Humidifier
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Woodsplitter67
Minister of Fire
I have been using the Aircare wick style humidifier for a few years now. It is the best performing large area humidifier I have ever used. My wife and son have sinus issues so I have to keep things on the higher humidity side. I like the wick used for drawing the water up for distribution. It filters the crud out of the air before it is humidified and blown with the fan. We have plenty of crud due to long hair cats and dog. The wick does clogged up every couple of months or so. It is supposed to be washable but we just replace it. The wicks are a bit pricey at around 17.00 each, but we feel it's worth knowing at least the air we are humidifying is clean. The unit itself goes around 100.00 at home cheapo.
RandyBoBandy
Minister of Fire
I've been researching this myself lately. Another member here has good things to say about vornado brand humidifiers.
https://www.vornado.com/home
https://www.vornado.com/home
Dieselhead
Minister of Fire
I am going on 4 or 5 years now with this one with good results. 2 wicks a year that are readily available is about all I go through. I use a drop in water additive with it to make sure it doesn’t get stinky or crusty. (broken link removed)
Drop in usually around $7:
https://www.walmart.com/ip/HCC31-Hu...Capsule-Ship-from-USA-Brand-BestAir/577849204
Drop in usually around $7:
https://www.walmart.com/ip/HCC31-Hu...Capsule-Ship-from-USA-Brand-BestAir/577849204
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kennyp2339
Minister of Fire
I bought the cheapo sunbeam humidifier from wally world a couple years back, no complaints and it does a great job. The tank holds approx. 1.5 gallons of water, I do mix in a little splash of bleach at each fill up to keep the base of the unit from getting allege build up.
mountain man 2
Burning Hunk
https://www.iallergy.com/products...
I use the one in the link above. When the humidity is low in tbe house ill go thru about 4 gallons of water in a day to 2 days. I feel it works well....check it out.
This link may be better......https://www.essickair.com.....look up model 1407
I use the one in the link above. When the humidity is low in tbe house ill go thru about 4 gallons of water in a day to 2 days. I feel it works well....check it out.
This link may be better......https://www.essickair.com.....look up model 1407
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That is the model I also use. I like it because it is very basic and effective. The water container/filling system is convenient and works well. I use the additive and have never had a problem with buildup, algae or smell. Seems to distribute the humidified air uniformly through the house. I'm sure there are other good units on the market, but I'll stick with this one.
jetsam
Minister of Fire
I really don't like wick style humidifiers because of the maintenance and ongoing expense of the wicks.
I have one airwash paddle humidifier- these are really cool, and pull a lot of gack out of the air, but they put a lot less water in the air than a boiler or an ultrasonic humidifier. It's basically just a big box of water with a paddle with a thousand tiny fins. A fan on top pulls air through the unit. Airflow turns the paddle. Dust and crud gets stuck on the surface of the water and sinks, and splashing water vaporizes and humidifies the air. It stops when there's about an inch of dirty water left in the bottom- then you rinse out the bucket, fill it up, and go. Downside is that cleaning the paddle can be difficult. (I quit scrubbing at it, and just take the gsrden hose to it once a year now.) This thing has been going 5+ years, 6-8 months a year, no sign of stopping. (broken link removed to http://venta-usa.com/product-category/airwashers/) It's a great unit if you're willing to take it apart and clean it every year or two (and pay the large purchase price).
I also run a boiler in the winter (commonly called 'warm mist' or 'steam'- they work simply by boiling water. I go through one of these every 2 years or so. Haven't found a reliable design with a large tank yet. My favorite so far was a Vicks with 2 1 gallon tanks, but the internal plumbing was not well designed and was rough to repair. Got 2 years out of it, but that required several repairs. It finally died of yet another water leak which corroded the outside of the heating element assembly to the point that it couldn't be removed without breaking stuff (and it had to be removed to fix the leak).
I have one airwash paddle humidifier- these are really cool, and pull a lot of gack out of the air, but they put a lot less water in the air than a boiler or an ultrasonic humidifier. It's basically just a big box of water with a paddle with a thousand tiny fins. A fan on top pulls air through the unit. Airflow turns the paddle. Dust and crud gets stuck on the surface of the water and sinks, and splashing water vaporizes and humidifies the air. It stops when there's about an inch of dirty water left in the bottom- then you rinse out the bucket, fill it up, and go. Downside is that cleaning the paddle can be difficult. (I quit scrubbing at it, and just take the gsrden hose to it once a year now.) This thing has been going 5+ years, 6-8 months a year, no sign of stopping. (broken link removed to http://venta-usa.com/product-category/airwashers/) It's a great unit if you're willing to take it apart and clean it every year or two (and pay the large purchase price).
I also run a boiler in the winter (commonly called 'warm mist' or 'steam'- they work simply by boiling water. I go through one of these every 2 years or so. Haven't found a reliable design with a large tank yet. My favorite so far was a Vicks with 2 1 gallon tanks, but the internal plumbing was not well designed and was rough to repair. Got 2 years out of it, but that required several repairs. It finally died of yet another water leak which corroded the outside of the heating element assembly to the point that it couldn't be removed without breaking stuff (and it had to be removed to fix the leak).
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Squisher
Minister of Fire
I use a sunbeam wick style. New wicks at the beginning of each winter. Works good. Automatic settings are nice and the LED display is nice for a quick glance to know where things are at. It is a cold water wick style humidifier the one I use.
Some people don't care. But. I never place anything besides a thermometer on my stovetop. No no no, my stove is staying mint. No marks.
Some people don't care. But. I never place anything besides a thermometer on my stovetop. No no no, my stove is staying mint. No marks.
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After going through a few of the heated wick style humidifiers I switched to a ultrasonic cool mist and never looked back. Easy to clean (run outside for an hour with some bleach water for a deep clean), no wicks to replace and I just keep filling it with tap water and it keeps going. I run it at the highest setting during the day and at the second highest setting at night so I don't have to refill.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Air-Inn...e-Rooms-Up-To-400-sq-ft-HUMID16-WHT/206021786
![[Hearth.com] Humidifier](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/217/217298-8eaba726cd5cb9dc752f62cacfbdb1df.jpg?hash=iFaFYAVFhG "[Hearth.com] Humidifier")
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Air-Inn...e-Rooms-Up-To-400-sq-ft-HUMID16-WHT/206021786
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I think that was me. I really like my Vornado humidifier, so much better than the ultrasonic mister I had before and it cost less than that unit; I'll never go back to one of those. The Vornado I have is a wick style and runs on a DC motor and uses about 90% less electricity than a similar sized AC unit. Does the job well and it's quiet.
Same one I have. We keep ours in our bedroom at night and it doesn't bother us at all noise wise. It's really quiet when you have the leaf mode on and its running on low once the humidity levels come up. Hope you like it. The other thing that sold me was the 10 year warranty on the motor.
Just bought it this fall. Haven't changed them yet but I did buy a 2-pack when I ordered it, the manual says every 4-8 weeks. It comes down to what's in your water and how much water you're using. I'm going close to 8 weeks at this point. I have pretty bad water, like stain your house red with iron bad, so I've been putting a half gallon of distilled water on each side and top off with tap water.
My water is pretty decent....hopefully they last awhile.What kind of run times are you getting?
Haven't really kept track to be honest. We keep ours mainly in the bedroom so it probably doesn't put out as much if it were in the living area. I will put it out in the main living area every few days or so though.
RandyBoBandy
Minister of Fire
Yes. It was you. Thanks for chiming in on this. I am about to pull the trigger myself on the same unit. Steam pot on top of the stove just isn't cutting it.
Did you feel the steam pot did anything at all? I was thinking of running both.
RandyBoBandy
Minister of Fire
I would like to think it does but with no way to measure the humidity (yet) I couldn't tell. I also think I'm going to get a weather station that will also give me inside conditions.
I gave up. A regular humidifier takes constant filling. Iv just tried to live with it ,the 2 dozen plants and 2 fish aquariums in the house help probably a few gallons a day. Also we vent the dryer inside in winter,good for heat as well and a huge help.
Those small digital temp gauges $8 also have humidity readout. I have at least 6 or 7 of em. Wal mart or Amazon.
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