Humidifier, di water update

[runcyclexcski]

Just wanted to give a brief update on having used my basic Boneco humidifier for a week ($165 on amazon). The unit is the "Steamer S250" (not posting the links since they expire all the time), with a tank capacity of 3L. I have the humidifier in a small "equipment room" which has filter intakes as well. The same room has a trickle supply from the outside as well. The conditioned air is then distributed from the equipment room to the bedroom and the office. This prevents local humidity building up and eliminates the "steamy" odor (I think it's the plastic).

The continuous air flow into the humidifier room is about 150 m3/hr. At this air flow, the humidifier essentially works non-stop, and I use about 3 tank changes per day. For that air flow, the unit is under-powered by at least two-fold (I may get another one). With the current outside temps (5-10C), the humidity stays at 45% (w/o the humidifier it would be <30%). My asthma does get better with it (easier to talk). The unit shuts down once the supply shuts down. I like that the tank can be "hot-swapped" (no need to unplug the unit). Demineralized water is needed at about 100L per week. With my tap water, I would need to clean the unit weekly. Looking into getting my own demineralizer resin. Bulk raw resin might be cheaper than cartridge.s

[utkmybrthawy]

Good to know that that works. I think it takes allergens out of the air. It chelates them and drags him to the ground. Hey, I bought a water distiller. I live in California, and I thought that if worse came to worse and our droughts become unsustainable, I could distill sea water or even local stream water. It works like a charm! I put a cup of sea water in there, and it came out absolutely fresh. In any case, it’s a good investment for distilling water for our humidifiers and also a great emergency piece of equipment

[runcyclexcski in reply to utkmybrthawy]

I used to live in the Bay Area (La Honda, Menlo Park, San Fran and Berkeley). The wildfire season of ~2008 (when I saw Angel Island burn from my house) in East Bay was what made me learn air purifiers. I hear it was as bad (or worse?) this year?

I need to do the math do decide between distillers and ion-exchangers, to see what's more cost-effective. At any rate, it appears that the smaller the air volume one wants to control (during sleep, for example), the more cost-effective it is.