Humidifier and lime in water - is there a solution to this?

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lfm wrote: Tue Mar 26, 2024 11:23 am About US made, it does not quite fit my experience with in lower range RH.
well, I can not talk about your use case, obviously, but that's the general trend from the people I´ve spoken with. us Southern Europeans only have central heating as a common amenity relatively late compared to other places, so the most common situation was building quite dry in Summer (as the old Spanish makers used to) and then the high RH level would cause a potential problem. but I digress. the recommendation I get from most US builders is to build about 45-50%, while many guys around these parts will happily build at 60%RH (which I think is pushing it).

the thing with action being all over the place with RH fluctuations is a common problem IF you glue a high absorbing, high density and unstable wood like ebony with a stable, middle density and stable wood like mahogany. the ebony will swell more than the mahogany with higher RH and make neck backbone quite easily. I build guitars for a living and try to convince customers to avoid ebony like the plague, but most just seem settled on ebony because a black fingerboard is what a classical guitar looks like and a regular looking classical guitar its what they want. to compensate I always use carbon fibre reinforcement on necks, but never a truss rod - truss rods tend to be abused by owners trying to compensate for neck curvature, which is not their intended purpose.

but again, I digress. sorry about that.
member of the guild of professional dilettantes.

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So I tried a couple of cold evaporating humidifiers. Just filters with lots of holes that such up water and fans drag air through them.

Stylies Orion, 6L, said to cover 50m2, but does not raise humidity more than 4-5 %RH. i use it for closet only, 2m2. Not anywhere near doing 20m2 room + small hallway and kitchen which are open door space too, total 30m2 probably.

Bought Stadler Form Oskar Big, which is 6L and to cover 100m2, double fans, 4 speeds etc.
This seems to work on my 20m2 room total 30m2. For $50 you have filters that cover a season at least. Still very quiet, mostly run at second speed. Unit cost $250.

What a blessing not having this white dust cover all over. Ultrasonic type I had to wipe big flat screen twice a day at least, with evaporating not having to do that for weeks even.

Go for something that covers 2-3 times as specs go. Maybe scandinavia here is more difficult, not sure, having 4 pronounced seasons and need humidifier at least 6 months a year.

Massive thanks again for tip on evaporating style units.

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I wish I stomped on this thread earlier. My (evaporating) humidifier died a few days ago and I was looking for a replacement. Didn't really researched a lot before committing and I got an ultrasonic type, which is supposed to arrive today. Guess I'll either have to send it back or just use it for the living-room / bedroom. The air is too dry also for humans, so I guess it won't hurt to have a second unit for that purpose...

I really don't want to be fighting with white dust every other day, so I guess in the end I will just get a Vanta evaporating humidifier and call it a day. I only have electric guitars, so I don't need to have it running night and day, but looks like ultrasonic wasn't the best choice.

Thanks for the thread and opinions.

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