Humidity, iPhones, Kindles, and #*$! noses

[csdude55]

With the beginning of Winter came auxiliary heat in my house, which led to very low humidity, which led to my girlfriend waking up with headaches and the occasional #*$! nose :-(

In an effort to combat it, I bought a nice humidifier with a humidistat. She keeps her iPhone (I know, I know), Kindle, and two Qi wireless chargers on her side of the bed, though, so we put the humidifier about 6' away. Next morning the humidistat shows that the humidity at the humidifier is high... but she's still dry and sore, so I'm guessing that the steam is more or less staying in one place and never actually making it to her.

I tried blowing the ceiling fan both directions in an attempt to circulate the humidity around the room, but neither helped. If anything, it seemed to just blow the steam down to the floor.

The question is, do you think that having the humidifier on her end table, literally inches from her iPhone, Kindle, and Qi chargers, blowing 8-10 hours per night, could potentially damage her electronics?

We're kind of just throwing things at the wall to see what sticks, and honestly don't know for sure that an increase in humidity would help. But it's the only idea I have :-/

[engine]

Most electronics of quality will be ok in relative high humidity. You can find the details in the device specifications under RH figures. If the humidity is beyond the specification you could find product failure.

I wouldn't put the two near each other.

I'd also look to find a humidifier which pushes the humidity upwards as the moisture will naturally fall.

[robzilla]

We're kind of just throwing things at the wall to see what sticks

This will for sure break your devices. And if anything sticks to your walls the room's probably not lacking humidity ;-)

Aside from possible damages to devices (seems unlikely though, see below), I think it would be rather unpleasant to have a humidifier that close to you while you're sleeping, especially when it's blowing in your direction (like a cold draft from a window). I have a humidifier (Philips Series 2000i) in the living room that's capable of increasing humidity by about 10% in winter (don't really notice it myself but my piano needs it). I measure humidity with a separate device, placed on top of the piano at least several meters away from the humidifier.

How dry are we talking here?

To your question, most devices seem well-protected against high humidity environments. Your phone won't break if you leave it in the bathroom while you take a long shower, it's not very likely to be harmed by a little humidity coming from a humidifier. But I'd look at other solutions first... a better humidifier perhaps?

[csdude55]

How dry are we talking here?

When I turned it on last night, the humidistat said that the room was 19%. The outside temperature was in the high 30s, and it's my understanding that the inside humidity should have been 30-60%.

After running all night, when I got up the humidistat said that it was 52%. So that would be good, except that I don't think it was that high at her side of the bed.

This is the humidifier I bought:

[amazon.com...]

I use filtered water, turn on Heat and Ionization, and it goes through the entire 5L each night.

[robzilla]

Central heating can drive down indoor humidity pretty quickly when it's cold outside. With current winter temperatures I'd be looking at figures in the low twenties if I didn't have the humidifier, and that's a little low for comfort. Right now the hygrometer measures 42%.

If you want to be sure, get a cheap hygrometer and put it on her nightstand (if there's space for yet another device). If it also measures ~50%, maybe you need to turn it on earlier, then refill it before bedtime?

Maybe a gel of some sort to keep the nose from drying out too much.

[lucy24]

You don’t say what type of heating you have. I gather it isn’t forced air, or the fixes would be easy.

[csdude55]

@lucy24, it's central heat and air. I found that I could add a whole-house humidifier to the air handler, but running the drain and everything is a little out of my wheelhouse so I think I'd hire a plumber for that one. That puts the job in the $1000+ range, so I don't see it happening anytime soon.

I found cheap hygrometers on Amazon for about $8, so I'm gonna try that first and see about the humidity at her nightstand, like Rob said. It's possible that the problem isn't even what I think it is :-O

[thecoalman]

You don’t say what type of heating you have. I gather it isn’t forced air, or the fixes would be easy.

That's the chicken or the egg. Forced air will cause drier air compared to baseboard. As far as putting humidity into the air, mini ducts expmpted ever see the inside of a duct after some use? You already have some pretty good conditions for mold and bacterial growth, I'm not so sure improving them is the wisest idea.

In all honesty I believe ducted heating along with modern building techniques/materials creating air tight spaces that trap indoor air pollutants are the primary reason for increases in asthma cases over the past 20 or 30 years. For these reason you'll never see a duct in my house other than exhaust ducts.

The solution to this is obvious, install coal stove and out a pot of water on it. :) I'm half joking but that is how people with coal stoves deal with low humidity. Before anyone goes off on on my asthma comments above be aware there is at least one study I'm aware of that has shown that people using coal or wood for heat tend to have less issues with asthma. As noted in the study there is other factors in play such as how the heat is delivered, those households tend to be more rural etc.

[engine]

A couple of other things that occurred to me; Keep a glass of water beside the bed and taking a swig from it every-so-often, and, turn off the heating in the bedroom. A cool bedroom is much better for sleeping.

[Brett_Tabke]

Middle of January I read that higher humidity in winter/spring here in south can dampen allergens in the house. We got a fancy steamer / humidifier very similar to yours CSDude. It seemed to work ok.

Then the wife got sick with serious cold about two months ago. We set it right near her bed, she said it really helped. I never worried about the electronics there. They can take that kind of humidity - no problem.

[csdude55]

there is at least one study I'm aware of that has shown that people using coal or wood for heat tend to have less issues with asthma.

Interesting. I grew up with wood heat, and had somewhat severe asthma! I think that it was really just allergies from my mom smoking, though, and misdiagnosed because (a) it was the 80s, (b) even the doctors testing me would smoke while checking me out, and (c) everyone in my area still believed that smoking was good for you :-/

I once had a doctor recommend that I start smoking to dull my nasal senses a little!

But anyway, to follow up on the topic.

I did buy a hygrometer, and it's true that over night the humidity levels near her side of the bed would drop. I'm not sure if that's because she's next to the heat vent, though, or if the ceiling fan had an impact? Either way, I put the humidifier on her end table, maybe 3' from her head, and it had no significant impact on the humidity there. I thought that it might lead to condensation on her table or on the electronics, but nope! I guess the ceiling fan just blows it straight down to the floor as soon as the humidifier blows it upwards.

So there's still no solution, it's just something we'll forget about until November and wish we'd installed a humidifier on the central heat! LOL

[engine]

I'm not sure if that's because she's next to the heat vent, though, or if the ceiling fan had an impact?

Oh, for sure:. The moisture content is heavier than air and would be easily blown to the floor. Some ceiling fans allow reversal of the mode to lift the air, instead of blowing it downwards. If you have that option, give it a try.