Warm Mist Humidifer Recommendation?

Ted

Ted

Twin Engine Ted
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It's winter, and with that comes low humidity in the house. That gets annoying, especially with sick kids.

We've tried various evaporative humidifiers - the kind that suck air through wicks - and they've all proven to be a pain. The wicks decay after a while, and more importantly they always seem to collect mold and be impossible to clean. They seem to last a season and then be done. We have a vaporizer (i.e. warm mist humidifer) but it's small and doesn't do enough. Our house also has a "whole home" humidifier that runs water over a pad and then runs bypass air through it, but that also doesn't seem to do anything (even when it's working). Our last house had one that also didn't seem to do anything.

When I was a kid, I had some 3-5 gallon humidifier, made by DeLonghi, and that thing was awesome. It was warm mist (specifically it heated a small amount of water that it pushed through its little reservoir, and created steam). It humidified my bedroom extremely well, and since it boils the water there aren't bacteria/mold issues.

Looking around, I can't seem to find anything like that. Everything is either the "cold mist" style that we've had bad luck with, or the same whole house style that doesn't seem to work. I want something like what I had before. Do they just not make this anymore?

Any thoughts on how to address this would be appreciated.
 
Whatever you choose, use it with distilled water. The lime and other minerals found in the water in much of the country will make a fine dust with an ultrasonic mister. If it creates steam, the lime will accumulate inside the humidifier.
 
Yeah I had a $20 ReliOn from Walmart for years. Worked great until I dropped it and broke the tank. Was kinda hard to clean but I think they make chemicals for that.
 
Cap'n Jack said:
Whatever you choose, use it with distilled water. The lime and other minerals found in the water in much of the country will make a fine dust with an ultrasonic mister. If it creates steam, the lime will accumulate inside the humidifier.
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My Mom had one of those warm mist one's. It needed cleaned out fairly often and we decided after the first year, to toss it. Painful to clean. Honeywell brand.
 
Cap'n Jack said:
Whatever you choose, use it with distilled water. The lime and other minerals found in the water in much of the country will make a fine dust with an ultrasonic mister. If it creates steam, the lime will accumulate inside the humidifier.
Click to expand...

We've had the vaporizer that we use with the kids for about 4 years now, and it's never caused an issue. The problem is that it's an extremely low evaporation rate. It holds about a gallon and that takes about 10-12 hours to empty. I suppose we could buy 10 of them and just put them all over the house.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
We've had the vaporizer that we use with the kids for about 4 years now, and it's never caused an issue. The problem is that it's an extremely low evaporation rate. It holds about a gallon and that takes about 10-12 hours to empty. I suppose we could buy 10 of them and just put them all over the house.
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Or just open containers with H2O. ;)
We used to sit a can nearby a radiator.
 
I haven't seen the warm mist types for a long time. I haven't looked for them, either, though. I have a cool mist ultrasonic type but I haven't used it in so long I don't know if it still works. Our whole house humidifier on the furnace seems to work well enough for us but we don't need to add humidity to any particular room. Are the warm mist even made anymore?

I remember a rotating pad type, years ago. Fill the tank with water, a porous filter over a cylinder rotates into the water and a fan blows through the element. It was big and bulky, but evaporated a lot of water.
 
mscard88 said:
Or just open containers with H2O. ;)
We used to sit a can nearby a radiator.
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That would've worked very well in the apartment I grew up in. We had radiators (old building from the 1930s) that were always ridiculously hot. This house is the newer forced air style.

Matthew said:
I haven't seen the warm mist types for a long time. I haven't looked for them, either, though. I have a cool mist ultrasonic type but I haven't used it in so long I don't know if it still works. Our whole house humidifier on the furnace seems to work well enough for us but we don't need to add humidity to any particular room. Are the warm mist even made anymore?

I remember a rotating pad type, years ago. Fill the tank with water, a porous filter over a cylinder rotates into the water and a fan blows through the element. It was big and bulky, but evaporated a lot of water.
Click to expand...

From what I can tell the warm mist styles are basically only made in the tiny vaporizer form. It could also be that we just need to get a new whole house humidifier connected to the furnace, and that may do the job successfully. The ones in the past two houses had come with the homes and were of unknown ages, so that could be the issue.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
From what I can tell the warm mist styles are basically only made in the tiny vaporizer form. It could also be that we just need to get a new whole house humidifier connected to the furnace, and that may do the job successfully. The ones in the past two houses had come with the homes and were of unknown ages, so that could be the issue.
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I remember the days of those mister/humidifiers and Vicks Vapo Rub. Good memories of when I was a kid.

In all my years of whole house humidifier experience: The theory of operation hasn't changed much. Saddle valve to a hot water line goes through a valve that opens and closes with the furnace fan. Water drips into a filter element. You have to adjust the plenums from summer to winter so some hot air is diverted through the wet element. A humidistat adjusts the valve on/off cycle.

When it's really cold, like what we've had recently, I get too much condensation on the windows and adjust the humidistat. Higher end controllers do that automatically.

Typical failure modes: Hard water deposits gum up the saddle valve and the orifice in the solenoid valve. Opening and closing the needle on the saddle valve typically clears it. If the orifice is clogged, you have to take it apart and run a wire through it. Otherwise, the filter element can also fill with mineral deposits and prevent airflow and should be replaced on a regular basis.
 
Matthew said:
I remember the days of those mister/humidifiers and Vicks Vapo Rub. Good memories of when I was a kid.

In all my years of whole house humidifier experience: The theory of operation hasn't changed much. Saddle valve to a hot water line goes through a valve that opens and closes whith the furnace fan. Water drips into a filter element. You have to adjust the plenums from summer to winter so some hot air is diverted through the wet element. A humidistat adjusts the valve on/off cycle.

When it's really cold, like what we've had recently, I get too much condensation on the windows and adjust the humidistat. Higher end controllers do that automatically.

Typical failure modes: Hard water deposits gum up the saddle valve and the orifice in the solenoid valve. Opening and closing the needle on the saddle valve typically clears it. If the orifice is clogged, you have to take it apart and run a wire through it. Otherwise, the filter element can also fill with mineral deposits and prevent airflow and should be replaced on a regular basis.
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I'll see if I can't get this one working better. To be honest I didn't mess with it much after having problems with the last one (which I messed with a lot), so it's possible that this one could work better if I messed with it more.
 
You should be able to raise and lower the setting on the humidistat and hear the solenoid click on and off. The furnace fan must be running, otherwise you'll just hear the small relay inside the humidistat.

Remove the water line from the top of the humidifier housing and verify water flow. You should see a steady stream. If not, it's either the saddle valve at the water heater outbound side or the orifice at the solenoid inbound side. Swap out the filter element while you are at it. You'll also see a small distribution tray underneath where the water drips into the humidifier body. It should be level and free of deposits, and drain holes should be clear. It's supposed to spread out the water so it soaks into the filter uniformly, otherwise air will flow through the dry side more easily than the wet.
 
mscard88 said:
Or just open containers with H2O. ;)
We used to sit a can nearby a radiator.
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Depending on the type of heating you have, this can be a very easy and practical solution. Even without using a heat source, a large flat open container with water will evaporate a lot of water in a dry room.

I have the opposite problem. I need a good whole house dehumidifier most of the year.
 
JOhnH said:
I have the opposite problem. I need a good whole house dehumidifier most of the year.
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Yup, I'm in Alabama, and I have 2 large dehumidifiers going, set at 45-50%. Especially needed one in the finished basement.
 
My unfinished basement needs a dehumidifier in the summer, and the house uses a humidifier in the winter.

Ted isn't far from me - we've had some pretty cold wx the last couple weeks and combined with a low RH outside, it's been really dry inside. With small kids not feeling well plus dry air, things can get miserable. We even had a weather alert last week(?) warning about grass fire potential.
 
Matthew said:
Ted isn't far from me - we've had some pretty cold wx the last couple weeks and combined with a low RH outside, it's been really dry inside. With small kids not feeling well plus dry air, things can get miserable. We even had a weather alert last week(?) warning about grass fire potential.
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It was colder at my house. You know, being out of town and all. At least the hot tub was still 100F.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
It was colder at my house. You know, being out of town and all. At least the hot tub was still 100F.
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But I live farther north, so it was colder at my place.

3 Eskimo were arguing over who had the coldest igloo. #1 opened up his fridge, poured a glass of mik, counted to three, and dumped out a cup of frozen milk. They went next door. #2 poured a cup of hot coffee, counted to three, then dumped out a cup of frozen coffee. They went next door. #3 pulled back the covers off his bed, peeled off a brown stain from the bottom sheet, and tossed it in the fireplace. It went "PHHHFFFRRRT!"
 
I have a similar model to this https://www.amazon.com/Honeywell-HWM705B-Filter-Moisture-Humidifier/dp/B00JP6HQBG/
Had it a few years, it works fine but we only really get it out when someone has a cold and only in one room. I specifically went for this one after having had the wick types before... yeah they're terrible.

One tip for any humidifier is to use filtered or distilled water... keeps the crud from building up in them.
 
cowman said:
I have a similar model to this https://www.amazon.com/Honeywell-HWM705B-Filter-Moisture-Humidifier/dp/B00JP6HQBG/
Had it a few years, it works fine but we only really get it out when someone has a cold and only in one room. I specifically went for this one after having had the wick types before... yeah they're terrible.

One tip for any humidifier is to use filtered or distilled water... keeps the crud from building up in them.
Click to expand...

That's basically the exact kind we have. Like you said, works well, but only for one room. And realistically it doesn't even do great for that room since the air returns pull the humid air out of that room.
 
Clark1961 said:
Bring the hot tub inside. Humidity problem solved.
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Thought about that. I don't have a big enough opening, but I do have a chainsaw and a front end loader. And that's kinda the same thing.
 
Why warm mist?

I have two cool mist humidifiers which will bring the house up to 35%, but static electricity still zaps us.
 
Zeldman said:
Why warm mist?

I have two cool mist humidifiers which will bring the house up to 35%, but static electricity still zaps us.
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As explained above, I have not liked the cool mist humidifiers. They last about a season, and that's it.

I played around with the whole-house humidifier and got it working, so we're going to run it for a few days and see if we think it's doing the job. Also found a good number of leaks in the ducting in the basement, which I sealed up. There are probably some leaks in the attic ducts that feed the 2nd floor. This time of year is probably a good time to work on those when it's not 200 degrees up there.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
As explained above, I have not liked the cool mist humidifiers. They last about a season, and that's it.

I played around with the whole-house humidifier and got it working, so we're going to run it for a few days and see if we think it's doing the job. Also found a good number of leaks in the ducting in the basement, which I sealed up. There are probably some leaks in the attic ducts that feed the 2nd floor. This time of year is probably a good time to work on those when it's not 200 degrees up there.
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Glad you got it working again.

A couple years ago I went through and taped (aluminum tape) as many duct seams and openings I could find. I even pulled the registers out of the floor and off the ceiling and taped between the ducts and the floor/ceiling gaps. I did not climb into the attic and seal around a couple of recessed lights that are in the upstairs ceiling. I also use that blue masking tape to seal around the furnace air filter. I could tell a difference afterward. I still have a leak in the basement, somewhere, that I haven't been able to find. An HVAC guy I know has a non-toxic smoke pen. It puts out a small smoke trail that can show airflow very easily, it looks like one of those long butane gas grill/fireplace lighters.

In my case, whenever the furnace/AC fan kicks on, I can stand at the basement door and feel air being sucked into the basement. That tells me there is a leak in the cold-air return system and air is being pulled into the system somewhere other than the cold air returns in the rooms in the rest of the house. Unfinished basement, no cold air returns down there (that I can find). I keep trying to find it, but I need something that can help me trace any drafts or airflow. I need one of those smoke pens.
 
We have an Essick whole house evaporative humidifier. I works really well for our main living area. Keeps humidity level in the 50's if we decide to crank it. The only problem is it's a bit noisy.

I'm not terribly fond of cool mist. One of the issues I have is that the mist just falls back down onto the humidifier and ends up soaking the surface it's sitting on rather than filling the room moist air. But I've had the same issue as the OP. I just can't find warm mist humidifiers any longer.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
That's basically the exact kind we have. Like you said, works well, but only for one room. And realistically it doesn't even do great for that room since the air returns pull the humid air out of that room.
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I've got a similar unit built by Air-O-Swiss. Works pretty well for 1-2 rooms, but not much more.

The best units are the whole-house units on a forced-air furnace. But they do require maintenance each year, and work best with water that's been de mineralized. The plate-type units don't work as well as the fine-spray units. An issue I had in one house was that the spray would not evaporate well, the water pooled, and the duct rusted. YMMV.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
As explained above, I have not liked the cool mist humidifiers. They last about a season, and that's it.
Click to expand...

We should trade. I haven't had a warm air humidifier last more than one season....:lol:

The two cool air mist that I am now using, we have to be real careful of the mist setting or everything under it becomes moist. Because of that reason we put beach towels under them and that helps.

The cats are real curious about them. I have woken up at night to see a cat with her nose in the mist getting a good sniff.....o_O
 
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