Whole Home Humidifier?
Liz Lemon
5 years ago
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mishmosh
5 years agoLiz Lemon
5 years agoRelated Discussions
Whole House Humidifier
Comments (1)If you have a well-sealed house, you may not need a humidifier. Air infiltration is what takes the moisture outside that is naturally generated from living. If I were building a home, I might make provisions for adding one later. There is probably not much to the making provisions if you have an unfinished basement with the furnace there. Go through a winter, or most of a winter and decide....See MorePros and Cons of Whole House Humidifier?
Comments (10)Typical console humidifiers (drum style) can require a lot of care to keep them free of microbe growth. If you are willing to add bacteriostatic chemical to the reservoir, not as much is required. Otherwise, i'd say that the reservoir and pads need to be cleaned and disinfected daily. Hardly anyone has the patience to do that. Think about it, you have a porous surface at room temperature 24/7. It is not unlike a wet towel with one end in a bucket and the other suspended above 24/7. What is going to happen? With a duct mounted model in a force hot air heating system, the most common type, bypass humidifiers (AKA drip, AKA flow through) require only monthly to annual service and it is not difficult for a somewhat skilled homeowner. There is little to no chance of excessive microbe growth if maintained properly. I'd avoid the drum style there too due to high maintenance demands. The best systems, if money is not a problem, are steam injectors, but they are relatively costly to install and run. You really want to make sure that your home is well sealed as a first step. Look up what humidity levels can be maintained in colder weather. If you are hovering at 0 F, you may not be able to go above 25% without condensation on your windows. With even lower temperatures, you are limited to even lower humidity. You have to adjust your settings according to outdoor temps. Don't buy one with unrealistic expectations because of that limitation....See MoreWhole house humidifier installation
Comments (2)What you want to do is common, that is to have the humidifier operate only when the furnace is making heat (and/or when the fan blower is on). I see in the users manual for that model humidifier they give you instructions on how to wire it up in stand-alone mode, but they do not show how to interface to a furnace. I'm sure that is on purpose, this is the kind of thing you should have a HVAC technician do for you. Several reasons why, you my void any warranty on the furnace, you'd be in the vicinity of high voltage, you run the risk of damaging the control board/circuitry in the furnace if you do it wrong (that is assuming you locate and understand the wiring schematics for your furnace). Also, there's a naming convention used with the control wiring/terminals between furnaces and thermostats that HVAC technicians understand but is not easily understandable to the typical home owner (the Y terminal, the Y2 terminal, etc., etc., etc.)....See MoreProblems with whole house humidifier
Comments (1)I had the Honeywell equivalent to that. Very finicky units. Need to dial in the water supply to the evap pad VERY carefully, and check for the drain line being clear at all times. If your water has iron or is hard then the pad's lifetime will be severely shortened. You might be better off with a steam humidifier which goes into the supply duct. Expensive + maintenance. Watch your humidity level in winter if cold so that your window sills do not dissolve....See Morelizbeth-gardener
5 years agomishmosh
5 years agomike_home
5 years agoLiz Lemon
5 years agomike_home
5 years agoShannon_WI
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoSJ McCarthy
5 years agojsfreud
5 years agomaire_cate
5 years agoRoséAllDay
4 years agoLiz Lemon
4 years ago
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