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RafterGirl

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My Music Nomad Humilele humidifiers have taken a sudden turn for the worse. I have been using these sound hole humidifiers for the past year. They range in age from 1 year to 6 months in age. I have only used distilled water and I live in a dry climate (Utah). I normally use one of these in the sound hole plus one Diaddario sponge humidifier under the neck, inside my hard cases to maintain 35% or better humidity during the winter when the forced air furnace is on. In the summer with central air, I just use these in the sound hole. These spots just showed up a week ago. All 3 of my Music Nomads look about the same. I'm guessing mold???? Can I save them, or should I chuck them?
 

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RafterGirl said:
My Music Nomad Humilele humidifiers have taken a sudden turn for the worse. I have been using these sound hole humidifiers for the past year. They range in age from 1 year to 6 months in age. I have only used distilled water and I live in a dry climate (Utah). I normally use one of these in the sound hole plus one Diaddario sponge humidifier under the neck, inside my hard cases to maintain 35% or better humidity during the winter when the forced air furnace is on. In the summer with central air, I just use these in the sound hole. These spots just showed up a week ago. All 3 of my Music Nomads look about the same. I'm guessing mold???? Can I save them, or should I chuck them?
Click to expand...

Looks like mold or mildew to me.

You could try a good washing and wringing out with some Dawn dish liquid, that stuff seems to clean nearly anything without harming it...

Or, alternatively maybe try letting them soak 24 hrs in some:

- diluted vinegar
- hydrogen peroxide
- isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol

I would try them one at a time, and a clean rinse in hot water if you try another solution, not sure you'd want to mix any of these...

Otherwise, you could get some of that hard floral foam (used in flower arrangements) and cut it to size, or a standard foam sponge with very dense pores/holes, also cut to size.

Maybe Music Nomad sells replacement pads for a few $ ?
 
That piece of toast looks most unappetizing!
 
I'm sure replacement sponges are easy and cheap to get. Why take a chance with mold?

EDIT: A quick search didn't show any replacement sponges, but it would be easy enough to cut some out of a larger sponge. I have several of those humidifiers - no mold yet.
 
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I was surprised to see this happen since I live in a dry climate. We are in between seasons right now, with frequent afternoon thunderstorms. Not really summer & hot enough to turn on the central air, but not cool enough to have the furnace still on. I think I'll try to find some dense sponge & see if I can cut it to fit the Music Nomad cases. The Music Nomad is by far my favorite sound hole humidifier & I'm bummed that this happened. For the time being, I'll just use the Diaddario humidifiers in the cases and get out my hygrometer to check the humidity level.
 
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RafterGirl said:
I was surprised to see this happen since I live in a dry climate.
Click to expand...

I was thinking about that. My current thinking is that irrespective of how dry the climate is, the sponge is always moist because you constantly moisten it. Even if you use distilled water, some spores are bound to blow onto it eventually.
 
I bought two of those last fall to try out this winter. I like them a lot as well, so far no issues with mine. Here is something that is not talked about, keeping the sponge too wet all the time. Bob Taylor of Taylor guitars talks about this and says the trick is to let the humidifers dry out completely before wetting them again. Just some food for thought.

Music Nomad is a great company with great products. I would contact them and seek their feedback and advice
 
If you can't easily find replacements, first wash in dish soap and water. Then soak in 10% household bleach and water and rinse well in plain water, or alternatively three minutes in the microwave on high (if the sponge will take the high temp. Try it with only one first). Probably won't make them look much better, but will kill all the bad stuff.
 
Uke Don said:
If you can't easily find replacements, first wash in dish soap and water. Then soak in 10% household bleach and water and rinse well in plain water, or alternatively three minutes in the microwave on high (if the sponge will take the high temp. Try it with only one first). Probably won't make them look much better, but will kill all the bad stuff.
Click to expand...

Clorox kills 99.9% of germs. It's that 0.1% you have to worry about. They can live in Clorox! :)
 
According to my hygrometer, it's 40% - 48% humidity in my office. 48% in my uke hard cases with the Diaddario humidifiers and 40% with no humidifier. So, I think for right now, until it's hot enough to turn on the central air, I'll leave all the humidifiers out of the cases.

Music Nomad does sell replacement sponges for their humidifiers. The sponges costs about $9 on their website & an entire new humidifier costs about $12.
 
Sounds like a good idea to leave them out for awhile. If there's mold on the sponges, there's a chance there's mold on the ukulele, too.

Vinegar is good for killing bacteria, but yeah, I'd ditch those and get new ones. Not worth the risk.
 
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