How to keep humidifier from getting nasty?

[n8n]

Hi all,

Putting a humidifier back in service for the winter. It's one of the freestanding ones with the wicks that you have to fill up every day as landlord has not installed one on the furnace. However despite the fact that I cleaned this thing with vinegar before putting it up for the summer, it's NASTY, smells mildewy, now I'm bleaching everything and running all the little parts through the dishwasher. So the house is going to smell like bleach for a week or so. What did I do wrong? I did use the bactericide in the water all last winter and also when I put it away everything was, I thought, clean and dry.

Is there any help for this or am I resigned to doing this every year?

Also, opinions on the reusable wicks or just buy 2-3 paper ones per winter season? I use way too much water in this thing to use distilled water but they clog up with minerals very quickly. Yes I monitor humidity with a weather station and shoot for just keeping the whole house barely above 40% I'm not going nuts here.

 

[Bretny]

Do you heat with wood?

We do and gave up on that style humidifier a long time ago.

 

[rlitman]

I've gotten a few years out of the type that trickles water over a coated metal "wick". The paper wicks don't last more than a season for me.

I add bactericide EVERY time I fill it up.

 

[n8n]

The heat is forced air with a gas furnace; I do not know why there is no humidifier on it but there isn't. The first year we quickly discovered that the humidifier was necessary because once it got cold the humidity bottomed out in the 20s. Now we got new windows this summer so hopefully it won't be quite so bad this year, but I'm guessing it's still going to be necessary.

The unit that I have uses the paper wicks although currently I have some "reusable" ones branded Natural Breeze. I cleaned them with CLR and then bleach. I do use the bactericide and also the anti-lime stuff with every fill. Last year I was filling the reservoirs at least once a day it was running that often. Again, I hope that that is reduced this year but we shall see.

If you have a wood stove, as my parents do, I'd be tempted to get one of those cast iron humidifier kettle things and leave that on top of it. Much easier than messing around with humidifiers, wicks, etc.

 

[Jim greengo]

How about just adding a humidifier to the furnace?
You can pick one up at box store,not hard to install.

 

[n8n]

How about just adding a humidifier to the furnace?
You can pick one up at box store,not hard to install.

Landlord actually lives in a MIL apartment in the basement, the furnace is in his space, and he's weird about that stuff. However I may be wiring up his new shed for power and if he's happy with that job, I will suggest it. Would love to get that big ugly box out of the hallway.

 

[SALIV8]

We use a humidifier bacteriostat (it's liquid in a jug) and replace the wick filter every year and clean out the humidifier.

You add like a cap full every time you fill the jug.

 

[Doug19]

How many people have a humidifier on their furnace? Ive always been told they arent the greatest thing for your furnace and they will also produce the mildew smell eventually.

I too have the stand alone but dont have the mildew issues mentioned above. Are you using well water?

 

[n8n]

How many people have a humidifier on their furnace? Ive always been told they arent the greatest thing for your furnace and they will also produce the mildew smell eventually.

I too have the stand alone but dont have the mildew issues mentioned above. Are you using well water?

Nope... city water. In MD just outside of DC. Yeah, you'd think there'd be enough chlorine etc. in it but apparently no.

I've had no issues with the furnace mounted ones, although the elements look completely different and they probably get dried out very quickly when the furnace fan runs without water flowing over the element stops.

 

[theoldwizard1]

However despite the fact that I cleaned this thing with vinegar before putting it up for the summer, it's NASTY, smells mildewy, now I'm bleaching everything and running all the little parts through the dishwasher.

Do the bleach treatment BEFORE you store it ! Vinegar or better yet, muratic acid, will take care if the "lime"/calcium build up but not any bacteria. After cleaning, leave disassembled for a day to make sure all parts are dry. Dispose of the pad at the end of the year.

Either use distilled water OR buy a water filter pitcher (Btita) and only use that water.

 

[n8n]

Do the bleach treatment BEFORE you store it ! Vinegar or better yet, muratic acid, will take care if the "lime"/calcium build up but not any bacteria. After cleaning, leave disassembled for a day to make sure all parts are dry. Dispose of the pad at the end of the year.

Either use distilled water OR buy a water filter pitcher (Btita) and only use that water.

The latter is not going to happen... last year we were using several gallons a day. Just something that has to be dealt with I guess.

 

[theoldwizard1]

The latter is not going to happen... last year we were using several gallons a day. Just something that has to be dealt with I guess.

A filter pitcher makes a 10 cups in 10-20 minutes, longer when the filter is used. Buy 3 or 4 gallons of distiller water at the store and then refill those jugs from the pitcher.

They are inexpensive enough, you can buy 2.

 

[rlitman]

Do the bleach treatment BEFORE you store it ! Vinegar or better yet, muratic acid, will take care if the "lime"/calcium build up but not any bacteria. After cleaning, leave disassembled for a day to make sure all parts are dry. Dispose of the pad at the end of the year.

Either use distilled water OR buy a water filter pitcher (Btita) and only use that water.

Acid will work just fine to kill bacteria.

Keep this in mind. No matter how free from bacteria the water is when it goes into the humidifier, the humidifier has a fan that is pulling room air through a wet FILTER. It will immediately be contaminated by whatever is in the air. The only answer to keeping growth down is to treat the water, and the cheapest way to do this is to add the proper amount of bacteriostat with every filling. Alternatively, a more convenient (but ultimately more expensive) option is to buy a device that you leave in the tank, which leaches bacteriostatic chemicals for about a month.

Next, Brita filtered water has the same mineral content as tap water. It won't scale up a humidifier any less quickly.

Using distilled water in a CPAP humidifier is economical and makes sense. Using it in a whole house (or even room) humidifier is just plain nuts. However, RO water, if you've got it, would be ideal. Even so, bateriostat is still required.

 

[rharman]

We went with the Dyson ultrasonic. Pricey but no wicks to buy or get gucky.

 

[rlitman]

We went with the Dyson ultrasonic. Pricey but no wicks to buy or get gucky.

The wick doesn't get gucky, but an ultrasonic just spits all the guck right into the air instead, spreading it all over your room.

 

[n8n]

Acid will work just fine to kill bacteria.

Keep this in mind. No matter how free from bacteria the water is when it goes into the humidifier, the humidifier has a fan that is pulling room air through a wet FILTER. It will immediately be contaminated by whatever is in the air. The only answer to keeping growth down is to treat the water, and the cheapest way to do this is to add the proper amount of bacteriostat with every filling. Alternatively, a more convenient (but ultimately more expensive) option is to buy a device that you leave in the tank, which leaches bacteriostatic chemicals for about a month.

Next, Brita filtered water has the same mineral content as tap water. It won't scale up a humidifier any less quickly.

Using distilled water in a CPAP humidifier is economical and makes sense. Using it in a whole house (or even room) humidifier is just plain nuts. However, RO water, if you've got it, would be ideal. Even so, bateriostat is still required.

I am in fact using the bacteriostat.

The good news is that a tank of water seems to last several days now. Not sure if it's because it hasn't gotten really cold yet or if it's because the new windows really are a dramatic improvement. I've also got the humidifier set at 50 RH rather than 55 where I had it last year to keep the humidity at the opposite end of the house over 40.

 

[BillK]

I trash the paper filters in mine every year at the end of the season. Other than that I just give the entire unit a good scrubbing with Spray Nine and hose the console out. Have never had an issue. I just put new filters in mine and filled it up this weekend.

 

[trashmanssd]

After seeing what grows in the stand alone units after just a week or 2 I will never have one the ones built into the furnace. It is a necessary evil and I just go with stand alone units and cleaning them often.

 

[BillK]

After seeing what grows in the stand alone units after just a week or 2 I will never have one the ones built into the furnace. It is a necessary evil and I just go with stand alone units and cleaning them often.

Wonder if its a water quality thing ? We never have had much of any type of buildup or deposits on our standalone one. We use the bacteriostat and only clean it once a year at the end of the season. Same paper filters last all season.

 

[pugslyyy]

The wick doesn't get gucky, but an ultrasonic just spits all the guck right into the air instead, spreading it all over your room.

We use one in our bedroom with no issues, so I don't think that is an accurate statement. Since the ultrasonic humidifiers don't have wicks (or other places for the funky stuff to grow), this doesn't happen.

The Dyson actually has a UV light in it as well.

As with most Dyson products they work well, are pleasing to look at, and stupidly expensive compared to more standard alternatives.

 

[rlitman]

We use one in our bedroom with no issues, so I don't think that is an accurate statement. Since the ultrasonic humidifiers don't have wicks (or other places for the funky stuff to grow), this doesn't happen.

The Dyson actually has a UV light in it as well.

As with most Dyson products they work well, are pleasing to look at, and stupidly expensive compared to more standard alternatives.

Look up any actual research into humidifiers. Ultrasonic are notorious for spreading bacteria. The UV probably helps with that, but they still spread "white dust", which can only be avoided with demineralization of the water. That white dust not only destroys electronics, but is proven to be harmful to your lungs.

If you have a CHEAP source of demineralized water (such as RO filtered water), and if your humidifier uses UV to sterilize the particulate output (and I'm going out on a limb here and assuming this unproven technology not only works, but continues to work), then perhaps ultrasonic humidification makes sense. But I have tap water that's loaded with calcium and iron, and I don't want to be breathing that.

I used to be the only one in my household who suffered from nose bleeds in the winter from the dry air. Ever since I started using a CPAP with its own humidifier, I've found that it's best to not even attempt to fully humidify my whole house all the time. There are numerous benefits to keeping your house down around 30% (drier air kills dust mites for example), and on the coldest of days now, I'll just boil down a stock pot on the stove.

For those days when the kids are sick, I have a steam humidifier. Unlike any evaporative humidifiers, the steam doesn't cool the room, and I can put a little menthol in the cup at the opening. Steam ***** for everyday humidification though, because the scale that builds up on the element is a pain to clean.

We control humidity at the data center that I work at. In data centers, dust and contamination is a big concern, so we do not want to use any humidification method that introduces it. The cleanest humidification method (and what we use) is infrared. It works amazingly well, but I cannot picture how it could be made to work on a small scale.

Still, because of the enormous energy costs of humidification, you first want to do as much as possible to avoid losing the humidity you have. Seal up those drafts!

 

[Flail]

If you put vodka in your CPAP you will get fewer sinus infections and sleep better.