humidifiers and/or crock pots

[P.Trish]

Hello everyone.  I live in a dry climate and am wondering about best way to humidify at least three rooms in my house.  I have one humidifier in my bedroom.  Anyone know of a good brand that doesn't take up a lot of space? (I know, I don't want much).  Are small crock pots a good idea? I hope ya'll are having a good day.

[olmphoto2]

My room humidifier is a large crockpot.  Small ones wouldn't provide the humidity fast enough over time and would need frequent refilling.  I add about 2 quarts of very hot water to my 7 quart crock three time a day.  I have several tablespoons of baking soda that remain in the water since I set it up several months ago.  Nothing nasty wants to grow in that environment.  

[I used cold water once to refill a pot---big mistake, fine cracks all over and had to get a new pot.]

[P.Trish]

Thank you - I'm getting my crock pot ready!

[jazzlover]

I never thought of using a crock pot for a humidifier. Pretty cool!!

When I use it for cooking, I add cold water.... what gives with that??

[olmphoto2]

You can add a small amount of cold water to your hot crockpot without risking cracking it, especially if you pour it slowly into the middle.  [The hottest part of regular style crockpots are the sides where the heating elements do their thing.]  In cooking, you do want to use regular cold tapwater, not water that has sat in your hot water heater first.  If I have to add a large amount of water to something that is already hot, I tend to heat the cold liquid up first in another pan or the microwave.

IWhen I use it for cooking, I add cold water.... what gives with that??

[Sadie963]

I use a large crockpot to humidify my room also. My tap water has too much residue so I use jugs of distilled water at room temperature. I use it at night when I go to bed and it works for me.

[P.Trish]

Thanks everyone!

[jazzlover]

OH thanks for the clarification. Makes sense.

do you put the crock pot on low or high?

[gardenlover]

another thing I do to increase the humidity is to hang wet laundry in the house.  That works well and saves on the cost of the dryer.

[P.Trish]

Garden-Lover: good idea about hanging the wet laundry!

[olmphoto2]

I use mine on high.
 
Also, we do have very, very hard water.  The baking soda I use softens the tap water so that the minerals in the tap water don't harden onto the sides or bottom of the pot. I would need to use over 10 gallons of distilled H20 a week to keep up with just the one crockpot.  That's not going to happen (paying for and lugging home).  That was a big objection with regular and ultrasonic humidifiers for us. 

You will get a white 'frost' on the sides were the water drys in between replenishments---that is the baking soda mixing with the water's minerals.

Be generous with the amount of baking soda you use.  [I actually dumped into the original water a palm full of baking soda, so it could have been as much as 1/2 cup.]  When the winter season is over (our summers are humid) I even get to use my pot for regular slow cooking because it cleans up pretty easily. 

[Red]

Crock pot.....who would have thought? Good idea but it uses alot more energy than humidifiers to generate humidity. I will use my crock pot until I find a good ultrasonic humidifier. 

[quietdynamics]

I've been using a crock pot for years.  Sometimes I add some spices for a nice scent in the bedroom. A spider plant will keep the air clean too.