this post was submitted on 10 Jan 2025
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Please redirect if there is a more appropriate community for this question.

I'm dealing with dry air, and the humidifiers I had bought before got the tiniest grits of dust or something in them and leaked their whole tank of water. Turns out they needed purified water or distilled water to function long term.

I just want to put tap water into a thing and get humidity into the air. Any suggestions?

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[–] [email protected] 28 points 8 hours ago (2 children)

I've never heard of a humidifier leaking because of not using purified water.

Humidifiers that use ultrasonic elements to vaporize water can, as I understand it, get buildup from residue. You can get a white dust from them. But I wouldn't expect them to leak.

I've never had any issue with use of tap water in humidifiers. I've used the variety that just wicks water up into a material and has a fan blow through it. Those shouldn't even have the dust potential.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 hours ago

Also toxic to use ultrasonic vaporised tap water due to metals and contaminants

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 hours ago (2 children)

It depends on how hard your water is. The calcium can cause any seal to not be a seal for long

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

I can't think of a humidifier I've owned that had seals for the water, just a bucket/bowel to hold the water and a thing on top that blew air out.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 hours ago

I've had one that had a big bucket that had a valve at the bottom. If that doesn't sit flush, I can picture it leaking pretty easily.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Why would calcium cause a seal to leak? I just searched for "calcium seal leak water" and nothing comes up.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Hard water tears up plumbing.

https://beyerplumbing.com/9-ways-that-hard-water-affects-your-plumbing-and-appliances/

If any seal, o-ring, gasket, etc... in a system comes into contact with excessive scale from hard water, the rubber is going to lose its elastic properties, get dirty, and ultimately stop working as well.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 hours ago

And more basic: if you attach a hard scale lump to a rubber surface, that rubber surface simply won't seal anymore.