For coughs and colds, what is the difference between a humidifier and vaporizer?
Answer Definitions vary but a humidifier is usually thought of as something connected with a heating system which adds moisture to the atmosphere all the time, which helps the skin and breathing tubes and the furniture in climates where some heating device is going most of the winter. A vaporizer is generally considered a device for short term use that adds moisture to the air of a person that needs supersaturated atmosphere during an acute respiratory episode. A vaporizer is an humidifier that is more concentrated, in a sense. A humidifier goes on your furnace, a vaporizer goes in the room of a sick person so you would use the former all the time, the latter when someone is sick. Either way, you need only water, none of the smelly stuff that is sold to improve things. It smells up the place but make you think you are doing more than you are.
