How practical would it be to operate a small cool-mist humidifier for 6 months a year during spring/summer to increase humidity in a plant room? What reservoir size is needed in order to operate for 24 hours without a refill? Would it be a hassle to have to clean the unit every few days? What's involved? Are there better alternatives for humidifying a room?
I think you'd have to start by looking at some of these humidifiers, individually, and draw your own conclusions. I'm sure there are differences and requirements specific to different models and manufacturer. You may het your best help with stores that specialize in these units.
After some research it looks like humidifiers are out because of the regular cleaning they require. An alternative may be an ultrasonic mister. I imagine cleaning would be limited to washing the water bowl. Further research is also necessary to determine what size unit is required to humidify a small room.
Hi Junglekeeper, I had a look at some of the ultrasonic misters a while back, and the ones I looked at required regular cleaning (and sometimes replacement) of a ceramic disk. They were smaller models. The larger foggers used a different system, I think, but they were more money than I was interested in spending.
According to the information on this page, the ceramic disk has to be cleaned every few months which is quite acceptable compared to a humidifer. The disk itself has to be replaced every 3000 hours - again not unreasonable. The 5-disk unit diffuses 500 ml/hr so the single disk must be 100 ml/hr. I wonder if that'll be enough to change the humidity in a small room with open windows. There's also the possibility of a white powder being generated and deposited in the surrounding area from usage with hard water. We have soft water in Vancouver so I wonder how much of a problem it'll be here. I'm hoping owners of these units can share their experiences here.
