Disinfect Your Humidifier with These Simple Cleaning Tips
Humidifiers produce water vapor to replenish dry indoor air prevalent during the winter. Humidifying your home helps relieve symptoms that exacerbate respiratory ailments, while providing healthy indoor comfort. For the best results, make sure your system remains clear of mold and germs with these humidifier disinfecting tips.
Home Humidifiers
Whole-home humidifiers add water vapor to ducted airflow, which may be delivered by the furnace blower (bypass model) or a humidifier with an onboard fan (powered model) you can use any time without engaging your furnace. Whether you have an evaporative humidifier (also called flow-through) or a steam model, both types of humidifiers drain hundreds of gallons of water during peak usage and use up to 12 gallons of water to humidify your home.
Disinfect Your Humidifier
To fully appreciate the health and comfort benefits of a whole-home humidifier, it needs to be disinfected each year. Talk to your HVAC professional about servicing your humidifier during a furnace maintenance check. Here are the basic steps performed:
- The humidistat, the circuit switches to the humidifier and the furnace are all turned off.
- The humidifier is disassembled, including the media pad or water panel and drain line.
- The piping and solenoid valve are inspected for leaks, corrosion and function.
- The water trough, drain pan and drain lines are chemically treated to remove bacteria, germs, mold (if present), algae and debris.
- These components are treated to prevent the growth of micro- and bio-organisms.
- The media pad is replaced. If your model contains a water panel, it should be scrubbed and washed to remove scale and sediment buildup, which can cause water leaks if left untreated.
- If your humidifier contains a media pad, remove and discard it at the end of the humidifying season. Leaving the media pad in the humidifier will only invite contamination.
At Sobieski Services, Inc. our goal is to help our customers in Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland and New Jersey learn more about energy and home issues – especially HVAC and plumbing issues – so that they can save money and live in healthier, more comfortable homes.
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