Ultrasonic humidifyer

[picrophyll]

For any of you nepenthes growers that want to similate the highland conditions, then the humidifyers from Mainland Mart (US) are perfect. Although I had a great deal of trouble to get these sent to Australia, this 10 disk unit pumpsout about 25 - 30 litres of water a day and the effect is very impressive.
The attached pics show the water containers that was a 200 lt (44 gal) plastic drum cut in half and using the swamp (evaporative) cooler to move the air. You can see the effect on a cool day.

The water container

This almost makes me feel like I'm 11,000ft up Mt Kinabulu looking for N. villosa

Cheers
Phillhttp://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s9/picrophyll/RIMG0006.jpg[/IMG]

[picrophyll]

Oops, missed the second pic

[pthiel]

Phill,

Thanks, I use these also - did you get the float system with it? I eventually got tired of having to deal with the limited water level that they operated in and went to the floats so I could drop them into old aquariums filled up and I do not have to worry about adding water for about a week. Of course I have to add a lot of water when I add it, but only once a week. I have noticed improvement in my plants since I started using these instead of straight watering.

cheers
Pete

[matti]

G'day Phil, I have seen the single and larger units at Bunnings. When I had one all it did was heat the water up so how exacly do we cool the fog down?.

[picrophyll]

Pete
I ended up getting mine brought back as hand luggage after the company wouldn't answer emails. No there was no float with this large model so I just used polystyrene. I've put a ball float valve in the water tank so that it gets topped up automatically.

Matti
With the 100lts of water it gets mildly warm but not hot. I have an evap cooler going above it and direct the air down to the unit which pushes it around the house. If you don't push the air, the fog just rolls around on the floor area. I have a Heliamphora growing right beside the tub and it is thriving. Great for cuttings too. The single units would only be useful for an aquarium sized area. I had a five disk unit that I ran 24/7 for nearly three years before it packed up and I couldn't get the parts for it here in Aus as it's made in China.

[Clint]

I can see how if you had a 1 HP aquarium chiller (and naturally a big pocket book to buy that!) and a relatively small hobbyist-sized greenhouse this would be a great way to cool it down.

[picrophyll]

The big pocket book would be needed to run it as well.
I use the evap coolers (swamp cooler) as they are cheap to buy or find and I run them until they die. People buy them for cooling and when they find they are making everything damp and humid they throw them out.

The ultrasonic unit runs for about 14 hours and the water is only just warm (100lts)

[rsivertsen]

The ultrasonic humidifiers are great! I've used them myself over the years. The thing to watch out for is the amount of dissolved minerals you have in your water. These humidifiers are so efficient in pumping gallons of water into the air that they can leave your plants with a dusting of the white minerals and salt deposits that may cause some harm to the more delicate plants; the use of Reverse Osmosis solves this problem, but again, it’s yet another serious dent in the old budget!

[rsivertsen]

The sonic/ultrasonic humidifiers operate by a crystal that is set to vibrate at the resonate frequency of the water molecule, which causes it to separate from the other water molecules and bubble up as a mist, instead of boiling it, or by running it through a porous substance, and having it just evaporate.

Another interesting source for these might be (of all places) music stores, and websites, as they are sometime used in special theatric stage effects of generating billows of mist and clouds.

[matti]

I've put a ball float valve in the water tank so that it gets topped up automatically.

Like the floats you put on a cattle trough?.