Water can be supplied to the humidifier in two ways.  First, if the installation site has a water supply available, water can be plumbed directly into the humidifier.  Water pressure should be between 5 and 60 psig.  The chamber has a drain to remove condensate.  This should be connected or routed to the floor drain in the test facility. PLEASE NOTE THAT WATER NEEDS TO BE SPECIALLY TREATED PER THE DETAILS BELOW.

If tap water is not available, chambers can be provided with a five-gallon reservoir mounted above the humidifier.  Water is fed by gravity into the humidifier.  If high humidity conditions are being run in the chamber, the tank may need to be refilled daily. PLEASE NOTE THAT WATER NEEDS TO BE SPECIALLY TREATED PER THE DETAILS BELOW.

To minimize the frequency of refilling, as well as conserve water, or if there is no floor drain available in the test facility, a water condensate pan and return pump can be provided.  Condensate is collected in the pan and then pumped back to the five gallon reservoir.  Using this system, the tank may need to be refilled once per week. PLEASE NOTE THAT WATER NEEDS TO BE SPECIALLY TREATED PER THE DETAILS BELOW.

Water Treatment

Whether the humidity supply water is hard plumbed or stored in the five-gallon reservoir, it should be treated.  This is essential to the humidifier successfully completing its mission.  The supply water should be demineralized to have a resistivity between 0.5 and 2.0 megohms.

Demineralization is a two phase “ion exchange” process whereby water is passed over two resin beds of chemically charged material.  First, the positively-charged ions of the impurities in the water are attracted to a cation exchange resin and replaced by a chemically equivalent amount of hydrogen ions.  Second, the negatively-charged ions of the impurities in the water are attracted to an anion exchange resin and replaced by a chemically equivalent amount of hydroxide ions.  The hydrogen and hydroxide ions introduced by this process unite to form pure water molecules.  Simply put, the ions in the impurities in the water are chemically removed and replaced with ions which form pure water.  This process is called demineralization by ion exchange.  This method of water treatment is adequate for humidification purposes.

Resistivity of water is a measure of it’s purity.  The higher the resistance the cleaner the water is;  for example, water with a resistance of 16 megohms is referred to as “triple deionized”.  Water this pure is extremely corrosive.  Again, resistivity between 0.5 and 2.0 megohms is adequate for efficient humidification. This will prevent build up of scale inside the humidifier, reducing down time for cleaning.  Pure water also increases the efficiency of the heater, improving response and saving energy.  If demineralized water is not available at the job site, a cartridge type demineralizer can be supplied. The unit is mounted on the chamber.  The cartridge is replaceable and it changes color when replacement is required. Under worse case conditions, heavy use at high humidities with dirty water, it may be necessary to replace the cartridge cery 2-3 weeks.  If supply water is available, it is plumbed to the deionizer.  The water passes through the cartridge and is cleaned as described above providing clean water to the humidifier.  If no water supply is available, the demineralizer can also be used with the five gallon reservoir and condensate return pump.  In this case, the deionizer is installed between the condensate pump and the reservoir.  A double-cartridge deionizer is also available in addition to the single cartridge system.