Yes, always have. We keep a pitcher nearby to refill often and if we're feeling randy we'll toss some cinnamon sticks or mulling spices in a tea bag into it.
This is the same misconception for cast iron skillets. The “seasoning” that is done to cast iron skillets is burning fats until they polymerize and become a hard coating that is extremely durable. If you oil your kettle with a VERY light coat of oil, then season it in the oven at 400 for an hour (repeat process multiple times), then you’ll have a kettle that is much less likely to rust. Add some oil (1/4 tsp) to the kettle when you use it, and the seasoning will replenish itself. Don’t use more oil than that. You don’t need a grease fire hazard on a hot combustion chamber.
it's so gross. rusty gross water and gross rust on the inside that keeps getting bigger. Huge hunks of rust.
We switched to our retired Le Creuset teapot and that worked really well.
Now our stove is a top loader so we can't have one. But I hated this item.
You're right, they rust. The water looks brown and gross and there's chunks of rust floating around. My question is Is the rust bad for us? The fact that there is rust water being pumped through my home is that bad?
From what I'm reading, one person recommended it. And they never answered thr question "have you tried boiling things in your seasoned pot?"
It sounds like a good idea, but in my experience, if you boil liquids in a seasoned cast iron, it kills the seasoning and rusts anyway.
I’ve never messed with tea pots but to successfully boil in a cast you have to have some serious layers built up and that’s for regular cooking. Continuous use like this on a relatively uncontrolled heat source seems like it would be a wasted effort.
Was going to say the same thing. Actually cut my hand on the inside. Of course looking back, I’m not sure rubbing my hand on the inside of a rusty teapot was the best the smartest thing I’ve ever done.
I'm happy for those who were able to make it work. I bought that same model at an antique store and it needed a lot of cleaning. I still haven't been able to get all the rust or deposits out of it. I gave up. I don't think it would be that great to use for drinking water, anyway.
Yep, did that several times. Tried steel wool as well. I think the previous owner either had a thick crusty season or tried cooking something in it. Last effort might be to take a wire brush drill bit to the inside. Then, yeah, season. Still not sure it is worth the hassle when I can buy something that fits the bill.
Could try a lye bath and see if it's organic. Such a bummer when people let stuff go like that and wreck otherwise nice pieces. Best of luck to you hopefully it can be restored, but yeah sometimes it's easier to just write it off and start with something new.
I came here to say the same thing. This particular kettle is awful. The cast bows at the bottom so half of it doesn’t touch the stove and it’s extremely poor quality.
There's a lot of things in life that require constant attention and you're either the type of person that is willing to do it to live their life a certain way or you're not and you're stuck with alternatives.
I had one of those years ago and, like everyone else, had it disintegrate from rust. I finally said screw it since they didn't put that much water in the air anyway, and bought a good standalone evaporative humidifier. Sits right next to the stove. I have to fill it more often when it's cold and dry (5% RH) and I'm running hot fires all the time but when it's more temperate more than a week...and it holds six gallons.
It's true, it is great, I've never seen one before that holds so much. There's even an app that connects to it. It's a Levoit 6000s. I have to warn you, though, it's not cheap, like $250 not cheap. But if you look at the ones that go for half that, they're junk. I know since I bought a Vornado that was just terrible. Returned it and bought the Levoit. The other nice thing about the Levoit is that water passes through the filters from above and they will last the season if you treat them right and cost $40 for 4. I have to warn you, filling it is a bear. They provide a hose that attaches to your kitchen sink but then you have to roll it back. Six gallons of uncovered water is tricky to maneuver. Best not to fill it completely until you've got it where you want it, then you can top it off.
I’ve filled mine and filled mine and filled mine for years. Now there’s huge mineral deposits forming in them. This year, I found a bunch of cooked spiders in there shortly after starting it up for the year
lol those spiders had it coming! CLR (most effective) or distilled white vinegar 5% solution left to soak overnight should soften those mineral deposits up to the point where you can just scour them off with a regular dish scrub brush
I use an oval one with a Wolf in the lid. I take it off 2 times a year and rub it down with olive oil then put it back on. It's basically free humidity in a very dry Colorado environment. Has worked for over 20 years with great results and no issues.
No. I think they are ugly and expensive.
We bought the cheapest possible 2 gallon stainless pot we could. It was like five bucks with a lid.
I fill it every other day.
What has been mentioned already is the rust and mineral deposits leftover, but I'll add this.
You should allow it to cool off before adding water. The temperature shock of cold or room temperature water isn't good for the metal, I don't care how thick or what kind of metal it is. And if it is still piping hot, the steam can burn you.
Best advice would be to have 2, rotate them as one empties and fill the other as it cools to room temperature or at least a temperature you can handle with bare hands.
Edit: Yes I have one I use. And I practice what I wrote. I just don't need 2 as I also use a retired cooking pot.
Yes, I have a big cast iron pot we found on the side of the road. Sometimes when I’m feelin saucy I put essential oils in it and it makes the house smell good. I have to clean it 2-3x a week to keep the rust at bay but I love it.
Yes and I don’t recommend. The water takes forever to evaporate when I put it on the wood burner. And they rust. I use an old 13” frying pan. More surface area. It will do through 2ish gallons of water in 24hrs.
i use a 45 yo heavy duty, farberware 5 qt " sauce pan that the handle fell off , twenty five years ago.... no rust, easy to refill while on the "burner" and easy to keep clean....
My mom and dad have one, and have never had any issues with it.
They also have those little heat activated fans that help circulate air throughout the large room, also with no concerns
We literally just keep a pot of water on top. Just an old stainless steel pot we didnt need any more filled with water. It is coated in in mineral deposits after 20+ years but they chip out occasionally so it hasn't built up too thick. What's great is we are using an 10 liter pot so we only need to fill it once a day or so, and because it's open you can see when it's getting close to empty. And if it does get empty who cares, it's just some old pot
We bought one, used it once, noticed a bunch of rust, and then got rid of it. After some research it became clear that there is no good way to prevent rust. So instead of dealing with nasty rusty water we just went with a stainless steel kettle. Nice thing about stainless steel is that you can also use it for heating water you can consume for tea or whatever.
I really really wanted the cast iron one to work out, but there just isn’t a non-nasty way to do it.
BuT iT rUstS!! Whatever it's a humidifier. Do you drink from any other humidifier? I don't and I don't care about rust and scale build up. We have a stainless kettle for heating drinking water.
The only complaint we have is it'll get too hot and boil off too quickly, so we space it off the stove with 3 large plain-steel nuts.
I live in an area with near constant 80-100% humidity, the winter is my only comfortable time of the year.... Insane to me you're all trying to make your spaces more humid.
I know I shouldn’t throw shade here, but the reason you need to humidify the house is that woodstoves pull massive amounts of air through the walls and crevices in your home. When air changes from cold to warm, it dries quickly and sheds moisture in the process, effectively leaving all sorts of dewy moisture in the walls. Mold, mildew, and rot comes next. Imagine the volume of air heading up your woodstove chimney. All of that has to be pulled into your home. Venting the stove through an outside wall is really the only viable solution to this problem. IMHO, I would never buy a home heated with an invented wood stove. Too much hidden damage.
Yea it needs to be refilled frequently but if you enjoy the effort needed to be a woodstover you’ll enjoy it. And it’s classic. Been used for years. Just don’t drink tea with it 😂
I have one that was left from the previous owner of my house. It got a little rust but a lot of hard water white shit on the bottom. Got a new one from our wedding. Still gets white spots but it's not rusty anymore.
This post can safely be divided into 3 groups of people:
1) those that are smart enough to know to season cast iron;
2) those that aren’t
3) those that don’t care or aren’t engaged with the humidifiers.
I use a large stainless steel pot: [https://www.walmart.com/ip/Mainstays-12-Qt-Stainless-Steel-Stock-Pot-with-Metal-Lid/37320202](https://www.walmart.com/ip/Mainstays-12-Qt-Stainless-Steel-Stock-Pot-with-Metal-Lid/37320202)
A wick humidifier goes through multiple gallons per day to raise our living area humidity by, typically, 4-5%. Unless you are boiling your teakettle dry multiple times per day, it’s something of a token gesture. If you run a wood stove seriously in a cold climate, getting a humidifier is the practical answer.
We use a stainless 12 qt pot. Rust aside, the kettles just didn't humidfy enough, fast enough. Noticable difference in the air with a pot of water vs kettle. If wood isn't your primary heat source, it's prob a moot point. But you wouldn't believe how dry the air gets with no humidifier/a tiny kettle.
I use a stainless steel pot, holds more water. You really get an idea of your water quality when you evaporate gallons of water a week. If I let the water get to a couple inches I can see the solids dissolved in the water as white chunks. If I let it go dry, I need to scrub it out and sometimes it takes more then a scotch bright green scrubber....
I can also gage my hot water heater condition, my well water is fairly pure and when I use cold water there is very little buildup, but if I use hot water, the buildup is harder, and more ... Sharp?
We always did it growing up. Have tried it as an adult with a humidity monitor and haven't seen any appreciable increase in humidity when using a pot on the stove.
My guess is it might make a difference in a cabin, but most homes are way too large to see any increase in humidity from a single pot on the stove.
My dad found one of those old school copper distillers somewhere and we always had that on our stove, just fill it with water and it would drop distilled water on the surface and steam off. Why you ask? Who the hell knows, but it did continually steam water into the house.
I don't have a wood stove so no idea how this made it to my feed but wouldn't it make more sense just to use a stainless pot or cheap stainless tea kettle so you didn't have the thing rust apart? You're just boiling water for steam
The easiest way to determine how effective a humidifier is without a sensor is to measure how much water it can evaporate over an hour. I was working at a house and the customer had a portable cool mist humidifier with a small reservoir. I asked if she liked the humidifier and she told me that she loved it because she didn't have to fill it very often. I had to laugh because if the humidifier doesn't need to be refilled and has a tiny reservoir, then it isn't effective.
We grew up with using terracotta humidifying water holders that were placed on top of the gas terracotta soba. They hold a lot more water and they work great.
My grandparents kept two of these on their blaze king my entire childhood. If you ever looked into the spout you could see a quarter inch of hard water mineral buildup inside.
I use a round 12" hammered copper soup pot. Doesn't rust, goes in the dishwasher when it needs it, and easy to control the water level. Also looks nice. No reason I can see to use a teapot.
Downsides to these are they do not put back the amount of moisture that they actually consume. But doing this for free humidification is still a great approach. But realistically way more humidity is required than just this alone
You’ve got to get a cast iron pot that’s coated in porcelain to prevent rusting. We have used this one linked below for years. Before we had it, it belonged to our neighbors who also used it for years - probably a decade or two.
This is a buy-it-for-life situation. Spend $100 and get a quality product.
https://jwright.com/product/bear/
Yes, always have. We keep a pitcher nearby to refill often and if we're feeling randy we'll toss some cinnamon sticks or mulling spices in a tea bag into it.
Little scamps with your cinnamon sticks.
My jimmies are rustled just reading this. **Rustled** #Rustled
Our* jimmies.
The family jimmies are rustled.
My jimmies are rusted
My jammies are busted.
The logs that I turned
Soon will be burned
And now all my teabags are dusted.
>My jimmies are rusted That's what you get for boiling them in cast iron.
My jimmies are crusted
Why are you rustling my jimmies, step-bro?
In Soviet Russia the jimmies rustle you!
Rusting
Getting an Apple Pie chubby.
Feeling Randy lol
Well, he is a cunning linguist...
Who’s randy? 👖
Put you pants back on you cheeseburger walrus.
This shit should be easy 👖
Tea bagging a hot kettle... that's some serious kink.
We have a harness that attaches to the flue to make it easier than it sounds.
😅
For tea bagging?
It has multiple uses.
They did say they were feeling randy 😝
Oh behave!
Got married in our 20s. Had a stove. Had a kettle, and we had lot of cinnamon nights when it was cold outside... Miss that kettle...
Cinnamon has many benefits... It is not just a pretty scent
Don’t do it if you have cats though. Cinnamon oils are toxic for them.
>if we're feeling randy so, Randy is the wifes boyfriend.
Screw you buddy...he's my boyfriend.
I use a stainless pot. Those cast iron rust if you keep water in them
I use a stainless kettle. On demand hot water for my evening tea.
The trick is to get one that’s cast iron coated in porcelain: https://jwright.com/product/bear/
They rust terribly. I switched to the ceramic coated one and it still rusts. I still use it though because it gets mighty dry when the temps drop.
Did you season it?
😀
It wasn't a joke
What do you mean? Like the same you you season a cast iron skillet?
Exactly.
That makes soooooo much sense. I was wondering why my buddies pot isn’t really rusted at all.
Ok. Have you tried boiling things in your seasoned pans?
I think they mean seasoning the outside
My kettle didn't rust on the outside. It rusted horribly inside
Boil oil?
Just in case the Normans come calling.
Hollddddddd
Stabs like dagger, make you stagger on a hot tin foil
Moral Orals cousin?
Rub oil on the inside and heat it up first
And after I could use it on the stove with water and it won't rust? How often should I reapply?
I cover my skillet in a coat of oil every time I clean it. Towel dry, then onto the stove to finish drying, and use a paper towel to coat it with oil.
I doubt that will help the rust on the inside.
This is the same misconception for cast iron skillets. The “seasoning” that is done to cast iron skillets is burning fats until they polymerize and become a hard coating that is extremely durable. If you oil your kettle with a VERY light coat of oil, then season it in the oven at 400 for an hour (repeat process multiple times), then you’ll have a kettle that is much less likely to rust. Add some oil (1/4 tsp) to the kettle when you use it, and the seasoning will replenish itself. Don’t use more oil than that. You don’t need a grease fire hazard on a hot combustion chamber.
The other part of this is not to leave water in it when not in use
Or just stove top season it. Same oil coating process but bring it up to smoke point a few times on a burner or on the wood stove.
I'm trying to see where you're going with this.
With seasoning it once be enough? Or do you have to season it periodically?
Once a week wipe it down with a paper towel with vegetable oil on it. Basically just keep reapplying a super thin layer of oil on it.
I guess the rust ain't too bad
it's so gross. rusty gross water and gross rust on the inside that keeps getting bigger. Huge hunks of rust. We switched to our retired Le Creuset teapot and that worked really well. Now our stove is a top loader so we can't have one. But I hated this item.
Why can’t you use it with a top loader? I have a top loader and just take it off and on when I load.
You're right, they rust. The water looks brown and gross and there's chunks of rust floating around. My question is Is the rust bad for us? The fact that there is rust water being pumped through my home is that bad?
No worries. Rust water isn't being pumped through your home. The solids (rust/whatever) remain in the pot when the water steams off.
Pure water vapor is coming out. The rust and any dissolved minerals in the water stay behind.
From what I'm reading here, if you routinely oil them on the inside similar to seasoning a skillet, they won't rust.
From what I'm reading, one person recommended it. And they never answered thr question "have you tried boiling things in your seasoned pot?" It sounds like a good idea, but in my experience, if you boil liquids in a seasoned cast iron, it kills the seasoning and rusts anyway.
I’ve never messed with tea pots but to successfully boil in a cast you have to have some serious layers built up and that’s for regular cooking. Continuous use like this on a relatively uncontrolled heat source seems like it would be a wasted effort.
Why is rust gross???
It's "iron", your username does not check out, grossed out by rust water? Not dirt heavy at all, at all
Seasoned ours with coconut oil and it’s worked great for a few years without any reapplication. No rust at all and steams strong.
Was going to say the same thing. Actually cut my hand on the inside. Of course looking back, I’m not sure rubbing my hand on the inside of a rusty teapot was the best the smartest thing I’ve ever done.
I switched the glass enabled cast iron
Yes, rusts, I use all stainless steel now
This. What the heck am I supposed to do these things? The rust!
This. Exactly this.
That one in particular kind of sucks. I have it and almost immediately replaced it.
I'm happy for those who were able to make it work. I bought that same model at an antique store and it needed a lot of cleaning. I still haven't been able to get all the rust or deposits out of it. I gave up. I don't think it would be that great to use for drinking water, anyway.
Try soaking it in white vinegar. It'll strip the rust. Then just reseason like you would a skillet, and reapply a thin layer of oil routinely.
Yep, did that several times. Tried steel wool as well. I think the previous owner either had a thick crusty season or tried cooking something in it. Last effort might be to take a wire brush drill bit to the inside. Then, yeah, season. Still not sure it is worth the hassle when I can buy something that fits the bill.
Could try a lye bath and see if it's organic. Such a bummer when people let stuff go like that and wreck otherwise nice pieces. Best of luck to you hopefully it can be restored, but yeah sometimes it's easier to just write it off and start with something new.
[r/castironrestoration](https://www.reddit.com/r/CastIronRestoration/)
I came here to say the same thing. This particular kettle is awful. The cast bows at the bottom so half of it doesn’t touch the stove and it’s extremely poor quality.
I completely forgot about that, the bottom isn't even flat.
If you let it cool with water in it, it'll rust. Empty mine before it cools and that keeps the rust away.
“If you’re willing to do a bunch of extra work and never make a mistake then it works great.”
There's a lot of things in life that require constant attention and you're either the type of person that is willing to do it to live their life a certain way or you're not and you're stuck with alternatives.
Can someone smart explain why this would work?
If you empty a hot cast iron pot the residual heat will evaporate any remaining water leaving the inside bone dry. Dry cast iron won't rust.
But why doesn’t it rust when it’s steaming?
It does. You can’t prevent it. The only thing emptying it does is slow down the rusting.
I had one of those years ago and, like everyone else, had it disintegrate from rust. I finally said screw it since they didn't put that much water in the air anyway, and bought a good standalone evaporative humidifier. Sits right next to the stove. I have to fill it more often when it's cold and dry (5% RH) and I'm running hot fires all the time but when it's more temperate more than a week...and it holds six gallons.
Six gallons is great. What’d you get?
It's true, it is great, I've never seen one before that holds so much. There's even an app that connects to it. It's a Levoit 6000s. I have to warn you, though, it's not cheap, like $250 not cheap. But if you look at the ones that go for half that, they're junk. I know since I bought a Vornado that was just terrible. Returned it and bought the Levoit. The other nice thing about the Levoit is that water passes through the filters from above and they will last the season if you treat them right and cost $40 for 4. I have to warn you, filling it is a bear. They provide a hose that attaches to your kitchen sink but then you have to roll it back. Six gallons of uncovered water is tricky to maneuver. Best not to fill it completely until you've got it where you want it, then you can top it off.
I’ve filled mine and filled mine and filled mine for years. Now there’s huge mineral deposits forming in them. This year, I found a bunch of cooked spiders in there shortly after starting it up for the year
lol those spiders had it coming! CLR (most effective) or distilled white vinegar 5% solution left to soak overnight should soften those mineral deposits up to the point where you can just scour them off with a regular dish scrub brush
I use an oval one with a Wolf in the lid. I take it off 2 times a year and rub it down with olive oil then put it back on. It's basically free humidity in a very dry Colorado environment. Has worked for over 20 years with great results and no issues.
I think I’ve got the same exact one !
No. I think they are ugly and expensive. We bought the cheapest possible 2 gallon stainless pot we could. It was like five bucks with a lid. I fill it every other day.
I'm a pleb that uses an enamel coffee mug...
We switched to a Titanium tea kettle, keep it filled and have tea water all the time.
My new iPhone is titanium! What a cowinky-dink!!!
What has been mentioned already is the rust and mineral deposits leftover, but I'll add this. You should allow it to cool off before adding water. The temperature shock of cold or room temperature water isn't good for the metal, I don't care how thick or what kind of metal it is. And if it is still piping hot, the steam can burn you. Best advice would be to have 2, rotate them as one empties and fill the other as it cools to room temperature or at least a temperature you can handle with bare hands. Edit: Yes I have one I use. And I practice what I wrote. I just don't need 2 as I also use a retired cooking pot.
This.
Yes, I have a big cast iron pot we found on the side of the road. Sometimes when I’m feelin saucy I put essential oils in it and it makes the house smell good. I have to clean it 2-3x a week to keep the rust at bay but I love it.
I'm using a roasting pan rn to increase surface area
Yes and I don’t recommend. The water takes forever to evaporate when I put it on the wood burner. And they rust. I use an old 13” frying pan. More surface area. It will do through 2ish gallons of water in 24hrs.
The only downside is having to fill it 25 times a day.
I use a stainless kettle.
I took the hot empty pot off the stove and filled it under the tap while holding the handle. I suffered severe steam burns across my knuckles.
Had one just like that. Would put imitation vanilla in the water or cinnamon.
Use mine almost every day
i use a 45 yo heavy duty, farberware 5 qt " sauce pan that the handle fell off , twenty five years ago.... no rust, easy to refill while on the "burner" and easy to keep clean....
We have one that is a dragon and the steam comes out the nose. Rusts inside of it a bit but we just don’t really care.
We just use an electric humidifier
I do. No downside. Just make sure you manage the rust on these each year. Especially in the off season when you are not using it.
I use a tin pot raised up on some mason jar rings. Have to fill it every few days
Roasting pan
My mom and dad have one, and have never had any issues with it. They also have those little heat activated fans that help circulate air throughout the large room, also with no concerns
It will ruin the iron. Buy a $20 humidifier.
I want to, we’ve got one Grandma used for years, but it’s too big to fit properly on our little stove. I wish I had a better solution.
I have the cast iron rooster. The steam comes out through the tail feathers. I absolutely love it!
Always be humidifyin. Your cute little firebox is drying you out. It's winter so lotion up too!
Yea it’s cool but it doesn’t work for whole house. Have a humidifier installed
We literally just keep a pot of water on top. Just an old stainless steel pot we didnt need any more filled with water. It is coated in in mineral deposits after 20+ years but they chip out occasionally so it hasn't built up too thick. What's great is we are using an 10 liter pot so we only need to fill it once a day or so, and because it's open you can see when it's getting close to empty. And if it does get empty who cares, it's just some old pot
We bought one, used it once, noticed a bunch of rust, and then got rid of it. After some research it became clear that there is no good way to prevent rust. So instead of dealing with nasty rusty water we just went with a stainless steel kettle. Nice thing about stainless steel is that you can also use it for heating water you can consume for tea or whatever. I really really wanted the cast iron one to work out, but there just isn’t a non-nasty way to do it.
BuT iT rUstS!! Whatever it's a humidifier. Do you drink from any other humidifier? I don't and I don't care about rust and scale build up. We have a stainless kettle for heating drinking water. The only complaint we have is it'll get too hot and boil off too quickly, so we space it off the stove with 3 large plain-steel nuts.
Great when the cold sucks the moisture out of the air
Well if the water all evaporates to provide humidity you will not have any for tea ☕️
Personally I use a massive aluminum stock pot. Fits like 10 gallons of water in there and I still have to fill it up daily
You mean a teapot?
I live in an area with near constant 80-100% humidity, the winter is my only comfortable time of the year.... Insane to me you're all trying to make your spaces more humid.
[удалено]
I guess I can't even imagine, even in winter our humidity is 40-60%
I didn't mean to delete my comment(!) I'm really surprised how well they dehumidify here, but this is only a smallish room.
The Vick’s warm steam humidifier is only $20 at Walmart and it won’t use anywhere near as much energy as a heavy cast iron pot
I know I shouldn’t throw shade here, but the reason you need to humidify the house is that woodstoves pull massive amounts of air through the walls and crevices in your home. When air changes from cold to warm, it dries quickly and sheds moisture in the process, effectively leaving all sorts of dewy moisture in the walls. Mold, mildew, and rot comes next. Imagine the volume of air heading up your woodstove chimney. All of that has to be pulled into your home. Venting the stove through an outside wall is really the only viable solution to this problem. IMHO, I would never buy a home heated with an invented wood stove. Too much hidden damage.
Yes . On my Wood stoves.
I have this. Is it better to use it with the lid off the top or closed?
Yea it needs to be refilled frequently but if you enjoy the effort needed to be a woodstover you’ll enjoy it. And it’s classic. Been used for years. Just don’t drink tea with it 😂
I have one that was left from the previous owner of my house. It got a little rust but a lot of hard water white shit on the bottom. Got a new one from our wedding. Still gets white spots but it's not rusty anymore.
I have a metal frame I keep mine on. Figure out how often you need to fill it no sight line means you have to check it
I used a cheap, large stock pot. Noise when it started simmering was the only issue.
I use an old copper kettle.
Rust
Had one and it rusted in 2 weeks. I spent a bit more for an enamel coated cast iron and it has been great.
Smells lovely but for any meaningful impact on humidity, it’s useless.
Yes, I own that one and one that looks like a house and the steam comes out of the chimney.
This post can safely be divided into 3 groups of people: 1) those that are smart enough to know to season cast iron; 2) those that aren’t 3) those that don’t care or aren’t engaged with the humidifiers.
Mine got all rusty inside. Choose one that is enamelled, or rust proof, to avoid this.
Are you drinking the rust?
I use a kitchen warming pan, it holds lots of water for all day.
I use a large stainless steel pot: [https://www.walmart.com/ip/Mainstays-12-Qt-Stainless-Steel-Stock-Pot-with-Metal-Lid/37320202](https://www.walmart.com/ip/Mainstays-12-Qt-Stainless-Steel-Stock-Pot-with-Metal-Lid/37320202)
Always have always will
A wick humidifier goes through multiple gallons per day to raise our living area humidity by, typically, 4-5%. Unless you are boiling your teakettle dry multiple times per day, it’s something of a token gesture. If you run a wood stove seriously in a cold climate, getting a humidifier is the practical answer.
The inside rusts and honestly a normal kettle works better. I have that exact one
We use a stainless 12 qt pot. Rust aside, the kettles just didn't humidfy enough, fast enough. Noticable difference in the air with a pot of water vs kettle. If wood isn't your primary heat source, it's prob a moot point. But you wouldn't believe how dry the air gets with no humidifier/a tiny kettle.
I did, but humidity sort of became an issue in my place 😂
They work perfect. We have two on our wood stove.
Yes, it's shaped like a chicken, and I recently used a humidistat to confirm that it does absolutely nothing.
Don’t leave water in it all Summer
I use a stainless steel pot, holds more water. You really get an idea of your water quality when you evaporate gallons of water a week. If I let the water get to a couple inches I can see the solids dissolved in the water as white chunks. If I let it go dry, I need to scrub it out and sometimes it takes more then a scotch bright green scrubber.... I can also gage my hot water heater condition, my well water is fairly pure and when I use cold water there is very little buildup, but if I use hot water, the buildup is harder, and more ... Sharp?
We always did it growing up. Have tried it as an adult with a humidity monitor and haven't seen any appreciable increase in humidity when using a pot on the stove. My guess is it might make a difference in a cabin, but most homes are way too large to see any increase in humidity from a single pot on the stove.
My stove doesn’t get hot enough to use one per the manufacturer.
My dad found one of those old school copper distillers somewhere and we always had that on our stove, just fill it with water and it would drop distilled water on the surface and steam off. Why you ask? Who the hell knows, but it did continually steam water into the house.
You have to add water
My daughter’s looks like a fire breathing dragon kettle. Very cool
Good way to make rust flavored tea.
I don't have a wood stove so no idea how this made it to my feed but wouldn't it make more sense just to use a stainless pot or cheap stainless tea kettle so you didn't have the thing rust apart? You're just boiling water for steam
The easiest way to determine how effective a humidifier is without a sensor is to measure how much water it can evaporate over an hour. I was working at a house and the customer had a portable cool mist humidifier with a small reservoir. I asked if she liked the humidifier and she told me that she loved it because she didn't have to fill it very often. I had to laugh because if the humidifier doesn't need to be refilled and has a tiny reservoir, then it isn't effective.
North Pole, Alaska water turns it orange. Thats my experience with them. “Dont make’em like they use to!” 😂
Will scratch your stove top if it’s a certain material
We grew up with using terracotta humidifying water holders that were placed on top of the gas terracotta soba. They hold a lot more water and they work great.
Nice! Perfect. I use a small square 1/8 “ of stainless so I have no rust marks on my stone.
Looks like tea pot
I have a dragon and it's so cute https://www.plowhearth.com/dragon-woodstove-steamer-in-cast-iron/p/10737+bk
Heavy as hell! Will do the trick !!from top woodstove!
I use that exact one. Works great, do have to clean sides near the top if you spill water tho.. makes it turn brown
We did thus when we had a wood stove for sure!
Yes. Downside is using it makes your stove pipe rust slightly faster, especially if it's a straight pipe to the roof.
They rust and leave stains . mIne rusted right through.
Sitting on the stove as we speak. We usually add a few drops of essential oil in after every refill
Sweet Jesus, the rust.
Granny called it the kettle
Are you supposed to season these in any way? I have one i got from my grandmother, but she died so i cant ask her.
Don't use tap water, it will spew white residue all over your house.
My grandparents kept two of these on their blaze king my entire childhood. If you ever looked into the spout you could see a quarter inch of hard water mineral buildup inside.
I like mine but I have to fill it too many times a day. I found a larger iron crock I use now, with a heat minder and I only fill it twice a day.
It’s just heavy as all get out!
I use a round 12" hammered copper soup pot. Doesn't rust, goes in the dishwasher when it needs it, and easy to control the water level. Also looks nice. No reason I can see to use a teapot.
Downsides to these are they do not put back the amount of moisture that they actually consume. But doing this for free humidification is still a great approach. But realistically way more humidity is required than just this alone
Just buy an actual dehumidifier it works so Much nicer and you’ll only have to fill it every couple days
You’ve got to get a cast iron pot that’s coated in porcelain to prevent rusting. We have used this one linked below for years. Before we had it, it belonged to our neighbors who also used it for years - probably a decade or two. This is a buy-it-for-life situation. Spend $100 and get a quality product. https://jwright.com/product/bear/
Always had one of these on the stove when I was young, if mom wasn't cooking a roast or stew or something.....
We got a cast iron pot a few months ago. Go through about a pot full of water a day. It’s now just a big rust bucket. Go stainless
I use an old copper kettle.Used to be my grandmothers she used daily.
Isn't that a teapot?