The Scariac

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I have an old vapourizer that I use when somebody in the house has a chest cold. It works on the same principle: it's just two chromated steel rods connected to the 120V line, going down into a Bakelite well that's immersed in tap water.

You can toss a bit of borax into the water to make it boil harder if you like.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

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Dr Philip C D Hobbs 
Principal Consultant 
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Reply to
Phil Hobbs

I think it is a well done common local store parts project*, but he misses on one technical point when he says, (7:47) "An interesting observation is that the voltage is pretty much constant."

He's right in his one measurement method, but not if he had a load.

Mikek

*With just a few more bucks and a little searching he could have a variac. I got a 10 amp variac for $15 several years ago.
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Reply to
amdx

Ahh. I was wondering about that just this morning (non-constant voltage). Thanks!

Reply to
mrdarrett

Wow! But isn't chromium-vi toxic?

Reply to
mrdarrett

Yankee engineering at its finest !

Reply to
jurb6006

It's this one:

formatting link

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

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Dr Philip C D Hobbs 
Principal Consultant 
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Reply to
Phil Hobbs

Just a little about steam humidifiers vs ultrasonic mist humidifiers. Years ago when I repaired VCRs, I had a customer bring in a VCR and many of the copper traces were covered with a white powder. The powder followed the traces perfectly, but it was only on certain traces. All PCBs did have a green masking. I followed up enough to find out the customer had an ultrasonic humidifier. The minerals in the water are delivered with the ultrasonic mist but it is mot in the steam. I have yet to fully understand why only some traces were covered by the mineral, but suspect it was the potential on the traces. Curious why I only saw it once. I suspect the ultrasonic humidifiers were newer on the market. The customer was reluctant to talk about it. Maybe something else was going on, but I don't know what it would be. Just thought it was interesting.

Mikek

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Reply to
amdx

Oh nice. My mom had a similar one when I was a kid. I thought it just had a heating element inside.

Reply to
mrdarrett

by the mineral, but suspect it was the potential on the traces"

It is.

Reply to
jurb6006

Have you seen the phenomenon? Depending on your water supply, the minerals in the air might cause some breathing difficulty.

Mikek

Reply to
amdx

Ultrasonic humidifiers are better in some cases, e.g. when the room is already too hot for the patient. Generally in the north, though, a bit of extra warmth during flu season is a good thing. Ultrasonics often seem to have bits of schmutz growing in the tank and round the piezo element, which makes a boiling-water source sort of comforting.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

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Dr Philip C D Hobbs 
Principal Consultant 
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Reply to
Phil Hobbs

But that's an old story (well apart from the stuff about circuit boards).

Everyone jumped in when the ultrasonic humidifiers came along, a cool mist. But then at some point, it was revealed that the mist would carry unwanted things, unless one washed things out carefully and changed the filters or whatever.

I'm not sure what the state of ultrasonic humidifers is these days. I know when I bought a humidifer a few years back, it was hyped as a "cool humidifier" but it was a small drum humidifier. Fill it up with water, there's a wick that draws up the water, and a fan to spread that out. I'm not sure how well it works, but it's neither ultrasonic or the hot ones with the two electrodes.

Michael

Reply to
Michael Black

Now that I have thought about it more on a practical level rather than novel, I see a problem.

This thing has to be maintained otherwise the liquid level will drop and shit, and then you got some conditions that seem kinda conducive (HAR HAR) to starting a fire. Got your plastic, possibly some gas, and arcs maybe ?

Let's put it this way, if Underwriteer's Labs sees this thing they'll have a heart attack.

That in and of itself is enough to make it illegal to sell thenm, like at the store.

Probably for the better.

Reply to
jurb6006

Hence the name.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

Reply to
Phil Hobbs

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