Do I have to use EZCAL to clean the base of the humidifier or can I also use a less expensive product (i. e. vinegar)?
1624979
I would use the ezcal. It's a great humidifier if you buy it you won't be disappointed.
1624980
One can use vinegar, but depending on water hardness you may need something else to clean it with.
1183638
From the owner manual: "You should only add water treatments that are specifically made...Using water treatments that are not recommended could damage the humidifier". Personally, I suspect oil would gunk up the works.
1848906
You know, I have had mine for a long time.Yes, I probably should humidify my humidor more often by pouring more distilled water in it, but I smoke about one cigar every few months.That being said, I bought the one tube months ago, and whenever they are all brown and shrunken again, I fill it with distilled water.Still on the same tube.
1574594
We would recommend regularly cleaning the humidifier with vinegar or using distilled water in the unit.
1387972
No but it recommends distilled to reduce mineral build up. If you don't use distilled water it recommends to rinse out with vinegar on a monthly basis. When I first got the cleaner I used tap water and it still worked great. I recently been using distilled so I don't have to worry about soaking the tank in vinegar.
386105
Our water produced both scale & mold in our humidifier. We have a double chamber humidifier so we have to put a "rattle" (as my husband refers to them) in each tank but they work great! It does control the white scale but we find that it is just inside a month before we have to change them (about 22 days or so) because we can detect the mold odor----but soooo much lighter of an odor than using the humidifier without them. We think they are a great product & a great value----they've helped us control sinus infections in our home & todays medical costs are worse than the cost of the products. Hope that helps! Our water produced both scale & mold in our humidifier. We have a double chamber humidifier so we have to put a "rattle" (as my husband refers to them) in each tank but they work great! It does control the white scale but we find that it is just inside a month before we have to change them (about 22 days or so) because we can detect the mold odor----but soooo much lighter of an odor than using the humidifier without them. We think they are a great product & a great value----they've helped us control sinus infections in our home & todays medical costs are worse than the cost of the... » Read More Our water produced both scale & mold in our humidifier. We have a double chamber humidifier so we have to put a "rattle" (as my husband refers to them) in each tank but they work great! It does control the white scale but we find that it is just inside a month before we have to change them (about 22 days or so) because we can detect the mold odor----but soooo much lighter of an odor than using the humidifier without them. We think they are a great product & a great value----they've helped us control sinus infections in our home & todays medical costs are worse than the cost of the products. Hope that helps! « Show Less
2058059
You can use vinegar as suggested or you can use any cleaner that you can buy for that purpose according to directions. The water spreader unscrews and you may use the tool provided to clean the water tube..you can put vinegar in the water holder run a pot of water through and let it sit inside. Then rinse well with several pots of water..
1707022
The Hydrostick was made with silver that actually kills bacteria. It worked well and I'm really mad they stopped making it. These disks MAY help with odor or chlorine idk, but they won't protect the base of your humidifier from mold etc... You could get the same or possibly even better effect by just running your water through an inexpensive water filtering pitcher before filling your tank.
2202315
No answer for this but I love this and use it every day. The Fragance is perfect! It is oily and using it in a humidifer might not be good.
2195333
I would suggest not. Use a oil burner specifically for that and just use water in humidifier.
1288282
Reading about humidifiers, ultrasonic humidifiers put quite a bit of white dust into the air. You would have to have naturally very soft water. NOT water softener water. Or use distilled water. Very expensive.
278989
We use tap water and periodically follow the instructions to use vinegar to keep it working properly. Given the amount of water needed to fill it, I wouldn't spend the extra money to buy distilled water. We have quite a bit of calcium in our tap water and have not found it to be a problem with this humidifier. Hope this helps.
1663877
The white dust is a problem with ultrasonic humidifiers. Since this is evaportative, it is not a problem. Mine works very well
986676
The original silver stick prevented mold & bacteria from forming in the base. They sell a silver cube on here now that does the same thing. In my opinion, this is the best humidifier on the market.
770340
It's a calcium build up. It'll disable your humidifier altogether if not it's not regularly cleaned. When I first bought the humidifier, I also bought a solution that was supposed to help keep calcium buildup at bay. It didn't. So now I clean the humidifier once a month by letting the heating mechanism soak overnight (or while I'm at work) in vinegar.It works like a dream. This was my boyfriend's suggestion, so I can't take credit for it. But I'll swear on a stack of humidifiers that it works each and every time.
1103701
Don't over fill it and use only distilled water. One cup of 50/50 vinegar and water solution will get rid of any hard water buildup if you've been using tap water but do this at your own risk. If you do clean the tank inside with the solution, the safest way is to make sure the unit is cool and unplugged. Rinse it well before use.
386106
I don't about a liquid additive. But I do know that mine humidifier has to cleaned thoroughly once a month because it gets awful goop throughout the insides.