lampman@heurikon.UUCP (Ray Lampman) (01/14/88)
Help! I have an ultrasonic humidifier. I put cold tap water into the
humidifier, and it covers the house with a grey/white dust. The dust
seems to have an affinity for electro-statically charged surfaces,
like my TV screen, but manages to settle on everything else anyway.
I've thought of purchasing distilled water by the gallon, but the humidifier
uses two gallons of water per day. And that would be too expensive. I've
experimented with adding vinegar to the water (vinegar will dissolve hard-water
deposits), but the dust still settles as before. I don't like dusting. Help!
PS> Is there a better choice of newsgroups? If so, let me know. Thanks.
- Ray Lampman (lampman@heurikon.UUCP)ornitz@kodak.UUCP (barry ornitz) (01/15/88)
In article <163@heurikon.UUCP> lampman@heurikon.UUCP (Ray Lampman) writes: >Help! I have an ultrasonic humidifier. I put cold tap water into the >humidifier, and it covers the house with a grey/white dust. The dust >seems to have an affinity for electro-statically charged surfaces, >like my TV screen, but manages to settle on everything else anyway. > >I've thought of purchasing distilled water by the gallon, but the humidifier >uses two gallons of water per day. And that would be too expensive. I've >experimented with adding vinegar to the water (vinegar will dissolve hard-water >deposits), but the dust still settles as before. I don't like dusting. Help! > >PS> Is there a better choice of newsgroups? If so, let me know. Thanks. > > - Ray Lampman (lampman@heurikon.UUCP) The problem you are having is caused by dissolved solids which are left behind when the water evaporates. I have the same problem with my humidifier which produces a mist in the return duct to my heat pump. My electronic precipitator follows the humidifier and takes out the dust, but it must be cleaned and rinsed weekly in the winter. Simple water softening will not help as this is just a replacement of the calcium and magnesium ions with sodium ions. The dissolved salts are still present, only now the more soluble ions do not cause problems with your laundry etc. Distilled water is one answer, of course; deionized water is probably a better answer but still expensive. Another type of humidifier design where the water evaporates from a surface leaving the deposits behind is a better idea. These require periodic cleaning as the salts stay behind in the humidifier. The ultrafine dust left behind after the water evaporates from the very small droplets produced by an ultrasonic humidifier can create many problems. It is often fine enough to pass through many mechanical filters and can damage things such as disk drives. The dust is somewhat conductive which can cause many other problems with electronic equipment too. This is another reason for having to clean the precipitator often. Basically, there is no easy answer. Just think, you drink this water! And folks wonder why East Tennessee residents have twice the national average for kidney stones --- and yet they still take calcium supplements and look for foods fortified with calcium. Barry ----------------- | ___ ________ | | | / / | | Dr. Barry L. Ornitz UUCP:...!rochester!kodak!ornitz | | / / | | Eastman Kodak Company | |< < K O D A K| | Eastman Chemicals Division Research Laboratories | | \ \ | | P. O. Box 1972 | |__\ \________| | Kingsport, TN 37662 615/229-4904 | | -----------------
ttims@watdcsu.waterloo.edu (Tracy Tims) (01/15/88)
Softening the water will not solve your problem. Ultrasonic humidifiers mechanically atomize then water. Any dissolved solids remain in the droplets. When the droplets (quickly) evaporate in the air, the solids are left behind. This is the white dust. The only solution is to either use distilled water, or to chemically remove the dissolved solids. There are ion exchange resin filters sold that purport to do this. My personal experience is that they do not work very well. They can reduce the amount of dissolved solids, but any dissolved solids in your source water will come out as dust. The question is: just how much dust can you live with? Last winter I bought an ultrasonic humidifier, and an ion exchange filter. I had to take them back, as there was no way short of running the humidifier on distilled water to control the dust. I don't want any dust. In the fall, I got a really nice continuous flow distiller (8 gallons/day) for very little money. It produces distilled water for approximately a tenth the cost of grocery store stuff. I went out and bought another humidfier, and now I'm perfectly happy. The amount of money I save over 1 winter season pays for the distiller. Tracy Tims
hal@gvax.cs.cornell.edu (Hal Perkins) (01/20/88)
>The ultrafine dust left behind after the water evaporates from the very small >droplets produced by an ultrasonic humidifier can create many problems. When I got one of these things, there was a warning in the instructions to only use distilled water (never tap water) if it was being used near computers or similar electronic equipment. Somebody mentioned they had a gadget to distill their own water cheaply. Can anyone provide pointers to where such things can be found and how much they cost? Hal Perkins Cornell CS internet: hal@gvax.cs.cornell.edu