White "Dust" From Humidifier

[clamum]

I recently bought this Luma HC12B humidifier from Amazon and like it very much. It works well to keep the humidity in my extremely dry apartment to a tolerable level in the winter time (it bumps it up to a paltry 30-35% but it's better than 16% without it).

However, I am getting some white "dust" from the minerals in my water on everything. I don't think the water is extremely hard, it's from the city tap, but yeah. The instruction manual recommends using distilled water in the humidifier but there's no way I'm buying gallons and gallons of distilled water for the humidifier (I fill it up twice a day).

Is there anything I can add to the water to help with this problem? I did a bit of searching on Amazon and haven't seen much besides stuff you can add for antibacterial and scent purposes. Anyone else have or has had this problem? Thanks for any help.

 

[Cerpin Taxt]

Absolutely no experience here, but my feeling is that taking stuff OUT of your water will be a lot more challenging than putting other stuff in.

 

[lxskllr]

It's minerals. You could filter, but something that can filter that small is gonna be spendy.

 

[gotsmack]

distill your own water or get a reverse osmosis machine.

I just keep the humidifier in my bedroom and burn through 1 gallon over 24 hours.

My landlord runs his well water through a Brita drip filter and he says it works.

There is nothing you can add to water to remove minerals. Just think about it, even if there was something that you could add to water to remove minerals, it would have to attract all of the minerals into 1 or a few clumps and then either settle on the bottom of the container or float up to the top. This would take quite some time.

 

[sdifox]

or buy distilled water.

 

[tynopik]

1. use distilled water

2. get an evaporative humidifier instead of a vaporizing one

 

[Bacstar]

I noticed it has a demineralization catridge. How often do you change it? If I don't change mine at least every 2-3 months, I'll start having the same problem.

 

[sdifox]

can always just add some lemon juice

 

[clamum]

Yeah good point about the removing of minerals gotsmack, haha.

It did come with a demineralization cartridge and I haven't cleaned it yet, but it started with the white crap just about immediately. I suppose I could clean it and see if it helps.

Ugh, frickin water.

 

[Bacstar]

Did you soak it in water for however long? On mine, it says soak in water for 24hours before using.

 

[Markbnj]

Legionnaire's Disease, imo.

 

[Cerpin Taxt]

Have you tried snorting it?

 

[shortylickens]

It's mouse remains.

 

[KillerBee]

I heard activated charcoal works on everything - please subscribe

 

[luv2liv]

i use brita filtered water and it works to eliminate that white dust.

 

[JTsyo]

Wonder if they make portable water softeners.

 

[pete6032]

I have ahd the same problem with humidifiers, even ones with demineralization cartridges spewed out white dust at the last place I lived. The only solution I found was to used distilled water. It's not bad if you go to the store, you can fill up a shopping cart with 10 gallons, that should leave you with enough water for a week and a half.

 

[clamum]

I have ahd the same problem with humidifiers, even ones with demineralization cartridges spewed out white dust at the last place I lived. The only solution I found was to used distilled water. It's not bad if you go to the store, you can fill up a shopping cart with 10 gallons, that should leave you with enough water for a week and a half.

Eh, 10 gallons would last me like three days or something. The humidifier holds 2.5 gallons and I refill it about twice a day. Distiller water is an option, but I'm not sure I want to spend the money and hassle with buying that much water so often.

I may try that Brita option though, thanks for the suggestions!

 

[mmntech]

I use softened water in my bedroom humidifier. Don't get the scale build up with that. It's an evaporative one though.

The one on the furnace is also evaporative but it's on hard water. Come to think of it, I have noticed some fine white dust on the furniture. Humidifier probably needs to be descaled. We have a lot of lime in our water.

 

[Viper GTS]

Get an evaporative model. We picked up a Vornado Evap40 this winter:

http://www.vornado.com/humidifiers/Evap40-Vortex-Humidifier

We have been running it full blast since we got it, no dust. Also with the 4 gallon capacity we are only refilling it every 36 hours or so. Far nicer than multiple times per day.

Your choices are basically change filters and have no dust, filter-less and dusty, or pay $1 a gallon for the water you're putting into the air. Was an easy call for me.

Viper GTS

 

[Zee]

i use brita on the cold one and i also have a heat humidifier

 

[steppinthrax]

I recently bought this Luma HC12B humidifier from Amazon and like it very much. It works well to keep the humidity in my extremely dry apartment to a tolerable level in the winter time (it bumps it up to a paltry 30-35% but it's better than 16% without it).

However, I am getting some white "dust" from the minerals in my water on everything. I don't think the water is extremely hard, it's from the city tap, but yeah. The instruction manual recommends using distilled water in the humidifier but there's no way I'm buying gallons and gallons of distilled water for the humidifier (I fill it up twice a day).

Is there anything I can add to the water to help with this problem? I did a bit of searching on Amazon and haven't seen much besides stuff you can add for antibacterial and scent purposes. Anyone else have or has had this problem? Thanks for any help.

Do you have access to the central heating/a/c system? ductwork?