Of acids, descaling and my sinuses
I love my humidifier. Since buying it a month ago my sinuses have given me a lot less trouble. Leaning over the unit and directly breathing in the hot moist air has decreased my sinus difficulties in a big way. However, while I do love the humidifier I certainly don't love taking care of it. Particularly not the scale that builds up quite rapidly on the thermal unit in the base. Since the humidifier goes through a couple of liters of water--and since my water is from a well with lots of mineral content--a night, there's a lot of mineral salts building up. I need to descale every week.
The typical descaling method is to soak in vinegar. Vinegar is mildly acidic having around 5% acetic acid and a pH of around 3. Traditionally vinegar is produced by allowing bacteria to oxidize a fermented solution, typically wine or hard cider. This process takes considerable time, weeks at least and more often months. Some expensive Balsalmic vinegars are aged for decades.
That's acetic acid over there to the left. C2H4O2
This need to descale my humidifier gave me an excuse to bring up a little chemistry and history curtesy of Wikipedia.
Vinegar has been used by people since before recorded history. As soon as any type of fermented product was available, vinegar soon followed since the bacteria that digest alcohol produce acetic acid as a byproduct. Bacteria poop, if you will. And since that alcohol was first produced by yeast as a byproduct of their digesting carbohydrates it's like double poop by the time it's acetic acid. Microorganisms are so useful!
According to Wiki, In the 3rd century BC, the Greek philosopher Theophrastos described how vinegar acted on metals to produce pigments useful in art, including white lead (lead carbonate) and verdigris, a green mixture of copper salts including copper(II) acetate.
The diagram doesn't have anything to do with descaling my humidifier. I just liked the way it looked. :-) Most acetic acid production these days is done chemically with no organic processes involved. Hell, even vinegar is mostly made that way with a sizeable minority being produced organically but sped up by using stirrers and injected oxygen. This can speed the process up from weeks of the natural process to the day or so of the assisted process. Progress, eh?
Just remember--acetic acid is caustic and it's dangerous when you have concentrations much above what you find naturally in vinegar. Glacial acetic acid, which we use in the lab, can strip flesh right off of you. Ick.
The typical descaling method is to soak in vinegar. Vinegar is mildly acidic having around 5% acetic acid and a pH of around 3. Traditionally vinegar is produced by allowing bacteria to oxidize a fermented solution, typically wine or hard cider. This process takes considerable time, weeks at least and more often months. Some expensive Balsalmic vinegars are aged for decades.That's acetic acid over there to the left. C2H4O2
This need to descale my humidifier gave me an excuse to bring up a little chemistry and history curtesy of Wikipedia.
Vinegar has been used by people since before recorded history. As soon as any type of fermented product was available, vinegar soon followed since the bacteria that digest alcohol produce acetic acid as a byproduct. Bacteria poop, if you will. And since that alcohol was first produced by yeast as a byproduct of their digesting carbohydrates it's like double poop by the time it's acetic acid. Microorganisms are so useful!
According to Wiki, In the 3rd century BC, the Greek philosopher Theophrastos described how vinegar acted on metals to produce pigments useful in art, including white lead (lead carbonate) and verdigris, a green mixture of copper salts including copper(II) acetate.
The diagram doesn't have anything to do with descaling my humidifier. I just liked the way it looked. :-) Most acetic acid production these days is done chemically with no organic processes involved. Hell, even vinegar is mostly made that way with a sizeable minority being produced organically but sped up by using stirrers and injected oxygen. This can speed the process up from weeks of the natural process to the day or so of the assisted process. Progress, eh?
Just remember--acetic acid is caustic and it's dangerous when you have concentrations much above what you find naturally in vinegar. Glacial acetic acid, which we use in the lab, can strip flesh right off of you. Ick.
Comments
Here from M.
You know the scientific skinny on just about everything: I wish I had your ability to dissect and explain.
My Dad used to say they made them drink a little vinegar in the Army during WWII to avoid the scabies. I'm currently using white vinegar to clean the new grout excess from the hearth tile. I can't imagine drinking it ;)
Here from Michele's!
Those humidity machines are noisy.
Cats are cool, so so cool.
Michele sent me Utenzi although I'm starting to think she may not in future.
Vinegar sure is useful stuff. I have hard water over here to and use a warter filter.
Wait a minute, this isn't the "how to annoy your neighbors" blog. Forget everything I just said.
Hi from Michele.
If you add a tsp or so of vinegar to the water when you make hard boiled eggs it helps prevent cracking.
Brings back memories of the chemistry major in college, the stockroom and the smell of glacial acetic and sulfuric acid in the morning..... Those were good days.
Vinegar certainly does have a lot of uses. I know my Great Grandmother used to use distilled water in her humidifier because it caused less mold. But that was in Massachusetts where most people buy all their water in bottles, the stuff that comes out of the taps is not fit to drink for the most part so 60 cents for a gallon of distilled water every day doesn't seem like such a big deal.
It seems strange to me now though, living in Virginia with a perfectly good well. Always a pleasure to visit.
Here from Micheles.
We use glacial acetic acid in the darkroom as well, but it's in very low concentrations. Chemistry is fascinating, really... My dad is a PhD chemist and his best friend is a PhD physicist - both Stanford grads. Getting them together talking science is a little like watching grass grow - at the molecular level.
Michele sent me.
mike
If you leave your humidifier off for a time, don't forget to empty the tank, if necessary. We got that warning with our chiller unit - the standing water can get infected with legionella.....I'm neurotic about emptying our tank...
cq
Here from Michele this evening.
Here fromMichele's with zero scientific knowledge!
CQ, I don't worry about the bacteria too much. In any case, I usually don't leave water in the tank more than a few days.
Mike, that's not really glacial acetic acid anymore. LOL It's a definition thing.
Becky, I agree. I like AOC's bomb idea but I'll wait until it gets warmer to try it out. I dont want vinegar all over my kitchen-- including walls and ceiling!
Wouldn't it be great if they could inven a self cleaning Humidifier to go along with your Self-Cleaning House? (LOL)
Ari (Baking and Books)
We have been thinking about a humidifier too... our nights are so so dry here. But, we'd read bad things about humidifiers and bacteria, and are kind of hesitant now. Your thoughts would be most appreciated.
Michele says hello!
~S