So This Is New And Different—And Just A Little Bit Weird

Welcome to the 834th Metamorphosis Monday! Hope you had a fantastic weekend! I’m back in Georgia now, arrived back home late Friday evening and spent part of the weekend unpacking the car, grocery shopping, and washing clothes. Are you caught in this Polar thing that’s moving across the country and dropping the temps to single digits or lower? The heat has been running almost non-stop so I’ve had my warm mist humidifiers going full-time too, otherwise, my sinus passages feel like the Sahara Desert.

This is the humidifier that I really like and always use. I’ve tried others and they always end up eventually leaking. So far, I haven’t had that happen with this one. (Humidifier is available here: here: Warm Mist Humidifier.

 

So I noticed something interesting a few weeks ago that I’ve been meaning to share. When I run one of my humidifiers here in Georgia where the water is not considered to be “hard” water, I do get some build-up of minerals (or something) on the heating element inside the humidifier as seen below. The first time I noticed this happening, I was shocked!

 

Fortunately, after a bit of research, I discovered it could be cleaned off using “cleaning” vinegar.

 

I knew the water in Ohio, or at least in some parts of Ohio, is considered hard water—learned about that when my son bought his home and had to replace his water softener unit which is located in his basement. The home I purchased in Ohio last summer had a working water softener already, and I made sure that it was set to the correct hardness setting right after I moved in. After running a humidifier for a few months this winter, I checked the heating element and this is what I saw. At first, I was confused, wondering why I was seeing buildup on the heating element when the water is being conditioned. Doesn’t that remove all the minerals or whatever is in the water that makes it hard?Salt from Water Softener, Warm Mist Humidifier

 

I also wondered why the buildup was so white and just on the top of the heating element and not on the sides. When I ran warm/hot water over it, the white thing on top popped right off as a whole. Interesting! That never happens with the build-up that accumulates when I run a humidifier in Georgia. It requires quite a few hours of soaking in vinegar to remove the build-up from the top and the sides.Salt from Water Softener, Warm Mist Humidifier

 

After the white build-up popped off the top, the heating element underneath was nice and clean. So much easier than having to soak it in vinegar for hours.Warm Mist Humidifier Heating Element

 

I’m wondering what the build-up is, though. Is it the salt that I periodically add to the water conditioner unit in the basement? I know I have the conditioner at the correct setting for the amount of salt that is recommended to be added because I verified that via the water company’s website when I first moved in. So weird that the salt builds up that way on the element. If you live where you have hard water that has to be “conditioned” as we do in Ohio, and if you run a humidifier, do you ever see salt build up on the heating element inside your humidifier? Thank goodness it’s easy to remove with just a little hot water.Salt from Water Softener, Warm Mist Humidifier

 

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Comments

  1. Cheryl Steele says

    The build up on your humidifier is salt. You should use distilled water for your humidifier which is cheap at walmart.
    Good luck.
    Cheryl Steele

    • I couldn’t afford that because I run one humidifier all day in my office and it uses an entire gallon of water and then I run another humidifier all night in my bedroom which uses another gallon so I’m using approximately 60 to 65 gallons a month during the months of December January and February and probably part of March and November. I just could not haul home 60 to 65 gallons of water every month, nor would I want to pay for that. It’s much easier to clean the humidifiers every so often and pop the little salt hat off of the one that happens in the Dollhouse in Ohio.

  2. Do you have a Reverse Osmosis system for drinking water? If so, try using it in your humidifier. I have a water softner, and all the faucets have water that has salt in it, and not for drinking, so I have an RO system for drinking and refrigerator water/ice cubes. It is salt free.

    • I looked up reverse osmosis and it said those cost four to five thousand dollars to have installed. I noticed there is one installed near the furnace but it had been turned off. The heating and air guy turned it back on and changed the filter when he serviced my furnace a couple of months ago. Hopefully it is working correctly. I do have a whole house water filter, but I guess it doesn’t filter out all the salt. Thankfully I can just pop the salt “hat” off the heating element every couple of weeks by running hot water over it. But I’m curious if others see this on their heating elements where they have hard water.

      • Hi Susan ! I live in Cleveland, Oh and have a well, so our water is very hard. We have a water softener that softens the entire house that also uses a big bag of salt every few weeks. I also have a reverse osmosis system just on my kitchen sink faucet and I use that water for humidifiers and cooking, making coffee etc. And yes, I still get a hard water build up in my humidifiers and tea kettles, etc. that I clean with vinegar every month or so. Its easy to clean, and I imagine without the softener and the reverse osmosis system it would be much worse.

        • I wouldn’t want to have to go all the way downstairs to fill up the humidifier twice a day, I know that would get old really fast. lol I prefer filling it up upstairs where I use the warm mist humidfiers. I do use filtered water from the fridge when cooking. Now that I think about it, I think the AC/Heating guy told me that the reverse osmosis in my house only works for the whole house humidier that’s attached to the heating system, but I do have a whole house water filter. I really don’t like having to deal with this hard water issue at all. Do you remember what your reverse osmosis system for the whole house cost? I guess it doesn’t eliminate all the hard water build up since you’re still seeing it. The info I see online says that a reverse osmosis system can cost up to $6,000! That’s insane!

  3. Thanks for having us over, Susan. Stay warm.

  4. It appears that is salt build up in the Ohio house. If so, you’ll have that build up on all of your appliance and shorten their life span. You may need to adjust your salt level, I know you have say you have it correctly dialed but did you contact your local water utility company to see the specific hard water content for your address? They can give you that number and you can make any adjustments to your unit. I would hate to see what it’s doing to your arteries, kidding but not kidding. I have a very simple water softener from Sears that I love and I don’t have any buildup on appliances or faucets/showers.

    • I think it’s opposite of that, from what I’ve been told. If you don’t treat the water, that’s when the minerals in the water build up inside the plumbing and appliances. The water tastes fine and not salty. It is very odd though.

      • Yes you are correct. But you are getting some kind of build up and you have a water conditioner, the humidifier can’t be the only thing it’s building up on?? Next time you have a Plummer out have them pull out the heating element and see what it looks like. Normally that is an easy process and good to check every couple of years.

        • The toilets, faucets and pipes/plumbing aren’t heated, so I think the build up has something to do with the heat…the heated element in the humidifier. I am going to check further into it though. Thanks, Catherine!

          • Whoops, I meant heating element of water heater. Or try putting a tablespoon of vinegar in your water when you fill the humidifier.

  5. Are you also drinking salty water ?

  6. SharonFromMichigan says

    We had three of those Vicks humidifiers. We have city water which we use two filters on (one PUR on the kitchen faucet and a water pitcher that we keep in the refrigerator). We fill the pitcher with filtered water from the kitchen faucet. (Michigan has had issues with high lead in the water: Think Flint, MI). The deposits were so heavy in the Vicks humidifiers, that we finally got rid of those and bought Crane “teardrop shaped” humidifiers. We fill them with filtered water from the kitchen faucet several times a day and there is no issue with any mineral deposits at all. We have been using the Crane humidifiers for 3 years now and no problems. They sell them on Amazon (Crane Teardrop Humidifier)

  7. I have had that orange colored residue in my bedside humidifier…I don’t know if it was from hard water or not. As others mentioned, I guess we should use distilled water. We live in an apartment and the hot water for the building is softened…so I would fill bottles with hot water at night and then use them the next day for the humidifiers. One in our living area – an evaporative unit – and one like yours in the bedroom. We got tired of them not providing enough moisture and ditched them and just put in an Aprilaire Steam Humidifier on our HVAC system. The difference is AMAZING! The air feels so good, the humidity level stays constant to whatever we set it at on the thermostat…and our noses are not dry and we sleep better. Yes, it was pricey, but SO worth it. Not sure if that is an option for you, but thought I would share our experience. It is FREEZING here and will be around zero tomorrow morning….going to defrost my upright storage freezer and just put the items in it outside while I defrost it. I think it may be colder outside tomorrow than in our freezer!!! Stay warm !

  8. Franceil Parde says

    Well…here goes…I just ordered one! Hubs uses distilled water in C-Pap so we always have it on hand. “Well” water here & closest “town” is named…”Mineral.” So…we shall see… TY!!! franki

  9. Thanks so much for hosting!! I really appreciate the time and effort that goes into it along with visiting all the links!! I hope you are enjoying your week and you are doing well…
    Hugs,
    Deb
    Debbie-Dabble Blog

  10. Just dropped in to see how cold and windy it is in Georgia. I just saw a photo posted of snow on the ground and roads in Pensacola. Pray we don’t have a freeze like 1989. The hurricanes damaged a lot of crops. One big grower lost so much, he is selling part of his farm to developers.
    Stay warm. Hoping no one loses power.

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