For years I have been trying to figure out a cost effective way to over come winter time low humidity issues.
I have well water that is healthy for use but its measures about 30 on the scale for its hardness. So any time I boil water or leave it sit around to evaporate it leaves heavy scale deposits. Not only is the mineral deposits hard to clean, it also shortens the life of any filter type room humidifier.
I have often thought about installing a water softener system, but I am not a big fan of how the soft water feels for washing.
I try to keep the room humidity around the 50 mark on the old Hydrometer, 45 and below the static electricity starts to get really bad.The best example I can give for how bad it is, I compare it alone the lines of getting a shock from an ignition coil.Now having said that, imagine walking across the carpeted room and meeting your loved one half way. Then show your signs of affection with a little peck on the lips, then BAM ! :affraid: Yeah fireworks all right, WOW !
I do have a little pot of water that sits on my wood stove to try to help with the low humidity. I also run the clothes dryer vent into the house with a lint filter on the end of the hose and that really helps. I also have a large 5 gal bucket of water siting by the stove and that helps, but not enough. When the temperatures reach 20-30F outside I will open doors and windows to air the place out with fresh air that contains humidity, that does help a little.
My next attempt for a cost effective way to put a larger volume of humidity back in the house is this. My wood/coal burning stove is cast iron, I was going to try coiling 1/8" copper tubing around the burn chamber on the stove. Then run one end of the tubing down into the 5 gallon bucket of water and let the other end drip onto a small piece of steel bolted to the stove.
My thinking behind my idea is this, the water being heated in the small copper tubing should naturally want to flow on its own. Then by having it dripping onto a hot piece of metal bolted onto the stove, this should give off a fair amount of steam. I am thinking this process of evaporation should put a greater amount of humidly back in the room, over the kettle of water sitting on top the stove.
Does anyone have any little tips or tricks they use for their own low humidity issues? I also like to put a small amount of beach into my water, to help keep it fresh.