Turn a hotel air conditioner into a humidifier

From Mommyprof:

If you are in hotel with the little ones and find someone develops a cough in the hotel room, you can make an impromptu humidifier by soaking a bath towel and then draping it over the room air conditioner turned to heat or air con, depending on the season/your comfort.

Comments

[lace]

I love this idea! Why did I never think of that. I spent approximately 4 years on and off living in hotel rooms because of business. Hotel rooms are extremely dry. I always wake up with a sore throat. I ended up buying a small portable humidifier to pack in my bags.

[Gary]

Ahhh! Sounds potentially dangerous! Soaking wet towels on top of an electrical device where you're not supposed to put such a thing? This is what you're really advocating?

[Mary]

That's brilliant! Thanks for the Idea!

[Airwick]

Aside from the very real wet towel on electrical device concern mentioned above - I'd also like to point out that if you are using the device in A/C mode, you are potentially fighting a losing battle. A/C's are dehumidifiers, that's what they do. So you are simultaneously adding moisture and sucking it away. Whether or not you have the net effect of making a more humid rooms obviously depends on the size of the A/C, how big the towel is, size of the room, and the speed of an unladen swallow (African).

If you can run the device on fan only mode, or heat mode, then you are adding moisture (without taking any away).

But even taking physics into account ... the safety concern of water+electricity seems less than practical. If the dry air is a chronic problem for you/your children, then I'd say invest in a travel humidifier and got the job done right. For imprompto needs, head to the nearest chain pharmacy and get whatever's cheap and available.