I ended up getting that same model, when the box came in I thought it was a mistake with it being so small. The pictures made it look bigger but it is putting out some water, running it for the first time today, will see how it does, currently at 24% humidity in that room, will see how much it raises it and how fast. Trying to find a spot where it is not near paper or the machines has been a challenge. It is almost like a fog machine running at full blast!
humidity
- Thread starter woody49548
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I ended up getting that same model, when the box came in I thought it was a mistake with it being so small. The pictures made it look bigger but it is putting out some water, running it for the first time today, will see how it does, currently at 24% humidity in that room, will see how much it raises it and how fast. Trying to find a spot where it is not near paper or the machines has been a challenge. It is almost like a fog machine running at full blast!
ReproElectroProspero
Well-known member
Make sure and setup a standard end of day procedure for those, or they will grow gross stuff quick. We learned that with some bactericidal (for growth) and demineralization cartridges (to prevent as much dust on our machines), we don't have to empty them at 5pm every day, but we do a deep clean / dry every Friday.
I got one of these for my house too. Filled it up one night, woke up in the morning with a bad bad case of COVID. Forgot about that filled/idle humidifier for about 5 days while I was sick. Was like the petri dish from hell when I remembered and dealt with it.
criccidisk
Active member
Given the recent cold/dry spell in the Washington DC area, I figured I'd add my two cents to this if it helps any other shops in our position.
We're a KM toner press shop. Surprisingly, their devices seem resilient to run at just about any humidity without shutting down, but over these last few weeks of winter we've begun to see color inconsistencies, internal adjustment slowdowns, and density dropoffs on uncoated stocks. Temperature in the shop this time of the year stays at a healthy-ish 70 degrees Fahrenheit, but humidity tanked into the 10% - 15% range.
Our copy room is pretty much a typical warehouse bay. 20 foot ceilings, approximately 20 feet wide, approximately 40 feet long. Pretty difficult to regulate without central air, especially when there's a bay door and outdoor entryway near one of the devices. We don't having plumbing in this unit, making things even more of a challenge.
With the blessing of a regional KM tech, we brought in four Air Care Space Saver evaporative humidifiers from Home Depot. This style humidifier is just a big bucket on wheels with a paper wick and fan. Water soaks into the wick, keeps most of the crud in our water stuck into the wick (doubling as a filter), and blows the moisture itself into the air. Two of the humidifiers are stationed behind our c14000, one of the humidifiers is stationed behind our c7100, and one of the humidifiers is stationed behind our 6136. The humidifiers blow upward to not directly hit the devices or our storage shelves behind the machine. The cost of the humidifiers, four bottles of bacteriostat (add a capful per 6gal bucket fill), and four extra wicks set us back less than $500.
With the humidifiers on their maximum fan speed, the humidity in the room increased to 30% within the first day and has stayed acclimated at around 35% since then. While that might be low for some engines, this puts us within KM's recommended Q-zone which makes us (and our techs) happy. It also thankfully carried some additional humidity into our bindery bay which is a pleasant surprise.
The Air Care units stay full for around 12 - 15 hours on their maximum fan speed, which works perfectly for our shop. That means our morning shift can fill up the humidifiers at around 7 AM and our afternoon shift can fill them up before they leave around 7 PM. It only takes around 5 minutes to fill up the humdifiers.
KM stressed that keeping any environment treatment on 24/7 for the best possible longevity of engine quality and parts, so it's all a win-win (thus far).
Again, just my two cents. I'm not an HVAC person by any means, but from an operations perspective this is a low-cost investment that seems to have truly helped.
We're a KM toner press shop. Surprisingly, their devices seem resilient to run at just about any humidity without shutting down, but over these last few weeks of winter we've begun to see color inconsistencies, internal adjustment slowdowns, and density dropoffs on uncoated stocks. Temperature in the shop this time of the year stays at a healthy-ish 70 degrees Fahrenheit, but humidity tanked into the 10% - 15% range.
Our copy room is pretty much a typical warehouse bay. 20 foot ceilings, approximately 20 feet wide, approximately 40 feet long. Pretty difficult to regulate without central air, especially when there's a bay door and outdoor entryway near one of the devices. We don't having plumbing in this unit, making things even more of a challenge.
With the blessing of a regional KM tech, we brought in four Air Care Space Saver evaporative humidifiers from Home Depot. This style humidifier is just a big bucket on wheels with a paper wick and fan. Water soaks into the wick, keeps most of the crud in our water stuck into the wick (doubling as a filter), and blows the moisture itself into the air. Two of the humidifiers are stationed behind our c14000, one of the humidifiers is stationed behind our c7100, and one of the humidifiers is stationed behind our 6136. The humidifiers blow upward to not directly hit the devices or our storage shelves behind the machine. The cost of the humidifiers, four bottles of bacteriostat (add a capful per 6gal bucket fill), and four extra wicks set us back less than $500.
With the humidifiers on their maximum fan speed, the humidity in the room increased to 30% within the first day and has stayed acclimated at around 35% since then. While that might be low for some engines, this puts us within KM's recommended Q-zone which makes us (and our techs) happy. It also thankfully carried some additional humidity into our bindery bay which is a pleasant surprise.
The Air Care units stay full for around 12 - 15 hours on their maximum fan speed, which works perfectly for our shop. That means our morning shift can fill up the humidifiers at around 7 AM and our afternoon shift can fill them up before they leave around 7 PM. It only takes around 5 minutes to fill up the humdifiers.
KM stressed that keeping any environment treatment on 24/7 for the best possible longevity of engine quality and parts, so it's all a win-win (thus far).
Again, just my two cents. I'm not an HVAC person by any means, but from an operations perspective this is a low-cost investment that seems to have truly helped.
criccidisk
Active member
To my understanding, with a true evaporative humidifier, there shouldn't be any steam or mist coming out of the unit since the water is blown across a wick instead of being heated, steamed, or stirred. They're significantly louder than other style humidifiers since they use a fan to propel the moisture instead of nozzles or vents, but they're nowhere near the noise level of our copy equipment. As a frame of reference, I started ours up this morning after things were shut down over the weekend, and over 90 minutes our humidity in the room has gone from 16% to 27%. I'm sure it'll be around 35% by later this morning and then it'll hang out around that number until the end of the week.
I have run the air care evaporative humidifiers for the past few years and the fan was always running on high and I would have to fill that thing twice a day. This time I got an ultrasonic that really puts out water in the air, but also eats through 5 gallons of water pretty quickly. I have 3000 sq ft I am TRYING to get the humidity up to 30% during the work day, that houses our folder/inserters and our digital presses.
I keep putting it off but next year I think I am just going to install an aprilaire in the ductwork of the AC and call it a day.
I keep putting it off but next year I think I am just going to install an aprilaire in the ductwork of the AC and call it a day.
A steam humidifier attached to your central hvac would solve the problem. It will trigger your blower to come on whenever the steam unit needs to run. You can also get a standalone steam humidifier. The problem with central hvac installed evaporative humidifiers is that they just can’t put enough moisture in the air while the heat is on. You can have it run when you’re not calling for heat, but they just don’t put the same amount of moisture in the air as when the air temperature is higher like when calling for heat.
If you only put humidity in the air when you’re working, you’ll always be trying to catch up. Best to keep the humidity at a steady level 24/7.
Stickman42
Well-known member
Just last week I had this reverse osmosis system installed. It's rated to produce 90+ gallons of purified (not sure if that's the correct word) water per day. I used an inexpensive total dissolved solids test meter and saw that the reading went from 120 at the municipal tap, down to 7 on the finished side of the filters. This feeds my ultrasonic humidifier directly by hose. This way I do not have to fill the humidifier and I'm going as far as I can reasonably go to keep the mineral deposits from finding their way onto surfaces that might have a problem with it. It's taken a few days for the humidity to get from 15% to 35% in my 4000 sq ft somewhat open room, and I'm running it 24/7. Next I'll be replacing the ceramic discs in the humidifier that vibrate to create the mist as I think they're not putting out as much of a cloud as they did when new.
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Stickman42
Well-known member
I ran a 30 lb. steam humidifier for a while, then sort of gave up on it when i didn't really see much benefit. When I wanted to try again in earnest to have better control over humidity here, I found that running the steam unit (30 amp 3 phase) would cost me $50 per day just in electricity. The similarly sized ultrasonic unit at 1300 watts costs me about $8 per day to run.
I had RO at home and hated how much water it wasted with backflushing, l would be curious to know how that unit does.
Stickman42
Well-known member
The waste water is unfortunate, but I gotta do what I gotta do. My system doesn't get backwashed, it just generates waste water at about a 50% clip. My understanding is that water softeners need to be backflushed/backwashed.
Yikes, that's expensive! Another day in the life of a printer, it’s never the easy solution. Shrink wrap the building to keep humidity in.
Stickman42
Well-known member
Interesting concept. I'm in a leaky, older building and air moves freely in and out in some areas. One thing that I don't quite understand is that when I look at the iOS weather app on my phone, it shows 61% relative humidity in my location/town. Why then am I struggling to achieve the 40% target I have?Shrink wrap the building to keep humidity in.
It has to do with the heating system drying out the air, the more it runs the more moisture it removes. I live in a 120 year old house and it’s challenging to keep the humidity up. No vapor barrier to keep the humidity in and leaky just about everywhere. My other house was a new ranch and I had problems with too much humidity in the winter. Heavy insulation, good vapor barrier and all the little gaps were sealed. It was kind of like living in a plastic bag in the winter.
The swamp cooler is an interesting idea, but I guess I would worry about the colder water in a cold climate cooling the air and causing the heat to run more. Temper the incoming water so it’s closer to shop temperature, not sure.
I have one adjustable hydrometer that I calibrate once in a while because some of the cheaper ones I have are off considerably. Right now the cheap one says it’s 25%, the calibrated one says it’s 39%. I use the salt method to calibrate it.
ReproElectroProspero
Well-known member
the keyword there is RELATIVE. relative humidity is a measurement of the amount of water that air can hold at a given temperature. Your indoor space is likely warmer than the outdoor space, meaning that even if the water the air is holding remains constant, your RH will be lower indoors because of the temperature differential.
Stickman42
Well-known member
Thanks for reminding me of this. It's something I knew existed but never took the time to fully understand. It now makes sense to me.
Stickman42
Well-known member
I also have an inexpensive digital hygrometer that's not adjustable, and newer Bluetooth ones that are seemingly more accurate, although not NIST certified. I see enough of a variance between them to make me wonder. I'm going to run the salt method as a sanity check.
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