Vaporizers are cheap. They are a time-tested method of providing humidity in the air. They require very little maintenance. Yet, it seems rare for people to use them. Why? I have been trying to research the difference between a vaporizer and a warm mist humidifier and everything just assumes I'm looking at cool mist humidifiers. The only real difference I can find between warm mist humidifier and a vaporizer is that the humidifier has more features like auto shut off. But otherwise its essentially the same thing just more expensive.

I looked at cool mist but I'm really turned off by all of the maintenance required. That, and its extremely difficult to find one that isn't ultrasonic, which are really bad for you unless you're using distilled water. Lugging gallons of water home in bulk is a non-starter for me so I don't want ultrasonic. I've also been reading about how humidifiers coat everything in white dust and thats a no thank you as well.

Is there something I'm not considering here? Or any reason I shouldn't get a vaporizer? I know there are no run settings like high/low output but I can control this to some extent through the mineral content of the water by adding salt. I was also considering something like a timer and turning the vaporizer on and off in 2 hr cycles or similar to control output. I used to keep an iguana and the vaporizer was such a cheap and easy solution for humidity so I'm trying to understand why they seem to be so maligned these days. I have dogs but no kids and I can easily put up a barrier to keep my dogs away from the steam output. Its really only hot very close to where it comes out anyways.

Where I live is a cool climate so the warm steam would only be a negative for a few weeks of the year. I read a review where someone modded the water basin to a 5 gallon bucket which make the run time very long. The simple design makes that an easy thing to do which isn't possible with a humidifier. Short run times and frequent refills are a downside to me. I guess the only thing I keep hearing about for a vaporizer that gives me any pause is electricity consumption. Can anyone with a warm mist vaporizer speak to the increased energy consumption from using it? Or any negatives you have encountered with its use?

Thanks!