Asked for by the Girlfriend. Found at the thrift store down the street!
A few days ago the weather finally cooled off enough to turn on the heat. Since
the house has radiant heat (hot water flows through the floor...so awesome!) it
takes a little while for it to have an effect. We keep a small but efficient space
heater to warm up the bedroom for the few days it takes for the heat to even out in
the house but it's little electric elements REALLY dry out the air. The Girlfriend
bugged me last year to get us a Humidifier but I never got around to it. Well fret
no more sweety!
When I looked at it at the Goodwill I plugged it in to see if it worked. Nothing
happened. I thought, well...some things like this won't work without the water so it
doesn't burn itself out when it empties. I thought I'd give it a chance seeing as it
was just 9 bucks! So I brought it home a put some water in the jar, plugged it in
and....nothin'. Huh, not a sound. I decided that since it was put together with
screws the manufacturer wanted me to take it apart. Upon opening it up and
examining the innards I found No Moving Parts.
I expected a fan or a siphon pump or Something. Just 2 metal bars that are
covered by a closed plastic tube with a few holes in the bottom to let water in. The
two bars are connected to the 2 wires that plug into the wall. The bars heat up the
water in the enclosed tube, it collects in the cap and comes out of a small opening
near the top. I cleaned off the 2 bars and put it all back together, filled the jar
again, plugged it back in and waited. About 3 minutes later there was the steam!
The great thing is, it'll never wear out!
Nice! I'm going to have to keep my eye out for one of those. I have radiator heat which requires a humidifier at all times so you can't really have to many.
ReplyDeleteI've seen these at the Antique Malls around town from time to time but never really investigated what they were. When I spotted this one next to what was obviously a humidifier, the "mystery" was solved! I bought the other humidifier as a backup! It's more of a '60s design so I was covered either way!
ReplyDeleteMy family had a bevvy of those with plastic reservoirs but exactly the same top.
ReplyDeleteI'd probably develop some anxiety seeing them around the house these days. Too many memories of being a little kid coughing up my lungs in bed.
It does have an "air" of medical equipment. But it also looks a little like a fat little rocket. And man does it work!
ReplyDelete