Good budget humidifer?

[jimmy bookout]

Originally Posted by Bluenose

You know you need to change the wick when the humidifier struggles to keep the RH up. I have soaked them in vinegar to get a little more use out of them but considering the investment(s) I'm protecting the cost of a new wick is not a big deal IMO.

Exactly. Protecting many THOUSANDS of dollars of instruments and then being concerned about the cost of the humidifier/wick/filter doesn't make sense.

[Chipotle]

Originally Posted by jimmy bookout

Exactly. Protecting many THOUSANDS of dollars of instruments and then being concerned about the cost of the humidifier/wick/filter doesn't make sense.

You can also use distilled water in an ultrasonic humidifier to avoid the white dust, but that could end up being more expensive than the wicks. You could also get a Venta, which needs neither distilled water nor wicks, but it's expensive. The requirements here are at odds. I agree that given the relatively low cost of a humidifier/distilled water/wicks vs our instruments (or, heck, even strings or picks!) trying to go cheap with humidification is not a strategy I'd pursue.

[Pdubs76]

Originally Posted by Jamolay

Have you tried soaking them in vinegar? I soak wicks in water with a couple of cups of vinegar and get a few more uses out of them. Cheaper than buying new.

Interesting. Thanks for the tip.

[stokes1971]

I've got 2 of these, one upstairs and one down. https://aircare.com/humidifiers/tower-d46720/
I have about 1500 sq ft combined upstairs and down and with the fan on 2 or 3 I can keep it around 40-45% RH. If I put the fan on 4 I get 50% easilly. Water lasts 2 days and the wicks last me a whole winter. In upstate NY with well water.

[rstaight]

Even though it may cost more I recommend a whole house system added to the furnace. The system we have does a fantastic job.

In the winter the humidifier keeps the humidity up and in the summer the AC keeps it down. We routinely maintain between 40% and 50%. On the occasion it is out of that range because of weather it is only for a day or two.

I keep a hygrometer in the guitar room just to monitor but it is pretty much out of site out of mind.

[Human Bean]

Originally Posted by Charlie Bernstein

I've just bought 'em off the shelf at the nearest drug store. Humidifiers don't need precision engineering. The cheap ones work fine.

They don't but I would like one that works, and is as silent as possible, and easy to refill. I have one, but the wick needs changing, and it is too loud. I have this one:

https://www.honeywellstore.com/store...r-9-gallon.htm

Just the fan itself is a little too loud on the lowest setting, but also the tanks or something can really vibrate sometimes which is VERY loud.

But, I really like how big the tanks are, and how i can take the tank and fill it,and don't have to bring water to the humidifier in some other bucket, which i'd need to leave somewhere. That's a big deal to me, actually. So, being able to take the tank to the faucet, is a huge plus.

[tbirdman]

Originally Posted by BlueBowman

Aircare for the win. The MA0800 model works amazingly well for me, and I find it to be a bargain at it's $120 price point (Lowes). I only have to humidify 200 square feet though, so I can leave this model running on low most of the time.

I use a similar Aircare although I had the first one crapped out after a year after the warranty ran out.

I like it as I just fill it maybe every three days or so when it's cold. I keep it on low and it keeps my music room at a constant 45 degree humidity. I'm in the PNW.

[BlueBowman]

Originally Posted by tbirdman

I use a similar Aircare although I had the first one crapped out after a year after the warranty ran out.

I like it as I just fill it maybe every three days or so when it's cold. I keep it on low and it keeps my music room at a constant 45 degree humidity. I'm in the PNW.

That’s a bummer about the first one. I run mine on “auto” and set it at 45% RH. On the coldest days I have to refill the tank once a day. I also use the bacteriostatic/conditioner every other refill, and I find I don’t have to clean the entire unit as often. For lower maintenance and upkeep, I highly recommend people purchase a bottle if you have a filter-type humidifier.

I’ve had some of the cheaper (and not so cheaper) models that would require cleaning every couple days from all the mineral build-up. The filter in the Aircare works amazingly well for the mineral deposits. Again, for ease of use and lower maintenance, I love the one I have.

[fazool]

There is no free lunch

Here are your choices:

• Buy an ultrasonic humidifier and get white mineral deposit dust everywhere
  
• Buy an ultrasonic humidifier and buy distilled water
  
• Buy an evaporative humdifier and buy replacement filters
  
• Buy a whole-house humdifier option for your furnace

Distilled water costs about five times as much as filter replacements

In the dry season I go through 5 gallons of water per day and I replace my filters monthly for $20.

Distilled water would cost well over $100 per month

[rollypolly]

We use the brand Levoit humidifiers from Amazon. One small one (2.4L) can boost the humidity levels in a bedroom by at least 10% pretty quickly. They are the cool mist vaporizers. Nothing fancy, only about $35.

We live in a pretty humid area so I don't need to use it much and only need to refill once a day. No white deposits or anything but I think that depends on the water where you live.

[Chipotle]

Originally Posted by fazool

There is no free lunch

Here are your choices:

• Buy an ultrasonic humidifier and get white mineral deposit dust everywhere
  
• Buy an ultrasonic humidifier and buy distilled water
  
• Buy an evaporative humdifier and buy replacement filters
  
• Buy a whole-house humdifier option for your furnace

Distilled water costs about five times as much as filter replacements

In the dry season I go through 5 gallons of water per day and I replace my filters monthly for $20.

Distilled water would cost well over $100 per month

This, but there is one more choice:

• Buy a Venta humidifier. No distilled water or wicks, but it is not a "budget" humidifier

[CharlieBman]

Originally Posted by rollypolly

We use the brand Levoit humidifiers from Amazon. One small one (2.4L) can boost the humidity levels in a bedroom by at least 10% pretty quickly. They are the cool mist vaporizers. Nothing fancy, only about $35.

We live in a pretty humid area so I don't need to use it much and only need to refill once a day. No white deposits or anything but I think that depends on the water where you live.

I use a Levoit humidifier also. Works great. It has a very small sponge filter you may have to replace occasionally, depending on the mineral content of the water used. I just use cheap filtered water from Walmart and have zero problems with white mineral dust. The internal humidistat works quite well at keeping the RH around 45%.

[dan!]

Ok, fun design game! Challenge accepted

Get this $18 hot plate: https://www.homedepot.com/p/OVENTE-S...101B/311219683

And this $9 pot: https://www.webstaurantstore.com/cho...71SAUC3QT.html

Fill the pot with water and start boiling it off. Your room’s humidity will skyrocket!

That’s $27, not including the cost of water or electricity to run the hot plate. Can anyone beat $27???

[Bluenose]

Boiling water works but if all the water boils out of the pot you have the makings of a house fire. An electric kettle will shut itself off if it runs out of water and that solves that problem except you will have to refill the kettle every 2 hours. You'll need an alarm clock for night time.

[Chipotle]

Originally Posted by dan!

Get this $18 hot plate: https://www.homedepot.com/p/OVENTE-S...101B/311219683

And this $9 pot: https://www.webstaurantstore.com/cho...71SAUC3QT.html

Fill the pot with water and start boiling it off. Your room’s humidity will skyrocket!

There are such things as vaporizing humidifiers, that do exactly this (but in a safe way): boil water, then release the steam into the air. They don't tend to be as popular for a couple reasons: 1) Not only is there a small risk of being burned with boiling water or steam, a heating element that is on constantly is a fire hazard. Remember, we're not just running our humidifiers for a few hours to help our stuffy sinuses; for many of us, the humidifier runs 24/7/365. 2) Heating water precipitates minerals out of the water, requiring either constant (and inconvenient) cleaning of the unit to prevent buildup... or the use of distilled water, negating any cost savings.

Cheap, convenient, effective... you only get to pick two. And don't get fixated on wick cost. A set for the Vornado Evap40 is... $13. If your water isn't too hard (like me) they might last you a couple of months. Most of us probably spend way more than that on new strings & picks.