Whole house humidifier
- Thread starter dmclone
- Start date
I had mine done 2 years ago by 72. It was only a few hundred bucks, and took them probably 2 hrs. Mine is an aprielair or something like that. it helps a lot, but even it could not keep up well enough in the last 2 weeks to make our house comfortable, and I had it on the highest setting.
We have a Lennox (actually, I think they bought aprilair?) and I installed myself with the help of a friend in the HVAC business. They are not hard to install. But, as brianhos said, it still isn't enough for this kind of cold.
Honeywell: Honeywell Power Flow-through Bypass Humidifier - HE360A at The Home Depot
Install it yourself.
Install it yourself.
I think I read somewhere humidity travels fairly easy through a house with a central heating or a/c system. A simple cabinent unit would probably get the job done.
That's what we use. Between that and not really running bathroom fans when it's cold out our house maintains a good level.
That's what we use. Between that and not really running bathroom fans when it's cold out our house maintains a good level.
I just have a 4 gallon unit that sits on the floor, and it maintains the humidity level in my home (1800 sq ft) pretty well (right now, it's about 30%), and it's turned down pretty low to keep from condensing on the windows.
I've heard from several furnace guys that the add-on humidifiers are notorious for crapping out, though that may have changed in the last couple years.
I've heard from several furnace guys that the add-on humidifiers are notorious for crapping out, though that may have changed in the last couple years.
I have a honeywell I think installed by neighbors this fall. couple hundred bucks and a few hours. I agree even it couldn't keep up through this past cold spell. But otherwise it's been great.
I second this nomination. I am not a handyman and this was easy to install, even for me. It has been easy to maintain and has performed flawlessly.
I would agree that is excessive. There isn't much plumbing to it. You have to tap your water line to provide a source of water to the unit. The hardware to do that is included with the unit. Not any different than what you do for running water to a ice maker in a fridge. You also have to run a rubber tube to a drain for the excess water runoff.
Have an Aprilaire Model 600 Whole-House Humidifier, seems to work well and very easy to operate. I also have a Venmar whole house Air Exchanger, and i'm still learning how to work the two units together to get the right amount of humidity in the air to feel comfortable using the humidifier, but reduce or eliminate condensation on the windows and any stale air using the air exchanger.
A word of caution - be careful of the combination of whole house humidifiers, high efficiency furnace, premium windows, and cold weather.
I had all of the above last year and thought my roof was leaking one day when I went into the attic storage area. I called the roof installer when I noticed moisture dripping from damp roof joists. The roofer first asked me if I had the combination listed above as they get a lot of calls about excessive attic moisture with those conditions.
It turned out that he was correct. I turned the humidity down to the lowest setting and the problem disappeared. I was lucky to find it in time. The roofer knows of cases where the moisture was not dealt with resulting in mold developing to the point that all of the insulation and many of the roof decking had to be replaced.
It turns out that if you have a tight house that the normal steam from showers and cooking is almost enough to maintain proper humidity. If you pump more moisture into the air than cool air can hold, it ends up condensing on cold temperatures in your attic.
I had all of the above last year and thought my roof was leaking one day when I went into the attic storage area. I called the roof installer when I noticed moisture dripping from damp roof joists. The roofer first asked me if I had the combination listed above as they get a lot of calls about excessive attic moisture with those conditions.
It turned out that he was correct. I turned the humidity down to the lowest setting and the problem disappeared. I was lucky to find it in time. The roofer knows of cases where the moisture was not dealt with resulting in mold developing to the point that all of the insulation and many of the roof decking had to be replaced.
It turns out that if you have a tight house that the normal steam from showers and cooking is almost enough to maintain proper humidity. If you pump more moisture into the air than cool air can hold, it ends up condensing on cold temperatures in your attic.
Condensation on the windows is due to the humidifer being run on a high setting. If you are getting condensation, the humidity level in your house is extremely high. The operation instructions for my unit call for it to be turned down if condensation is present.
I just had a new system installed before Christmas.
I must have had the humidity level too high as the condensation on my windows was freezing. I literally had a 1/2 inch ice chunk on the bottom of my window by front door. On the flip side it visibly exposed to me every major air leak in my house.
I must have had the humidity level too high as the condensation on my windows was freezing. I literally had a 1/2 inch ice chunk on the bottom of my window by front door. On the flip side it visibly exposed to me every major air leak in my house.
Just installed a Honeywell HE260 this weekend. Took me just over 2 hours.
Humidity went from 20% to 34% overnight.
Total cost was $135 for humidifier. $60 for installation kit. $6 for 90 degree duct elbow.
Humidity went from 20% to 34% overnight.
Total cost was $135 for humidifier. $60 for installation kit. $6 for 90 degree duct elbow.
I studied this extensively and went round and round with contractors discussing this prior to the construction of our house. Here's what I found:
With no vapor barrier in the ceiling, all the moisture in the house goes up into the attic. Cellulose and the rafters will hold that moisture and lwill eventually lead to mold if the humidity level is kept at too high of a level. Blown fiberglass will hold some moisture, but lets most of it pass thru and doesn't mold, although it might rot your rafters. As you said, it doesn't become a problem until the humidity gets too high.
The answer for this is to install a vapor barrier in the ceiling. However, in our northern climate, this results in way too much humidity in the house, resulting in mold and mildew in the drywall of the ceiling rather than the insulation and rafters. This is because none of the humidity can escape.
What I concluded was that if one wants to truly control humidity, the best way is to install the vapor barrier along with an air exchanger to remove the excess humidity. You can adjust the exchanger to control the humidity level and can keep it quite consistant. If you have extensive wood trim or old wooden family heirlooms, you can maintain their quality better by not allowing them to shrink and dry out.
However, by this point of our construction, our drywaller had already convinced my wife that a vapor barrier would result in nothing but mold so the vapor barrier and air exchanger went out the window. But I did save two grand by not going that route, and every time she complains about dry skin in the winter I'm sure to remind her why.
