Pellet Stove Humidifier

[Busy_Bosco]

When we had a wood stove we would set a kettle of water on top to combat the dry air.

Is there anything close to that for pellet stoves?

I know the top doesn't get so hot, but I noticed the side singed my fingertips after a tiny touch.

If nothing like that exists I feel like I could make it myself to hang off the sides.

 

[Connecticut Yankee]

I bought one of those cast iron vessels to put on top of the stove, even though the stove dealer warned me it wouldn't work. I liked the look of it and didn't care.

Well, he was both right and wrong. Given how my stove is constructed, the back of the top panel barely gets warm, but the front few inches of the panel get warm enough that you wouldn't want to rest your hand there for more than a few minutes. I put my humidifier thingy directly on the warm part of the stove-top (omitting the trivet you would need with a wood stove), and the water gets warm enough that it does evaporate, slowly. I swear it makes a difference in the comfort of the room, but that could be psychological. In any case, I'm happy.

 

[tlc1976]

It doesn’t have to be hot to evaporate, but it does go faster when hot. If the room humidity is low it will evaporate. Just like they say if you got a dehumidifier going into an open sump then it evaporates right back up.

 

[Washed-Up]

I put a 4 gallon pot of melted snow on my P61 and it raises the humidity approx 10% in the house according to the weather station.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Drape wet bath towels over each side and let the heat evaporate the water. You'll have higher RH and a white stove from the calcium lest from the evaporating water....

Lowe RH is a fact of life in the winter. Never seen ANY humidification device that will operate very long. They all get loaded with calcium and become basically useless, especially with well water.

 

[tlc1976]

Drape wet bath towels over each side and let the heat evaporate the water. You'll have higher RH and a white stove from the calcium lest from the evaporating water....

Joking of course. If the towel dries out then you’ve got a combustible on your stove.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Joking of course. If the towel dries out then you’ve got a combustible on your stove.

.... and a stiff towel too........

 

[PelletPirate]

I gave up on putting a decorative pot on the stove as it was not enough to humidify the house and I didn't want small hands touching it. I ended up getting a Essick whole house humidifier and it works great.

 

[Jmshuhart]

I use a Vapor Cool Mist Humidifier on a stand in the same room as the pellet stove. It adds a little moisture to the room, and if nothing else, the cats & pup can be pet without getting shocked lol

I've also used an old school pot of water set on top of the stove when I was just too lazy to dig the humidifier out for a couple days.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Evaporative stand alone humidifiers work well so long as the water you use in them is basically mineral free but not the case here. We are loaded with calcium and calcium kills a humidifier evaporative filter almost instantly. City water will work, most well water (what we have) won't.

Joked around about the wet towel on the stove. If I did that, when the towel dried it would be stiff as a board from the dried mineral deposits.

 

[Jmshuhart]

Evaporative stand alone humidifiers work well so long as the water you use in them is basically mineral free but not the case here. We are loaded with calcium and calcium kills a humidifier evaporative filter almost instantly. City water will work, most well water (what we have) won't.

Joked around about the wet towel on the stove. If I did that, when the towel dried it would be stiff as a board from the dried mineral deposits.

I have well water so I know all too well about the calcium buildup. They're between $30-40, so I go into it knowing if I get 3 or 4 years out of them, I'm grateful. It's more work, but cleaning them at least once a month really helps with the buildup. We're pellet stove owners, we're used to more work. Just don't give me a woodstove, I ain't stacking wood all summer!

Baking soda is your calcium cleaning friend! And vinegar.

 

[SidecarFlip]

I have well water so I know all too well about the calcium buildup. They're between $30-40, so I go into it knowing if I get 3 or 4 years out of them, I'm grateful. It's more work, but cleaning them at least once a month really helps with the buildup. We're pellet stove owners, we're used to more work. Just don't give me a woodstove, I ain't stacking wood all summer!

Baking soda is your calcium cleaning friend! And vinegar.

I have 3 upstairs that I didn't use last year, actually, not since the year after I retired. When I worked I filled my 5 gallon totes with city water and that worked pretty well but then when I retired that first winter was a bust with the well water. I even tried rain water (I collect rain water in IBC totes to wash down the farm equipment), using the well water just leaves a white film on them...ugly but the rain water wasn't much better actually.

So please tell me, what is your regimen with baking soda and / or vinegar? Those elements are kind of expensive to replace. You soak them in a solution or sprinkle the baking soda on the elements or what? I'm curious and want to try your method. Gets awfully dry here in the winter. I try to take hot showers and leave the bathroom door open and that helps a bit for a short while at least.

 

[tlc1976]

I wonder how well it would work to refill with one of those Pur, Brita, or Zero Water devices. The water at my old house was nasty and those helped a lot. The Zero Water pitcher came with a tester and the community water was about 175 ppm but after the pitcher it was 0.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Thought about buying a RO unit and using that but I don't know if reverse osmosis will remove the calcium. Not a water expert. When I was using city water and bringing that home, we were going through 10 gallons every 2 days in the dead of winter.

 

[minux]

The trick is to use distilled water. Can be had for two for $1

on well water here, too, maybe you are ok with the multi stage filter systems but I would not fill up a humidifier out of my tap

 

[SidecarFlip]

The trick is to use distilled water. Can be had for two for $1

on well water here, too, maybe you are ok with the multi stage filter systems but I would not fill up a humidifier out of my tap

I'm sure it is. {Problem is, distilled could very well turn into a money pit over time.), especially at the rate I use it.

 

[minux]

I'm sure it is. {Problem is, distilled could very well turn into a money pit over time.), especially at the rate I use it.

Have you looked into bulk delivery? The 5 gallon deliveries are much cheaper...

 

[Dataman]

Just clean the thing with Vinegar. Lots cheaper. I use bleach to kill any germs. I have little brush that came with the until to clean ultrasonic device. https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/home/cleaning/a25692098/how-to-clean-humidifier/ Amazon product ASIN B07KBRQN8F

 

[Connecticut Yankee]

I wonder how well it would work to refill with one of those Pur, Brita, or Zero Water devices.

Not that great. I live in Connecticut, and the city water is a lot softer than the water where I lived in New York before moving here, but our stove-top pot, even with our softer city water that we run through a Brita filter, still collects calcium as the water evaporates.

I used to live near Rosendale, New York, famous for its cement, and the soil was full of calcium from Kingston to New Paltz. The well water was undrinkably chalky (though okay if you made coffee or tea with it), so I bought spring water for the animals and Seltzer for myself.

A water softener would generally be a good solution in most regions, but in the Rosendale area, sometimes the softener at one place I lived needed to put so much salt in the water to replace the calcium that it tasted brackish.

At my local supermarket, distilled or spring water by the gallon was cheaper than the per-gallon price of the 5-gal. jugs. If you need to be sure that your water is completely mineral-free, distilled is the way to go, since a lot of spring water is prized for its mineral content.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Got the evaporative unit from the attic and had my wife order up 10 gallons of distilled from Kroger (she does 'Kroger Click List) where you order online and pick it up at the store, they load your buggy for you. See how my consumption works out but I figure 20 gallons a month give or take and yes, distilled by the gallon at Kroger is decidedly cheaper than Culligan (or anyone else) in 5 gallon carboys. 89 cents per gallon compared to $1.20 a gallon in 5's. I do the 'steamy shower' thing too. Every little bit helps.

Still need to go pick up my pellets and fill the grain tank with field corn. Not that cold here yet but I'm sure it's coming. It always does...

 

[Jmshuhart]

I have 3 upstairs that I didn't use last year, actually, not since the year after I retired. When I worked I filled my 5 gallon totes with city water and that worked pretty well but then when I retired that first winter was a bust with the well water. I even tried rain water (I collect rain water in IBC totes to wash down the farm equipment), using the well water just leaves a white film on them...ugly but the rain water wasn't much better actually.

So please tell me, what is your regimen with baking soda and / or vinegar? Those elements are kind of expensive to replace. You soak them in a solution or sprinkle the baking soda on the elements or what? I'm curious and want to try your method. Gets awfully dry here in the winter. I try to take hot showers and leave the bathroom door open and that helps a bit for a short while at least.

Here's a link on how to clean your humidifier with vinegar. This is the exact model that I have.

This video doesn't include baking soda, but I will use it to make a little paste to aid in removing any buildup I can't get off with this process. I use baking soda in my coffee pot to clean it, which gave me the idea to use a little on this once when I had a spot that wasn't coming clean.

Like I said, I just use my well water because I don't have time to keep going out & buying distilled water. If you clean it, you'll probably be just fine. And again, this isn't a $100 humidifer... it's like $30-40, so I'm okay replacing it every few years. $10/year? I'm good.

Good luck!

 

[SidecarFlip]

I broke down and am getting distilled in gallon jugs. Ours is raking about 2.5 gallons every 24 hours right now. at 89 cemts a gallon, not too bad.