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Paper Clay Air Humidifier

maximelouis.com

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Re: Paper Clay Air Humidifier

#31

Post by zweep »

xvector wrote: post #20
zweep wrote: post #13

To mildly humidify my baby son’s room without having to maintain a humidifier, I use a towel soaked in water, draped over a chair, with a fan pointed at it overnight.

I've used this in the summer to cool down in apartments with no AC. But is it actually effective for humidification? The top comment mentions that it takes 5 gallons per day to humidify a small studio apartment under ideal conditions...

It's very effective for humidification, the difference is immediately noticeable. The room is probably 100 square feet, I'm only humidifying it at night, so by your calculation it should take only about half a gallon of water which is probably what fits on a towel give or take.

Re: Paper Clay Air Humidifier

#32

Post by _Microft »

samatman wrote: post #15

I don't know what the site author did to make it so the zoom button doesn't adjust the font size but I implore anyone similarly tempted: please don't do this.

It's worse. The size of the text depends on the height of the window. Resize the window and it quickly becomes illegibly small.

Re: Paper Clay Air Humidifier

#33

Post by adrianN »

numpad0 wrote: post #16
pmoriarty wrote: post #3

Be really careful with humidifiers. I cranked mine up too much and it caused a mold issue in my home, and mold in my home caused me health issues.

One one hand infection experts say humidity protects you, on the other hand they say most types of humidifiers are disease incubators. On top of it it’s a fact that humidifier additives effectively are chemical weapons that works on humans at lower concentrations than it works for pathogens. We’re sort of in a bind — so how are we supposed to have safe air? 6-hourly bleached, heater based humidifiers running off the…

Heat your homes a little less. There is a big humidity difference between an 18° room and a 24° room.

Re: Paper Clay Air Humidifier

#34

Post by mfkp »

jcims wrote: post #27
exclusiv wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a rather small Honeywell cool mist that works well. I use it in our bedrooms and have taken the humidity up 20% easily. This is in the mountains where it's drier than the desert in the winter.

They ‘cheat’ a little by lofting liquid water which then evaporates. We have a water softener and the cool mist humidifier left a smoke-like particulate floating in the air (i think it was either salt from the softener or minerals from the water)

Yes, that's the minerals in the water. Using distilled water prevents this.

Re: Paper Clay Air Humidifier

#35

Post by peteretep »

tofof wrote: post #6

This is an art project and nothing more. Humidifying only 600 square feet, the size of a studio apartment, takes about 5 gallons of water per day in winter. [1] The reservoir on this object looks to be no more than two gallons, and I would be truly shocked if it requires even daily refilling. If it actually moved enough water to make a difference, it would be a fundamentally flawed design in requiring multiple comple…

> 600 square feet

Maybe most people already know this, but I only learned it recently: you can go (approximately) from sqft to sqm by dividing by 10, presumably because 1m = 3.28ft and 3.28 squared is ~10. So 600sqft is about 60sqm (55.7)

Re: Paper Clay Air Humidifier

#36

Post by TeMPOraL »

mfkp wrote: post #34
jcims wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They ‘cheat’ a little by lofting liquid water which then evaporates. We have a water softener and the cool mist humidifier left a smoke-like particulate floating in the air (i think it was either salt from the softener or minerals from the water)

Yes, that's the minerals in the water. Using distilled water prevents this.

I discovered this when doing a post-assembly indoor test of a Luftdaten air quality sensor I built[0]. I kept it running for few hours and then looked at the data, and saw some ridiculously high levels of PM2.5 and PM5 in the evening. I've decided to investigate it. Over the next two days, I figured out that the increased levels happen at times when our air humidifier is running, which led me to discover that those ultrasonic air humidifiers essentially atomize everything that was mixed with/dissolved in the water - and we were using filtered tap water with ours. With distilled water in the humidifier, the sensor did not show increased particulate levels.

We've mostly stopped using the humidifier now, because I can't find a source of distilled water that doesn't involve buying plastic bottles.

--

[0] - https://luftdaten.info/en/home-en/

Re: Paper Clay Air Humidifier

#37

Post by TeMPOraL »

physicles wrote: post #25
rubatuga wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Debatable whether salt crystals are considered air pollution or simply a problem with the specificity of the PM2.5 definition. Note that this isn't a problem with using distilled water, which is recommended for all humidifiers.

It's not just salt though. In some countries, the tap water isn't safe to drink, so it's probably not safe to breathe. Also, as another poster pointed out, humidifying a large room in winter requires several liters of water per day. The cost of distilled water would quickly dwarf the cost of the humidifier itself, so other types of humidifiers besides ultrasonic (namely evaporative ones, where the main danger is mold…

Not to mention ecological. I mean, in Poland, I can't find any sensible source of distilled water other than buying 5L plastic bottles of it. I've briefly looked into devices that could make distilled water, but all that I've found was some industrial-grade hardware that costs more than reasonable for personal use.

Re: Paper Clay Air Humidifier

#38

Post by mfkp »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #36
mfkp wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, that's the minerals in the water. Using distilled water prevents this.

I discovered this when doing a post-assembly indoor test of a Luftdaten air quality sensor I built[0]. I kept it running for few hours and then looked at the data, and saw some ridiculously high levels of PM2.5 and PM5 in the evening. I've decided to investigate it. Over the next two days, I figured out that the increased levels happen at times when our air humidifier is running, which led me to discover that those u…

I've encountered the same issue (high plastic bottle waste along with high cost). Short of boiling your own water outdoors to avoid polluting the indoor air, it's challenging to find a source for bulk distilled water.

Re: Paper Clay Air Humidifier

#39

Post by vezycash »

_Microft wrote: post #32
samatman wrote: post #15

I don't know what the site author did to make it so the zoom button doesn't adjust the font size but I implore anyone similarly tempted: please don't do this.

It's worse. The size of the text depends on the height of the window. Resize the window and it quickly becomes illegibly small.

If you're using chrome or it's derivatives, install the extension ZOOM TEXT ONLY.

For Firefox no extension is needed on desktop. Google how to do it. For Android Firefox, I use the add-on called LEGIBILITY.

Re: Paper Clay Air Humidifier

#40

Post by im3w1l »

mfkp wrote: post #38
TeMPOraL wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I discovered this when doing a post-assembly indoor test of a Luftdaten air quality sensor I built[0]. I kept it running for few hours and then looked at the data, and saw some ridiculously high levels of PM2.5 and PM5 in the evening. I've decided to investigate it. Over the next two days, I figured out that the increased levels happen at times when our air humidifier is running, which led me to discover that those u…

I've encountered the same issue (high plastic bottle waste along with high cost). Short of boiling your own water outdoors to avoid polluting the indoor air, it's challenging to find a source for bulk distilled water.

Boiling your water indoors will humidify the air.
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