3 days lazy, 1 day overworked

My steam pot. 20 quart commercial cooking pot. Fill it once every 3/4 days. Easy for the 3 off days, but you really have to have both hands to get it filled and back to the stove on the 4th day.

Nice humidifier
I have a small one on the stove & we fill it out of gallon milk jugs. easier to carry

Wife adds some white vinegar every now & then to clean it out.

Are you setting the pot on the stove directly or a diffuser ( I believe that's what it's called)

That's the SAME pot I have, MWN! I love having that big pot on the stove, I modified the top sheild on my Napoleon 1900P late last summer so the pot could sit right on the stovetop, and MAN what a difference! Lots of moisture comes off of that thing.

That's exactly what the wife does......makes it really easy.

I gotta be a tough guy and lug the pot over to the sink and fill 'er up........

I can't imagine putting 6-7 gals of water in the air can be healthy?! Be carful for mold and condinsation in your walls.

My house stays around 25-30% in the winter which is fine.

I meant 6-7 gals per day. This forum Is anti iPhone and I can't edit anything.

do a search on vapor loss once, you'll see just how much vapor you lose in your house in the winter. 6 or 7 gallons over the course of 3 to 4 days is nothing........I do this and STILL have trouble keeping the house in the 30-35% range. Optimal moisture in your home should be around 45%.

Like anything else, there are variables
When your area is a cold "arctic" area , the humidity recommendations change from what is the "norm" for most areas.

If we had 45% moisture inside here, our windows would fog & ice up on the inside.
Optimal range here is 25 - 30%,
When we go below zero, my windows start icing up in the corners & we reduce the humidity setting to 20% or less.
10°f now & have 24% humidity, perfect for today's temperature.

With the wood stove running & it drawing in dry cold outside air, we go thru 3 to 4 gallons / day easy.

Humidifiers came with basically the same chart for Alaska & had a good explanation.
Chart:

I gave up on pots/steamers. Not only did I still need a humidifier to keep the nosebleeds at bay, when it boils dry (yeah, I couldn't get the wife to be proactive about filling it) it spews little white balls of minerals everywhere! And actually, I don't notice a difference in how much the humidifier runs.

I do get a pile of minerals at the bottom of the pan. It's amazing how they crystallize in there. No nosebleeds here, but I do know that in the dead of winter you can let the bag of chips or a tub of popcorn open on the counter overnight and it don't go stale....

Wow. I rarely have any left the next day. Sometimes a bowl of popcorn,granola or muesli is my dinner.Most of the time I tend to eat biggest meal early in the day & taper off.Even during cold winter months.Depending on how busy I was that day.

What, no fire hose ?

You what they say about brilliant minds buddy...........

I take a wire brush to mine every 2 weeks or so. I ruined a smaller, more expensive pot last year, Calphalon or something like that. Minerals are rampant in the water here. Very hard.

We like having the steamer just for the looks, our RH stays at a comfortable range thanks to the reef tank.

Most musical instruments require a minimum of 40% humidity

Vinegar!

What does everyone do that lives in the Southwest?

I wouldn't care if my windows fogged up and iced up...your furniture is going to pay and worse your bodies pay for being dry!

Water and Ice on the windows can do quite a bit of damage!

The furniture isn't effected much that I have noticed. Summers aren't super humid either so it's not like we go from a rainforest to a desert.

Only time I feel it's "dry" is when I'm working outside. Hands and lips start to crack.

I just try to do what's recommended by the local gurus, allergy docs etc .
Figure they know what works & don't work in the arctic

Too much water condensation, mold, & other bad things happen

What happens to the wood your burning...when it drys? You can scream mold and moisture on the windows all you want...but you have DRY air. I would wipe the windows down and keep pumping the moisture in my house.