JB's cheapo diy large capacity ultrasonic humidifier

[JSB99]

the mister gets warm under continuious operation

BTW, even though the water gets warm, the fog will still be cool

also dont have an airpump pushing the fog out.

Yeah, you should get a little pump. You can get a small one for under $10. Another option is to use a small fan, like a PC fan, to either blow across one of the holes in the cup, which will draw the air out via the low-pressure created, or having the fan in front of some holes, to accomplish the same thing. Otherwise, you're only using a fraction of the fog.

 

[ANC]

I do not like ultrasonic foggers, the droplets are too large.

 

[SSGrower]

BTW, even though the water gets warm, the fog will still be cool


Yeah, you should get a little pump. You can get a small one for under $10. Another option is to use a small fan, like a PC fan, to either blow across one of the holes in the cup, which will draw the air out via the low-pressure created, or having the fan in front of some holes, to accomplish the same thing. Otherwise, you're only using a fraction of the fog.

Trouble filling is why I ended up replacing screw cap with a 2 in ball valve on top. So now I close the bottom outlet, open top, fill, close top, back in service.

Also, due to a phenomena called the chimney effect (or stack effect), since the other side of the duct in the pic is at a higher elevation (and typically higher temp) the mist is drawn into my tent even when the extration fan is not running. I have another (dog bowl style) inside the tent. I might add a PC fan to the one inside if it means I can disconnect the makeup air prehumidification unit.

 

[SSGrower]

P.S. my air pump is reserved for aerating water and compost tea.

But I could maybe not be a cheap ass and get another.

 

[JSB99]

I do not like ultrasonic foggers, the droplets are too large.

I use the cup to contain the big water drops don't spray all over anything.

 

[JSB99]

My clip-on PC fan works nicely with my fogger

 

[meangreengrowinmachine]

I wasted my money on an Evaporative Humidifier with a 1 gallon tank. It barely helps, added 2 - 1 gallon bubble buckets and I'm getting up to 20%. It's winter, dry, and I'm running open hood. If this thing will kick some fog, I could plug it in my humidistat control and be done with it. The evap humidifier is a little sketchy in a grow box, that Evaporative wick filter is bound to grow something nasty at some point. We shall see what happens. I'm in it for $26.

Thank you for this! I almost bought one of these the other day and have been pondering it. Back to a simple vicks humidifier it is! (obviously brand new with no vicks ever been in it)

 

[Underground Scientist]

Be careful which water dispenser you buy. Mine was not deep enough and is now used for Pets. I think I'm just going to drill and put fittings to expand the tank on my vicks ultrasonic rather than JerryRig this stuff.

 

[SSGrower]

Be careful which water dispenser you buy. Mine was not deep enough and is now used for Pets. I think I'm just going to drill and put fittings to expand the tank on my vicks ultrasonic rather than JerryRig this stuff.

I tried melting a low spot in mine, it was going well, until it wasn't. Would have worked if I had exercised some patience

Luckilly the top of mine popped of and I was able to set it on a tupperware. With another one upside down over the misters

 

[JSB99]

I tried melting a low spot in mine, it was going well, until it wasn't. Would have worked if I had exercised some patience

Luckilly the top of mine popped of and I was able to set it on a tupperware. With another one upside down over the misters
View attachment 4099036
View attachment 4099037

Nice MacGyvering!

A way you can raise the water level on a container, is to raise the reservoir an inch or two. The one I just put together, with the Mason jar reservoir, allows me to raise or lower the water level. Once it's initially dialed in, it doesn't need to be messed with. But, different nebulizers require different heights. The new, black one I got need at least an inch or two more water, because it was taller.

 

[SSGrower]

Nice MacGyvering!

A way you can raise the water level on a container, is to raise the reservoir an inch or two. The one I just put together, with the Mason jar reservoir, allows me to raise or lower the water level. Once it's initially dialed in, it doesn't need to be messed with. But, different nebulizers require different heights. The new, black one I got need at least an inch or two more water, because it was taller.

Yeah, I have one like that and a metal one. The difference between optimal depth is just under 1/2in, so I split the difference for setting the depth.

Also put a dab of silcone on bottom of mister to hold them in place, a little thicker on the metal one to compensate a bit for depth diff.

 

[JSB99]

put a dab of silcone on bottom of mister to hold them in place, a little thicker on the metal one to compensate a bit for depth diff.

Great idea!

 

[SSGrower]

Great idea!

Alright, revision ??
I hope this is it

Siliconed the fan shroud to the reservoir and swapped the dog bowl top for a piece of 4in pvc with a few holes in the side below water level. Kept the original bottle because there is a little carbon filter in it. It will be a bit tougher to clean but I was tired of knocking the thing off by looking at it.

Had to use 2 relays on the arduino 1 for misters outlet and 1 for the fan, pulled 12v source from light cooling fans.

 

[JSB99]

Alright, revision ??
I hope this is it
View attachment 4100651
Siliconed the fan shroud to the reservoir and swapped the dog bowl top for a piece of 4in pvc with a few holes in the side below water level. Kept the original bottle because there is a little carbon filter in it. It will be a bit tougher to clean but I was tired of knocking the thing off by looking at it.

Had to use 2 relays on the arduino 1 for misters outlet and 1 for the fan, pulled 12v source from light cooling fans.

That's awesome! Did you go through all your cupboards looking for containers to use, like I did? I was pulling out all my Tupperware and jars, brainstorming ideas LOL! I liked having the big reservoir, but it was a kind of a pain. The 64oz jar I'm using lasts at least a week, so I'm happy with that .

 

[SSGrower]

That's awesome! Did you go through all your cupboards looking for containers to use, like I did? I was pulling out all my Tupperware and jars, brainstorming ideas LOL! I liked having the big reservoir, but it was a kind of a pain. The 64oz jar I'm using lasts at least a week, so I'm happy with that .

Yeah, and im on the wife's shit list cause that was the one that all the other tupperware was stacked in.

I have to replace the gallon today, it was near full yesterday, it's dry as fuck 16% ambient RH and is cold so thats even lower RH once it's warmed.

It runs every time my vent fan kicks on and stays on for a bit after shutting down. Since it is actually pushing air in, I filter air in, and routed a passive vent from the tent to the side of the filter so I don't lose as much moisture.

 

[JSB99]

I wanted to talk about where these foggers work best, and when to go with another really cheap way to add humidity to your grow.

These nebulizers work great in small spaces, and with small plants that don't need a lot of wind. But when trying to use these in a tent, with the exhaust fan going, it's not as effective. The humidity gets drawn out by the fan too quickly. There are larger nebulizers out there, and multiple small nebulizers can certainly be run, but now the price starts adding up.

What I use in my tent increases the RH by up to 15%. I go from 30% up to 45%! This is a wick-style evaporative humidifier. It's simple, the towel clipped to the handle acts as a wick and creates a large wet surface area, with the bucket as the reservoir. Then, the fan blows on the towel, which speeds up the evaporation process, increasing the RH. This will work in a small space, but you want the fan on "high", which might not be suitable for the space.

Another advantage to these is that they don't add minerals to the humidity, like the nebulizers do. With the nebulizers, you'll get a little mineral buildup, unless you use distilled water. With this method, only water goes into the air.

 

[Sdh777]

I know this is an older post, but I just came across it. That water bucket, wicking towel & fan idea is freakin brilliant. I live in Colorado & it’s so dry here, especially in the winter, so I need all the help I can get until my plants are in mid-flower. I’m gonna try it tomorrow. I have humidifiers, but it’s just not enough.

 

[OldMedUser]

Our ambient RH is down to around 20% now and I'm keeping the RH in my flower room up to 60% just putting water into 4 - 12" drip trays on the floor under my ScroG. I have a small humidifier plugged into my exhaust fan controller to help keep the variation in RH down when it cycles. Quite happy with the way it's working out so far but we haven't hit the deep freeze yet when RH can go near zero.

 

[2com]

For the single disc ultrasonic units, they're good. Here's what you really want though, for actual "serious" humidification with them though:
(How do I post a link to a vid without having the huge youtube video preview? Other than "insert link" and renaming the "text"?)

The mushroom guys know what's up, haha.
I like your wet towel evap method @JSB99, and @OldMedUser So basically 4sq ft of area (ish) would humidify from 20% to 60%? That's incredible. Is the room circulating (exchanging) air with another room, I forget if you've mentioned elsewhere.

 

[fragileassassin]

For the single disc ultrasonic units, they're good. Here's what you really want though, for actual "serious" humidification with them though:
(How do I post a link to a vid without having the huge youtube video preview? Other than "insert link" and renaming the "text"?)

The mushroom guys know what's up, haha.
I like your wet towel evap method @JSB99, and @OldMedUser So basically 4sq ft of area (ish) would humidify from 20% to 60%? That's incredible. Is the room circulating (exchanging) air with another room, I forget if you've mentioned elsewhere.

That's awesome. I guess I will be upgrading my evaporative humidifier into one of these. I bet I could put some kind of relay in to make the humidifier control the mister heads.