Interesting Humidifier & Furnace Relationship
#11
We never got a all house humidifier installed for various reasons and use portable ones instead.   The downstairs portable humidifier had a dead fan (and no way to replace) so we got one of those ultrasonic kind that creates a cloud of moisture from it's vent.   The previous one used a wick and blew air over that to evaporate the water.   We have really hard water here.   Even with the softener, the wicks got hard in no time, I thought this no-wick type of humidifier would save us time and money.

About a week after using it, we noticed that the gas burners on the stove had orange flames.   Checked everything I could, and finally called the gas company as we saw the odd flames on the furnace burners also and thought we had a system-wide issue.   The gas company's first question was if I was using a humidifier.  Odd.... "Yes".   They said that's the issue, it's burning off minerals.   Sure enough, turn the thing off and a day later, no more orange.   But the house is dry so we use it anyway.

Fast forward to yesterday.

The furnace won't heat the house adequately.  It's a year old Lennox 85% efficient gas furnace.  Worked great all last year and this winter until yesterday.  Air flow is anemic, the flue is super hot, the main duct is lukewarm, the burners are cycling on and off in short order.   Call the furnace guy (it's on warranty!).   He says the two week old filter is clogged with what looks like drywall dust.   Also some sensors are dirtied up.   Yep.... The same calcium/mineral dust that was causing the orange flame is airborne and messed up the furnace.   Change the filter, cleaned it up and we are back in business.

Has anyone seen such a crazy thing before?   I suspected those type of humidifiers could cause a "white dust" situation, but not to this degree.

At any rate, call it a cautionary tale.   The goofy humidifier is going back and I'll come up with plan "B" to add moisture to the house.
“Poor quality lingers long after the sweetness of cheap price is forgotten”
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#12
We don't need humidifying much here, so I put a pot of water on the stove until it isn't needed.

Throw in a few eggs while it's heating for lunch.

The pot will be white with calcium when we are done.
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#13
Use distilled water
VH07V  
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#14
(01-02-2018, 05:09 PM)EightFingers Wrote: Use distilled water

Yeah... that is plan "C".  But as we run through 2 gallons a day, it could get expensive.
“Poor quality lingers long after the sweetness of cheap price is forgotten”
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#15
We have the 5 gallon bottle that we refill at the drug store costs about $1 to fill it.
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#16
Put 2" of water in the bath tubs and sinks. Leave bath door open when taking a hot steamy shower. Let the air circulate through the house (Fan "on").  Boil a chicken for soup. Open the dishwasher door for drying. Breathe heavily.  Have a lot of company over.



Laugh
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#17
(01-02-2018, 06:52 PM)daddo Wrote: Put 2" of water in the bath tubs and sinks. Leave bath door open when taking a hot steamy shower. Let the air circulate through the house (Fan "on").  Boil a chicken for soup. Open the dishwasher door for drying. Breathe heavily.  Have a lot of company over.



Laugh

Have you ever really tested your water? Tested it on both sides of the softener? If hard water is the problem, the softener needs to handle the hardness, the amount of water used in the house and the flow-rate (GPM) on the incoming pipe.

If it isn't doing what it's supposed to be doing, it's either too small, not working correctly incorrectly programmed or your media inside the media tank is shot. . How old is the media inside the tank? It does go bad and gets to the point where it can't pull minerals from your water even though everything appears to be working. How old is it and have you ever replaced the media? Are you sure it's drawing brine and rinsing right?
Neil Summers Home Inspections




" What would Fred do?"

... CLETUS











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#18
I have seen that happen with those type of humidifiers, but it was in the form of a light dust coating (the minerals) on top of everything in the house. I switched back to an evaporation type, it's easier to deal with the media pads than the problems from the minerals.
I started with absolutely nothing. Now, thanks to years of hard work, careful planning, and perseverance, I find I still have most of it left.
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#19
Yup sounds like you have hard water and gunning up the filter. 

     Never had a need for a humidifier here as even today it's 19* outside and 72% humidity. Inside rarely ever gets dry inside in fact I would often like a dehumidifier in the winter as well as summer.
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#20
Had an ultra sonic humidifier once. Lasted about 2 weeks. No longer have it. Great moisture output but could not handle the white dust everywhere. Went back to the wick style. No more white dust.
It's all good till it's no good anymore.
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