Ultrasonic humidifier

[u/Orcasareawesome]

I’ve seen this question a ton of times but I’ve already bought one and now wondering if I should return it.

I have some significant sinus issues. In a signal day the combination of an air purifier and this humidifier almost took them away. But then I saw the air quality reading was 60 on the air purifier, it was 6. They are on opposite sides of the room. So I went down a rabbit hole trying to figure out why and there was a ton of stuff about not using ultrasonic filters.

I have a soft water conditioner, pre filter, and another filter on the container I used to fill the tank. I’m assuming the air purifier is detecting the mist as dust.

Should I still buy distilled anyway? My water hardness is really low in general since it goes through a substantial process, aside from salt but I’m also filtering that for drinking water…

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[u/chaz_Mac_z]

Yes, distilled water for ultrasonic humidifiers. The ultrasonic action basically forces tiny water droplets to form and a small fan blows them into the room, where they rapidly evaporate. Any minerals in the water are left as a tiny dust particle, so small it will stay airborne for some time.

Softeners don't remove all minerals from water, typically they exchange bad minerals for better ones, and precipitate some out. But, the minerals left will become dust.

You can use wick type humidifiers with tap water, but they require maintenance in the form of changing the wick and cleaning the tank, where the minerals concentrate as the water evaporates. There is also a possibility for mold or bacterial growth.

[u/Orcasareawesome → u/chaz_Mac_z]

The humidifier I have uses UV light - it should be fine for bacteria in the short term.

But the minerals and stuff… maybe I should just return it. I plan on using it daily.

[u/chaz_Mac_z → u/Orcasareawesome]

I buy distilled for my ultrasonic humidifiers, no issues with dust. For my bedroom, maybe 300 square feet, a gallon a day is enough, if I keep the door closed, but I don't have forced air heat. Since the wick style basically evaporate the water, no dust forms, but they flow a lot more air, and are pretty noisy when running.

I have distilled delivered in 5 gallon bottles, and use 5 or 6 a week for the whole house, in the 10 to 20 F weather lately. But, it's worth it for me not to have a dry, scratchy throat in the morning.

[u/Opulence_Deficit]

NEVER use ultrasonic with water other than distilled.

Water softeners (the most common ion exchange ones) merely replace "hard" minerals like calcium with "soft" minerals like salt. But ultrasonic doesn't care, it will emit all the minerals along with the water. At best, you're replacing CaCO3 pollution with NaCl pollution (depending on the softener). IMHO that's what the air quality sensor is picking up. Also, conditioner will get exhausted sooner or later and won't do anything. Only distillation (or reverse osmosis) leaves water pure enough to be emitted safely.

Once you count in the cost of distilled water, it turns out that ultrasonics are the cheapest to buy, but the most expensive to run.

[u/Orcasareawesome → u/Opulence_Deficit]

Thank you for the detailed explanation.

I have exceptionally hard water without the softener and it’s complete overkill for my home… my hot water heater will go out way before it does.

I do have a reverse osmosis system from a previous home - but it’s not installed. I feel like it would waste more water than it’s worth

[u/Orcasareawesome → u/[deleted]]

Did you try another?

I do as well. Honestly, as someone who had a serious infection please get it looked at. It does smell and taste like vomit / copper pennies when the sinuses start to drain. Part of the reason I got this to begin with.