How do you ladies clean your humidifiers? My children both have the Crane brand humidifiers (animal variety from Target) in their rooms. The instructions say to rinse them out with hot water after each use, but one of the them is starting to have an odd odor to it. What is the best, safest way to clean these things? What works for you?
I too have the Crane humidifiers from Target. I clean them with white vinegar. Let the vinegar and water sit in them for about 1/2 hour then rinse thoroughly. It works well and will get rid of the bad smell.
Do you still have the instruction manual? It typically will give you daily, weekly maintenance instructions.Also you can check the manufacturer's website or google your question.
I have a different model (Vicks Cool Mist) but here are the recommended cleaning instructions to give you some ideas.
Daily -
Empty Water tank out and rinse with warm water, remove filter and water tray, empty out any water.
Weekly
Fill water tank with undiluted white vinegar to remove scale . Let stand 20 mins, dump vinegar, wipe tray then rinse with clean warm water before disinfecting.
Disinfecting - Fill water tank with 1 tsp household bleach in 1 gallon of water. Let stand 20 minutes, shaking vigorously every few mins, drain and rinse with clean water until bleach smell is gone. Dry with clean cloth or paper towel. Wipe water tray with cloth dampened in bleach/water solution, rinse.
I replace my wicking filter every month.
We get an odor occassionally also. Indicator that it needs a good cleaning and/or the filter needs to be replaced. I replace my filter monthly (we use the humidifier nightly during the winter months).
I just seen my child's peditrition yesterday. They said THROW it out EVERY YEAR. No matter how hard you try it still has MOLD you can't get out and that is harmful and dangerous... to just keep buying a $20-25 cheap one every year...
I always use white vinegar for things like this. You might be able to run it through, mixed with water, for a few minutes. Good, cheap disinfectant for almost anything. Use it on my kitchen table and counters all the time.
Whenever my daughter's humidifier has a musty odor, it's usually because it needs a new filter. That is likely the culprit.
I bought the frog one and ended up throwing it away. Ours started to smell even after cleaning it after each use. They are cute but our crappy.
