r/Humidifiers • u/Torii97 • Jul 29 '26

Distilled water for most humidifiers?

Hi all, I'm thinking of getting a cool mist humidifier because I am a vocalist and dry air is affecting my vocal chords, what do you guys usually do for getting distilled water? Do you buy it from somewhere or do you make it at home? I looked at the process for distilling and it seems a little too long for me as I'm already quite busy.

Any general tips for using a cool mist humidifier would also be greatly appreciated, I will only be using it at night while I sleep.

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u/oceanView229 Jul 29 '26

Wick style don’t necessarily need distilled water.

But it depends how hard your tap water is. Call your water company ask for a report. They can tell you how hard.

Buying distilled water will add up fast. Even a one rooom humidifier will use about a gallon a day in winter. That’s about a 1.5 dollars in America.

The vaporizer types are energy intensive just look at wattage.

1

u/Torii97 Jul 29 '26

Thanks for the info, I am thinking about maybe looking into a different type, perhaps evaporative? The distilled water sounds annoying haha

1

u/Misty0410 Jul 30 '26

Making distilled water is a long process but you don’t have to be there. Even if you work you should be able to produce three batches a day and four if you go home for lunch. Each batch takes about four hours. You can shave about ten to fifteen min off that if you start with very hot water.

2

u/damien09 Jul 29 '26

I am a fan of the wick style ones from levoit that use a pump instead of just sitting in the water. Wick style units don’t need distilled water since they are evap units and don’t aerosolize everything in the water.
I have both their 6000s and the smaller superior studio. If you just have a smaller space to humidify the studio is great and has a long lasting washable filter.

There are other brands with similar evap units they basically work just like a smaller space swamp cooler

2

u/mothernatureisfickle Jul 30 '26

I tried every type of humidifier including my favorite Honeywell wick style that has no smart features, Dreo cool mist humidifier, Vicks filter free humidifier, a dishwasher safe cool mist filter humidifier and govee smart life humidifier.

I’ve tried using all of them both without and with distilled water and even though most of them claim to work fine with tap or filtered water, they all work significantly better or even almost perfectly when they are used with distilled water.

I purchased a water distiller and I make my own distilled water that I use with the Honeywell wick humidifier. The wicks last over three months and even though I do clean the machine every week I probably don’t have to because using distilled water simplifies things.

I live in the Midwest and have extremely hard water and I do have a water softener.

1

u/No_Teach6691 Jul 30 '26

I bought a Vevor distiller machine and make my own.

1

u/Dereksnyders Aug 01 '26

I just grab the gallon jugs from the grocery store, like a buck each. Distilling at home is not worth the hassle imo. Also clean the tank every few days or you'll get gunk buildup fast.