Never Add Essential Oils to Your Humidifier Water (but Do It Instead)
You may love essential oils, but there are good reasons not to add them to your humidifier.
Essential oils can corrode plastic
The humidifier is not designed to store essential oils in the water tank. The type of plastic they are made of, usually ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene), is not designed to hold oils for long periods of time. They can corrode, causing the water tank to crack. The oil can actually ruin the plastic, so that the plastic itself gets into the water, causing odors and clogging the parts of your humidifier.
Essential oils can damage the filter
Anything but the distilled water in your humidifier can cause problems. Because the filter mechanism in a humidifier is only designed for environmental elements such as dust, minerals, or pollen, oils can get into the filter and cause it to break down. This will obviously make the filter less efficient, reduce air quality, and prevent the humidifier from doing its job. It can also wear a hole in the filter, completely removing it from the system and allowing minerals, dust particles or pollen to be sucked into the fogging mechanism, damaging it or dispersing these particles into the air.
Essential oils can clog the fogging mechanism.
Since the humidifier is designed to produce mist from water, a thicker substance with a different consistency will interfere with its ability to create this mist. The essential oils will eventually clog the fogging mechanism and the humidifier will stop producing droplets, not only preventing your scent from dispersing into the room, but also preventing the humidifier from humidifying the air in the first place.
Humidifiers are not designed to be diffusers
If you want your essential oils to stay in the air for a while, a humidifier won’t do the job. Humidifiers are designed to humidify the air so the water mist they produce doesn’t linger in the air for very long. The smell will dissipate as the drops fall, so they are not suitable for long-term results. Also, if you have a humidifier that uses heat to create mist, the essential oils will also heat up, often changing the properties of the scent and destroying it.
Get a humidifier-diffuser combo
The good news is that there are humidifiers with essential oil compartments that won’t corrode or damage your humidifier. If you want to use essential oils with a humectant, this is a good option because they are designed to be used with oils and do not suck the oils through the filter. Because they have a misting mechanism designed to match the consistency of the oil, they won’t clog or stop working.
Or just use a diffuser
Another option for spreading the scent of an essential oil is the traditional diffuser . They won’t add moisture to your air, but they will form smaller droplets than a humidifier, keeping the smell in the air longer. Because they are made specifically for essential oils, diffusers are best for scenting a room. However, it is important to remember that good things can be too much. Essential oils are not necessarily what you want to breathe all the time.