Humidifying the house - Jeff

[Guest guest]

Im addressing to Jeff since he has mentioned knowledge of Aprilaire

humidifiers, but if anyone else knows, please share info. Thanks

Jeff,

I'm having difficulty humidifying house. I did have an Aprilaire

humidifier last winter but it 'went' with my old furnace and is gone

now. I had no problems with it ever showing any mold. I know you

said they make a good whole house humidifier. I got a good price on

a new Aprilaire so was going to get one but they proposed to install

it 'upwind' a couple feet from the MERV 16 filter I have on furnace.

Installation instructions from Aprilaire showed two different

installations, both showing Aprilaire 'downwind' or on the 'supply'

side of furnace (dry, heated air on the way out of furnace to

house). Instruction details noted, however, that Aprilaire can be

installed on 'intake' side of furnace too, but installation drawings

of two different furnace styles, show it on supply side so I feel

that this may be preferred installation. Just my interpretation, so

I said I'd have to get back to them regarding that.

My feeling is that humidifying air two feet upwind from very tight

filter may cause humidity at filter to be much higher than humidity

you are trying to achieve. If say you are trying to get 40% humidity

in house, humidity at source of humidifier may be much higher right

where it goes through filter that has caught dirt.

What do you think?

I bought the QuickSteam, and then two other room humidifiers and they

all died. With the QuickSteam I have to admit to not hav ingread the

instructions completely and probably did something wrong but then had

a Walgreens cool mist die after a few weeks and then a Vick's hot

steam die after a few weeks. The later two, I read the instructions

for so I'm not sure what went wrong. Walgreens took both of them

back. I just used tap water though and distilled water was

recommended by all, so perhaps mineral content in water here is too

high. I wasn't willing to buy distilled water they all recommended.

Any ideas on all this? Lips are cracking and other dry problems.

Thanks, Barb B

[Guest guest]

Hi Barb,

I would also be a litttle nervous about humidifying in front of the

filter. Usually, central humidification is done on the return side

rather than the supply side because of the fear that as the air

cools, condensation will result.

The rotating drum types are no good, the evaporative type Aprilaire

with the metal mesh pad and once-through water flow are fine. These

units are usually installed on the supply plenum (high pressure, hot

air) and the duct from the humidifier secured to the return so the

humidified air is sucked into the return air.

I am not familiar with the unit you are referring to but if Aprilaire

recommends installation in the supply, it should be fine.

Jeff

www.mayindoorair.com

>

> Im addressing to Jeff since he has mentioned knowledge of Aprilaire

> humidifiers, but if anyone else knows, please share info. Thanks

>

>