Does Furnace Humidifier Damage Furnace Filters

Hard h2o has been the scourge of fundamental (furnace) humidifiers for decades. "Hard water" is essentially h2o containing dissolved minerals of the calcium and magnesium family. Every bit the water in the humidifier evaporates, information technology leaves behind the calcium and magnesium carbonates which generally appear equally a white crusty substance (mineral scale). The crusty deposits somewhen build upwardly over time, clogging the evaporative media, rendering the humidifier ineffective. This is especially truthful of traditional drum/sponge (or pad) manner humidifiers.

Homeowners with severely hard h2o will more often than not purchase and install a water softener to forestall the deposits from clogging plumbing, water heaters, dish and clothes washers etc. Water softeners generally commutation sodium (Na+) or potassium (Grand+) for the calcium and magnesium, thereby preventing the formation of carbonates and mineral scale. While the procedure of water softening generally provides more than usable water for showering and even drinking (unless y'all are restricted to a low sodium diet for health reasons), it can actually cause even greater problems for a humidifier. Instead of a build-up of hard water minerals, at that place will be a build-up of sodium. Sodium deposits in a humidifier can take the form of a white paste or powder. The powder can be blown into the duct piece of work and distributed throughout the home (making a mess). Further, the sodium tin can react with free chloride ions in the water (mutual on both municipal and well h2o systems) to create salts which are corrosive to the humidifier'southward parts, especially bulldoze motors.

hard water damage to drum humidifier
Look at what hard water did to this pulsate humidifier!
This is exactly why I do not recommend them...

So how do you deal with hard h2o?

Of course, y'all should select a humidifier with an evaporative media that is less prone to difficult water minerals. Generally speaking, you should avoid drum-mode furnace humidifiers with an evaporative sponge or foam media. A flow-through style (good) or drum style with plastic disc evaporative media (best) are meliorate alternatives. The plastic disc media in the Desert Jump furnace humidifier, for instance, is far less prone to mineral bug.

At first glace, one would think he/she could run out to the local hardware store and buy a water filter to remove the calcium, magnesium from the hard h2o, or sodium from the softened water and be washed with the trouble. Unfortunately, none of these minerals are removed from h2o by standard filters (sediment filters or activated carbon/charcoal filters). Reverse osmosis is general used as a point-of-use drinking water filter to remove these contaminants, however, the cost of a reverse osmosis unit at over US$175 makes it somewhat less than economically feasible, peculiarly given that it will crave periodic filter changes, etc. Never-the-less, information technology is an alternative.

There are a small handful (if you call ii a handful) of manufacturers making special flushing units that are designed to reduce mineral deposits. The theory is that a few times a twenty-four hour period, a timer will activated a valve which will open and drain the mineral-rich water in the humidifier's reservoir before the minerals can precipitate out of the water and form scale. Air Rex / Wait was the starting time visitor to introduce such a unit of measurement (as far as my inquiry shows). It was a rather rough looking device but was a reasonably effective unit. It activated roughly every 12 hours and operated on a standard 110v circuit. Unfortunately, to my cognition, Air King no longer manufactures this product - quite a shame. On the brilliant side, Desert Leap Products, the company that makes the humidifier that I am recommending, introduced its ain flushing unit called the "AutoFlush" in 2003. It is a slick little box with a user-adaptable timer that allows the homeowner to select the flushing interval (every 12, 24, or 48 hours). The flushing wheel can there fore be ready to accommodate the users needs for self-cleaning of the humidifier while also being considerate of water usage. At almost $120, it isn't actually cheap, but having used one for a little while now (I take very hard water), I tin can say that it definitely is well worth the coin. Apparently, this piffling device also works equally well in a soft water environment. The only potential disadvantage of this product is that it required connection to some sort of nearby drain (floor drain etc.). Non all homes volition have this selection nearby. The AutoFlush by Desert Spring Products is best used with a drum mode humidifier.

In 2003, a highly specialized filter cartridge that looks a lot like the blazon of filter yous would apply on your refrigerator ice maker also became available for dealing with hard h2o problems. It was designed specifically for key humidifiers past www.highqproducts.com. It contains a specialized filter media that attaches itself to hard water minerals preventing them from binding to each other and surfaces within the humidifier, therefore preventing calibration build-up. At only about $30, I had to requite information technology a try and I must say that I was impressed. It was quite constructive at reducing mineral build-upwards on the evaporative surface of the humidifier (which is what you really want). As you might expect, since the filter does not actually remove all of the minerals, there is an accumulation of deposits in the humidifier reservoir, however, they proved much easier to clean than normal since they did not bind very effectively with the surface etc. All in all, it is worth the $30 every season or two if you lot have hard h2o, particularly if you take hard water and no drain access to employ the AutoFlush. This specialized filter can be used with whatever type of humidifier.

For the ultimate solution... Endeavor combining the AutoFlush and this little filter. While in that location volition e'er be some cleaning and maintenance involved, this combination (especially with Desert Bound'due south unique rotary disc humidifier) is the all-time solution for hard water available today.

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So subsequently all of my research, which furnace humidifier is the best?