How to Clean a Humidifier
It is essential to clean a Humidifier routinely to prevent mold, mildew or bacteria. Follow our Steps to clean and learn what to do when a humidifier does not mist.
This article originally published April 4, 2013, We have updated it with more current practices and updated images.
It is that time again! It is Allergy, cold & flu season, which means everyone is bringing out the Humidifiers to help moisten the air and to help combat the colds!
But unless you clean a humidifier properly, it can actually be detrimental to your health and well-being. Bacteria and mold can grow in the tanks and then get into the air through the mist.
Why a Clean Humidifier is helpful
Humidifiers are wonderful for many reasons. They help combat dry air. They have many health benefits such as
- Relieve cold symptoms, cough, the flu, allergy, sinusitis, nose bleeding, and hay fever symptoms.
- Relieves and prevents dry, scratchy skin and chapped or split lips.
- Improves the air quality in the home
- Helps babies sleep peacefully.
- Improves skin health
- Helps combat bronchial issues from cold weather
- A great source to distil healing essential oils into the air.
But as I mentioned if you don’t clean a humidifier regularly it is also the prime location for bacteria and mold to grow which then gets pumped back out into your breathing air. Not such a good combination.
How to clean a humidifier that no longer mists
Now, I don’t know if I was just lazy, tired or just plain forgot; but I think I put my humidifier into storage at the end the summer without doing a proper cleaning. Because when I pulled it out to use for Jade when she got sick this last week, it would not mist. Oh, it would turn on and you could hear it heating up the water. It was working just fine. But something was preventing it from creating and dispersing the warm mist into the air.
When your humidifier stops vaporizing, even though it’s still in working condition otherwise, It is most likely the presence of mold or mineral deposits that are affecting a humidifier’s ability to vaporize. There is an almost fool-proof way to clean it out and get it working again!
The process is simple:
Step 1: Add 2 cups White Distilled Vinegar to the bottom of an empty water compartment. Fill to the full line with cold water.
Step 2: Assemble the Humidifier and then allow to run until the water compartment is almost empty, but not dry. Then rinse the unit out and run again with regular water to rinse the entire humidifier from the intense vinegar cleaning.
The Vinegar moving through the Humidifier will clean out any mineral deposits that have built up in the machine. Now take the humidifier apart and look at the humidifier itself. If there are still visible mineral deposits on the unit proceed to step 3.
Step 3: Create a paste of lemon juice, table salt, and baking soda. Dampen a clean cloth and apply the paste. Scrub off the remaining mineral deposits with the paste, then wipe the surfaces off with a clean, damp cloth.
Now wouldn’t you know it! It works! My Humidifier that previously wouldn’t mist at all, started misting like it was brand new within 5 minutes of adding the vinegar to the water! And now it works perfectly!
To prevent any further mineral build up; simply add a few tablespoons of vinegar to your water solution each time you use the humidifier. And ensure to clean a humidifier frequently.
How to Clean a humidifier routinely
Now in order to keep your health optimal and keep your humidifier running smoothly, you need to know how to clean a humidifier routinely. It’s rather simple and doesn’t take a lot of effort. Definitely something worth the time to do. And it works for both warm and cold mist humidifiers.
To clean your humidifier you simply:
- Unplug your humidifier and rinse out the humidifier with cool water. Never use chemical cleaners. They are unnecessary and can actually damage your machine.
- Add White distilled vinegar to the water container, swish around and then allow to sit for 30 minutes. Use a soft brush when needed to ensure all mineral deposits are removed from the inside. Rinse and allow to dry.
To Disinfect your humidifier:
- After cleaning the humidifier, simply fill the water tank with clean water and add one teaspoon of bleach to every gallon of water. You can also use 3% hydrogen peroxide instead. Gently swish the solution to coat the tank evenly, and allow to sit for at least 30 minutes. Then rinse very thoroughly.
You should disinfect your humidifier at least once a week. And definitely, before use when you pull it out of storage to clear out anything that has built up over time.
Now you can go back to enjoying your clean humidifier to improve your health and quality of air in your home! Remember the optimal humidity level for a home is between 30%-50%!
So be sure to get out your Humidifiers, and pick up a quality Humidity Gauge to ensure you keep your home at optimal levels. And remember how I mentioned Jade was sick last week? Humidifiers are also great to help distil healing essential oils!
Many have that medicine reserve where the mist comes out. Just add a few drops of your favorite healing essential oils and it gives double the benefit!
Be prepared for cold and flu season by checking out our other articles on
- Flu Remedies,
- How to prepare for Flu Season,
- Sore Throat Remedies
- Benefits of Garlic Oil
- Common Cold Remedies
- Get Well Soon Gift basket
- Bath Salts with Essential Oils
- Top 10 Best Essential Oils for every Home
- winter cold survival kit
- Top 10 Natural Congestion Relief Tips
Vinegar is an amazing cleaning tool.
Hi Amber,
No, I do not know another way to clean a humidifier properly and to be honest, I haven’t a clue where our humidifier is as I haven’t used it in many years. The only thing I remember about them is that my Mom used to put vicks on the top of the machine and she would clean it with a vinegar & water spray (which is what we clean almost everything with anyway).
I hope your little one is feeling better,
Victoria
DenSchool
we had to clean our furnace humidifier recently. It had some build up on it and was not working properly.
Great tips! I like that you’ve used natural products. I’ll keep this in mind next time we pull ours out. Thanks so much for sharing!
I so need to clean mine!! And since we used it when we lived in Denver, well, I bet there is a lot of hard water in it.
Thanks for the tips 🙂
great post! thanks – I wonder if I can use this on my steam mop that wont steam!
This is GREAT to know! We have a crusty, old humidifier that I would love to use again!!!
Great tips! I’m sure ours could use a good cleaning.
Thanks for the reminder! We had a horrible situation a few years ago where we forgot to keep up with cleaning ours and changing the filter and it started growing mold! It was blowing mold into my son’s room and he got really sick so this is important to remember!!
That is SO funny you posted this! I just went through this with our vaporizer!! I have mine running great today. We also have super hard water so I added some salt and that helped break down the calcium and such!!
You always have the greatest stuff on your site!!
Good to know!! We actually didn’t use our humidifier much this year, but I’m definitely bookmarking for future use.
Although I love humidifiers, I hate having to deal with cleaning them. Sometimes I won’t use them for long periods of time because I know they are dirty and I don’t want to clean them, so I just put them away.
Thank you! this is great to know! i had no idea what the best way to clean our was!
we just pulled out our humidifier and its needing a good clean so thanks for sharing this!
We just researched that last week, wish I had seen this sooner! Thank you, pinned it!
Thanks for the tips! With all the dust and pollen right now cleaning my humidifier is on my Spring cleaning list. I need to dig it out and get it working. I just adore how many uses vinegar has.
This post is brilliant! Mine needs cleaned!! Thank you!
I was actually wondering how to tackle this task last week, thanks for the guide!
I am not sure that we have ever cleaned our humidifier, though we rarely use it. However, I definitely didn’t know how to. Thanks for the tutorial.
Pinning so I’ll remember this next time we pull out the humidifier. It’s scary how easily germs can build up in there!
We did not pull ours out this year, but I really needed this tips about how to clean it.
I always wondered how the heck to this. My youngest is allergic to mold so we always had to be careful using one of these because the harbor mold so easily if not kept clean!
This is great information to have. Thank you so much for sharing.
What great information.We just got a humidifier. Thanks for sharing!
I have not used a humidifier in years, but my mom uses one all the time. Will pass these tips to her. Thanks for the informative post!
wow – I really hadn’t thought about this! We use humidifiers all the time and OMG I should really be disinfecting them…yikes! Thank you for the reminder Amber!
I don’t have a humidifier, but if I ever get one, this should be a post I come back to! Great step-by-step with pictures!
Great info. We have 2 humidifiers in my home and use them alot!
Awesome tips! Thanks for breaking it down for us!
It really is amazing what vinegar can do isn’t it? It can do SO many things. Thanks for the tips.
Great article! Which reminds me I better clean mine soon!
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! I’m horrendous at remembering to clean my humidifier out and it gets MOLDY. SO gross. Our pediatrician told me to do something similar to this but I couldn’t remember the exact steps, so I’m really glad you shared this. Our humidifier is actually sitting in the bathroom sink RIGHT NOW waiting to be cleaned.
Thank you so much!! We use one because our youngest gets croup regularly, and this is the thing that staves it off and lets him breath! I had no idea how to clean it, so I pinned this. Thanks.
I’m the worst when it comes to taking care of humidifiers! Thanks for the encouragement and simplified steps for this tedious task! 🙂
thank you this was very helpful for me this worked thanks
I was looking for a safe way to disinfect my ancient humidifier for my son to use when I ran acroas this. Thanks! Also, when it won’t mist you can put a pinch of salt in the water, up to half a teaspoon. Within 3 or 4 minutes it will be putting out some major steam. Like I said earlier mine is kinda old, im 29 and its from when I was in elementary school and still works great! Even better than the new vicks one i bought last year for his room. There is actually a bright yellow sticker on the cord from the maker that has the salt tip on it.
before cleaning, looks creepy! cool thing, but does it need to be cleaned often? and there are those that do not need to be cleaned?
yes they need to be cleaned often. Otherwise it grows mold and mildew which then gets put out into the air which is really bad for your health.
All models need to be cleaned.
thank you very much for your answer, but I’m interested in what models require very less maintenance? may be those who do not have a filter?
Clean it using the natural things like vinegar and baking soda.