We need a little of humidity in our somewhat dry home due to the baseboard heating. We have about 2400 square feet and really only worried about the sleeping area. Anyone have any suggestions or thoughts? Portable? Size?

[www.amazon.com]

We use two of this Essick Air model (about $99.00 if you can catch it on sale at Blain's Farm & Fleet, a Midwest chain store):

[www.amazon.com]

The greatest benefit is that the water tanks are easy to carry and relatively cheap (around $15 each), so you can buy multiple tanks and fill them up all at once and then swap in tanks as needed. Refilling is the biggest pain with humidifiers, in my experience.

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Baseboard heating usually does not cause dryness. Forced hot air systems can.

Regardless, I think you'll need to use one or a couple of standalone humidifiers placed strategically around the house.

Refilling is the biggest pain with humidifiers, in my experience.

Somebody's lucky... around here the biggest pain is getting water that's pure enough not to start stinking everything up after only a few uses.

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Buzz
Refilling is the biggest pain with humidifiers, in my experience.

Somebody's lucky... around here the biggest pain is getting water that's pure enough not to start stinking everything up after only a few uses.

Bummer...no stinky here, but we quickly get mineral deposits in the wicks and have to change them every two months or so. At around $15 a pop that adds up fast...

There's a golden market opportunity for some company to make a truly outstanding humidifier. Right now they all have drawbacks-the Essick Air is the best compromise I've found so far, but it's far from perfect.

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Yoyo,

That company is Air-O-Swiss. Great humidifiers! Not cheap but definitely some of the best on the market.

[www.airoswiss.net]

I have an older version of this one:

[www.bedbathandbeyond.com]

Robert

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Robert M
Yoyo,

That company is Air-O-Swiss. Great humidifiers! Not cheap but definitely some of the best on the market.

[www.airoswiss.net]

I have an older version of this one:

[www.bedbathandbeyond.com]

Robert

From reviews I have read about Air-O-Swiss their customer service is terrible.

Get used to the dryness. If it gets too bad, go outside for a few minutes.

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Saint Cloud, Minnesota, where the weather is wonderful even when it isn't.

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Yoyodyne ArtWorks
There's a golden market opportunity for some company to make a truly outstanding humidifier. Right now they all have drawbacks-the Essick Air is the best compromise I've found so far, but it's far from perfect.

Here are my criteria - it doesn't seem like this should be that hard to meet at a reasonable price (~$100):

1. Box shaped; I don't understand why all these things have to have space-age curves. The curves make both difficult to fill the container for a single human being (as they get progressively heavier with water) as well as to set anything down on the top of the container.
2. Control surfaces NOT on top of the container (see #1.)
3. Water reservoir containers that are easy enough to reach inside and clean.
4. Filter/Water wick* that can be cleaned/re-used. I've always thought that with the filters like those in the Essick models you could soak them in bleach and dry them and re-use them assuming you don't have too much mineral build-up.
5. UV light to blast away the extra nasties going in or coming out (not sure which would be most effective.)

*I was also thinking the other night that there's probably some fancy way to 3-D print the fan so that it's hydrophilic itself allowing it to wick up the water and spray it out fairly effectively...

Also, humidification seems to be most effective for health/comfort while sleeping. I don't think you need a huge one for your entire house so much as one to cover the area most proximate to your favorite sleeping locales.

Thanks for the input… I have four bedrooms upstairs… However, we only use 3 bedrooms… I'm sure I could just put it in the hallway between our three rooms.

This looks decent for the price…

[www.amazon.com]

I guess there are some that just sit "under" the baseboard and just heat up the water… Hmmmm….

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gabester

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Yoyodyne ArtWorks
There's a golden market opportunity for some company to make a truly outstanding humidifier. Right now they all have drawbacks-the Essick Air is the best compromise I've found so far, but it's far from perfect.

Here are my criteria - it doesn't seem like this should be that hard to meet at a reasonable price (~$100):

1. Box shaped; I don't understand why all these things have to have space-age curves. The curves make both difficult to fill the container for a single human being (as they get progressively heavier with water) as well as to set anything down on the top of the container.
2. Control surfaces NOT on top of the container (see #1.)
3. Water reservoir containers that are easy enough to reach inside and clean.
4. Filter/Water wick* that can be cleaned/re-used. I've always thought that with the filters like those in the Essick models you could soak them in bleach and dry them and re-use them assuming you don't have too much mineral build-up.
5. UV light to blast away the extra nasties going in or coming out (not sure which would be most effective.)

*I was also thinking the other night that there's probably some fancy way to 3-D print the fan so that it's hydrophilic itself allowing it to wick up the water and spray it out fairly effectively...

Also, humidification seems to be most effective for health/comfort while sleeping. I don't think you need a huge one for your entire house so much as one to cover the area most proximate to your favorite sleeping locales.

The Essick model I have is good on criteria 1-3, but it blows chunks (figuratively and literally) on #4. The wick gets clogged with mineral deposits much too easily. I'm not aware of any issues with bacteria in the wick (I don't smell anything amiss, anyway) but that doesn't prove there isn't a problem. I'm reluctant to use an anti-bacteria solution in the water because it is quite toxic and we have three kitties; I don't how they would get at the water, but they've surprised me so many times with their ingenuity that I don't want to take a chance. So your UV light disinfectant scheme sounds great to me...

As far as the need for humidification goes, anyone who has musical,instruments like acoustic guitars, violins, pianos, etc. really needs to keep the humidity at 40% or higher. If you have lots of electronic equipment, the risk of damage from static electricity goes way up when humidity gets too low.

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Check out sweethome.com excellent recommendations.

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anonymouse1
Check out sweethome.com excellent recommendations.

BTW, it is [thesweethome.com]

Looks like they have decided this one is the way to go.

[www.amazon.com]

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Roswell, GA (Atlanta suburb)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/05/2015 08:53AM by rgG.

Bruceko,

Your post was timely because I had to contact Air-O-Swiss yesterday and, contrary to what was said in some of the reviews, it was a very good experience.

Yesterday, I dropped the cartridge that holds the demineralization granules for my humidifier and it cracked. No fault on the part of Air-O-Swiss or poor build quaity and/or quality control. Plain ol' butterfingers on my part. The local Bed, Bath and Beyond didn't have the cartridge on hand. I ordered a replacement from Amazon.com.

I called Air-O-Swiss customer service to see if I could use the humidifier without the cartridge. Hold time for a rep was about five minutes. I explained the situation. Found out I could use distilled water temporarily if it was critical to have the humidifier operational but it's better to not use it at all until I installed the replacement cartridge.

Overall, the call to Air-O-Swiss and their response was very good. No complaints at all.

Robert



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/06/2015 06:15AM by Robert M.