Do you clean water chamber daily or just top off?

Top off, distilled water only. Almost never clean it, but, distilled water is very important. Tap water leads to gelatinous slime in time.

chronic wrote:Top off, distilled water only. Almost never clean it, but, distilled water is very important. Tap water leads to gelatinous slime in time.

actually, tap water leads to mineral deposits in time, which are easily removed with vinegar.

When I first started I cleaned my humidifier and mask with baby shampoo and water daily, then bi-weekly, then monthly, now whenever.
Ironically I followed that EXACT cleaning schedule with our then new car

Use only distilled water at home. Empty in the morning, and the tank air dries all day. Then refill at night. I don't use much water, just need to fill to a little over the bottom of where the plastic gauge goes into the water, and that leaves me with a little left in the morning. Live by the ocean, so its a fairly humid area, I guess. I have the humidity on 3 or 4 and it just doesn't use much water. But I've found if I don't let the tank dry during the day I get very small amounts of black mold forming over a period of time in some of the intricate nooks and crannies in the tank lid, which I'm wary of. Also wash the tank every so often...not once a week as recommended, but once a month or so.

With the pattern that I'm using, I haven't seen any signs of mold for a long time.

None of the above, after about 8 years I quit using the HH. Now I keep a iced water jug with a straw on the night stand, when my mouth gets dry I take a sip, I wake up about 4 times a night, needing to change positions. Jim

Julie wrote:Using a softener (which may be necessary to clean your well water) is not good in your machine - it's full of salt (and will kill your plants if you water them with it).

It is not full of salt and will not kill your plants. Our plants get along just fine with softened water.

See http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifes ... q-20058469

You may have a special softener that I've never heard of... or plastic plants ?

It would also depend on the plants.
Some will tolerate mild saline, some more so, and others not at all.
The hardness of the water going in will determine the salinity of the softened water coming out.
A testing kit might be a good investment.
There are no absolutes, except that plastic vegetation in notoriously difficult to produce blooms or fruit.

chunkyfrog wrote:It would also depend on the plants.
Some will tolerate mild saline, some more so, and others not at all.
The hardness of the water going in will determine the salinity of the softened water coming out.
A testing kit might be a good investment.
There are no absolutes, except that plastic vegetation in notoriously difficult to produce blooms or fruit.

If I use that water softener on my tomato plants do I still need to salt them when I eat them? My cousin and I used to set in the garden with the salt shaker between us between the rows. Jim

During the rest of the year, I top off until I wash the chamber with hose and stuff. As soon as I open the windows, I start to get that pink slime stuff (and yes, I'm using distilled!). If you don't have it, then continue to top off. I currently rinse the chamber and let it dry and refill it at night. I doubt that there is anything in the pink slime that is going to hurt me, but the ick factor kept me from falling asleep last year, so decided I'll just do it this way. I only fill the chamber about 1/2 way because that is the most humidity I use at this time of the year. My disabled brother keeps his door closed because he has a Honeywell room air filter machine. He never gets the pink slime, so I just top off his chamber.

I rinse it with soapy water once weekly (when I remember lol) vinegar occasionally.

empty daily and refil (doesn't have much left in it in the morning)