Would this work??

[jafvortex93]

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Vicks-Warm-Mist-Humidifier/10261752


and would i be able to use regular tap water considering it boils the water and its the steam that makes the mist?

 

[carnivoure12]

Hmm... the hard substances like iron might stay but other more chemicals might still be in the steam, such as chlorine.

 

[mobile]

Use it for what?

 

[Sig]

Warm heat humidifiers actually boil the water. The end product is pure steam. You can use tap water in it safely for your plants.

 

[mobile]

Warm heat humidifiers actually boil the water. The end product is pure steam. You can use tap water in it safely for your plants.

The steam will also contain any volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that were in the tap water, as these also evaporate with the steam. In domestic water distillers the condensate is usually passed through a carbon filter to remove these.

 

[jafvortex93]

okay awesome yea just bought one today, my mom needed it and when she's done im going to rig a tube to the top and feed it into my terrarium. =]

 

[mobile]

okay awesome yea just bought one today, my mom needed it and when she's done im going to rig a tube to the top and feed it into my terrarium. =]

I'd check the temperature of the steam if I was you... it could 'steam cook' your plants. Growers often use ultrasonic humidifiers in terrariums, as these don't boil the water.

 

[jafvortex93]

its warm for about 30 seconds, it comes out warm but quickly cools in the atmosphere seeing as its just mist.

 

[Entomophage]

vocs?

Mobile,

Where can I find more info on volatile organic compounds and their effect on plants? My gut feeling is that CPs would be largely unaffected by these.

 

[mass]

I use a cool mist humidifier.. I got it for $35 at Walgreens. I use only distilled or reverse osmosis water. I also keep my H/Ls in direct line with the mist, which keeps them cool at night. Everyone is thriving, and doing well. IMO..

 

[Not a Number]

Hmmm, let's list some VOCs:

Gasoline, benzine, formaldehyde, acetone....

 

[Entomophage]

Right, but we're talking about stuff that would be found in tap water.

 

[mobile]

Mobile,

Where can I find more info on volatile organic compounds and their effect on plants? My gut feeling is that CPs would be largely unaffected by these.

VOC's are those organic chemicals (pesticides, herbicides, and other chemicals) that are "readily vaporizable at a relatively low temperature"[...] Almost every region in the U.S. has VOC's in the water supplies.[...] In a recent study by the Environmental Working Group, 28 of 29 cities tested were found to have herbicides or pesticides in their tap water.

Source: http://www.multipureco.com/voclist.htm

 

[Entomophage]

Wow, excuse my ignorance, that's scary stuff.

Assuming I wanted to distill my tap water via a humidifier/sonic fogger etc....would leaving a bucket of tap water out for a day or two (like we used to do to remove chlorine for fish) be suitable to remove these VOCs?

 

[mobile]

Wow, that's scary stuff.

Assuming I wanted to distill my tap water via a humidifier/sonic fogger etc....would leaving a bucket of tap water out for a day or two (like we used to do to remove chlorine for fish) be suitable to remove these VOCs?

An ultrasonic foggers doesn't distil water, they don't produce steam but vaporize water, neither will they remove any minerals which may be in the water. Minerals can't be removed by leaving water stand, in fact the concentration will increase as the water evaporates. Minerals will not pass over with steam produced by stream type humidifiers. I don't think that leaving water to stand will remove VOCs either, but maybe someone else could confirm this?

 

[Not a Number]

What makes you think they are not found in tap water?

 

[Entomophage]

I guess what I'm getting at is this:

Assuming that the VOCs in question are present in tap water in low enough concentration to be suitable for human consumption (of course, this is a whole new can of worms....lets just say extremely low), is there any reason to believe they will be harmful to plants?

Has anyone had plant health issues attributable to VOCs in their water? Short of using an RO/DI unit, are any water preparation techniques beyond distillation that I should use for my water supply?

 

[mobile]

In my opinion, an ultrasonic fogger unit would be preferable to a vaporiser. The reason being is that a vaporiser boils the water to produce steam. If used in a terrarium, the steam would increase the temperature and any plant that it close to the direct steam could get cooked. An ultrasonic fogger works by atomising the water using high frequencies, this results in a very fine mist. Unfortunately, an ultrasonic fogger would not remove minerals from the water. Comparing human (in)tolerance to VOCs and that of plants is not a good comparison. Would it not be possible for you to collect rainwater for your plants - this would be far cheaper than purchasing RO water? Last time I was in NY it was lashing it down with rain.