Cleaning the humidifier....

kel716

Please give me your best tips.  I clean it, and it keeps getting nastier the more it gets used.  I'm tempted just to buy a new one... but if someone has a magic solution, I'd love to hear it. 

buckeyethor

Ditto for me.

johnandkristin

I just put about a tsp of bleach in mine then fill it up with water. Let is sit for about 20 minutes (but shake it up every 3-5 minutes). That usually does the trick. Sometimes I do the same thing with a vinegar solution.

Unfortunately I think some humidifiers are better than others. I've gone through 2 or 3 of them. Ugh. We had a Vick's humidifier that got so crusty, I eventually had to replace it. But then I have a different Vick's one that is fine. We also have a Crane humidifier as well.

What kind do you have?

teacherjess

I also think it depends on the brand. We had a humidifier with a filter and the filter was literally moldy after a week (and new filters were running about $8 at the time). I started from scratch with a Vicks but was not happy with that, either. We ended up getting a Crane one shaped like a frog and it has been much easier to keep clean.

notguilty

We soak ours in white vinegar.  It works pretty well.

hav2run

We bought an ultrasonic humidifier to avoid the nasty, moldy filters.  I LOVE it.  Most of the parts are dishwasher safe, so we put them in the dishwasher.  For the tank, I soak in a half cup of white vinegar and full tank of water for 20 minutes, then soak in 3 Tbs of bleach/tank of water for 20 minutes.  Easy easy. 

Miller238

Do you use distilled water or tap water?  We switched over to distilled water when we realized the tap water was leaving a white film on everything in her room (we run the humidifier every night).  Once we did that, the white film stopped and the orange/mold in the filter stopped. 

jerseygirl81

Miller238:

Do you use distilled water or tap water?  We switched over to distilled water when we realized the tap water was leaving a white film on everything in her room (we run the humidifier every night).  Once we did that, the white film stopped and the orange/mold in the filter stopped. 

This was what we did, too.