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I own this model, and use it to humidify a small room. I sympathize with the author's complaints with respect to the difficulty of cleaning it, though mine just
by superbatfish 6y ago
I own this model, and use it to humidify a small room. I sympathize with the author's complaints with respect to the difficulty of cleaning it, though mine just doesn't need cleaning very often. And the wick DOES get moldy if you let it sit in wet water for weeks on end.
But her other complaints puzzle me:
I don't find it to be messy to refill. What is she doing wrong?
It's even more baffling that she thinks it "doesn't work". I mean, she refills the tank every night, so we know the water is disappearing from the tank... where does she think the water is going? Isn't that proof enough that it does, in fact work?
- falcolas 6y agoA teaspoon- of bleach or so for 3 gallons of water will solve your mold issue quite handily, even while sitting. It's not enough to smell even when the humidifier is running at full blast. Just enough to kill bacteria and mold. I'm repeating this advice a lot in this thread, it surprises me it's not better known.
- JohnJamesRambo 6y agoIs that too much bleach though? I do just a few drops in my ~1 gallon humidifier that works continuously in my clone room and it stays clean and even keeps the Serratia bacteria that make the pink stuff in the reservoir at bay. I do use reverse osmosis water to fill it though. Is breathing that much aerosolized chlorine a concern? A calculator I use is here. Tap water is about 2 ppm. https://www.publichealthontario.ca/en/health-topics/environmental-occupational-health/water-quality/chlorine-dilution-calculator https://www.publichealthontario.ca/en/health-topics/environm... Looks like you are doing about 30 ppm so maybe that isn't that much really.
- pishpash 6y agoSo when the water evaporates you get salt precipitates all over the wick, and more and more over time?
- falcolas 6y agoWicks are a consumable item, whether in swamp coolers, humidifiers, candles or lamps.
- pishpash 6y agoThe problem isn't so much the wick itself but the concentration increase of salts over time as water-soluble chemicals are introduced at seemingly small levels each time. I suppose with proper monitoring it can be managed, but doesn't seem like the ticket in a non-flushing system.
- falcolas 6y agoI hasn’t been an issue, but I am careful to not overdo it. I have overdone it once with a cool mist humidifier, and it was definitely noticeably uncomfortable. I replaced the water quite quickly.
- jdironman 6y agoHow are you sure it's not a boiling the frog scenario then? You might be "comfortable", but internal damage over long term can be taking place until it gets to a tipping point. I'm just weary of ingesting / inhaling anything foreign over long periods of time regularly.
- JohnJamesRambo 6y agoYou’ve inspired me to up it a bit. I think I’m doing a little too low. I want zero bacteria, not to just be in a stalemate with them.
- throwanem 6y agoYour what room?
- JohnJamesRambo 6y agoI am a legal cannabis grower haha.
- leetcrew 6y agoI just bought a (different) honeywell humidifier. so far it works, but not as well as I expected. I hoped it would be able to maintain a somewhat stable humidity for the sake of my guitars, but it can't really keep up with the desiccating power of my central heat. I wonder if part of the issue here is mismatched expectations with evaporative humidifiers?
- JohnJamesRambo 6y agoI went through early parts of my life thinking little humidifiers were doing something and not until I got a relative humidity meter did I see how little they do unless you either a.) have a very big humidifier or b.) a very small sealed room. One of those "I'm sick" humidifiers can be going full blast and not budge the RH right nearby.
- exhilaration 6y agoIf you have a central HVAC and valuable things that are sensitive to humidity you really need a whole-house humidifier. A bunch of manufacturers make them, I have the Aprilaire 400 ($741 professionally installed in 2016), you can see all their products here: https://www.aprilaire.com/whole-house-products/humidifier https://www.aprilaire.com/whole-house-products/humidifier
- makeset 6y agoI have never seen relative humidity budge more than a few percent using any portable humidifer. Sitting at 10% here, hard cases with humidity packs is the only way I can keep acoustics in one piece, though as a result I hardly ever play them anymore.
- Gibbon1 6y agoI think the problem is your humidifier needs to be able to keep up with the rate of air turnover in your house. If your humidifier can't push a 1/4 gallon an hour it's probably not doing that much. I think the wick type humidifiers likely suck because at low humidity the dew point is really low, the wick gets cold and the water doesn't can't evaporate very fast.
- ziml77 6y agoI was confused by that complaint about it not working too. If the water disappearing isn't enough to confirm it then a hygrometer certainly would do the trick.
- boomboomsubban 6y ago>though mine just doesn't need cleaning very often. Do you have carpet where you use it and do you have pets? From fairly limited observation on computer fans, those two factors make a huge difference in how messy fans will get. Apartment with hardwood floors, air duster once a year is fine. Apartment with carpet, monthly minimum still leaves the fans gunked up.
- kortex 6y agoAlgicide also works. Benzalkonium chloride. You can get it as a 60% solution as a pool chemical and that will last forever. I use like 0.005% iirc. I make a 1% stock and dose that in, but I haven't used a humidifier in a while (prolly should)
- miek 6y agoI have this model, and I thought the refill comment was funny too. She's carrying it with the opening pointed down, cap screwed on, but the cap must be leaking. My cap doesn't leak, but I carry mine with the opening up.... so it doesn't matter if the cap leaks. I leave the reservoir open, sitting on my counter each morning so that it dries out, and i run the fan on the unit for a while to dry out the filter (so it doesn't mold). My unit doesn't get dirty, but I don't have dogs.
- NovemberWhiskey 6y agoI have one of these too. I was baffled by many parts of the commentary. There's obviously a huge range of fastidiousness / standard for cleanliness in people but I have literally never felt the urge to try and pry off the grille to get at the fan blades etc. And unless there's some kind of catastrophic failure of the gasket on the lid, you're really talking about a few drops of water leaking out, at most, if you carry it by the handle.