Bulbs & Fittings Ideas

Comparing Various Diffusers, April 24, 2015

By 

W. T. Hoffman “artist and musician” (Pennsylvania, United States) – See all my reviews

  

  

If Aromatherapy is an area you have interest, then you probably know there are several ways to diffuse the essential oils’ scent into your room. For the longest time, people would use those ceramic rings around a light bulb, and let the essential oils basically "burn", releasing the scent. The downside with that method, is that the scent gets released all at once. Your room would be flooded with scent, then you’d have to add more oil to the ring. Later, the aromatherapy diffuser was invented, which works by creating a cool mist. The essential oils are added to the water, an ultrasonic disc vibrates, and the mist would evaporate the oils. This method is far preferred to heat, but there is a downside. First, the water diffusers only work for up to 3 hours, or until the water is all evaporated. Plus, you end up with this "white water" in the bottom of the chamber. The white water is actually the oil fractionated into the water. Also, its only a matter of time before the ceramic disc that vibrates to create the mist will crack. That’s the death of the diffuser. There is a third way. These oil diffusers, with the glass vials, work by blowing a jet of condensed air over the top of the essential oil, evaporating the oil without the need of adding the oils to water. Since you can put a LOT of oil into these glass beakers, you can run it for hours, even days, without needing to turn it off. Plus, you have a knob, that allows you to adjust the air flow. Lots of air, a tiny bit of air, and every amount in-between. Plus, you don’t get the fractionated oil in the bottom, like you do with the water diffusers. You’ll save on essential oil with an air diffuser. On the other hand, these air diffusers use an air compressor, to force the air over the oil. The compressor creates an annoying humming sound, when you have no music, video games or TV playing in the room. You can place it on a towel to reduce the intensity of the humming sound, but it can still irritate you. For that reason alone, I wish to say "FOUR AND A HALF STARS" with this product. Incidentally, this particular oil diffuser runs on European current. (220volt) Its packaged with the wrong transformer plug for North America. I ordered a different 6volt transformer for it, but the connection to the diffuser didn’t match. So I had to find an adapter, that converts the European current and plug, into an American current and plug. Its only a few dollars, however, its not something you expect, when you order electronics in the USA. Seriously, I don’t fault the distributer. The manufacturer didn’t let them know this, apparently. So if you do order this, order an European to American plug adapter at the same time. Hopefully this issue will be resolved in the near future.
Which diffuser is right for you, the ultrasonic mist, or this condensed air diffuser? For starters, I like how this is made. No plastic, just wood and glass. Its all natural. And, you get to chose exactly how fast the air will diffuse the oil. Put a small amount of scent into the air, or a lot more. (The more you turn up the air compressor, the more it produces that humming sound, tho.) Unlike most of the air diffusers, there is no LED night light of changing colors. If you find the LED light show cheesy, then its absence would be a plus for you. If you don’t want more humidity in your air, which the ultrasonic mist diffusers create, an air flow diffuser is also a plus. (People who live in areas with humid hot summers, like the Northeast, know how little humidity is welcomed on hot days.) You will need to clean this out, after the oil is mostly evaporated. It creates something like an oily film at the bottom, which you clean out with a little denatured alcohol. However, you wont need to do this very often. (and you have to clean out the water diffusers too.) Unlike the ceramic disc inside the ultrasonic diffusers, there is nothing here to wear out. Eventually the air compressor will probably break, but it could take years. This particular model has a bare wood base, so you can stain it, paint it, or let it remain natural, to match your own décor and taste.

A WORD ABOUT AROMATHERAPY
I’ve practiced Aromatherapy for 25 years or more. I use around 30 different scents, to create my mixes. If you are starting out, I recommend one of those boxes that have 6 basic oils. Or, if you’d like to order the oils separate, I’ll list a few oils for newbies to buy first. You can put just one oil into these diffusers, or mix two or three oils together. However, unlike a cool mist diffuser, its a little more difficult to change scents. If you mix together oils, and want to pour it out of the glass vial, don’t pour it into a bottle that has a pure scent in it. (It’ll contaminate the pure essential oil, with other smells.) Have a small bottle handy, to pour mixed oils into, if you wish to change scents. So for starters, purchase these oils.
PEPPERMINT —…

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