Humidifiers

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Mint
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Humidifiers

Post by Mint »

I need a 1 room humidifier for my bedroom.

However everyone I've spoken to has warned me to make sure I get a good one, or I'm going to have condensation all over my windows, and hard water deposits on all the surfaces in my room...

So what's a good humidifier brand/model?

Warm or cool mist... I really don't care... As long as it raises the humidity and keeps it at the proper level.

I don't think I really need to pay top prices for the ultrasonic humidifiers... That seems a little high tech just for putting water in the air...
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KAV
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Post by KAV »

I don't know humidifiers. But if this is a health/comfort issue buy a few Creeping Charlies & Wandering Jew hanging plants. These plants are very good bio filters. A study found @ 36 in a 2 bedroom home would completely filter the air every 24 hours. Thats a lot of plants, but even a few in the bedroom have a benefit on air quality. The increased humidity will help them thrive and being hanging will pose no threat ( either way) to pets or children ( they are non toxic aside from obvious stomach upset.)
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Mint
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Post by Mint »

It's winter and the air is dry... It's going to take a LOT of foliage to fix that... Lol... I think a humidifier it the more practical solution, but thanks for the recommendation. I'll keep that in mind come spring :wink:

I'm just sick of the burning eyes and peeling skin associated with winters in this country...
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KAV
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Post by KAV »

Do what people used to do, boil some water on the stove. :wink:
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rahul325
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Post by rahul325 »

I have this Honeywell ultrasonic humidifire. its pretty good.

http://www.amazon.com/Honeywell-HUT102- ... B000ANYQIY
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Rob

Post by Rob »

Do not buy the ReliOn Cool Mist Humidifier. The wife and I got it from Walmart a couple of weeks ago for about $25-$30, can't remember. Anyway, it has a loud fan and honestly does not put much moisture into the air...maybe about 1 Gal per 15 hours or so. It's just not a good unit. http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product. ... d=10261753

We're shopping again for a new humidifier. This time we're getting a true silent humidifier.
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rustyblade
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Post by rustyblade »

I hang laundry to dry in laundry room and if that overflows I have washing lines in the basement. It does wonders for the humidity during the winter and lowers the hydro bill. Since we have two small children there is always a steady supply of dirty laundry.
Richard
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Mint
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Post by Mint »

Thanks Rob, I'll be sure to avoid that brand/model...

The true silent ones are the ultrasonic ones... They cost over $100 though :x

One of my main concerns is the particle filter... I'd rather not have to buy distilled water to avoid getting hard water deposits on all the surfaces in my room, so that's gotta be reliable...
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jtpca
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Post by jtpca »

I purchased this unit over a year ago http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST%2Fbrowse ... difier.jsp

It gets quite dry here in the winter and the unit will run constantly - I fill it once a day. Our water is quite good and I just clean the filter periodically.

I only run the unit when we are not in the room in which it is running. Honeywell calls it 'Quiet Care' - horse@#$! This is a loud machine which will not allow you to enjoy music or conversation comfortably.

Next time around I will have to upgrade to the ultrasonic.
Jason

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Mint
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Post by Mint »

Yeah, it's that fan in the cool mist humidifiers that makes all the noise...

You might want to consider a warm mist humidifier? They don't have the fan, so there's no noise except maybe the occasional boiling water sound... They're much quieter, but they don't control the humidity as accurately. The cool mist uses the air's own moisture capacity to regulate the water release. Much less likely to wind up with condensation on windows, etc.
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rustyblade
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Post by rustyblade »

The problem I find with most humidifiers is that they are a pain to clean unless you use distilled water. Even RO water will eventually leave scum.
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Post by Timpac »

I have a warm mist one and have been very surprised at how much I like it. When researching humidifiers, I honestly thought I'd only really like an ultrasonic one. the only sound this makes is a bit of a water bubbling, which is fairly quiet. Cleaning it is necessary, though I honestly slack on it a bit 'cause the heat kills anything that might be in the water. That's actually an advantage to warm mist; you don't need filters 'cause the heat kills anything in the water. it has a dial humidistat, so if I set it fairly low and put it on the low output setting, the 1.5 gallons lasts me for several nights if I'm not running it during the day. The obvious drawback is the condensation. I have some issues with that on my windows anyway, so for me, it just means I have to make sure to keep up on wiping things down every few days anyway. No problems with condensation on the ceiling or whatnot and it doesn't leak.
Rob

Post by Rob »

The wife and I are trying our best to get one of these Kenmore/Essick models: http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_1260 ... 012487611P and http://www.lowes.com/pd_121408-12934-MA0800_0_

One's a Kenmore from Sears, the other an Essick from Lowe's. Same model, different names. I figure I could count on being able to buy filters pretty easily from Sears/Lowes for years to come. I have also read that you'll need to buy some anti-bacteria solution to put in the water. It will prevent the growth of bacteria that contributes to bad smelling humidifiers. While at Sears today trying to obtain one of these humidifiers I saw both the filters and the anti-bacteria solution. Unfortunately, they did not have the humidifier in stock at Sears or Lowe's. Must be a popular model.
Rob

Post by Rob »

We found a Lowe's in a nearby city that had a few of the above mentioned Essick humidifiers. We got it for $89.98, a replacement filter for $9.98 (ouch!), and a 64 fl. oz. anti-bacteria/anti-mineral buildup solution for $6.98.

So far so good. The unit is very tolerable at medium fan setting. The high setting is super turbo jet speed and is very loud. I like that I can set it to a relative humidity level in 5% increments. It will turn on as needed, then turn itself off once the desired humidity level is reached. I have high hopes for this thing. It's so much quieter than the ReliOn unit I mentioned previously.
Rob

Post by Rob »

The humidifier is still doing quite well. I happened to be in Sears today and before leaving I decided to see how much they charge for the filter for the Kenmore unit. $18.00! That's right, $18 for the same filter I got at Lowe's for $10, which at the time I thought was expensive.

It really does pay to shop around.
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Mint
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Post by Mint »

Wow, do keep me updated on that...

Just thought I should mention... The purpose of the filter isn't to prevent bacteria from getting into the air, it's to stop hard water deposits from getting into the air.

Rob, if your tap water is a little on the harder side, if you wouldn't mind, get a blank CD (I say blank because I don't know if this will damage it at all... I really doubt it, but I claim no liability if you lose your favourite Celine's greatest hits collection, wink wink, nudge nudge, say no more) :lol:

As I was saying... Take a CD and leave it near the humidifier reflective side up for a few days... After a few days check if there's a bit of a white layer forming over the CD.

Humidifiers sometimes leave hard water deposits all over everything in your house when they don't have very good filters, and I imagine this wouldn't be good for any electronics in the room...

Simple solution is to use distilled water, but you know...
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wenestvedt
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Post by wenestvedt »

We have a couple by Crane shaped like frogs. I saw one shaped like a duck at (I think) Target last week. Work great and not too awful to clean.

- Will
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Re: Humidifiers

Post by Julius_Rodman »

Mint wrote:I need a 1 room humidifier for my bedroom.

However everyone I've spoken to has warned me to make sure I get a good one, or I'm going to have condensation all over my windows, and hard water deposits on all the surfaces in my room...

So what's a good humidifier brand/model?

Warm or cool mist... I really don't care... As long as it raises the humidity and keeps it at the proper level.

I don't think I really need to pay top prices for the ultrasonic humidifiers... That seems a little high tech just for putting water in the air...


no problems for many years with a Vicks Ultrasonic Humidifier.

then i don't bother with it in the winter until i get another flu battle on my hands.


-----------------------------


Kent
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