11-20-2019, 02:14 PM
Have you considered getting a whole-house humidifier? Won't be quiet, but can be placed wherever your furnace/AC is, so you might not be bothered by it.
Even though I live in a fairly humid environment (FL), I run the AC about 9 months of the year, which drops the humidity level in my house. Not a big problem usually, but I have guitars, and sustained low humidity levels can ruin the guitar, causing it to crack. After years of humidifying each guitar separately (water beads in a soapbox... great cheap method), I finally got an evaporative humidifier for the music room. It holds 5 gallons, and uses a filter that wicks the water, and a fan distributes the humid air. During summer, when the AC is running full blast, I have to refill it every other day. Without it, the RH in the room hovers in the high 20's/low 30's. Using the humidifier brings it up to 40-43%.
Right now, with the weather cooling outside, the room has stayed in the high 30's to low 40's without the humidifier. Whenever it gets cool enough to run the heat in the house, I'll probably have to run the humidifier again.
I have to add about an ounce of anti-bacterial stuff every time I refill the unit, and you're supposed to change the filter every few months (it is starting to smell funky). But I don't need to use distilled water, and I don't have to worry about the fine mineral powder all over the room that a mist humidifier would leave. Also, it's not exactly quiet, even on the lowest setting. I turn it off when I'm playing the guitar or watching TV.
Even though I live in a fairly humid environment (FL), I run the AC about 9 months of the year, which drops the humidity level in my house. Not a big problem usually, but I have guitars, and sustained low humidity levels can ruin the guitar, causing it to crack. After years of humidifying each guitar separately (water beads in a soapbox... great cheap method), I finally got an evaporative humidifier for the music room. It holds 5 gallons, and uses a filter that wicks the water, and a fan distributes the humid air. During summer, when the AC is running full blast, I have to refill it every other day. Without it, the RH in the room hovers in the high 20's/low 30's. Using the humidifier brings it up to 40-43%.
Right now, with the weather cooling outside, the room has stayed in the high 30's to low 40's without the humidifier. Whenever it gets cool enough to run the heat in the house, I'll probably have to run the humidifier again.
I have to add about an ounce of anti-bacterial stuff every time I refill the unit, and you're supposed to change the filter every few months (it is starting to smell funky). But I don't need to use distilled water, and I don't have to worry about the fine mineral powder all over the room that a mist humidifier would leave. Also, it's not exactly quiet, even on the lowest setting. I turn it off when I'm playing the guitar or watching TV.