lew@gsg.UUCP (Paul Lew) (01/15/88)
Well, I dont know if this is the right group, sorry if this is not appropriate.
It's winter time once again. One of the recent gadget 'ultrasonic humidifer'
is very popular, but... it cause my TV, CRT, VCR all covered with a blanket
of white dust. Someone told me that this might hurt electronics eventually.
What is your opinion? Someone told me that using distilled water will solve
the problem since those white dust are minerals from tap water. However, I
dont want to spend $15 a week for the distilled water. How can I get rid
of those ignoring white dust? Any electronic solution (like use some method
to attract those particles)?
--
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Paul Lew {olivea,harvard,decvax}!gsg!lew (UUCP)
General Systems Group, 5 Manor Parkway, Salem, NH 03079 (603) 893-1000wolfgang@mgm.mit.edu (Wolfgang Rupprecht) (01/16/88)
In article <108@gsg.UUCP> lew@gsg.UUCP (Paul Lew) writes: >One of the recent gadget 'ultrasonic humidifer' >is very popular, but... it cause my TV, CRT, VCR all covered with a blanket >of white dust. Someone told me that this might hurt electronics eventually. I would be more woried about your lungs than any electronics. Ultrasonics may take a bit less electric power than the old boil the water system, but aren't you lungs worth it? (My heat here is electric, so the cost is exactly the same for me if I use a boiling humidifier or an ultrasonic one.) If you really want to filter the air, you can get an electrostatic air cleaner. I picked up a "Norelco CleanAir IV" for about $80 at a department store. It works fairly well on soot, smoke and very fine particles. It is definately useless for fibrous dust. I've had mine running continiously for over a year now. The only real pain is cleaning the aluminum filter plates. The fine black soot is fairly water repellent. Both "Fantastic" and "Formula 409" do a good job of lowering the surface tension of the water enough to allow it to wash this stuff off. -wolfgang --- Wolfgang Rupprecht ARPA: wolfgang@mgm.mit.edu (IP 18.82.0.114) Independent Consultant UUCP: {mit-eddie!mgm.mit.edu,mirror!mit-mgm}!wolfgang VOICE: Hey_Wolfgang!_(617)_267-4365
lharris@gpu.utcs.toronto.edu (Leonard Harris) (01/17/88)
Why not use one of the filter units that are sold to remove the minerals that cause the white dust. I've seen them sold for ~$10.00
kevin@chromo.ucsc.edu (Kevin McLoughlin) (02/03/88)
I too started getting a sore throat last November when I broke down and started turning on the heat regularly. A humidifier sounded like a neat high-tech solution, but I always check out appliances with Consumer Reports first, and CR's strongly negative remarks about the dust problems, as well as MOLD problems, dissuaded me completely from going any further. It seems madness to me to pay lots of money for a contraption that's going to wreck my computer terminal unless I feed it distilled water and grow mold, amoebae, and other critters unless I clean it every day or so with bleach (I got this info from CR and from medical journal articles about the allergenic potential of humidifiers), especially since I already have allergies. My solution has been cheap, healthy and low-tech: baking pans full of water over my heating registers. ----------- Susan Nordmark Internet: kevin@chromo.UCSC.edu UUCP: ...ucbvax!ucscc!chromo.kevin Santa Cruz, CA
henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) (02/05/88)
> ... It seems madness to me to pay lots of > money for a contraption that's going to wreck my computer terminal > unless I feed it distilled water and grow mold, amoebae, and > other critters unless I clean it every day or so with bleach > (I got this info from CR and from medical journal articles about > the allergenic potential of humidifiers)... I think you are being too harsh on the ultrasonic humidifiers. They are not noted for mold/etc. problems (certainly mine has nothing visible along those lines, and it's virtually never cleaned), and the ultrasound appears to sterilize the mist it pumps out. The dust is a nuisance, but a simple dust cover keeps it out of the one or two things that I really don't want dust in. I believe you can get ultrasonic humidifiers that have a filter cartridge to purify the water on the way in. (It needs replacing now and then, of course.) > My solution has been cheap, healthy and low-tech: baking pans full > of water over my heating registers. I used to do something along those lines. An ultrasonic humidifier is considerably better, in my opinion. (Note that I don't have significant allergy problems, which might change things.) PS Have you considered the mold, amoebae, etc. that are probably growing in your baking pans? -- Those who do not understand Unix are | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology condemned to reinvent it, poorly. | {allegra,ihnp4,decvax,utai}!utzoo!henry
wtm@neoucom.UUCP (Bill Mayhew) (02/07/88)
I talked my landlord into installing a humidifier on the furnace in the house I rent. It certainly has made life much more comforable. I did some checking, and found that a flow-though type is best. In a flow-though humidifier, hot water is dribbled over wire mesh that the air blows through. Other than the water valve, the operation is totally passive. Since the design is flow-through, the normally nasty yuck that would accumulate goes down the drain.-- Of course, you have to have a drain somewhere to dispose of the yuck that drips out. This design produces no white dust, and only requires checking up on the mesh every couple of years or so. If the mesh gets real crusty, it is replaced. The brand I had installed was April Aire, but there are other companies too. With labor, etc. the bill came to a litle over $200. --Bill