Orange flame on indoor appliances - Cool explanation


 
Joe Anshien

Joe Anshien

TVWBB Honor Circle
My home gas is propane. So yesterday I turned on my stove and found my flames to be really orange (normally really blue) like they needed more O2. Then I noticed the pilot light on my heater was also orange. I was thinking nothing changed except the weather. What is going on. I did some searching and it turns out it was my ultrasonic humidifier. I normally use reverse osmosis water as we hate the white dust. The last time I cleaned out the humidifier I put in tap water. We have a lot of iron in our water I believe. I verified by turning off the humidifier overnight and this morning back to blue flame.
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Yep. Wife and I got deathly ill from ultrasonic humidifier years ago. Went to doc, they asked if we were using one. Yep. Two docs same advice. They both said unless using distilled water (basically "sterile" water). Reason? Bacteria and viruses are broken down to fine mist that are present in all water. You inhale those little droplets and the infection goes deep into the lungs. Both said use regular evaporative ones. As only water vapor is sent out. And we were REALLY sick. Sicker than either had been ever in our lives.
 
LMichaels said:
Yep. Wife and I got deathly ill from ultrasonic humidifier years ago. Went to doc, they asked if we were using one. Yep. Two docs same advice. They both said unless using distilled water (basically "sterile" water). Reason? Bacteria and viruses are broken down to fine mist that are present in all water. You inhale those little droplets and the infection goes deep into the lungs. Both said use regular evaporative ones. As only water vapor is sent out. And we were REALLY sick. Sicker than either had been ever in our lives.
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We have been using these for years with RO water. I do a thorough cleaning weekly. We used to use the hot air ones that basically boiled the water until I figured out how much $$ in electric they cost to operate. I will look into the evaporative ones as you suggested. This really goofed me out how the moisture in the air could change things.
 
I am surprised the RO is causing this. I could see tap water, but RO should remove pretty much all TDS in the water. But it also can explain why you're not getting ill. We used plain Chicago tap water. And I'll tell ya. We thought we were gonna dies and afraid we wouldn't
 
LMichaels said:
I am surprised the RO is causing this. I could see tap water, but RO should remove pretty much all TDS in the water. But it also can explain why you're not getting ill. We used plain Chicago tap water. And I'll tell ya. We thought we were gonna dies and afraid we wouldn't
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This was the first time I used filtered tap.
 
I dislike gas stoves with a passion. I never had to deal with one growing up but the first house I bought had one and I did not like it one bit. Besides not liking how it cooked and worked, I had a tendency to accidentally turn the gas on it without intending to just by leaning over it to tend to what I was cooking. When I remodeled that kitchen I made a conscious decision to ditch the gas stove. I even had the same problem cooking on my mother in laws gas stove. I just never felt comfortable around them and couldn't see any benefit to having one, especially with little kids running around.
 
Steve Hoch said:
I dislike gas stoves with a passion. I never had to deal with one growing up but the first house I bought had one and I did not like it one bit. Besides not liking how it cooked and worked, I had a tendency to accidentally turn the gas on it without intending to just by leaning over it to tend to what I was cooking. When I remodeled that kitchen I made a conscious decision to ditch the gas stove. I even had the same problem cooking on my mother in laws gas stove. I just never felt comfortable around them and couldn't see any benefit to having one, especially with little kids running around.
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I grew up with gas ranges and much prefer them over electric. However our current stove does have the knobs in front and I have had the problem you mentioned with accidently turning the gas on. It is a real issue. I did buy a gas detector and have it plugged in next to the stove and it definitely works as it has gone off a couple of times. Since the propane is not used for heating or hot water we also turn it off at the tank along with the water if we go away for more than a day. We will never use induction as it is not compatible with our cookware but may one day we will try electric again if we install solar. I have experienced too many blackouts to live without a gas stove and alternative heat at this point.
 
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