Eeeew That’s What Was In My Humidifier?
You will not believe what was in my humidifierSo if you’ve read any of my other posts you may have picked up that I can be a little OCD…I clean under the burners (we currently have an old-fashioned electric stove) at least once a day, I lift the entire surface and clean under it and the sides once a week…Anyway, I take my humidifiers apart and clean them frequently as well. That is the story I shall share today!
We live in Montana and it can get pretty dry. We normally use the humidifiers most of the year. To be honest I haven’t even started them since this summer. Oops! I believe I really need to get them going now though. That is why I’m writing this.
Why do we use humidifiers? To put some needed moisture back into the air. I don’t know about you but I don’t want to feel like a sundried anything. My husband gets a pretty bad dry cough, the kids get little cracked lips even if I have them drink tons of water (I make sure kiddos and I drink lots of water) and we all get that dreaded dry itchy skin!
Where we live we are lucky enough to be on a well. Living in the mountains on a well really makes me feel spoiled. haha Now if only I had acreage and a fuzzy cow… Anyway, being on a well it means we have hard water. It tends to build up on things. Periodically I’ll have to take steel wool to the metal pet dishes and the kitchen sink. (We had a leak, all fixed with a fancy new faucet! Thank you husband!)
You ever opened up your humidifier and taken a peek at what’s inside there? Welp…If you never have you’ll be in for a real surprise! You likely won’t find anything you like in there. You may even get a bit upset or grossed out. Fear not! Together we can resolve your ghastly issue!
Get yo self ready to kill the beast within your machine! So let’s pause here…go take your humidifier to the tub or where ever you’d like to take it apart. It may be a little bit of a messy processes, especially if there is still some water in it. (I made the mistake of grabbing the wrong one to put up in the closet once… there was a water mess…)
Once you take that thing apart stop and think about what is in there. You and your family have been letting that thing “breath” into your home and lungs! Yikes! The first time I took ours apart I was honestly in a bit of shock. Like how on earth was it still working and why hadn’t I taken it apart sooner?! Why had no one ever told me to do so?
I currently have my humidifier in my kitchen sink with vinegar inside the base soaking. I turned it on low to heat and help break up all that gunk. What is that ‘gunk’ you ask? Why its a bunch of mineral deposits! Nothing crazy amazing, nothing toxic, nothing living or actually scary. Gross none the less!
What you’ll want to do is: Once you’ve taken it apart and opened er up you’ll need to carefully remove the major build up. Now that the bigger stuff is all chipped off and disposed of you can actually clean it up. It really is easy peasy! Just add the vinegar into the base (Do not soak the entire machine!…this should be obvious but its an electric item and you’ll ruin it)
I’m going to let mine heat and soak about 15 minutes and see where we get. (that 15mins turned into 30 because I forgot about it while I was typing) So with that 30mins of heated soaking…everything pretty much rinsed right off or wiped off easily If you need to leave it longer well, by George go right ahead and do it! The amount of time that it takes your machine to get clean really varies on how hard you water is, the amount you use it and how often you actually clean the thing.
Not only will you feel better knowing that the humidifier is clean you’ll be able to see the larger amount of “humidity” coming from your humidifier because the burner is actually free of the ‘gunk’ and working at full speed!
So if you’ve read any of my other posts you may have picked up that I can be a little OCD…I clean under the burners (we currently have an old-fashioned electric stove) at least once a day, I lift the entire surface and clean under it and the sides once a week…Anyway, I take my humidifiers apart and clean them frequently as well. That is the story I shall share today!
We live in Montana and it can get pretty dry. We normally use the humidifiers most of the year. To be honest I haven’t even started them since this summer. Oops! I believe I really need to get them going now though. That is why I’m writing this.
Why do we use humidifiers? To put some needed moisture back into the air. I don’t know about you but I don’t want to feel like a sundried anything. My husband gets a pretty bad dry cough, the kids get little cracked lips even if I have them drink tons of water (I make sure kiddos and I drink lots of water) and we all get that dreaded dry itchy skin!
Where we live we are lucky enough to be on a well. Living in the mountains on a well really makes me feel spoiled. haha Now if only I had acreage and a fuzzy cow… Anyway, being on a well it means we have hard water. It tends to build up on things. Periodically I’ll have to take steel wool to the metal pet dishes and the kitchen sink. (We had a leak, all fixed with a fancy new faucet! Thank you husband!)
You ever opened up your humidifier and taken a peek at what’s inside there? Welp…If you never have you’ll be in for a real surprise! You likely won’t find anything you like in there. You may even get a bit upset or grossed out. Fear not! Together we can resolve your ghastly issue!
Get yo self ready to kill the beast within your machine! So let’s pause here…go take your humidifier to the tub or where ever you’d like to take it apart. It may be a little bit of a messy processes, especially if there is still some water in it. (I made the mistake of grabbing the wrong one to put up in the closet once… there was a water mess…)
Once you take that thing apart stop and think about what is in there. You and your family have been letting that thing “breath” into your home and lungs! Yikes! The first time I took ours apart I was honestly in a bit of shock. Like how on earth was it still working and why hadn’t I taken it apart sooner?! Why had no one ever told me to do so?
I currently have my humidifier in my kitchen sink with vinegar inside the base soaking. I turned it on low to heat and help break up all that gunk. What is that ‘gunk’ you ask? Why its a bunch of mineral deposits! Nothing crazy amazing, nothing toxic, nothing living or actually scary. Gross none the less!
What you’ll want to do is: Once you’ve taken it apart and opened er up you’ll need to carefully remove the major build up. Now that the bigger stuff is all chipped off and disposed of you can actually clean it up. It really is easy peasy! Just add the vinegar into the base (Do not soak the entire machine!…this should be obvious but its an electric item and you’ll ruin it)
I’m going to let mine heat and soak about 15 minutes and see where we get. (that 15mins turned into 30 because I forgot about it while I was typing) So with that 30mins of heated soaking…everything pretty much rinsed right off or wiped off easily If you need to leave it longer well, by George go right ahead and do it! The amount of time that it takes your machine to get clean really varies on how hard you water is, the amount you use it and how often you actually clean the thing.
Not only will you feel better knowing that the humidifier is clean you’ll be able to see the larger amount of “humidity” coming from your humidifier because the burner is actually free of the ‘gunk’ and working at full speed!
Thanks For hanging out,
The Momma
