The Musician's Room: Bob's Dorm Humidifier


I just love this one. Somehow, it punches all the right buttons and makes me feel like I'm beating the system at the same time. Why do I feel like I need to beat the system? I suppose that's a discussion for another time. But here's the scheme:

Go down to a local 24-hour convenience store and pick up a package of pecan-cinnamon swirls or cinnamon buns. Now go back to the dorm and brew up a really nice pot of coffee. Invite over you favorite dorm buds for a get-together over free coffee and cinnamon buns. Mmmm.... Deee-lish! They'll think you are quite the host.

Party over? Okay, carefully clean out the shallow aluminum pan in which your cinnamon buns came to remove the sugar and bread. Fill it up nearly to the rim with water. Now, either set it on top of the steam heater coils or heating unit (if applicable or safe) or on the window sill. Its large surface area, conductive aluminum body, and shallow depth make it work great. As the water evaporates, you get free humidity. Your evaporator is a renewable, hungry resource: Keep it full of water at all times. Make a habit of checking it as you enter or leave the room. If it doesn't make enough humidity, have another coffee klatch. Liberate another pan of cinnamon buns and boost your popularity and humidity further.

Need even more humidity? Have a suite with a shower? Take a long, hot shower with the doors open to your room. Daily. Or maybe twice daily. Your guitars and girlfriend will love you for it. Encourage your roomie to do the same.

If I remember right, I think the idea for this came from Margaret Neuhoff, Covenant College class of 1980.

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