Will Bowls of hot water in bedroom remove dust?

Answer 1

Bowls of hot or cold water set in rooms will not remove dust or particles from the air or from surfaces of furniture.

However, in cold climates and in homes with dry heat (coal, gas, or electric furnaces without humifier), any standing water will increase humidity and decrease static. Often, the dust in a home becomes "charged" in dry heat, making dust particles float and drift through the air.

Safety-wise, if you use buckets of water to humidify a house, you should use a metal galvanized bucket. Place each bucket on or very near the register. You should add a brick to the bottom, for stability.

Health-wise, you must include 1 CAP full of floral bleach to every bucket of water used to humidify. The bleach prevents mold from growing in standing water and also deters pets from drinking from the water. In a 5 to 7 room house, you may need 1 to 3 buckets - one on each register. In a 5-7 room house with the heat set at 65 degrees, you should expect to have 1-inch evaporation every 1 to 2 days. When you re-fill the water, again put 1 CAP full of floral bleach per 1 full bucket of water, and split the refill among all the buckets you have in use.

*IMPORTANT* -- If you have babies or toddlers living in or visiting the home, do NOT use buckets of water for humidification! Young children and babies can drown in as little as ONE INCH of water. Babies and toddlers cannot right themselves after a fall, so they can go head-first into a bucket **of any size** and drown.

Some positives of using galvanized buckets to add moisture to the air:

• Humidity decreases electrical static.
• Humidity increases the feeling of warmth, so the thermostat can be set 1 to 2 degrees lower but still feel warm enough.
• Humidity combats dry air, thereby reducing sore throats after sleeping in dry heat.
• Using galvanized buckets with water is a cheap fix to breathing dry heat.

Some negatives of using galvanized buckets to add moisture to the air:

• Buckets of water pose a safety hazard to babies and toddlers -- do NOT use around small children!
• Buckets can tip over if not aqequately weighted down from the inside (i.e. a brick or large stone on the bottom of each bucket).
• Maintenance requires re-filling the evaporated water every 1 to 2 days.
• Carrying a re-fill bucket from room to room can be hard on the back.
• Iif you don't put bleach in the water, it can grow mold.
• Clean-up in the Spring requires allowing the bucket's water to evaporate until you can carry the bucket to the bathroom; bricks or stones must be removed onto plastic before lifting the bucket; in hard water, you may need to use a product like CLR to remove mineral build-up on the bucket; all buckets must be washed and dried thoroughly to prevent rusting.
• You must carefully inspect each bucket for signs of rust before re-using.
• The galvanized buckets should only be used for humidifying--- don't use it as a scrub bucket during the summer because chemical residue will then be in the bucket (not nice to breathe).

Again, please do NOT use a bucket humidying system if there are babies or young children in the house. Buy a commercial humidifier and run per your doctor's and the manufacturer's guidelines.