not increasing the humidity very much. So, if you have a low humidity problem, you will need a humidifier. Still, if you want soothing medicinal aromatherapy, you have to add a diffuser to your home.

Comparison Between Humidifier Vs Diffuser:

Here we can give you a comparison between Humidifier and Diffuser. From this illustration, you can see how they both will meet your needs in different ways. You can understand which fulfills your requirements and choose from a diffuser and a humidifier.

Qualities	Humidifier	Diffuser
Purpose	It can add an actual amount of the humidity level in the air.	It dispersed fragrance in the form of mist in the air.
Size	The Tank usually contains one gallon of water or less.	Its tank usually contains around one cup of water or less.
Benefit	It removes dryness from the air and gives temporary relief from sore throats, bloody noses, and colds.	It gives you fragrance and aromatherapy, not humidity.
Method	Humidifier converts water into vapors in form of mist to increase the humidity atmosphere.	The diffuser uses water to spread the essential oil in the

Should You Use a Humidifier as a Diffuser?

Both the humidifier and the diffuser do what the other does but are not perfect in that work. For instance, the humidifier also has a block for essential oils that gives you aromatherapy but not like the diffuser does. The diffuser also uses essential oil with water and gives a bit of moisture but not like a humidifier.

But both the humidifier and the diffuser are only perfect in one thing; they can be interchanged but not replace one another. So, if you have a low humidity problem, you will need a humidifier rather than a diffuser that gives you a bit of moisture. Also, if you want a delicate aromatic fragrance, you should use a diffuser instead of a humidifier that only spreads a bit of essential oil in the air. So, you will choose the product that will meet your needs perfectly.

What is a Humidifier?

A Humidifier is a gadget that restores moisture levels in the form of mist in the air. It converts the water vapors into mist by using a fan that spreads all around in the air. There are lots of benefits you get by using a humidifier. Because of its use, you can get temporary relief from Flu, cough, congestion, dry nasal passage, and many other bacteria. Especially in winter, when the air is too dry affects your health and houseplants; using a humidifier will help you with all these problems.

A humidifier will also give your plants a humid climate for growth and protect your plants from looking unhealthy and dry. Your plants will need a moisture level between 40% to 60% for healthier growth. Lack of humidity causes your furniture and other wooden things to shatter and crack quickly. Low humidity also causes high energy consumption for using more heat in the homes as low humidity enhances coolness. Some humidifiers with essential oils features and aromatherapy options are also available. These humidifiers work as both humidifiers and diffusers and meet your needs altogether.

The humidifiers don’t have nebulizers to nebulize the essential oil; they only spread the oil in the air in mist form, while essential oil diffusers use nebulizers for diffusing. The humidifier is also very promising for people living with asthma.

The humidifiers give you fresh and moist air for breathing. Most humidifiers are extremely quiet, so you can easily place this in your bedroom for comfortable sleep. It also helps you control snoring at night because the dry air causes you to snore, disturbing your partner while sleeping.

The humidifiers are of two types warm mist humidifiers and cool mist humidifiers. Both have the same function of providing moisture, but their working methods are slightly different. In warm mist, humidifiers use heating material to convert water into the mist, while in cool mist humidifiers, they use a fan for converting.

Some of the humidifiers are humidifiers and diffusers at the same time because there are blocks for putting the essential oils in these humidifiers. Then they provide you with humidity and aromatherapy at a time. But if you have a standard humidifier that cannot be a diffuser, you have to be careful about adding oil because it will damage your humidifier.

Pros of Humidifiers:

Humidifiers have plenty of benefits that make them beneficial for us. These benefits are given here.

Beneficial for Health:
Using a diffuser is also beneficial for your health and protects your immune system. It gives you a lot of health benefits and makes you healthy. The use of a humidifier reduces dryness and inhibits the growth of various bacteria.

Making you feel comfortable:
By using a humidifier, you feel very comfortable and reduce your stress. It gives you moisture according to your comfort level. Because of a humidifier, you can get a peaceful sleep and stop your snoring. The humidifier also gives you relief from the problem of static electricity.

Provides you and your plant’s moisture:
A humidifier is the best option for providing you and your plants with an actual humidity level. It has unlimited advantages for both you and your plants. Using a humidifier provides you with moisture, enhances your life, and provides a peaceful environment because low humidity has adverse effects on you and your pants.

Working as diffusers as well:
The humidifier also works as a diffuser because it has a block for putting essential oils. So, you can also use it as a diffuser to get your favorite fragrance that makes you feel relaxed.

Best for Furniture and wood materials:
A humidifier is also best for furniture and wood materials because low humidity causes your furniture to warp, crack, and be damaged quickly. But by the use of a humidifier, its efficiency is increased.

Cons of Humidifier:

Humidifiers also have some limitations here; we will see these.

Contamination of minerals:
If the humidifiers are not cleaned regularly, there is a risk of contamination of minerals with many harmful effects. When you do not maintain your humidifier correctly, it is hazardous because the mist is contaminated with minerals you inhale, which is unsafe.

Noisy:
Some of the humidifiers are slightly noisy, which sometimes disturbs you while sleeping. This noise annoys more than people with light sleepers, but most people do not affect this noise.

Demand more maintenance:
The humidifiers demand more frequent maintenance for their accurate performance. When you do not maintain it, its efficiency will be affected badly, reducing its life span. You also be careful when you have a humidifier with a filter, which is sometimes very annoying.

Problems of over-humidification:
Using a humidifier without concentration sometimes increases the humidity to more than its actual level, which is not suitable for your health. Because humidification enhances the mold growth in your homes, giving birth to unseen infections.

Maintaining a Humidifier:

You have to maintain the humidifier properly for its proper functioning. For this purpose, you have to clean the humidifier regularly to prevent mold growth. Suppose you do not clean the humidifier regularly the risk of viruses growth in the water rises. For cleaning the humidifier, wash it with soap and water and then dry it. When you feel that it becomes dry, you can place it back. But some of the time the tank becomes so dirty when you are careless then soap and water are not enough for cleaning. Then it would help if you used vinegar or bleach for its cleaning. Don’t use both things simultaneously; this will be dangerous.

To maintain the humidifier, you have to avoid using hard water in the humidifier tank because hard water contains minerals that accumulate on the tank’s surface. So, to avoid this problem, you should have used purified or demineralized water.

That’s why when you have a humidifier in your home; you will pay extra attention to its cleaning because proper cleaning increases its efficiency.

What To Look For In a Humidifier?

When looking for a humidifier, you should choose the model that can perfectly satisfy your needs. You have to see those models that can fit your rooms according to their sizes because if you select small humidifiers for your large-sized rooms, that is not enough. But when you are suffering from colds and different allergies, you should choose the steam or warm mist humidifiers. If you have kids and pets, you have to the cool mist or ultrasonic humidifiers to lower the risk of burning.
So, if you want humidifiers for your bedrooms or open spaces, you should select humidifiers with enough large tanks for humidity.

What is a Diffuser?

A diffuser is a gadget that gives you soothing aromatherapy by spreading pleasant fragrances all around you. The diffuser mixed the essential oil into the water and dispersed it in mist form in the climate. People who don’t have a problem with essential oils use essential oil diffusers for fragrance. There are several benefits that a diffuser gives you. You can use an essential oil diffuser to freshen your room with an aroma.

Using a diffuser also inhibits many bacteria and viruses, so it can also give you health benefits. But you can only get all these benefits when you use the right essential oil for your home. Some of the diffusers not only add fragrance to your home but can also slightly increase the humidity but not like the humidifier. The diffuser pairs the essential oil with water and gives you an aromatic climate by spreading a mist that can absorb your skin and give you a pleasing effect.

The diffusers also help boost the air quality for better breathing consumption that smells pleasant.
It also removes your stress and makes you less anxious. A diffuser also builds your immune system and protects you from many allergies.

The essential oils also give you a lot of benefits like lavender oil, peppermint oil, and cinnamon oil which give you calmness, and concentration and relieve your pain. Many other oils alleviate your depression, and distress and promote your sleep, like sandalwood and cedarwood oils. Tea tree oil and calendula oil is also very beneficial for your skin and enhance the state of your life.

Several types of diffusers include ultrasonic diffusers, nebulizer diffusers, evaporative diffusers, fan-style diffusers, and many more. However, the ultrasonic oil diffuser type of diffuser gives you the advantage of both humidifier vs diffuser because it uses essential oil and water for dispersing, giving you both moisture and fragrance.

Pros of a Diffuser:

There are several advantages and benefits of diffusers that make your life very peaceful and enjoyable which are given below.

Eliminates lousy odor:
By using a diffuser, you can get rid of the bad, lousy, and muggy odor associated with homes and provide you fresh aroma. You can also add the fragrance of your favorite essential oil that makes you feel relaxed.

Money saver:
The diffuser is also a money saver for you because it has the features of many things. For instance, It saves the money you spend on insect repelling and keeps you from many infections that lead you to go to a doctor who also demands money.

Maintain your health:
If you are using suitable essential oils in your diffusers, you have to maintain your health properly. Some of the essential oils are very beneficial for improving your respiratory system and protecting you from shifting sinusitis.

Promote your immune system:
A diffuser is also very essential for protecting your immune system. Using such essential oil that destroys antibacterial infections from the climate may protect you from inhaling these bacteria.

Insect impeller:
A diffuser is also used as an insect impeller because some essential oils have a very high odor that many insects, mosquitoes, mites, pests, and bugs cannot bear. So, you can also get rid of this problem with the help of a diffuser.

Give you comfortable:
By adding a soothing fragrance to your rooms, you can feel very comfortable and forget your stresses. Professionals also recommend you add diffusers to your homes for many purposes.

Cons of a diffuser:

Every product has advantages and disadvantages as well. So, here we will see some of the limitations of the diffuser.

Skin tenderness:
When you use the diffusers more than its using time in a day, it may sometimes cause skin tenderness. However, excessive essential oil use will accumulate on your skin, leading to skin problems.

Asthmatic effects:
High use of diffusers and essential oils may also have adverse effects on asthma patients. For this reason, avoid using it for significant times near asthma patients.

Allergy problems:
When using a diffuser, you have to choose the right essential oil for adding to the diffuser because sometimes you have some allergy problems with different essential oils. For that purpose, you have to be careful and check the oils before using them; however, you will have to face severe reactions.

Not fit for pregnant women:
While using the diffuser near pregnant women, you should consult with a doctor. It is sometimes not fit for pregnant women and their babies Because of some skin issues.

Maintaining a Diffuser:

Maintaining a diffuser’s cleaning will be your priority because proper cleaning makes the diffuser work accurately. It would help if you made your diffuser cleaner for its better efficiency. If you have a diffuser with a removable basin, you will remove it and wash it with soap and water after washing, make it completely dry, and place it back with the diffuser.

When using an evaporative diffuser, you can also use filter blocks. When your diffuser’s basin is not removable, you have to negotiate with the owner’s manual for cleaning knowledge.
If you are not using the diffuser, you will make sure to unplug it.

When you use the heat model of the diffuser, you can also have to change the bulb used in it. You can use a halogen bulb for better protection, but you have to be careful while replacing and managing the bulb. In this way, by maintaining your diffuser correctly, you can increase its working capacity.

What To Look For In a Diffuser?

When you are looking for a diffuser, certain things are notable. Firstly, you should see that the diffuser has a removable basin that makes the cleaning more comfortable.

Secondly, when you want to place the diffusers in your bedrooms or living rooms, you have to go for the option of an ultrasonic model, which is very quiet and never disturbs you while sleeping and also has no night light. Many other diffusers come with night light options and an automatic timer that will turn your diffuser off after a while. The night light also has the option of turning it off, but if you have a kid, you can use it as a soothing night light. So, these are the particular things you should consider while purchasing a diffuser.

A Final Thought About Humidifier Vs Diffuser :

So, the final thought about both products is that the choice depends on your needs and requirements. Because the humidifier vs diffuser both have some specifications you will indeed add these to your homes. A Humidifier gives you protection from dry air, saves your furniture from cracking, and gives you moisture. Instead, A diffuser gives you a fragrance that relaxes you and relieves your stress.

That’s why I advise you to try both these products because their harmless arrangement depends on your preferences.