Can You Put Vodka In A Humidifier?
If you have watched the season 22 episode of Simpsons, ‘Homer the Father’, where Homer is seen putting vodka in a humidifier, the idea must have crossed your mind.
Are you wondering if you can, like Homer, do so and fall asleep after getting drunk in a room where vodka has been dispersed through the fumes of the humidifier?
Well, we can tell you, you are not the first one to wonder about it. There has been an ongoing debate about whether or not putting vodka in a humidifier can do so.
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Can You Put Vodka In a Humidifier?
Are you looking for a one-word answer to the question? Then, in short, the answer is – no. You should not put vodka in your humidifier.
Rather, we can give you quite some reasons why you should not even consider this as an option.
What Happens If We Put Vodka in a Humidifier?
Once again, if you want a simple answer, putting alcoholic solutions inside an appliance like a humidifier can damage the machine. This will of course depend on how the device is constructed, but you should not try it anyway. Why so? Well, for starters, it can lead to a safety issue. You might have a fire emergency if alcohol is added to some types of humidifiers.
Furthermore, you should be aware of the consequences of you inhaling alcohol in the form of vapor. It can cause severe health concerns.
Why Shouldn’t You Add Vodka to Your Humidifier?
You are a real character in the movie of life- not a cartoon character like Homer in the Simpsons. Hence, it is important that you are aware of the practicalities associated with adding vodka to the humidifier. Let us talk about some of the risks associated with doing so.
Fire Hazard Concerns
Yes, as mentioned above, you can risk causing a fire emergency or an explosion if you add vodka to the humidifier. Why so? Well, it is important to understand what vodka is before you can find an answer to this.
Vodka is an alcohol and a flammable liquid. As you might already be aware, the humidifier is made up of components that consist of heating elements that can boil the water you add to the device and convert it to steam that is then dispersed throughout your space.
Hence, when you add vodka as the liquid to the humidifier, instead of water, you are leading the flammable liquid toward the heating element. When you do so, the possibility of giving rise to a fire does not seem that impossible, does it? Of course, the model and build of your humidifier will define whether such a fire occurs or not. But, why should you take that risk anyway?
However, the recent models of humidifiers indeed come with a system of cold steam. This means these devices use cold steam to convert water to vapor by sonicating. This will highly reduce the possibility to give rise to a fire, which is indeed more common in the devices that come with the heating element instead.
Nonetheless, you will surely accrue the cost of destroying the humidifier in question and wasting your drink if you put alcohol in the humidifier instead of saving the drink to be taken through your mouth.
Health Consequences
We cannot stress enough the risks associated with you inhaling vodka through your humidifier, in terms of health concerns. If you are eager to get high from inhaling vaporized alcohol, you should bear in mind that you have to inhale A LOT of it.
However, unlike drinking from a bottle, you cannot ever know how much is a lot or when the ‘a lot’ is too much. Hence, you will risk getting totally intoxicated or even losing your senses among the vodka fumes. Does this sound safe at all? Hopefully, you realize, it is not.
On another hand, you can risk getting an alcohol overdose if you are inhaling vaporized vodka. Nothing will be telling you that you have had enough. Are you going to argue that you have only used one or two bottles of vodka on the humidifier?
Well, it is important to note that, unlike liquid vodka, the vaporized form of alcohol usually bypasses the stomach and goes right into the bloodstream as soon as you inhale it.
As per an ideal scenario, the overdose of alcohol will cause you to vomit it out because your body is unable to accept it anymore. However, when you are inhaling it, and not involving the digestive tract, there is indeed no way to control or channel the excess amount of alcohol that you have just taken in.
Hence, you are likely to overdose without being able to fight it until the highness of the vodka is faded off. You will even risk the chance of getting alcohol poisoning. What does this mean? This simply means that you die- and you die pretty fast.
What happens if the overdose does not kill? Well, you might even become an addict.
Moreover, another big health risk that comes with inhaling vodka is that the alcohol can make your nasal passage dry and expose it to possible infections.
Final Words
In conclusion, it is never advisable to put vodka in a humidifier due to the potential fire hazards and health risks associated with inhaling alcohol vapors.
Distilled water is the safest and most recommended liquid to use in your humidifier as it will not only help to add moisture to the air but also provide a pleasant and safe experience.
And no, whiskey is not an alternative you would want to consider.