I've bought a humidifier, how do I use it?

[Iwasthefourthwiseman]

I've just bought a humidifier to try and help with dd1's chronic winter cough and dd2's snuffly nose. How do I use it? They are in separate rooms so I thought dd1's room for half an hour before bed until she goes to sleep & the take it into my room for an hour before me' & dd2 go to bed.

Any thoughts?

When dd or myself have a cold, I switch the humidifier on when we go to bed and leave it on all night. Also, ideally they should be disinfected once a week (if you use it a lot) with bleach or something similar which kills bacteria to make sure you don't get things such as legionnaire's disease), also it is safest to fill with cold water and not warm water (unless you have direct warm water, e.g. combination boiler and not warm water indirect from a hot water tank or if it is from a hot water tank then the temperature has to be set high so there is no risk of bacterial growth). Also, I put it on the floor, with towels underneath as otherwise the floor will become quite wet. I do think that it makes a difference though to coughs and colds, so we use ours a lot.

Thanks for the advice. Do you worry about the house getting damp?

The room definitely gets damp - so in the morning, when we are up, I switch the humidifier off, hang the towel(s) out to dry and open the window to let the moist air out and so that the windows dry (they have lots of condensation in the morning, probably combination of humidifier and central heating). If you put the humidifier on a carpet, then I think that you may have to put plastic on carpet then towels to protect your carpet. However, I think it is worth it, much more comfortable if you have a cold.

Oh, an I point the humidifier away from the bed otherwise the bed will get damp ... so it is about 2 yards away from the bed pointing towards the window in our room