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 Post subject: Whole House humidifier
PostPosted: Sun Dec 26, 2010 10:37 am 
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Koa
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Location: United States
First name: James
Last Name: Bolan
City: Nashville
State: Tennessee
Country: USA
Has anyone tried one of these?http://www.pureairproducts.com/humidifiers-bppa2003.htm I have a small humidifier in my guitar room where wood and guitars are kept and returned to.This works well for that room.I had a bigger one for the rest of the house but it went Kaput.It`s dry enough in the house where I get shocked touching stuff.I`ve got an electric heat pump which really throws out dry air.I`m not sure if this will be effecient enough.Anyone out there know?
James

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PostPosted: Sun Dec 26, 2010 10:50 am 
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Brazilian Rosewood
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I have the Trane version, and my only problem is it has an automatic "thermostat" that is coupled to the outside air. The best I can do is a constant 34-35% in the dead of winter, so I end up with a small humidifier in the shop, and Dampits in the instruments. I could get a manual "thermostat", but it costs $$ and I would have to adjust it a lot depending on the outside temp. Still, in all, 35% is better than 3%.


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PostPosted: Sun Dec 26, 2010 12:07 pm 
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First name: Waddy
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I have a Honeywell system connected to my gas heat. it works great. Keeps my house at about 45% during the winter months when the heat is running.

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PostPosted: Sun Dec 26, 2010 12:42 pm 
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Brazilian Rosewood
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I have a unit attached to my oil hot air system in the shop and I am not impressed. I use a Lasko unit and it does a better job and it easier for maintenence . The on furnace unit is a pain to clean . My house has a unit that works well from Water furnace and I have a small lasko unit in the guitar room to hold 45%

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PostPosted: Sun Dec 26, 2010 12:48 pm 
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First name: Rob
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Where I live it is dry.
I mean really, really dry....on the lee side of the Rockies there is not much moisture left in the westerly flow of air.
I have tried the "bypass flow-through" style of humidifier and found that while it certainly does the job, the amount of bypass water going down the drain was unacceptable.
I have now had the Honeywell Truesteam whole-house humidifier installed for the past year.
It is 100% efficient - no wasted water, does a great job of keeping the whole house at 40% RH even on the coldest days, and only requires cleaning once per year.
Highly recommended.
YMMV, IMHO, etc....


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PostPosted: Sun Dec 26, 2010 1:00 pm 
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Koa
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Thanks Robbie,I`ll check that one out.Is this the same type you use Waddy? I`d rather not waste a bunch of water if I don`t have to.
James

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PostPosted: Sun Dec 26, 2010 2:05 pm 
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Location: Windsor Ontario Canada
First name: Fred
Last Name: Tellier
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I use a cheap drum style I got at Home depot, on my Gas furnace, I have had it 3 years after the 20+ year old units motor crapped out. The only issue with these type units is cleaning the drum filter and the tray every heating season, and the little float valve for the water only lasts a few years but is cheap and easy to change. The humidity control sensor is in the cold air return duct. This is capable of keeping the house at 45% in the heating season though in colder areas of Canada than where I live a higher capacity unit is needed.

Fred

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PostPosted: Sun Dec 26, 2010 3:12 pm 
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First name: Rob
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Here is the Honeywell Truesteam unit James.
There are 3 capacities - 6, 9 and 12-gallon, and a number of control options that will drive up the price in a hurry.
I got the smallest model with manual controls (i.e. the cheapest solution possible).
Couldn't be happier - I believe it was less than $400.
I installed it myself -piece of cake.
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 26, 2010 6:33 pm 
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Brazilian Rosewood
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I have a small cool mist humidifier for my office (where I store my guitars) but for the main shop (1600 sq ft.) I spent a lot of time getting quotes and basically wasting time as the humidity continued to drop.

In a bit of a hail Mary...I took a hot plate and pans of water and made my own humidifier. It turns out that it worked very well to just steam water into the room from those pans.

But let me explain further. What I call a "hot plate" is really an aluminum plate with a couple of silicone heat blankets and a type J theromocouple attached to a small heat controller. The plate measures about 1" thick by 6" wide and is about 24" long. The pans are those round aluminum pans that you might get a serving of pasta packaged in at a take-out resturant. All this stuff was just sitting on a shelf, leftover from another enterprise but it would be simple to make and control from a wood bending controller, if you have one of those.

I line up four of those pans on the plate and set the temperature of the plate to 140F... and simply keep the pans filled with water. I check the humidity a couple of times a day and crank it up or down 25 degrees as required. Sounds hokey....ok....it LOOKS hokey but I haven't had a thought to replace it since I set it up. I figure if I but a REAL humidifier and it breaks I won't know how to fix it. This way, I'm working with stuff I understand. :) No filters, no cleaning. Simple.

You wouldn't set this up in a house but I thought I'd post this idea for shops.

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PostPosted: Sun Dec 26, 2010 8:34 pm 
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Koa
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Location: Ellicott City, Md - USA
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Last Name: A
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Robbie_McD wrote:
Here is the Honeywell Truesteam unit James.
There are 3 capacities - 6, 9 and 12-gallon, and a number of control options that will drive up the price in a hurry.
I got the smallest model with manual controls (i.e. the cheapest solution possible).
Couldn't be happier - I believe it was less than $400.
I installed it myself -piece of cake.
Attachment:
images.jpg



This Truestream is great !! from what I read - I put mine in last year and it is a bypass - and man does it waste a lot of water ! ugh. I do not even have the sensor installed - when I run the heat - the thing pumps water into the air. In Maryland I am getting about 40 to 50% which is pretty good ... but at the cost of water !! My next house I will install a Truestream !

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