You will need a plastic tub that comes with a lid, foam board, a small round plug in electric fan, and some humidifier wicking elements.
Parts List
- Box – Sterilite 58 Qt. Storage Box Plastic, White (Sterilite Link ~$10 Y2024 M12)
- Fan – Honeywell Turboforce fan, HT-900, 11 inch (Amazon Link ~$20 Y2024 M12)
- Wick Filter – Sunbeam Cool Mist Humidifier SCM1747-CN (Amazon Link ~$10 Y2024 M12)
- Humidifier Demineralization Cartridges – HoMedics (Amazon Link ~$16 for 4qty Y2024 M12)
- Poster-board – Pen+Gear Heavyweight White Poster Board, 22 in x 28 in (Walmart Link ~$6 for 6qty Y2024 M12)
The box used for this homemade humidifier is a clear plastic box from Walmart that is 58 qt in volume capacity. You can use any box that is roughly that size. It’s suggested you use a plastic box that is somewhat flexible so that shifts in the box will not damage the box and so you can see through the box and see how much water is in it and how the filters are doing.
The wick filter this homemade humidifier is based off of is the Sunbeam Cool Mist Humidifier SCM1727-CN. Multiple humidifiers use a similar filter so when you buy replacements you will see a variety of names used, but the sunbeam model is one you can search for reliably to get the filter you are looking for. It is a filter that is roughly 8 inches wide and the same tall. Often come in packs of multiples. You often can get them at Walmart or on Amazon.
The Honeywell fan is a good fan choice for this homemade humidifier as it is a small round fan with multiple settings. It is not very loud and can move a lot of air very well. It comes with a stand so you will need to remove the stand so that it is just the round fan portion that you can sit into the hole you cut into the lid of the plastic box.
The poster-board is made of foam with paper cover both sides. The foam is used to dampen the vibrations of the fan on the box so that it will not be as loud as it would be without the poster-board.
Steps
1. Take the stand off the fan.
2. Glue the poster-board to the lid. you will have to trim the foam board to fit on the lid well. A utility knife can help with this. Hot glue works well to glue the poster-board to the lid.
3. Cut a hole in one end of the lid for the fan. You will want it slightly smaller than the fan so the fan can blow as much air into the box as possible without the fan falling into the hole. You can do this by putting the fan face down on the lid and using a black sharpy or pen to go around the fan. Then cut the hole into the lid using the line as your guide. The Honeywell fan is tapered so it will be fine if you do it just as stated. If you use a fan that has a straight up and down wall, you will want to cut the hole slightly smaller than the tracing line so the fan doesn’t fall in.
4. Cut a rectangular hole on the other end of the lid. This is where the air comes out. Make it as big as you reasonably can while leaving roughly 1 inch of space between that hole and the fan hole and the edges of the poster-board.
5. Put two wicks under the fan hole.
6. Put water in the tub. Somewhere around 4 to 6 inches will be fine. About halfway up the wicks.
7. Readjust wicks to make sure they are still below the fan hole. Putting water in the tub might have moved them around a bit.
8. Put fan on fan hole where the air from the fan is going into the box. The fan will take air from outside the box, move it into the box and over the wicks, and out the rectangular hole.
This has been able to humidify a room that started at 20 % humidity to 40% humidity. You won’t have to refill the tank likely for more than a day as this tub can hold a lot of water.
Also put the Humidifier Demineralization Cartridges into the tub of water if you want it to not gather too much hard water deposits. This will help your wicks not get hard and crunchy as easy.
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