My wife and I bought a humidifier a couple weeks ago. It's doing a good job humidifying, but I'm having a hard time keeping the RH at a constant (or nearly constant level). On average there's a 15 - 20% swing in any 12 hour period (I'm measuring with a psychometer). The only problem I can think of is the fact that this unit is designed for one room but there is a hallway that connects to other rooms etc., so it may be trying to do too much. Any thoughts now that I probably answered my own question?

Thanks much and happy new year,

J.R.

J.R.,

I use a number of humidifiers in my house, and one dedicated to my shop area.  So far here in the north east (South NJ/Philadelphia area), i have been keeping Rh between 40-46% during the late fall/Winter (summer was between 45-50 with central air).

Make sure the one you bought can handle the area you want to humidify.   I bought Holmes humidifiers this year, which displays the RH.  I find the humifiers display is way off, but consistently so.  So I set the humidifier for the setting that yields the proper RH.  I like humidifiers that can be set to go on at certain points - i think it controls the RH swing better.  Of course, we are going thru our first cold snap now (17 degrees at night), and I find the humidifiers are definately working overtime

Glenn

Thanks Glenn,

Ours is a Holmes. It has a humidistat, but no digital display. The info that came with it says it's designed for one room up to 1000 sq. ft. I fiddled w/ it til it was giving me 45-50% daytime but then drops to about 30% at night. I tried turning it up a hair at night, checked it in the am and it was near 70%. I've been trying but just can't seem to get it to stay at a consistent level. 

Maybe it's all that hot, moist air drifting in from Iowa. Maybe this will all correct itself after the caucuses are over! 

J.R.

I bought Holmes humidifiers this year, which displays the RH.  [/QUOTE]

Sorry, I bought Hunter Humidifiers - supposedly the wick filters dont need changing ... we'll see

Glenn

Trying to maintain consistant humidity does depend on the area you are trying to humidify and on the type and quality of the humidifier. I have a Honeywell that I bought about 2 years ago at Home Depot, it is one of the few Warm Mist humidifiers I have seen. It's like a vaporizer, but it has a fan as well so it really puts out a good amount of moisture. It hold about 1.5 gallons, so I end up filling it at least once a day. It humidifys my guitar room which is a 20x15 room and it keeps a pretty good level between 40 and 45% here in Buffalo. This one has the digital control where you can set the RH and it is not an accurate read out but is relative. I have it set at 55 and it goes on and off with the room staying around the 40-45% level.

The problem with the warm mist unit is it uses a heating element, that I have to acid clean about once a month with a mild muriatic solution, and this is even with having a softener system on the house. I have a cool mist Holmes, with a bigger tank, but it has all the associated problems with the filter getting "skanky" and fouled. I really like the warm mist unit but I just do not see them anywhere anymore. I think possibly due to the safety potential, where if the unit runs out of water, and the automatic shut off does not work, you wind up with a red-hot coil in a plastic housing, not good.

Thanks everyone for the input. I'm thinking I need a couple more to spread the workload.