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Wanting to add a furnace humidifier to my furnace and reduce my dependency on having to schlepp water morning to night... this winter. As such I am interested in hearing from folks who have experience with these things and what your results/satisfaction levels have been.

Some details:

6 year old high efficiency furnace
water softened by premium two stage softener
2,400 square foot to do
no problems with servicing and cleaning a belt once a month or so, I'm used to having humidifiers suck my life.....

I would be interesting in hearing about:

personal or professional experiences with these
ease of installation.... or not....
brands that are decent
pricing
amount of servicing required

Not how accurate the controllers are in measuring RH, they all suck (the hygrometer part) but how consistent the controllers are within their own inaccuracies or, in other words... consistent results that can be tweaked to desired levels.

My plan is to still use outboard humidifiers in some locations where the instruments may be (they are all over the house...) but I would like to know if these things work good enough that perhaps I can go from 3 - 4 humidifiers that I currently run to less because of the furnace humidifier.

TIA (Thanks in advance not this is Africa...)

Hesh, I use an Aprilaire which drips water over an evaporative substrate that is ducted into the HVAC. Works great, but you need a nearby drain as it has waste water flowing out.

I have tried several humidistats, and they all work the same with the same problem. You can calibrate them for accuracy (or just mark the dial with your desired setting), but they all have 6 to 8 percent hysteresis. That isn't 8 percent of the total but 8 percent RH. So if you want 45 RH you can set it to fluxuate from 41 to 49 (subtract 1 RH from each end if you get a good one that only has the 6 RH hysteresis. I've bought three, (different brands), and they looked different but all have the hysteresis. They all use a plastic tape that stretches or shrinks to actuate a switch. Maybe someone makes an electronic one now, but when you buy online, you really have to read the specs carefully, as they highlight accuracy, and quote hysteresis in percent without telling you it is RH percent, not percent of total reading like is the normal case,
Mike
BTW, it is now 28 years old, and I've had to replace the evaporative media every 6 or 7 years (a consumable), and a solenoid valve once. It is very reliable,

Hi Hesh,
I can't imagine a guitar guy living in a house with a forced air furnace not having an on board humidifier. Like Mike I use Aprilaire as it seems to be the choice of HVAC pros in our area. Your climate is similar to ours in the Chicago area. Depending on the quality of construction on the new place you should be able to maintain 35ish percent humidity without condensation on the windows on all but the coldest days. That should set you free of the lions share of your water schlepping.

Hesh,

We had a Honeywell HE-120 humidifier installed into our furnace about ten years ago. It diverts some of the heated air and directs it through a drum thar rotatesin a pan of water that's fed from the cold water supply. The drum is of open cell foam that I replace once a year. At the same time I take out the float valve, which is much like a toilet tank valve and soak everything in a 50/50 vinegar/water solution to dissolve the mineral deposits from our hard water. It works well, though the humdity control is poor, needing adjustment depending on the outside temp, since it's only a rheostat and doesn' sense RH, though I suspect it could be changed out for a true humidistat. Been very reliable and effective.

Pat

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

I've used a Desert Springs model for years. I went with it because instead of using some sort of filter medium like a swamp cooler, it slowly spins a stack of plastic disc in a few inches of water. I don't use a controler. I just patched the motor to the furnace so it turns on any time the furnace runs. Keeps the house humid enough to keep things from cracking. Many humidifiers you look at will have an overflow or a flush cycle, both of which require access to a drain. Mine doesn't have that. When I get super excited I just flush it into a bucket every month or so. In reality, I wash it out with vinegar or CLR in the spring and call it good.

Installation was easy if you have access to the cold air return ducts. It needs a 1/4' water line and 110v. You need to cut a couple of holes in the ducts.

Mike

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Mike Lindstrom

Thanks guys, much appreciated.

I have access to the ducts, very good access and I have water available at the furnace and a drain too as well as AC so it looks like I can use most types of systems.

Not surprised to hear that the controllers suck. Just like our hygrometers not exactly ready for prime time. But like you Mike L. I suspect that if it just runs when the furnace is on it won't be over kill since the place is heavily insulated.

Steve yeah I waited too long... No wonder I have hernias...

Mike I. at the shop we use a automatic whole shop humidifier that Dave C. invented that works great. I'm still trying to talk him into putting one of my furnace too. Our back-up at the shop since we can't have a single failure is Aprilair and we have good experiences with that it's just not as powerful as what Dave invented and made.

Thanks again and if anyone else has experiences with these things please share them here? Thanks!

I have a GeneralAire unit on my HE furnace. Does a pretty good job, but I am tweeking the setting on a constant basis to keep the RH at a "proper" level. When the outside temp goes from +5C to -25C, and up again, I'm adjusting 3-5 times a day.

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

I had a steam injection humidifier put in my system, and, though I'll never need it to, I'm told it will really move the humidity to almost any level you want. It easily keeps my house @ 40% in the coldest weather, which does not compare to your weather. Above 40% there is too much condensation on windows.

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Waddy

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Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Thanks guys!! There seems to be a repeated theme that the controllers suck.... At least the industry is consistent...

Aprilaire here as well. low cost (<$100) and simple to install. I first installed it after my kids were in the doctors office with ear infections every two weeks. They were in the doctors office constantly and when it got to the point of the doctors talking about putting shunts in their ears, I happened to overhear a discussion at the gym between two doctors and one was saying he added a humidifier to help with the dry heat from forced hot air. I put one in that night and that was the end of weekly doctor trips and constant antibiotics. I change the evaporative media yearly. Well water tends to be high on dissolved minerals so it looks a bit like mammoth hot springs when I change it. I want to say it's about $30 for a 4 pack...

Can't tell you what my humidity is, but I will swear by them if you have forced hot air and kids. been using it for roughly 30 years now..