Flutterby™! : It's not the heat... 2006-11-05 07:05:43.748177+00

It's not the heat...

2006-11-05 07:05:43.748177+00 by ebradway 2 comments

Boulder has been wonderful so far... Comfortable summers, nice early snow, clear blue skies, great hiking... But now that the cold weather is really settling in we are finding our eyes itching and throats sore. We already knew that humidity is a problem around here. So Asha and I went out and bought a steam humidifier (not that exact model - but close) and a little hygrometer/thermometer. We brought them home and setup the humidifier on full-blast and turned on the t/h then left for dinner. We came back a little later and found that according to the t/h, the humidity dropped a couple percent. Eek! I did a little research and found out some interesting facts:

Hygrometers are not very accurate (usually about +/- 5%)
Mechanical (dial) hygrometers are fairly easy to calibrate
Digital hygrometers are completely inaccurate below 25%

Asha took the hygrometer into the bathroom while she took a shower. Afterwards, with the mirrors completely fogged, it read 65%. Within 30 minutes of the doors openning, it was back down to 35%. This leads me to believe that the humidity in our apartment is significantly below 25% and the hygrometer just isn't reading right. Maybe we need to go buy another humidifier!

I develop serious issues when it gets real dry, we squeeked by last year with a small ultrasonic model. I've been considering adding a real humidifier to the central unit in the house, but fear that when I pull the main unit apart to install it, I'll end up installing a new one (it's circa 1988). Other options that would work nicely in our small house, would be a fountain in the entrance, and that sounds like a fun artistic project.

In my old house in Chattanooga, I had a new high-efficiency furnace installed to replace the circa 1972 model (about 70% efficient). I also had a central humidifier installed. It wasn't that much more and it was very nice - in Chattanooga.

Here, it's a completely different story. I think the apartment is so dessicated that all the humidity we are putting into the air is immediately getting sucked up by the carpet, furniture, woodwork, etc. I think it's going to take some time to get the ambient humidity up to a decent level...

Have you had problems with "white dust" from the ultrasonic? I've read that any minerals in your water get turned into powder that gets sprayed everywhere. Also, the mist from the ultrasonics smelled funny. I ask because I'm pretty certain we will need a second humidifier and the ultrasonics are supposed to be more efficient.