My humidity is too low: Can't for the life of me get it higher, mmmm, high

Been looking into a whole house humidifier for the last 1/2hr or so... Something the whole house would appreciate as everyone hates the dryness in here. And.....may be something I could get the wife on board with. Kinda pricey and i need to look at my furnace to see if its possible.
 
I have a buckets in my tent with water and have aquarium air pumps in them. They create this fine mist if water above the buckets and the fans then blow it around.

I originally put 4 buckets, but they raised the humidity too high so I use 2 buckets now and the humidity stays around 50%.
 
Something the whole house would appreciate as everyone hates the dryness in here. And.....may be something I could get the wife on board with.

Yes, to both. Sinus and related headache issues suck (as does the general hit to one's... feeling of well-being, I suppose). You wouldn't even necessarily need to mention that it would help your plants, ;) .

Kinda pricey

No argument there, lol. There was one installed on my furnace when I moved in about 20 years ago, but it was real old even at the time, and it didn't seem to work, so I priced a new one. Cheapest I could find a decent-looking one was $59.99, so I screwed with the old one until I got the drum to move again, figured out that the adjustment dial seemed to work... dealt with the leaks by replacing the old saddle valve, and fired that puppy up. I felt better for the two weeks that it worked before it pretty much seized up and started smoking, lol.

i need to look at my furnace to see if its possible.

It should be possible (and relatively easy) to install one on any forced-air furnace. They attach to the duct run right at the furnace. The ones I've seen just use a ¼" soft copper water line and a saddle valve, like the ice maker on a fancy refrigerator (although there is no reason you cannot install a T fitting in a nearby water line, a proper shut-off valve, and then reduce it down to ¼", if you are leery of saddle valves). Plug it into an electrical outlet, open the valve, and set the dial to the relative humidity level you want, and it'll kick on, drizzle water on the pad and rotate its drum - then the air flowing past it gets humidified, and this humidifies your house properly.
 
As an HVAC/R tech I'll give you my two cents.
Do not install a home humidifier into your duct. It's FAR more headache than it's worth.

Get a couple ultrasonics in the rooms your in the most. If you have hard water use a demineralization cartridge to mitigate the mess it causes.

Edit: read whole thread now. House of hydro makes multi disc misters. This is what you need if you want to run lots of airflow for the hot lights. I have a five head unit that will soak the floor in a couple hours if your not careful.
 
As an HVAC/R tech I'll give you my two cents.
Do not install a home humidifier into your duct. It's FAR more headache than it's worth.

Anything specific to report? I may replace mine one of these days ("when my ship comes in," lol).
 
They are almost always poorly installed and usually maintained even worse. I could never endorse a return side humidifier (yet I see it all the time with a big fat sticker saying exactly which company conned another homeowner into it) They like to sell them because they're cheaper and faster to install than a bypass humidifier. With a poor install there are a myriad of downfalls not the least of which is moldy or rusted out duct work, or water leaks inside your furnace.

But for the sake of argument let's assume it was properly installed and only activates with an active call for heat and the humidity measured is below the setpoint.

The most common problem with properly installed units is unchanged wicks. Like all appliances hard water is terrible on them. The wick quickly becomes a brick with poor water quality and even with clean water they need constantly replaced. Plugged wicks don't work so well customer will complain system does not maintain setpoint.
If you stay on top of changing the wicks the next most frequent call is water leaks either the tap fitting for the supply or the cheap plastic connection to the reservoir usually corrodes and leaks. Or the reservoir cracks and leaks. (The problem no one calls about but they almost always have is all the junk growing inside of them.)
The number three call is humidifier not running at all. Usually a dead relay or a float valve that won't float.
Almost all the problems are owner negligence and poor water quality. I have seen them flood basements and return air boxes. And I've seen them look like a moldy gunky zoo. Usually I see them disconnected and bone dry unused since they stopped working shortly after the house was built or the heating system replaced.

With the availability of easier options it's just not worth the headache in my mind.

I have come across a very small handful of customers that love theirs but their equipment is also professionally serviced quarterly which is excessive in my mind. So for some people they are obviously perceived as being "worth it" I however do not count myself amongst that group as I have neither the time nor the money to deal with one.
 
I however do not count myself amongst that group as I have neither the time nor the money to deal with one.

Yeah that all sounds like too much BS for me. I don't want to have to change filters or screw around with my furnace.

"fuggit it" I'm going to order a 5 head ultrasonic mister and throw it in a home depot bucket connected to a nice humidity switch/plug thing and call it a day. If it isn't enough I'll buy a 2nd. No pumps, no hoses and no flooding. Well unless for some reason the home depot bucket decides to assplode all over the place.

Thanks for all the responses everyone!
 
That's all mine is. A house of hydro mister and float in a bucket. The lid I used a couple of threaded hose barbs and cheap sump pump discharge hose to make a couple outlets for a higher targetable dispersion level and a waterproof 80mm fan to give it some push. Otherwise it just rolls over the top of the bucket onto the floor. It's a pretty dense fog. The water temp can also go up quite a bit without the fan blowing air into the bucket.
There's a pretty inexpensive humidity controlled outlet available on Amazon from inkbird that may be helpful.
 
Yep same thing I thinking of. I had an ac infinity fan when they first came out. It was cool, but weak. Ended up sending it back and getting a hyperfan. I'll never spend a penny on a fan that's not a hyperfan. Strongest most efficient fans I've found. I run two 4ftx4ft tents on 8in filters with one 8in hyperfan. With enough negative pressure to still suck the sides of the tents in. They are not cheap though unfortunately, which is why I still only have one haha
 
They are almost always poorly installed and usually maintained even worse.

Okay, purchase the correct type, install it properly, and maintain it correctly - and don't expect it to be as durable as an anvil. Add a water filter, and ensure that it also receives regular maintenance. Gotcha.

And thank you for expanding on your previous answer. It will help people decide whether one is right for them, and it'll help me appreciate what must be done if/when I get around to buying a new/modern one. I'm not positive - and could easily be wrong, as I haven't looked at it in years - but for some reason the year 1972 comes to mind. I don't suppose I'd be able to purchase a replacement that has the same level of quality as that one, or be able to afford it if I did happen across a comparable one :( . By all accounts, the previous owner was a meticulous individual who took care of things, but for the last five years that the person lived there, they were unable to get down into the basement. Also, I had sump pump issues for a while (some folks have leaky walls in their basement - I have a... spring).
 
Oops no amazon links didn't know ^^ This is the humidity switch was talking about.
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...yes your humidity is low,,,but, i failed to see any mention of ill effects on your plants...many strains are tolerable of low humidity and vice versa...we all have a tendency to baby our plants and give them the ultimate environment...if your girlz aren't showing any signs, I wouldn't push the panic button...there are stand alone whole house humidifiers that could increase humidity in the general area in varying amounts of capacity...cheerz...h00k...:rollit::passitleft:...
 
You guys/gals with bigger grow areas and serious humidity problems should look into a hyrdoFogger. After fighting with normal wicking humidifiers and 10gal of hard-water or needing to RO that much water a day I decided to try one. I promise you won't have a problem keep your humidity up with one of those. I tried mine in my old 10x10x8' room that was half filled up with two 5x5' grow tents here in the desert that constantly exhausted to the rest of the house. While it had no problems keeping the humidity up (for the whole house actually) I was constantly fighting keeping the walls / floor dry and had to have several fans placed in just the right places to keep it semi dried up. They need quite a bit of room for the fine mist to get evaporated or it will just land on surfaces and make everything wet. If I wouldn't of had the tents I might of been able to make it work without being a nightmare or shorted out my lights with it one of the two... Anywho the point is they really need enough space for the fine mist to blow around and evap before they land on something to work right but if you have that room and need some serious humidifying power they could be amazing.
 
...yes your humidity is low,,,but, i failed to see any mention of ill effects on your plants...many strains are tolerable of low humidity and vice versa...we all have a tendency to baby our plants and give them the ultimate environment...if your girlz aren't showing any signs, I wouldn't push the panic button...there are stand alone whole house humidifiers that could increase humidity in the general area in varying amounts of capacity...cheerz...h00k...:rollit::passitleft:...


Ill effects? Not 100% sure there are any. I have 11 different strains in my room I havn't grown before though. If the general thought is to have 40-60% RH in veg and 40-50% RH during flower and I'm at like 25% then maybe my environment isn't all that it can be and for $150 or so it could be? I have also read that low humidity helps invite mites and can cause slower vegging as well as nutrient deficiencies.
 
...by all means, if Ya' can up your RH(especially for a buck and a half)...do it!...also, might be an idea to begin an IPM through veg to limit the possibilities of any infestation...a number of products are available that are less nuclear, yet effective...even an Iso/water solution at 1:10 ratio works...mist your plants and soil just before lights out, and keep an eye out...cheerz...h00k...:rollit::passitleft:...
 
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