Oasis humidifier users question.

I am a new, first time owner of an Oasis OH-18 humidifier. Do the Humigel crystals inside the humidifier really wear out? (I will be using distilled water.) Do you really replace the crystals annually as suggested because it is supposedly "essential to protect your instrument." It wouldn't really be that big of a deal to do so but it seems like they should last longer, especially if they are only used part of the year and that changing them annually seems a bit like overkill.

I'm sure there are a lot of you who have been using them for years, what do you do? Have you seen a loss of performance or effectiveness over time if you are one who doesn't change the crystals?

If I let them go dry through the summer, they don't rehydrate easy. I just clean them out in the spring and refill with new crystals in late fall. Easy and cheap to do.

I just bought two OH-18 Oasis Ukulele humidifiers for my Big Island Concert and my KoAloha Pineapple. I've been using their humidifiers on my guitars for quite a few years and at the moment, my home humidifier can't seem to get beyond 35% humidity with all crazy cold weather here in Canada.

The trick with these things is to only used distilled water. I've haven't replaced the gel in my guitar units but they recommend doing so in case the thing leaks. The gel crystals keep the water in a goo like format that won't drip out of the unit if it develops a tiny leak. Its just an extra safety mechanism. I have had one of my older units develop a leak and I promptly threw it out. I typically test the humidifiers each time I fill them up with water by gently squeezing them to see if anything leaks. They work extremely well with or without the crystals...its just about preventing a bunch of water from damaging the inside of your instrument if the humidifier cover cracks and leaks.

Jordan.

You know, I didn't even think about having to replace the "crystals" AND I no longer have my humidifier directions/instructions. I have two of these humidifiers. One of them appeared to be empty...no crystals. The other still has some crystals. I added water to the one with crystals and am using it. Where can one purchase replacement crystals?

drewp said:

You know, I didn't even think about having to replace the "crystals" AND I no longer have my humidifier directions/instructions. I have two of these humidifiers. One of them appeared to be empty...no crystals. The other still has some crystals. I added water to the one with crystals and am using it. Where can one purchase replacement crystals?

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Michael's or JoAnn has them. Crystals you get wet and they swell up. Fabulous. I have been making my own humidifiers. Cheap and easy. And there are enough of those little gel things to last forever almost.

drewp said:

You know, I didn't even think about having to replace the "crystals" AND I no longer have my humidifier directions/instructions. I have two of these humidifiers. One of them appeared to be empty...no crystals. The other still has some crystals. I added water to the one with crystals and am using it. Where can one purchase replacement crystals?

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They're available all over the internet. Google "Humigel replacement kit". They go for around $5.

What crystals? All mine came with was the little humidifier and the syringe. Am I missing something?

Kyle23 said:

What crystals? All mine came with was the little humidifier and the syringe. Am I missing something?

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The humidifier comes pack with a small quantity of crystals. They are very small. If you shake the humidifier before you put the water in, you can hear them rattling around...

Jordan

You can get the crystals at most garden shops http://www.scotts.com/smg/goprod/mi...e&utm_source=AskAndAnswer&utm_content=Default

I have let mine go totally dry and they worked fine after rehydrating

vanflynn said:

I have let mine go totally dry and they worked fine after rehydrating

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That's what I was thinking. When I filled the humidifier with distilled water, the gel material came up to the bottom of the neck where you screw on the cap. It would seem to me that you wouldn't need to replace the crystals until they no longer reached the same level after rehydrating them.

Does the specific water absorbing gel-crystals matter ? I've seen some vendors say the lawn and garden crystals are made differently from humidor gel-crystals and don't last as long.

I've used the humidor crystals in med bottles with holes drilled in them. Seem to last for years using distilled water.

The ones from Michael's last for years. But there are so many in a bag I think I have a lifetime supply. Maybe $6 a bag? I forget, but it's quite cheap for as many of the crystals as there are.

I use a heartfelt bead tube in my case. The nice thing about cigar/humidor beads like heartfelt and hcm beads, is they properly regulate rh to a predetermined set point.

One of my other hobbies is cigars. I have HCM beads in my wineador, because they require almost no maintenance. But they are considerably more expensive.

I should throw a couple links in here as well:

www.heartfeltindustries.com

www.hcmbeads.com

sukie said:

The ones from Michael's last for years. But there are so many in a bag I think I have a lifetime supply. Maybe $6 a bag? I forget, but it's quite cheap for as many of the crystals as there are.

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Is that the Michael's craft shop your talking about?

Skinny Money McGee said:

Is that the Michael's craft shop your talking about?

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Yes. They are in the floral section. They are little tiny bead thingies that swell up (a lot) and they last forever. Get a couple small film canister size plastic containers. Drill holes in the top, add the swelled up beads. voila! Cheap humidifiers. I keep 2 in my case -- one by the headstock, one by the body. I also keep a small hygrometer in there. Those 2 little things keep my ukulele right around 50%. And they don't need to be re-wetted all that often.

I have been making my own humidifiers using the same type of crystals (mine come from the garden section at Lowes) and some of my humidifiers have been in constant use for 3 years without any change that I can tell.

I don't even use distilled water - I use filtered (Britta) water with a splash of rubbing alcohol.

I "fill" my humidifiers by keeping them in an closed jar of water. This causes the excess crystal to ooze out the holes after a few days in the water and thereafter you have exactly the right amount of crystal in the container to absorb the maximum amount of water. I haven't tried that with the Oasis units that I just got with a used uke but I suspect that it doesn't work well with those.

John

OldePhart said:

I don't even use distilled water - I use filtered (Britta) water with a splash of rubbing alcohol.

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I suppose a splash of aftershave would work too - and make the case smell real pretty

I haven't had to replace gel beads yet, but some get lost in the refilling process if you accidentally spill/ over fill. The replacement kit has the smallest measuring spoon I have ever seen, so you don't need very many beads.

–Lori

@Lori - it only takes a very tiny amount of crystals, I way overfilled my first few humidifiers. In the attached picture the little lump of brown crystals are a pretty much completely dried up humidifier. (New, the crystals are white and loose and each is about the size of a grain of salt, maybe a tad larger.) This is a humidifier that has been in constant use for almost 3 years and you can see by the brown tint that it has absorbed some minerals from the water. However, that doesn't seem to affect its water holding capability much at all. Leave this one in a jar of water overnight and the crystals will expand to completely fill the tube again. It will look slightly murky from the minerals - I use the bit of alcohol to keep them from going rancid or smelly.

The tube that looks empty is actually fresh from being "filled" in the jar. This is a fairly new one so the crystals are still quite clean and clear. In person it looks even cooler because you would swear the tube is full of nothing but water. If you have too many crystals then it looks like the tube is full of clear jello. I use 1/16" holes and that works just about perfect - if you leave the tube in a jar of water for a few days the extra crystals will slowly migrate through the holes, leaving just enough crystals to fill the tube when it is fully hydrated.

I take them out of the jar of water, wipe off the outside, and they are good to go. Even though they look like they are just full of water you can't get the water to run out because it is really suspended in the crystals.

The tubes are what glitter from Wally World comes in - having young grandkids around the house means we go through plenty of glitter. These are the larger tubes and are just about perfect in length. With the cap between the strings the bottom of the tube just rests on the inside of the back of most ukes.



John