Let’s Talk About Humidifiers… And Water

The first humidifier I purchased was a LEVOIT Classic 160 2.5L Top Fill Ultrasonic Humidifier. I’m calling it “Boggy Mist” because it is now used near my Bog Pot. It was for a “large room” although no room size is shown in the Amazon listing. It is also supposed to be “whisper quiet,” according to the listing. It was great for what I needed, but the water barely lasted 24 hours. After eleven months, I bought a larger “smart” humidifier and moved it in to humidify my bog.

The second humidifier was a Levoit Classic 300S Ultrasonic Smart Humidifier that I can control from my phone. It allows me to set an ideal humidity level and it maintains the humidity at +/- 5%. According to it’s specs, it can humidify a room from 215-505 sq/ft. Its 6 liter tank, it can run on high for about 36 hours or on low for up to 60 hours. This allows me to have a little flexibility in when I have to refill the tank. I call this one “Jungle Mist” because it was handling most of my plants, i.e. my jungle. I love this humidifier. I love it so much, that 3 months later, I bought a third Levoit humidifier.

The third humidifier is a Levoit OasisMist® 1000S Smart Ultrasonic Cool Mist Tower Humidifier. It was named Rain Forest Mist. I thought that if the 6 liter Jungle Mist can cover my jungle, this one can cover a rain forest. It has a 10 liter tank that can run on low up to 100 hours. Right now, during winter with the furnace running, it uses about 95% of the 10 liter tank every 24 hours. Since it is a tower, it can sit on the floor and doesn’t need a stand. Because I want it to reach a little higher, I put it on a step stool. I love this humidifier and with its addition, I’m now able to humidify three areas in my house.

Okay, so it’s not really a secret, and while it technically isn’t dirt, it is annoying. Shortly after purchasing the first humidifier we began noticing some changes around the house. These changes intensified with each humidifier addition.

It only took a small amount of research to find out why our gas flame was turing orange. Two words: Tap Water. I knew that the instructions for the humidifier suggested using distilled water, but never thought about why. I did, however, make the decision to use filtered water. My thought was that my filtered water would be a good compromise. I was wrong. Hence the need to dust every two days and orange flames.

Last year I purchased a TDS meter; I used it once and promptly forgot about it. Jump ahead to about a week ago, and things began clicking in my head. TDS refers to Total Dissolved Solids in water. These solids include salts, minerals, metals, and ions. The minerals in tap water are flung into the air and float until they find a place to land. The minerals that land on gas burners turn to orange as they burn.

I thought that the water I filtered was taking out a lot of these solids, so I tested it. My tap water has a TDS of 259 parts per million, the filtered water was 236 ppm. No wonder every surface in my house was covered in white dust! The cost of purchasing distilled water was a lot more than I was willing to spend. (2.5 gallons each day would cost about $1,250/year.)

My husband suggested installing a Reverse Osmosis water system which would cost under $200. We are still determining our final setup. I’ll post about how it works when we get it finished. I started using RO water yesterday and after almost two days, there is no dust on my furniture!