Crystal Humidifiers....PG Solution?

Adding solution will eventually be required since the PG does very slowly evaporate; however, total evoraporation in the crystal media seems to take a very, very long time. Until then, have no fear using distilled water.

[d'am]

Originally Posted by Nathan King

Adding solution will eventually be required since the PG does very slowly evaporate; however, total evoraporation in the crystal media seems to take a very, very long time. Until then, have no fear using distilled water.

This has always confused me. Water evaporates at a faster rate than PG...and all solutions I've seen are a 50/50 water/PG mix. By replacing lost volume with the solution, eventually you'll end up with ~%100 Propylene Glycol in your humidifier, right? And since it evaporates slowly, you've effectively stopped humidifying the environment. What confuses me is the manufacturers (Xikar) who recommend only PG solution.

Not that I lose sleep over this or anything. Like a lot of people around here I've switched to beads and never looked back

Originally Posted by d'am

This has always confused me. Water evaporates at a faster rate than PG...and all solutions I've seen are a 50/50 water/PG mix. By replacing lost volume with the solution, eventually you'll end up with ~%100 Propylene Glycol in your humidifier, right? And since it evaporates slowly, you've effectively stopped humidifying the environment. What confuses me is the manufacturers (Xikar) who recommend only PG solution.

Not that I lose sleep over this or anything. Like a lot of people around here I've switched to beads and never looked back

You are exactly right. 50/50 solution only needs to be applied a few times a year because the PG takes that long to evaporate; however, Xikar solution only has a very small amount of PG. In fact, Xikar would argue that their solution is proportioned perfectly so that the PG will be gone at the same time all of the water evaporates. From my experience their solution still has a little too much PG, so I use their solution a few times and switch to distilled water until it begins evaporating quickly again.

[d'am]

Originally Posted by Nathan King

You are exactly right. 50/50 solution only needs to be applied a few times a year because the PG takes that long to evaporate; however, Xikar solution only has a very small amount of PG. In fact, Xikar would argue that their solution is proportioned perfectly so that the PG will be gone at the same time all of the water evaporates. From my experience their solution still has a little too much PG, so I use their solution a few times and switch to distilled water until it begins evaporating quickly again.

I see--that actually makes sense. For some reason, I thought Xikar was 50/50. This approach makes more sense. I've always liked Xikar's stuff and I'm glad to hear their humidification systems works (with a little modification) too.

Originally Posted by d'am

I see--that actually makes sense. For some reason, I thought Xikar was 50/50. This approach makes more sense. I've always liked Xikar's stuff and I'm glad to hear their humidification systems works (with a little modification) too.

Interesting! I will see how it works with just Distilled water. I think I will switch to the beads, shortly in the future!