What's new
TerraForums Venus Flytrap, Nepenthes, Drosera and more talk

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Got a Deal on a Humidifier!

Vbkid

Getting There...
So on the advice of a wonderful forum member, I check out the local salvation army today. I walked out with an extension cord, an old coffee maker to cannibalize a cord ffor my new light fixture, and a NEW ReliOn ultrasonic humidifier. Grand total? $2.75

Now the real questions:
Can I just use tap water in the humidifier?
When/how long should I run it in my indoor greenhouse?

Thanks,
Kyle
 
tap water will shorten the life of the humidifier, If the greenhouse is very large you should probably keep it on for a while.
 
Tap water is also likely to cause hard water deposits all over the place, including plants.

Getting a digital timer is often useful, you can set it to run multiple times a day. I use to do like 15 minutes, 20 times a day or something... Probably overkill, but it gets my point across. As far as how long you'll need to run it for, well... that's largely up for experimentation. Find out what kind of schedule holds your humidity where you want it. Trial and error.
 
I dont see how tap is an issue... I use it and since its just vapor, nothing from the water gets on the plants, it just makes my growing area humid. I may be different because I have a ReliOn warm mist humidifier but it seems like the upkeep would be the same. Just clean it once a week and you wont have to worry about build up from anything in your tap.
Doubt this helped but there you go lol :)
Also, I run mine over night with a fan on to circulate it and then I turn it off when I wake up. Exact time is from 10PM-6AM. May seem bad but my plants love it
 
Once a week cleaning on a humidifier? No thanks, lol. I've had the same humidifier running for about a year without any cleaning. RO water.
 
A lot of that depends on your local water system. Some folks have very hard tap water... total dissolved solids (TDS) of 300+ ppm... and kicking that much dissolved mineral content into the air by atomizing the water will leave a residue on your plants over time as it condenses. Here in NYC it's closer to 25-30 ppm, which is pretty clean. I use that water for my Neps regularly. But for other plants, and to run through my humidifier, I run it through a cheap RO unit that gets it down to 10-15 ppm.

But anyway, sweet deal on that humidifier, no matter what kinda water you put in it! I just dropped $45+shipping on a humidifier so I'm mighty jealous of your steal.
 
Obviously if you use RO then you dont really need to lol. I would rather use RO for my plants since my humidifier goes through 2 gallons+ a day and tap is cheaper. I suppose you can go to once a month or more if your tap isnt to bad...
 
Yeah, I guess it's probably different for those of us that own an RO unit. Don't have to go to the store all the time just to refill a humidifier. Between my humidifiers and plants, I use a ton of water. Depending on the weather, usually about 10 gallons every two or three days. The RO unit makes life a lot easier.
 
RO units also pay for themselves pretty quickly depending on what your options are for purchasing distilled water. If a small sink unit costs $150-ish...
 
  • #10
Once I move I plan on getting a RO unit so I dont have to worry about running out of water :) and that will be an awesome day lol
But until then I'll just keep making my 1 mile walk to the store for water... on the plus side, I stay in shape :D
 
  • #11
use rain water for you humidifier,you should get plenty of rain in washington
 
  • #12
not nearly enough... I have a rain barrel though and Im still trying to find a method to clean the water cause when it comes off the house it looks yellow and I dont trust it
 
  • #13
"I don't see how tap is an issue... I use it and since its just vapor, nothing from the water gets on the plants"

In the case of ultrasonic humidifiers this isn't always the case. In distillation the water is separated from any impurities in part due to different boiling points/vapor pressure points.

Using ultrasonic humidifiers doesn't provide this level of purification... many have complained of white mineral depositis left behind from their use when using hard water.
 
  • #14
Ultrasonic humidifiers don't actually vaporize water. Water vapor is water in the gaseous state. What they do is "atomize" the water into fine droplets. There may be some vaporization resulting from cavitation but the contribution is negligible. For fun you can add an electrical charge to the water droplets. That way the droplets will repel each other and stay dispersed and airborne longer. As I recall the Dutch invented this process which has wide application for the dispersal of nerve agents. Works with particulates like weaponized Anthrax spores too.
 
  • #15
Ok we just got on the CIAs watch list talking about the weaponization of different WMDs. :/

Very interesting tidbit of info though.
 
Back
Top