I have an Aprile Aire humidifier that uses the flow-thru evaporative metal elements. It uses a huge amount of water throughout the winter. I would like to switch to a spray or mist humidifier. Anyone have any experience with steam or mist humidifiers?
Here are a few versions.
The only experience I have is the house I'm in now had a misting humidifier when I bought it and the ductwork was rusted badly and had stalactites and stalagmites in it.
Can't saw if it was working correctly or not I disconnected it and replaced the rotten ducts.
Mine doesnt use much water, what is the huge amount yours uses. Im sure you could reduce flow easily. April Air is good. You think water costs alot, and you talk electricity for steam, now that would be more.
It uses whatever water is required in an attempt to maintain whatever the preset humidity level is. Either that or it runs full-out all the time in a futile attempt to maintain humidity in a very leaky house.
A different type of humidifer will use the same amount of water, or more, in its attempt to maintain the humidity level. Either that, or you run at a lower humidity level.
I'm going to replace the aprile air with a Desert Spring rotary disc unit.
Lotsa-lotsa water is good. In a study released just today, higher absolute (not relative) humidity can cut flu transmission dramatically.
I wouldn't be so quick to replace an AprilAire with anything else. I've had excellent experience with them, as have many other posters here over the years. They are trouble free and work well. I assume what you are complaing about is the waste water that runs out when the unit is operating. If it's operating correctly, ie with the correct inline flow restrictor, I wouldn't call it a huge amount of water.
There are pluses and minuses to all the various types of humidifiers. For example, the mist type, which is one you are talking about, are known for leaving white dust deposits around the house. The DesertSpring one has no flow through water and relies on a rotating plastic disc. They claim the minerals just fall off nicely to the bottom of the unit, but I'd be skeptical of that. The rotating drum types of the past were never very good.
In short, I think you could be trading some small amount of waste water for different problems.
Big mistake. After about 1 yr, the bottom resovior of your unit and the rotating drum will look like a hunk of concrete from the calcium and minerals in the water. You will also be replacing the little drum motor. A by-pass flo-through eliminates this by flushing the deposits down the drain. Bubba
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