Evaporative Humidifiers Cut Energy Costs Over Ultrasonic Models

Technology Connections

Wick-based evaporative humidifiers disperse moisture at under a fifth of the energy per gallon required by ultrasonic units while avoiding mineral dust deposits.

AI-assisted summary of Humidifiers: Simpler is better? — original source. Check the original for full context.

Source published: 2021-01-13

Key ideas

Warm air at 20 °C (68 °F) holds roughly three times more water vapor (15 g/kg) than air at 0 °C (5 g/kg), meaning heating cold outdoor winter air indoors causes relative humidity to collapse to desert-like levels near 33% or lower. (3:03)
Large evaporative console humidifiers require roughly 156 watt-hours per gallon of dispersed moisture, consuming less than a fifth of the energy per gallon demanded by continuous ultrasonic misters (768 watt-hours per gallon). (16:46)
Because ultrasonic humidifiers mechanically atomize liquid water rather than evaporating it, dissolved minerals in tap water are aerosolized directly into the room as chalky limescale 'white dust'. (8:34)
A basic DIY setup using a desk fan aimed at a submerged terry cloth towel in a bowl of water can maintain 50% relative humidity in an enclosed room, offering a washable alternative to disposable paper wicks. (19:01)

Detailed notes

## Background Published on YouTube on January 13, 2021, by the channel Technology Connections, this video explores why indoor winter air requires artificial humidification and how different technologies accomplish that goal. According to the show notes, the host examines how much water the air holds, why that matters, and how to adjust humidity levels upward.

## TL;DR Addressing the miserable dryness of Midwestern winters, the host examines the physics of relative humidity before comparing the three main types of humidifiers: energy-hogging warm-mist boilers, mineral-dusting ultrasonic misters, and wick-based evaporative units. He demonstrates that evaporative humidifiers offer the best energy efficiency and moisture delivery, scaling from tiny desktop gadgets to large woodgrain console units and even improvised damp-towel setups. While praising the underlying mechanical simplicity of evaporative wicking, he critiques widespread manufacturing flaws like blinding blue LEDs, misleading water capacities, and clunky float switches, while offering practical tips on water treatments and hygienic maintenance.

## Atmosphere & style The video carries Technology Connections' signature wry, accessible, and methodical presentation style, blending everyday household engineering with breezy humor. The host balances patient physics explanations with passionate, comedic grievances directed at modern appliance design—most notably an impassioned rant against piercing blue status LEDs. Watching the piece feels like hanging out with an inquisitive neighbor who tests practical gadgets in his living room, complete with practical life hacks, a smooth jazz conclusion, and charming bloopers of vocal stumbles and thundering cats.

## Bulletin - [03:03](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHeehYYgl28&t=183s) Warm air at 20 °C (68 °F) holds roughly three times more water vapor (15 g/kg) than air at 0 °C (5 g/kg), meaning heating cold outdoor winter air indoors causes relative humidity to collapse to desert-like levels near 33% or lower. - [16:46](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHeehYYgl28&t=1006s) Large evaporative console humidifiers require roughly 156 watt-hours per gallon of dispersed moisture, consuming less than a fifth of the energy per gallon demanded by continuous ultrasonic misters (768 watt-hours per gallon). - [08:34](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHeehYYgl28&t=514s) Because ultrasonic humidifiers mechanically atomize liquid water rather than evaporating it, dissolved minerals in tap water are aerosolized directly into the room as chalky limescale 'white dust'. - [19:01](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHeehYYgl28&t=1141s) A basic DIY setup using a desk fan aimed at a submerged terry cloth towel in a bowl of water can maintain 50% relative humidity in an enclosed room, offering a washable alternative to disposable paper wicks.

## Key takeaways - [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHeehYYgl28&t=0s) Evaporative 'personal air conditioners' and cool-mist bedroom humidifiers share the exact same underlying mechanism: an absorbent wick drawing water that has ambient air pulled through it by an electric fan. - [03:03](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHeehYYgl28&t=183s) Indoor air becomes exceptionally dry during winter because heating incoming outdoor air dramatically increases its capacity to hold moisture without altering the actual mass of water it contains. - [03:03](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHeehYYgl28&t=183s) Low indoor relative humidity triggers physical irritation like chapped skin, amplifies static electricity, and may keep airborne viral droplets suspended longer as they evaporate into lighter particles. - [06:20](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHeehYYgl28&t=380s) Warm-mist humidifiers operate as uninsulated electrode boilers that demand high energy consumption (up to 200 watts) and rely on dissolved mineral ions or added salt to pass electrical current. - [08:34](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHeehYYgl28&t=514s) Ultrasonic humidifiers use high-frequency piezoelectric ceramic discs to atomize raw water, expelling dissolved minerals as white dust and potentially dispersing airborne bacteria if the water reservoir is not sanitized. - [10:37](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHeehYYgl28&t=637s) Console evaporative humidifiers deliver true water vapor while trapping minerals in their wicks, though physical designs often suffer from sloshing risks, tricky seals, and misleading total capacity ratings. - [13:33](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHeehYYgl28&t=813s) Integrated humidistats allow console humidifiers to synchronize naturally with home heating cycles, running when the furnace expands air capacity and shutting down once target humidity is reached. - [16:46](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHeehYYgl28&t=1006s) Evaporative console humidifiers provide superior efficiency over ultrasonic units, dispersing 2.5 gallons over 6 aggregate daily hours at 156 watt-hours per gallon versus continuous 32-watt ultrasonic operation at 768 watt-hours per gallon. - [19:01](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHeehYYgl28&t=1141s) Because evaporative filters continuously collect dust, mold, and minerals from room air, wicks must be discarded seasonally and treated with bacteriostatic water additive to prevent unpleasant odors. - [21:01](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHeehYYgl28&t=1261s) An effective, reusable DIY evaporative humidifier can be constructed from a bowl of water, a terry cloth towel to provide capillary wicking, and an ordinary desk fan. - [22:49](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHeehYYgl28&t=1369s) Repurposing a calibrated liquid soap dispenser allows clean, repeatable volumetric dosing of bacteriostatic treatment chemicals for each tank refill. - [24:03](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHeehYYgl28&t=1443s) Auto-shutoff float switches in evaporative consoles can be counterproductive, as cutting power when empty prevents the fan from drying out the wick, leaving standing water to stagnate. - [26:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHeehYYgl28&t=1560s) Restoring winter indoor humidity to optimal levels creates an evaporative cooling barrier that makes rooms feel warmer at the same thermostat setting while relieving chapped skin.

## Detailed walkthrough ### [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHeehYYgl28&t=0s) The "Personal Air Conditioner" Epiphany and the Cheap Bedroom Humidifier

The host opens with an epiphany tying back to a past critique of portable cooling gadgets. Over the summer, he reviewed an evaporative device marketed as a "personal air conditioner," which in reality was merely a miniature evaporative swamp cooler. He had dismissed it bluntly, noting: “Unless you live in a really arid place, adding moisture to the air is exactly the wrong way to achieve cooling.” These gimmicks, he argued, are simply a waste of plastic, desk space, and headspace.

Fast-forwarding to winter in the American Midwest, freezing temperatures caused indoor humidity to plummet to miserable levels. Venturing out to Walmart to purchase an inexpensive bedroom humidifier, he picked up an Equate model advertised as emitting "invisible cool mist." Upon unpacking it, he discovered that it is, uncannily, the exact same machine as the ridiculous personal air conditioner, just fitted with a bigger water tank and a larger fan.

The construction of this evaporative humidifier is remarkably simple, consisting of three primary elements resting on a molded plastic base: - **Water tank:** A reservoir shaped to create a central void for the wick, with its carrying handle cleverly serving as the humidifier's fresh-air intake. It constantly replenishes a shallow water pool at a steady height until empty. - **Body and fan:** An upper housing containing an electric fan that actively draws room air inward through the wet wick to accelerate evaporation. - **Water-absorbing matrix:** An absorbent, porous structure (labeled a "filter" by Equate, but more accurately termed a wick) sitting in the shallow water pool. Capillary action draws water upward until the entire matrix is drenched.

```mermaid flowchart LR accTitle: Evaporative Humidifier Operation Flow accDescr: Diagram illustrating how water moves from the tank through the wick while air is pulled through by a fan to produce humidified air. subgraph WaterSupply["Water Supply"] Tank["Water Tank"] -->|"Gravity Feed"| Pool["Shallow Base Pool"] end subgraph EvaporationCore["Wicking & Airflow"] Pool -->|"Capillary Action"| Wick["Porous Wick Matrix"] AirIn["Dry Ambient Air"] -->|"Drawn by Fan"| Wick Wick --> Fan["Internal Fan"] end Fan --> Out["Moist Air Output"] ```

While praising the straightforward engineering, the host points out that this particular cheap model is underpowered. Although the packaging advertises "up to 24 hour" runtime, in practice it takes nearly two full days on its high setting to deplete a single tank. While acceptable for a tiny enclosed bedroom, it cannot manage larger spaces. Seeking a whole-house solution revealed that scaled-up central humidifiers use this exact evaporative wick concept, leading to the conclusion that sometimes the simplest method is genuinely the most effective.

---

[03:03](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHeehYYgl28&t=183s) The Physics of Relative Humidity and Why Winter Air Is Dry

To explain why anyone would deliberately pump moisture indoors, the host explores the physics of humidity. While residents of sweltering tropical climates might consider humidification absurd, the Midwest experiences the worst extremes of both seasons: brutally humid summers followed by bone-dry winters. The fundamental metric used to gauge moisture is **relative humidity**, expressed as a percentage of the total amount of water vapor a volume of air can hold before reaching complete saturation (100%). Relative humidity dictates how humans, animals, and building materials physically perceive moisture levels.

The critical variable is air temperature. Warm air holds significantly more water vapor than cold air: - At **20 °C (68 °F)**, 1 kilogram of air can hold roughly **15 grams** of water vapor. - At **0 °C (32 °F)**, that same kilogram of air holds only about **5 grams**—a third of the warm capacity.

Because indoor air is drawn from outdoors, heating incoming winter air expands its carrying capacity without changing the actual mass of water it contains. Even if freezing outdoor air starts at 100% relative humidity, warming it up to a comfortable 20 °C (68 °F) without adding moisture causes its relative humidity to collapse to a mere 33%.

When outdoor temperatures plunge between 0 °F and 10 °F (-18 °C to -12 °C), indoor air relative humidity drops to desert levels. This extreme dryness causes chapped lips, peeling skin, a scratchy throat, and annoying static electricity shocks. It also appears to exacerbate the transmission of airborne viruses. As the host notes, one popular hypothesis suggests that dry air causes expelled respiratory droplets to evaporate into smaller, lighter particles that float indefinitely rather than falling to the floor. The only way to restore comfortable relative humidity once cold air is heated is to physically evaporate water into the space via humidifiers.

---

[06:20](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHeehYYgl28&t=380s) The Vicks Warm-Mist Boiler: Inefficiency and Electrode Mystery

The host evaluates the classic Vicks warm-mist humidifier, a nursery staple consisting of two parts: a strangely contoured plastic jug that is virtually impossible to scrub clean, and an immersion heating head that rests directly inside the water. Rather than using passive evaporation, this unit acts as a miniature water boiler.

These devices are notoriously temperamental. Because they depend on dissolved mineral ions to pass electrical current, filling them with pure or soft water prevents them from heating, forcing the manufacturer to paste instructions advising users to add table salt if the unit fails to steam after 10 minutes. The host expresses strong disdain for the category: “They’re more of a personal care product meant to be used in conjunction with Vicks' latest cold-fighting rubs or whatever.”

Beyond the finicky behavior, boiling water is fundamentally energy-intensive. While an initial measurement suggested an ongoing draw of roughly 50 watts, descaling the heavily coated heating element with vinegar revealed a startling discovery:

``` Initial reading (scaled): ~50 W Post-vinegar descaling: ~200 W Vaporization output: ~1 gallon every 12 hours (when working properly) ```

Descaling caused the steam production to surge, but power consumption jumped fourfold to 200 watts. Furthermore, the unit displays unusual electrical characteristics: its power draw creeps up gradually upon being plugged in, yet drops immediately to zero the instant the head is lifted out of the water. Suspecting that the device relies on an uninsulated electrode boiler rather than a conventional sealed resistive element—which explains the requirement for salt—the host promises a teardown on his second channel (*Technology Connextras*) to confirm the inner workings. While capable of evaporating a respectable gallon every 12 hours, its heavy electricity consumption makes it an inefficient, annoying choice.

---

[08:34](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHeehYYgl28&t=514s) Ultrasonic Cool-Mist Humidifiers: The White Dust Dilemma

The next major category is the ultrasonic cool-mist humidifier, which the host describes as technically the most fascinating design. At the floor of the water basin sits a piezoelectric ceramic disc. Driven by a high-frequency alternating signal in the megahertz range, the disc vibrates violently against the liquid, shattering surface tension and projecting microscopic water droplets into the air cavity above. A miniature blower fan draws air underneath the unit, funneling the mist upwards through an internal chimney and out of an adjustable directional nozzle.

Because it launches physical droplets of liquid water rather than true water vapor, the device essentially produces artificial clouds that linger briefly in the air before completely evaporating. Key operating traits include: - **Energy consumption:** Extremely efficient, drawing approximately **32 watts** at maximum output. - **Output capacity:** Adequately humidifies a room, vaporizing a full reservoir within roughly **24 hours**.

However, the technology carries notable downsides. Because the machine atomizes raw liquid water into the room, any dissolved mineral content leaves the machine alongside the droplets. As the tiny droplets evaporate mid-air, the dissolved minerals drop out of suspension, settling onto surrounding furniture and floors as a fine, chalky "white dust" composed of limescale.

Using store-bought distilled water solves the white dust problem entirely, but doing so creates ongoing expense and logistics if run every day or across multiple rooms. Additionally, because the ultrasonic disc does not boil or sanitize the reservoir, any mold, bacteria, or chemical contaminants breeding in the water supply are aerosolized directly into the room air for occupants to breathe.

[10:37](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHeehYYgl28&t=637s) The Console Evaporative Humidifier and Its Design Flaws

The final category of store-bought humidifier is the evaporative style, frequently marketed under the label "invisible cool mist." Evaporative humidifiers operate on an uncomplicated premise: they help water evaporate by offering a massive surface area for moisture to cling to, combined with a steady airflow for it to hitchhike upon. While a tiny tabletop version from Walmart proved underwhelming because of its minuscule wick, scaling the design up changes everything. The host showcases a massive "console humidifier"—a brown, simulated-woodgrain cabinet on wheels featuring an enormous wick. Despite its retro aesthetic and undeniable capability, the unit comes with a series of design irritations.

The console consists of a large plastic box topped by a fan. When running, the fan pulls air through a rear vent and exhausts it through the top grille. The wick stands directly in front of this rear vent. Crucially, the vent stops a few inches above the bottom panel so the base can act as a reservoir to keep the wick submerged. However, the water level sits so close to the lower edge of the vent cutouts that rolling the unit across the floor becomes "wonderfully stressful" due to sloshing.

```mermaid flowchart LR accTitle: Evaporative Humidifier Airflow accDescr: Air enters the rear vent, passes through a damp wick standing in a water pool, and exits out the top fan. subgraph Console["Console Cabinet"] A["Rear Vent"] --> B["Saturated Wick"] W["Base Reservoir"] -.->|"Wicks up water"| B B --> C["Top Exhaust Fan"] end ```

The machine's physical specs also involve misleading capacity claims and fussy mechanics. The packaging advertises a 5.4-gallon capacity, but that number is deceptive. The removable jug holds only 2.5 gallons, while the remaining volume sits pooled in the bottom reservoir. Because an internal float switch shuts off the unit as soon as the base water level drops about an inch below full, the machine can never actually output 5.4 gallons in a single run. As the host points out:

> “Therefore, in my opinion, for all intents and purposes this has a 2.5 gallon capacity.”

Filling it requires a tedious two-step chore: filling the base tray directly, then filling the bottle. If you fill only the bottle, it empties itself straight into the dry base, forcing an immediate second refill trip. Furthermore, the tank cap routinely fails to seat properly; an improper seal risks overfilling the bottom tray and spilling water straight out through the rear vent.

- **Advertised capacity:** 5.4 gallons (in reality, a 2.5-gallon bottle feeding a 3-gallon reservoir). - **Float switch behavior:** Disables operation when base water level drops just an inch. - **Form factor:** Plastic cabinet on casters with simulated woodgrain.

---

[13:33](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHeehYYgl28&t=813s) Humidistats, Bright Blue LEDs, and Heating Cycles

The console humidifier steps up from basic hardware by incorporating an automated humidistat to govern its four-speed fan. User settings are handled through two front dials (one functioning as a push-button), but this interface immediately triggers an exasperated rant: the screen is illuminated by an aggressively bright blue LED display. The host laments the modern electronics trend of blinding, insomnia-inducing blue indicators, demanding:

> “Manufacturers of apparently literally everything now cut. it. out.”

He pleads for a return to dull, non-intrusive red, amber, or green LEDs before applying an adhesive LightDims sheet to mask the glare.

Beyond the screen, the automation works surprisingly well. The power cord contains an integrated hygrometer that measures ambient relative humidity. The onboard microcontroller triggers the fan when relative humidity drops 3% below the setpoint and powers it down once it climbs 1% above target. Side-by-side comparisons show this built-in sensor tracks within a couple of percentage points of both a standalone analog hygrometer and a smart home thermostat.

This automated control reveals an interesting relationship with the home's forced-air heating: 1. When the furnace is idle, the humidifier stays idle. 2. Minutes after the furnace kicks on, warmer air expands its moisture-carrying capacity, dropping the relative humidity and activating the humidifier fan. 3. The humidifier runs through the heating cycle and stays active for roughly five minutes after the furnace shuts down. 4. Once reaching 1% above the setpoint (e.g., hitting 51% on a 50% target), it cycles off. 5. As the home gradually cools down between furnace runs—even during nighttime thermostat setbacks of 4°F—the relative humidity holds remarkably steady at 49% to 50%, remaining idle for hours until the heat fires up again.

---

[16:46](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHeehYYgl28&t=1006s) Energy Efficiency and Moisture Delivery

When evaluated on operating costs, the large evaporative console massively outperforms ultrasonic misters. While running on its low setting, its hefty fan draws about 65 watts—far more instantaneous power than smaller humidifiers. However, because it moves such an immense volume of air through a huge wick surface, it only runs for roughly six hours total per day.

Over a typical 24-hour cycle, the machine consumes its entire 2.5-gallon reservoir. Factoring in runtime, it uses roughly 156 watt-hours per gallon of water dispersed (noted in text as a correction over the spoken 144 Wh/gal). By contrast, an ultrasonic unit drawing 32 continuous watts takes 24 hours to vaporize a single 1-gallon tank, burning through 768 watt-hours per gallon. The evaporative unit provides equivalent moisture while demanding less than a fifth of the energy per gallon. Furthermore, its standby power is remarkably low at approximately one-third of a watt—beating out the host's old dishwasher, which drew three times that figure just sitting idle.

The physical output is dramatic: - Exhaust air registers at least 70% relative humidity, blowing out a humid, "downright swampy" breeze. - The inverted supply bottle audibly glugs to replenish the base tray more frequently than every five minutes of continuous fan runtime. - Aided by the furnace blower circulating air, the unit stabilizes humidity across the entire house within a tight 5% margin from room to room, despite being dramatic overkill for the home's square footage.

---

[19:01](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHeehYYgl28&t=1141s) Maintenance Realities and DIY Towel Wicks

The major catch with evaporative humidification is sanitation. Because the unit combines an expansive, damp fibrous sponge standing in standing water with a fan drawing in ambient room air, it inherently captures airborne dust, mold spores, and bacteria:

> “Evaporative humidifiers can get… gross.”

To prevent the classic sour, musty odor associated with swampy filters, console wicks must be discarded and replaced seasonally. Owners also need to add bacteriostatic water treatment chemicals to the reservoir to inhibit bacterial growth and mitigate hard-water scale.

```mermaid flowchart TD accTitle: DIY Towel Humidifier Assembly accDescr: Steps to make an evaporative humidifier using a bowl, water, terry cloth towel, and a desk fan. subgraph DIYSetup["Homemade Evaporative Rig"] A["Fill wide bowl 1/3 with water"] --> B["Submerge center of terry cloth towel"] B --> C["Weigh down towel center in basin"] C --> D["Fibers wick moisture across fabric surface"] D --> E["Point desk fan at exposed cloth to accelerate evaporation"] end ```

Because the operating physics of an evaporative humidifier are so straightforward, users can easily construct a homemade equivalent to bypass expensive replacement filters: - Fill a large bowl about one-third full of water. - Submerge the center of a small terry cloth towel, weighing it down in the base so it stays anchored. - The looped fibers of the terry cloth act as natural wicks, pulling water up via capillary action to establish an expansive evaporation surface. - Aim an ordinary desk fan at the exposed, damp fabric to speed up moisture transfer. - Track room changes with an inexpensive $5 digital hygrometer. - Whenever hygiene is a concern, avoid buying replacement media by simply throwing the towel into the washing machine with the laundry.

[21:01](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHeehYYgl28&t=1261s) DIY Towel Humidifiers and the "Mini" Console

Testing in a 100-square-foot office demonstrated that an improvised setup could maintain 50% relative humidity using only a fan and a damp towel—even with what was described as a frankly terrible towel arrangement. This experiment sparks an idea for a commercial or 3D-printed accessory: a vertical zigzag rack designed to hold kitchen towels or shredded cloth, functioning like an evaporative wick cartridge that could be washed and reused rather than thrown away like paper honeycomb filters. While it likely would not match the capillary efficiency of commercial paper wicks, placing such a rack in a shallow water pan directly in front of a fan would make an intriguing, low-waste DIY experiment.

```mermaid flowchart LR accTitle: Airflow in the Mini Console Humidifier accDescr: Air is drawn in through the sides, pulled through two wicks, channeled by a central cowl, and exhausted out the top by a fan. subgraph Intake["Intake Sides"] A["Room Air"] --> B1["Side Wick 1"] A --> B2["Side Wick 2"] end subgraph Core["Internal Assembly"] B1 --> C["Central Cowl"] B2 --> C end subgraph Exhaust["Top Exhaust"] C --> D["Fan"] D --> E["Moistened Air Out Top"] end ```

For people who would rather not engineer their own solution, the manufacturer of the large console (AIRCARE) produces a "mini" console that embraces extreme mechanical simplicity. “It is little more than a bucket, a fan, and two wicks,” the host remarks, praising its stripped-down design. Two wicks slide into side slots, a central cowl directs airflow, and a fan unit mounted on top—governed by the same humidistat (and sadly equipped with the same glaring blue LEDs)—draws dry air through the sides and discharges humidified air out the top.

While it lacks the sheer output of the giant woodgrain floor model, it compensates by being significantly quieter on lower speeds and far more user-friendly to service. Refilling requires no awkwardly shaped tanks or jugs; you simply lift the top fan assembly off and carry the open bucket base straight to the sink. The design has one odd functional quirk: filling the bucket to the brim actually decreases output because it submerges the wicks, leaving less surface area exposed to passing air. To maximize performance, the water level should be kept at or below roughly half the height of the wicks.

[22:49](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHeehYYgl28&t=1369s) Practical Maintenance: Soap Pumps, Chemical Treatments, and Sourcing Supplies

Using a dedicated bacteriostatic water treatment is strongly advised to keep evaporative humidifiers fresh, but measuring it straight out of the bottle can be messy and imprecise. The recommended life hack is to transfer the chemical treatment into a liquid soap dispenser pump. By testing the dispenser beforehand to count how many squirts equal a standard measure (such as a tablespoon), refilling becomes clean and repeatable. In this case, exactly 15 pumps are required for each refill of the water jug. An amber glass pump bottle was chosen on the off-chance the chemicals might be light-sensitive—though that is unlikely given the translucent plastic bottles they ship in—and a repurposed, thoroughly cleaned soap pump works just as well.

Availability of large console humidifiers can be surprisingly regional and channel-specific. In the host’s area of the United States, large units are almost exclusively stocked by home improvement and hardware stores, whereas big-box retailers like Walmart tend to carry only tiny, single-room misting humidifiers. Curiously, Walmart still stocks the exact digital hygrometers and water treatment chemicals needed for console units. Buying replacement wicks well in advance is recommended, and the host notes, “Any large hardware store should carry them, and to my fellow midwesterners, Menards has plenty.”

- Water treatment tip: Measure a soap pump's discharge volume once to establish a repeatable "pumps-per-refill" routine. - Supply sourcing: Large evaporative consoles and replacement wicks are typically found at hardware stores (e.g., Menards) rather than general department stores.

[24:03](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHeehYYgl28&t=1443s) Design Critiques: Swamp Cooler Pumps vs. Janky Float Switches

Evaporative humidifiers accomplish their job with impressive efficiency, but their mechanical implementations leave room for improvement. One theoretical upgrade would be an elevated wick system fed by an active water pump from a deep, 10-gallon reservoir beneath it—a layout borrowed from industrial evaporative swamp coolers. This setup would let a console run for days on end without refilling. However, adding a pump introduces major drawbacks: a mechanical component prone to failure, added noise from trickling water unless an intricate baffling system is engineered, and plumbing tubing that serves as an ideal breeding ground for mold and slime.

The most frustrating element on the large AIRCARE console is its auto-shutoff float switch:

> “See, instead of using it to simply alert you that it’s empty, it shuts the unit off.”

Shutting the motor off when water runs dry prevents the wick from drying out, leaving stagnant water sitting in the paper fibers and the basin bottom. Running the fan continuously would allow the wicks to dry completely and stay hygienic. The physical build of the switch is notoriously crude: a rod attached to a simple styrofoam float, guided loosely by a plastic ring on the cartridge, which pushes upward against an internal switch on the fan assembly. Disabling this mechanism by propping the rod up with a rock is tempting, especially since the smaller mini console lacks a float switch entirely and runs happily regardless of water depth.

[26:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHeehYYgl28&t=1560s) Whole-Home Systems, Comfort Benefits, and Outtakes

Portable humidifiers are not the only solution for dry winter air; whole-home humidifiers built into central HVAC ductwork operate on identical evaporative principles. These systems tap directly into household plumbing and use an internal bypass duct to push furnace air through an absorbent pad, rotating wheel, or washable non-porous media. Anyone running a whole-home system who has neglected to inspect or replace that internal pad for years should inspect it, as scale and bacterial growth accumulate over time.

Even with minor design annoyances, running a console evaporative humidifier produces a noticeable improvement in winter living conditions. The painful, chapped lips that routinely set in around Christmas vanished without needing lip balm. Furthermore, keeping indoor humidity at an optimal level changes temperature perception: the living space feels distinctly warmer even with the thermostat left at its standard winter setting, mimicking the muggy sensation of summer air.

The video concludes with a casual "toodles!" over smooth jazz, followed by behind-the-scenes recording outtakes: - Fumbling through script lines regarding the plastic base and capillary action. - Tripping over speech with phrases like "a lot much" and "it's not gonna be do much!" - Getting interrupted by a cat loudly stampeding across the floor upstairs. - A final rant about the intensely piercing blue status LEDs on modern appliances, followed by a meta joke in the closed captions denying the existence of secret end-of-video messages.

## Notable quotes > [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHeehYYgl28&t=0s) Unless you live in a really arid place, adding moisture to the air is exactly the wrong way to achieve cooling. — Technology Connections

## Mentioned Technology Connections, Walmart, Equate, Vicks, Technology Connextras, AIRCARE, LightDims, Menards

## Video description The air. It holds water! And how much it holds matters! A lot, in fact. Sometimes we need to adjust it in the upwards persuasion. Learn why and how in this little ol’ video! Are you looking for the follow-up where we take apart the Vicks thing? https://youtu.be/TC9-t47tKts And how ‘bout the video on the teeny tiny swamp cooler? https://youtu.be/2horH-IeurA Or howzabout a completely new follow-up video I just did? https://youtu.be/HfFAiCMLJ14

Or were you just looking for these links? Technology Connextras (the second channel that stuff goes on sometimes): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClRwC5Vc8HrB6vGx6Ti-lhA

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[Source](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHeehYYgl28)

中文简报

蒸发式加湿器能耗显著低于超声波机型滤芯蒸发式加湿器每加仑水雾化能耗不足超声波机型的五分之一，且不会产生矿物粉尘沉降。针对美国中西部冬季极其干燥的气候，主持人从相对湿度的物理学原理解析切入，对比了三种主流加湿器类型：极耗电的热雾蒸发机、会产生矿物粉尘的超声波喷雾机，以及基于滤芯的蒸发式加湿器。他证实，蒸发式加湿器在能效与加湿输出表现上最优，其应用形式覆盖从小型桌面装置、大型木纹落地机型，甚至简易自制的湿毛巾装置。在赞扬滤芯蒸发机制纯粹简约的同时，他也批评了行业中普遍存在的制造缺陷，例如刺眼的蓝色LED灯、虚标的水箱容量和笨拙的浮子开关，并就水质处理和卫生维护提供了实用建议。 20 °C（68 °F）的暖空气所能容纳的水蒸气量（15 g/kg）约为 0 °C 空气（5 g/kg）的三倍，这意味着冬季将室外冷空气引入室内加热后，相对湿度会暴跌至接近 33% 甚至更低的沙漠级水平。 (3:03) 大型落地式蒸发加湿器每加仑水分蒸发约耗电 156 瓦时，单位加仑耗能不到持续运行超声波喷雾机（768 瓦时/加仑）的五分之一。 (16:46) 由于超声波加湿器是通过机械方式将液态水雾化而非蒸发，自来水中溶解的矿物质会直接气溶胶化散入室内，形成白垩状的水垢“白粉”。 (8:34) 使用台式风扇对着浸泡在水碗中的毛圈布毛巾吹拂的简易自制装置，就能在封闭房间内维持 50% 的相对湿度，成为一次性纸质滤芯的可水洗替代方案。 (19:01)

Source quotes

[0:00] Technology Connections: Unless you live in a really arid place, adding moisture to the air is exactly the wrong way to achieve cooling.

Original transcript

[0:00] This video certainly won’t be very… dry. [0:03] [ oof ] [0:03] I’ve had a bit of an epiphany in recent days. [0:06] See, over the summer I made a video about this stupid thing. [0:10] You can check it out if you like (links are in all the places) [0:13] but as a quick recap, this is what purports to be a "personal air conditioner" [0:19] but in fact it's a teeny tiny evaporative cooler, also known as a swamp cooler. [0:24] And that’s why they’re, well, [0:27] silly! [0:27] Unless you live in a really arid place, [0:29] adding moisture to the air is exactly the wrong way to achieve cooling. [0:34] These things are by and large a waste of headspace, desk pace, and plastic. [0:39] Just… don’t. [0:42] Fast forward to a few weeks ago. [0:44] Winter’s rearing its ugly head here in the midwest [0:46] which means the air’s getting uncomfortably dry. [0:49] I ventured out to the exotic lands of Walmart [0:52] to buy a cheap humidifier for my bedroom. [0:55] In fact, [0:56] this one! [0:58] Now, it claims to emit “invisible cool mist” [1:01] which, ok. [1:04] Sure. [1:05] I went to set it up and, lo and behold, [1:07] the thing’s just a swamp cooler. [1:09] This is, almost uncannily, the exact same device as the personal cooler, [1:14] save for a much larger water tank and fan. [1:18] Huh. [1:19] Yep, this thing is almost stupidly simple and I love it. [1:23] There are three basic parts: [1:24] the water tank, [1:25] the body which contains the fan, [1:27] and the water absorbing matrix. [1:30] A plastic base provides support for the three parts to come together. [1:33] The matrix, which Equate calls a filter but that’s... [1:37] a silly name, [1:38] sits in a shallow pool of water [1:41] and capillary action causes that water to travel up the material [1:44] and soak the entire thing. [1:46] This wicking action is why more sensible humidifier manufacturers call this… [1:51] John. [1:51] Sorry, the wick. [1:53] In operation, the fan pulls air through the damp wick. [1:57] The large surface area of the wick helps the water it holds [2:00] evaporate into the air more quickly, [2:02] and the fan makes this go even quicklier by constantly moving air through it. [2:06] As the water evaporates, the wick continues to absorb more water. [2:09] The water tank allows for continuous operation by constantly replenishing the pool of water [2:14] and keeping it at a consistent height, at least until it runs out. [2:18] Its shape contains a void for the wick, and the tank’s carrying handle then becomes the air intake. [2:24] Quite clever! [2:26] That said, this isn’t a very good humidifier. [2:30] It just isn’t capable of much output: [2:32] it takes about two days running at its high setting to go through the entire tank [2:36] contrary to its “up to 24 hour” runtime. [2:39] That makes it appropriate for small rooms, [2:41] but not much else. [2:42] In fairness, they did say that on the box. [2:45] Now, I wanted to get something larger - something capable of humidifying my entire home. [2:50] And it turns out that most whole-house humidifiers use the same concept as this one, [2:55] but scaled up. [2:56] Through them, I’ve apparently discovered one of those cases [2:59] where the simplest idea is the most effective. [3:03] Let’s back up a minute. [3:05] Why do I want a humidifier in the first place? [3:08] Many of you across the world probably think that wanting to add moisture to the air is insane. [3:13] You probably live some place where it’s hot and humid. [3:15] Fun fact! [3:16] It’s hot and humid here, too! [3:18] In the summer… [3:20] yeah we get the worst of both worlds. It’s great! [3:23] In the winter, though, nature conspires against us [3:25] and makes the air often unbearably dry. [3:28] See, when we talk about humidity we almost always talk in terms of relative humidity. [3:34] It’s expressed as a percentage, indicating how much moisture is in the air [3:38] compared to air’s ability to hold moisture. [3:41] When relative humidity is 50%, [3:43] the air is therefore holding half of the water that it can. [3:46] It’s 50% moist. [3:49] When it’s 100%, the air is fully saturated [3:52] and can no longer take on any moisture. [3:54] We use relative humidity because it correlates with how our bodies [3:58] and in fact pretty much everything “feels” humidity. [4:02] But, and here’s where nature sneaks up on ya, [4:04] the ability for air to hold moisture varies with its temperature. [4:08] Warm air can hold more moisture than cold air: [4:11] at 20 degrees Celsius, or 68 Fahrenheit 1 kilogram of air can hold approximately 15 grams of water vapor. [4:19] At zero degrees Celsius, or 32 Fahrenheit, it can only hold about 5 grams - roughly a third. [4:25] That means that at the same relative humidity, say 50%, [4:29] the air outside can only hold a third of the moisture that the air in your home can. [4:34] Now, because the air in your home is ultimately the same air as outside, [4:38] you’re at the mercy of how humid the outdoor air is. [4:42] And when you heat that air up to make a living space more comfortable, [4:45] you increase its ability to hold moisture, [4:47] but not the actual amount of moisture it contains. [4:50] This makes relative humidity plummet. [4:53] At freezing point, even if the air outside is at 100% humidity, [4:57] when you warm it to a comfortable indoor air temperature [5:00] now the relative humidity is just 33%. [5:04] It didn’t lose any moisture, it’s just able to hold more [5:07] and that makes it feel dryer. [5:10] This gets worse the colder it becomes outside. [5:12] Since where I live it’s not uncommon for the outdoor temperature to be between [5:16] zero and 10 degrees Fahrenheit (that’s about -18 to -12 Celsius) [5:22] indoor air can sometimes be desert-levels of dry. [5:25] This is obviously uncomfortable, leads to things like peeling skin and chapped lips, [5:30] often makes your throat scratchy, [5:31] it makes static shocks happen all the dang time, [5:34] and seems to be a contributing factor to viral spread, [5:37] although we don’t quite understand why yet. [5:40] One hypothesis is that dryer air allows airborne droplets containing virus particles [5:44] to remain suspended for longer since those droplets dry out quickly [5:48] and remain afloat more easily with less mass, [5:51] but that’s just one explanation and in any case it's not important to this video. [5:55] It’s just another way dry air sucks! [5:58] Anyway, the only way we can get relative humidity to go back up after heating the outside air [6:04] is to add moisture into the air ourselves. [6:07] And that’s what humidifiers are for. [6:09] You add water to them, and they make it evaporate into the air to increase relative humidity. [6:14] And of course, there are multiple types of humidifiers. [6:17] Shall we talk about them? [6:18] Let’s talk about them! [6:20] Including one you can make yourself. [6:22] This is the ol’ standby Vicks warm-mist style thingamabob. [6:27] It’s in two parts - a weirdly shaped plastic jug [6:30] which contains the water and is nearly impossible to effectively clean, [6:34] and, uh... [6:36] this doohickey which sits in the water. [6:40] All this does is slowly boil water. [6:43] Seriously. [6:44] That’s- that's all it does. [6:46] And they’re really finicky, too - [6:48] if your water doesn’t have enough minerals in it, it won’t work [6:51] and they have to put a label on here saying, [6:53] "hey if this doesn’t start working in 10 minutes, try adding some salt. See if that helps." [6:58] If it’s not clear I don’t really care for these, [7:00] but after all they’re not marketed as humidifiers exactly. [7:04] They’re more of a personal care product meant to be used in conjunction with [7:08] Vicks' latest cold-fighting rubs or whatever. [7:11] But the main reason I don’t like them is simply that boiling water [7:14] is a rather energy-intensive method of vaporizing it. [7:17] This uses about 50 watts continuously which, yeah, that’s not a whole lot- [7:22] [voiceover] Turns out it’s much worse than this! [7:26] I was somewhat suspicious that it was only drawing 50 watts, [7:29] so when shooting the B-roll for this video I decided to descale the thing with vinegar. [7:34] This is all the lovely crud that came out of it. [7:37] Yummy! [7:38] After this descaling, it’s now producing more steam and pulling 200 watts! [7:44] That’s… a lot. [7:46] And I’ve apparently uncovered something of a mystery. [7:49] Its power consumption is just… weird. [7:52] It seems to slowly rise when you plug it in, and if you remove it from the water it instantly [7:56] falls to practically zero. [7:58] I’m starting to wonder if this thing is actually an electrode boiler. [8:02] That would help explain the need for salt in some circumstances. [8:06] I’ve been trying to find a concrete answer online but without much success. [8:10] So, I’ll be taking this thing apart in a quick and dirty video on my second channel. [8:14] A link will be below. [8:16] I do just want to say, though, that I’ve sold its ability to humidify a little short. [8:21] It will, assuming it’s operating correctly, go through a gallon in 12 hours [8:25] which is fairly substantial output. [8:27] It will just use a lot of energy in the process, [8:30] and I stand by my statement that these are finicky and annoying. [8:34] Another common humidifier style is this one! [8:37] The ultrasonic cool mist variety. [8:39] This is, in my opinion, certainly the most interesting style of humidifier. [8:43] A piezoelectric disc sits at the bottom of a pool of water. [8:47] A very high frequency signal, in the megahertz range, is fed to this disc [8:51] which causes it to vibrate at that frequency. [8:54] This causes micron-sized water droplets to form on the surface of the water, [8:59] and a small fan draws in air from below the device and pushes it out through this tube. [9:04] When the tank sits on the base, the airflow carries these tiny water droplets up [9:08] through this hole in the tank, [9:09] and a little hat with a nozzle helps direct that water and air mixture upward and outward. [9:15] What comes out of here are microscopic droplets of water suspended in the air - [9:19] that’s why they’re visible. [9:21] In a sense, this thing generates clouds! [9:24] But they quickly disappear. [9:25] The miniscule size of the droplets means that they’ll evaporate nearly instantly, [9:30] and thus the relative humidity of the air in the room will go up. [9:33] These humidifiers are fairly effective - this particular unit will go through its tank of water in about 24 hours. [9:40] They also don’t require all that much energy. [9:42] At its maximum output, this unit consumes about 32 watts, though it is adjustable. [9:47] But, these aren't perfect. There’s always a catch. [9:50] If you have hard water, the mineral content of your water ends up in the air. [9:55] Because the water is thrown into the air as liquid water [9:58] and evaporates after it exits the device, [10:01] you can experience a white dust forming on objects, [10:04] particularly near the humidifier itself. [10:06] This is the same limescale that you deal with in your sinks and shower, [10:10] but now it’s all over the place. [10:11] That’s neat. [10:13] Now, that particular problem can be solved by filling the tank with distilled water purchased at a store, [10:18] but that’s annoying and also becomes a significant expense if you need to fill it daily, [10:22] and/or have multiple units. [10:25] There is also the fun fact that whatever mold, [10:27] bacteria, chemical impurities, or other goodness might be in the water tank… [10:31] will end up in the air, too. [10:33] I'm... I'm pointing right at it. [10:35] Now to be clear, this isn’t a gigantic concern, [10:37] and it's certainly not unique to ultrasonic humidifiers. [10:41] And then, of course, the last common style you can buy in stores is this kind. [10:46] "Invisible cool mist" is marketing speak for evaporative. [10:50] Evaporative humidifiers simply help water evaporate [10:53] by providing a large surface area for it to cling to [10:56] and a flow of air for it to hitchhike upon. [10:59] They are extremely simple, yet also extremely effective. [11:03] You’re right - I said this one wasn’t very effective, but here’s why: [11:08] this is its wick, right? [11:11] And... [11:12] This is the wick of a whole-house humidifier. [11:16] See the difference? [11:17] Here’s the humidifier this giant wick belongs to. [11:20] It’s brown and therefore excellent. [11:23] This style of humidifier is sometimes referred to as a console humidifier, [11:27] and it is conceptually identical to the little Walmart one, [11:30] but scaled up and improved in a number of ways. [11:33] That said I’m not entirely thrilled with it, [11:35] and I’ll discuss my many quibbles as we go along. [11:38] It is, however, undeniably excellent at its job. [11:42] The device itself is little more than a large plastic box on wheels [11:45] (with simulated woodgrain excellence) [11:48] and a fan. [11:49] The fan sits on top of the box and when running [11:52] pulls air through this vent in the rear and blows it out the top. [11:55] The wick sits directly in front of that vent, [11:58] and you’ll notice that the vent doesn’t go all the way to the bottom. [12:01] That’s because, of course, the wick needs to sit in a pool of water, [12:04] and a vent going to the very bottom would kinda ruin that prospect. [12:08] You can see that the water level isn’t much lower than the bottom of the vent, [12:11] which makes moving this thing wonderfully stressful! [12:15] And with that, here comes my first quibble: [12:18] The box claims this has a 5.4 gallon capacity [12:21] which is ridiculously misleading. [12:24] See, this is its water tank. [12:27] This is 2.5 gallons. [12:29] Roughly three gallons sits in the bottom of the humidifier, [12:31] but that level is kept constant by this bottle feeding it. [12:35] When the bottle runs out, it will continue to run for a little while [12:38] and use up some of the water in the bottom, [12:40] but that makes filling it a two-step process - [12:43] filling the bottom of the humidifier itself, [12:46] and then the bottle. [12:47] You could just fill the bottle, but then you’d need to immediately do it again [12:51] after it emptied at least some of its contents to fill the bottom back up to the correct level. [12:57] Even worse is that a float switch prevents it from running [13:00] when the water gets just an inch or so below the full level [13:03] meaning you could never get it to actually output 5.4 gallons of water in one go. [13:09] Therefore, in my opinion, for all intents and purposes [13:12] this has a 2.5 gallon capacity. [13:15] And, aside from this particular numbers nonsense, [13:17] the bottle itself isn’t the best. [13:19] I routinely have to re-seat this cap or else it will leak, [13:23] a mishap that would result in the bottom being overfilled [13:25] and water spilling out the back! [13:29] This thing certainly ain’t without its problems. [13:31] How's that for a product endorsement? [13:33] Anyway, here’s where things get slightly interesting. [13:36] The fan isn’t just an ordinary fan. [13:38] It is a fan controlled by a humidistat. [13:41] A pair of dials, one of them also being pressable as a button, [13:44] serve as a basic user interfffff [13:48] [with immense disappointment] it’s blue. [13:50] Blue! [13:51] Wha, wha, why does it have to be blue? [13:52] And so bright? [13:54] Manufacturers of apparently literally everything now [13:58] cut. it. out. [13:59] Nobody needs this. [14:01] It needs to be readable, not eye-piercing. [14:03] Geez. [14:04] What if this were in my bedroom? [14:05] Don’t you think I oughta be able to, like, sleep? [14:08] You didn’t even put it on the box, [14:10] it’s not like you thought you’d make another sale by being hip and with it [14:13] with the blue ell eee deez. [14:15] Bring back dull, boring red, amber, maybe green displays, please. [14:19] I am so over this. [14:22] Where was I? [14:24] Right, so, atrocious display aside, [14:26] which I will just go ahead and fix right now by applying a LightDim decal up top - [14:30] I truly cannot believe this product needs to exist yes I will get beyond this tangent... [14:34] you can select between four fan speeds and set the desired relative humidity [14:38] in increments of five percent. [14:40] Built into the power cord is a hygrometer which it will use to measure the relative humidity, [14:44] and the onboard microcontroller will cycle the fan on and off accordingly. [14:48] The fan will turn on when humidity is three percent below the setpoint, [14:52] and it will turn back off when it’s achieved one percent above. [14:56] One thing I’ve been genuinely surprised by is how accurate basic hygrometers apparently are these days. [15:01] The humidifier’s display reads within just a couple of percentage points of both this analog dial [15:07] and what my smart thermostat reports to me. [15:09] Honestly a little surprising, but anyway the benefit of having a humidistat is tremendous. [15:15] Being able to self-regulate means it can respond to different conditions appropriately [15:19] and keep humidity levels consistent. [15:21] And it’s been very interesting to observe. [15:23] I have it placed in a central location near my thermostat, [15:26] and when the heat isn't running neither is the humidifier. [15:30] But, within just a few minutes of the heat kicking on, [15:33] the relative humidity falls to the point that it needs to run. [15:37] This makes perfect sense because the now warmer air can absorb more moisture, [15:41] therefore its relative humidity has fallen slightly. [15:44] The humidifier will continue to run for about five minutes after the heat has shut off. [15:49] And then it will have satisfied the humidity set point and go idle. [15:53] What’s really fascinating is that it has a remarkably consistent reading as the temperature gradually falls. [15:59] I have it set to 50 percent, and after stopping at 51, it may fall back to 50 [16:04] or perhaps even 49 percent… but no more. [16:08] It takes until the heat comes back on for humidity to fall beyond that point - [16:12] and this appears to be the case throughout the house, according to my little hygrometer friend. [16:16] I’m actually genuinely curious about this because it seems moisture leaves the air at [16:21] a rate correlated to its temperature drop. [16:23] I run my thermostat on a program so that the temperature cools down by 4 degrees at night [16:28] and even then - the humidifier won’t run until the heat comes on again, [16:32] and that can be hours later. [16:35] Humidity stays right near 50% the entire time the temperature is falling. [16:39] It’s fascinating, though at the moment it’s not terribly cold yet so perhaps this behavior won’t last. [16:46] Anyway, though this thing is ugly and annoys me in several ways, [16:49] it is undeniably great at humidifying, especially from an energy standpoint. [16:54] Its fan is quite large so it uses the most energy of any humidifier we’ve seen so far [16:59] while it’s running (about 65 watts at its low fan speed) [17:03] but it only needs to run for about 6 hours on a typical day - [17:06] and that’s on its lowest fan speed. [17:09] With my current usage, it goes through the entire 2.5 gallon bottle daily. [17:14] Do the math there and we find it uses 144 [but it's actually 156] watt-hours per gallon. [17:19] Certainly a weird metric, but hey! It works. [17:22] The ultrasonic mister takes the same amount of time to go through 1 gallon at 32 watts continuously [17:28] which means it uses 768 watt-hours per gallon. [17:32] That’s more than 5 times the energy per unit of humidification! [17:35] Oh, and the standby power consumption of this large unit is excellent - only about a third of a watt. [17:42] Despite that garish display. [17:44] My old dishwasher used triple that! [17:47] Honestly, it’s amazing how much water this thing adds to the air when it runs. [17:51] Just feeling the air coming out of it is impressive, it’s downright swampy. [17:56] Leaving the hygrometer on the top reveals that the air it supplies is at least 70% humidity. [18:01] To give you a sense of how fast it goes through water, [18:04] well you can hear the bottle go “glug glug glug” as it replenishes the water level [18:09] [fan noise, with a faint "glug glug glug"] [18:13] and this happens more frequently than every five minutes when it’s running! [18:17] It’s amazing, this thing is just excellent at getting liquid water to evaporate with nothing but airflow. [18:24] Setting this thing up has frankly been a little astonishing to me. [18:27] It’s so simple, yet extaordinarily effective. [18:31] Using less energy over a day than this little ultrasonic humidifier [18:35] it's able to take care of my entire home and not just a single room. [18:39] I’ve been checking with my hygrometer and, indeed, humidity is pretty consistent [18:43] from room to room, varying only by about five percent. [18:47] Granted, this is ridiculous overkill for the size of my home [18:50] and I do have the benefit of a forced-air furnace to help move air around. [18:54] But, it really seems that evaporative humidifiers are, at least in many respects, the best. [19:01] Of course, there’s a catch. [19:03] And it’s, uh… kinda big. [19:06] Evaporative humidifiers can get… gross. [19:10] To be clear, all humidifiers get gross over time but the evaporative style [19:14] tends to present the most opportunities for grossness [19:17] because there’s a giant damp sponge sitting in a pool of water [19:20] that has air forced through it by a fan, [19:23] and thus everyone’s favorite mold spores and bacteria are brought right to a lovely place to live. [19:30] It’s great. [19:31] Now, there are ways to combat this problem. [19:34] First, the wicks are almost always meant to be replaced seasonally, [19:38] and there are water treatment products available to inhibit bacterial growth. [19:42] I’ve been using this for a while with regular water treatments and so far no musty odor has developed, [19:47] which is the most common complaint of this style of humidifier. [19:51] The particular treatment I’m using is supposed to help with mineral buildup, too, but we’ll see. [19:57] But, here’s where I have good news. [19:59] This is conceptually a very simple device. [20:01] And that means, you can make one yourself! [20:04] All you need is something to absorb water and provide it with a large surface area. [20:08] And you have plenty of those - towels! [20:11] Take a large bowl, fill it maybe a third the way up with water, and submerge the center [20:15] of a small towel. [20:17] You may need to weigh it down with something. [20:19] Terry cloth is great for this - that’s why towels help you dry things, after all: [20:23] they have lots of little fibers for water to cling to. [20:26] Those same fibers provide places for water to evaporate from. [20:30] Try experimenting with different bowls, towels, quantities of water, etc. [20:35] To gauge the effectiveness of your invention, go ahead grab one of these little hygrometers. [20:40] They’re not the most accurate things out there, but plenty good for giving you guidance [20:44] and they only cost around $5. [20:46] You can speed up evaporation with a desk fan pointed at the towels. [20:50] And, best of all, you can simply run this improvised wick material through the laundry [20:54] and change it however frequently you’d like. [20:57] Now, this isn’t that effective, I won’t lie, but a quick test in my roughly [21:01] 100 square foot office showed it could maintain 50% humidity with the aid of a fan. [21:07] And that was with a, frankly, awful towel placement. [21:11] What I’d love to see come to market is a sort of rack meant to hold towels [21:15] maybe a kitchen towel or shreds of towels in a zig-zag, vertical arrangement [21:19] sort of replicating this wick cartridge but with a washable towel rather than this paper honeycomb stuff. [21:26] It probably wouldn’t work as well as these paper wicks, but it would be a fun thing to try. [21:31] Just put it in a shallow pan and sit it in front of a fan. [21:35] This might even push me to buy a decent 3D printer… [21:38] But, good news for those of us who just can't be bothered, the same manufacturer of this [21:42] large console makes what they call a “mini” console and it is delightfully simple. [21:48] It is little more than a bucket, a fan, and two wicks. [21:52] The wicks are placed in these slots, a cowl sits between them, and a fan controlled by [21:57] the exact same humidistat (and with unfortunately the same blue LEDs…) forces air through [22:04] the wicks when necessary. [22:05] It takes in air through the sides and blows it out the top, nicely moistened. [22:10] This isn’t as effective as the big brown beast over here simply because it’s smaller, [22:14] but it’s much, much more user-friendly. [22:17] And also quieter, at least on its low fan speeds. [22:20] Filling it is as easy as filling a bucket because... [22:25] that’s what it is. Just take the fan off and carry this to a sink. [22:29] Much less finicky than dealing with a tank or jug, and a lot easier to clean. [22:36] Though in this case there’s a weird quirk in that, the more you fill it, the less effective [22:40] it will be because less of the wick is exposed to air. [22:44] It’s probably best to keep the water level at about half the wick’s height or less. [22:49] Here’s a pro-tip for you, should you decide to purchase a humidifier like these. [22:53] If you use a water treatment product, which I highly recommend you do, [22:57] put it in a soap pump! [22:59] Figure out how many pumps it takes to fill, say, a tablespoon [23:02] and use that to determine how many pumps you’ll need every time you fill your humidifier. [23:07] It’s much less messy and more consistent, too. [23:10] I decided to purchase this amber-glass pump just in case the chemicals in the solution are sensitive to light [23:15] (which, uh, they probably aren’t given the jug it comes in) [23:18] but you can absolutely just use a well cleaned-out old soap pump. [23:22] In this case I know I need to add 15 squirts every time I fill this bottle. [23:27] Also, for whatever reason, large humidifiers like these [23:30] seem to only be available in hardware stores, at least in my neck of the US. [23:35] Your general big-box store like Walmart seems only to carry small, single-room units, [23:41] though weirdly enough when I was last at Walmart they sold not only these exact hygrometers [23:46] but the same water treatment chemical I'm using in these, too. [23:50] So, yeah. Don’t know why that is exactly, [23:52] but I’d also recommend that you buy a few spare wicks for the years ahead. [23:57] Any large hardware store should carry them, [23:59] and to my fellow midwesterners, Menards has plenty. [24:03] So, that’s about all I have to say here. [24:06] Even though these evaporative humidifiers aren’t the flashiest or most technically intriguing, [24:11] they seem to do their job extremely effectively and efficiently. [24:16] I would like to suggest a few revisions to this particular design, though. [24:20] What I’d love to see is a wick that is held much higher up, [24:24] allowing the tank to hold much more water, perhaps 10 or more gallons. [24:28] Rather than requiring it to sit in a pool of water, [24:31] I think it would be neat if a pump were used to bring water up to the wick. [24:36] This is actually a fairly common design of large swamp coolers. [24:39] This design would allow it to run for days without stopping. [24:43] I imagine one difficulty with this, aside from the simple fact that the pump then becomes a thing that can fail, [24:49] is that this would make it a lot louder. [24:51] A method of catching the water so it didn’t fall from a great height would need to be devised, [24:55] otherwise you’d hear a constant trickling from the thing when it runs. [24:59] Plus, of course, this would add tubing and thus more places for mold and bacterial to find refuge. [25:05] So maybe it’s not the best idea, but I will say to the folks at AirCare [25:10] that I really don’t like the float switch on this unit. [25:13] See, instead of using it to simply alert you that it’s empty, it shuts the unit off. [25:19] I would much rather it continue running the fan when it runs out of water [25:23] so that the wick can actually dry out. [25:26] Turning the unit off means that stagnant water will stick behind both in the wick and in [25:30] the bottom, which is a little unsettling to me. [25:33] Also, the implementation of it is just super janky. [25:36] It’s a stick with a styrofoam float that a ring on the wick cartridge keeps steady, [25:42] and then it pokes the underside of the fan. [25:44] I’ll probably just disable that switch, maybe force the stick thing up all the time [25:49] by putting a rock under it or something. [25:51] The simple bucket one, for what it’s worth, has no float switch [25:54] so it’ll just run to its heart’s content no matter what the water level is. [25:58] I much prefer that. [26:00] Now before I go, I do want to address that these sorts of portable units are by no means [26:04] your only option. [26:06] Whole-home humidifiers that get installed into your home’s HVAC system [26:10] are also fairly common, and wouldn’t ya know it - those are evaporative, too! [26:15] These units will divert some of the air flowing through your ductwork through themselves [26:18] and are plumbed into a water supply. [26:21] There’s often an absorbent pad or wheel which also requires periodic replacement, [26:25] though sometimes non-porous materials are used which only require cleaning. [26:30] Still though, if you’ve been using one of these and haven’t ever opened it up... [26:34] you might want to look into that. [26:37] Since I didn’t already have one of these in my HVAC system, [26:40] I just went for a standalone unit. [26:42] And, despite its many little annoyances, I’m overall very happy with it. [26:47] Certainly it’s made the winter much more bearable. [26:50] My lips were starting to get badly chapped around Christmastime, [26:53] but now that I have this running that’s gone away. [26:56] Usually it’d be chapstick time. [26:58] And genuinely, I feel warmer now with the thermostat set to the same temperature. [27:03] I don’t know why this surprises me, as after all humid air always feels more oppressive [27:08] in the summer, and drier air feels cooler, but it did surprise me. [27:14] The air is just much more comfortable in so many ways. [27:17] If you want to see how a humidifier might help you, why not try and make your own, first? [27:22] It at least will give you something fun to do. [27:25] Anyway, toodles! [27:28] ♫ moistly smooth jazz ♫ [27:31] This is what purports to be... [27:33] yeah, no it's facing the right way. [27:35] Shouldn't have second guessed myself. [27:37] ...plastic base supports... shoot. [27:41] That was going great! [27:42] ...sits in a shallow pool of water and capillary act... [27:45] dew do be fluef ah heuhhh [27:47] that makes it appropriate for small rooms, but not a lot much else. [27:51] Not much else. [27:52] Why did I say a lot much? That's dumb. [27:54] Yeah, that's not a whole lot but it's also not [27:57] [stops abruptly] [27:59] That cat is having fun upstairs. [28:03] [rumbling as the cat runs around] [28:06] But it's also not gonna be ... it's not gonna be do much! [28:10] Why does it have to be blue? [28:11] And so bright? [28:14] Heh, no that's way over-the-top. [28:18] Secret messages at the end of the videos in the captions? [28:22] I have no idea what you're talking about. [28:26] You must be thinking of some other channel that does that regularly.