Humidifier Maintenance: Preventing Buildup
May 23, 2017
A humidifier can help promote healthful indoor air quality and greater comfort by maintaining ideal humidity in a room or in your entire home. If you operate your humidifier frequently or constantly, it needs consistent maintenance to prevent mineral buildup, keep it free of bacteria and mold and to run efficiently. Contact Lozier and browse our products if you're looking for a new whole-home humidifier, or schedule an appointment if you're in need of some humidifier maintenance. Here's a few DIY tricks you can try at home before our HVAC technicians arrive:
Preventing Mineral Buildup in a Humidifier
Humidifiers moisturize the air in your home by evaporating or vaporizing water and releasing the water vapor or steam into the air. A byproduct of this process is white mineral deposits that accumulate on humidifier parts, like the deposits that build up on your bathroom tiles and shower door. If you have an ultrasonic humidifier, you may also see white mineral dust released into the air.
Mineral deposits and white dust are harmless, but they create more work for you and make your humidifier deplete filters and cartridges faster. To reduce mineral buildup and white dust, you can put distilled water in the humidifier, or you could install a point-of-use or whole-home water filtration system. Distilled and filtered waters contain substantially less amounts of minerals.
Maintaining Your Humidifier
Humidifier maintenance for tabletop or floor models isn't difficult, but it must be done consistently and often for the best results. If you use your humidifier daily, you shouldn't have any problems keeping it filled with fresh water. This inhibits bacteria and mold development.
For daily humidifier users, clean your humidifier every few weeks to prevent mineral buildup. All you need to clean the unit are cleaning cloths, a soft brush and either white vinegar, bleach or a mineral cleaning solution. After you have removed the base and emptied out the water, pour a cup of your preferred cleaning liquid into it. Let it soak for an hour, and scrub and wipe clean.
If you decide to use bleach to ensure you kill micro-organisms, dilute the bleach with half parts water. Thoroughly rinse and dry the base before re-inserting.
Have Humidifier Questions? Call Lozier!
For more details about how to prevent mineral buildup, cleaning your humidifier or other indoor air quality concerns, contact us at Lozier Heating & Cooling today.