Whole house Humidifier, what you got?

[Snagglefoot]

I have this GeneralAire Elite. It boils water using an electrode and injects steam into the air flow. Luckily our power is about 10 cents US equivalent per kwh. The large plastic boiler is replaceable. There are different settings depending on how sealed up your house is. It has a circuit board and thank goodness that part has been dependable.

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Here are are a couple of shots of it in action. It’s using 11.8 A or 1.4 kw.
At our price it costs about 14 cents US equivalent per hour to run. The water it uses has gone through a reverse osmosis cartridge so it has very few minerals in it, keeping the electrode in good shape. The three black triangles indicate full power while it brings up the humidity, and then the power tapers off as the desired humidity is reached. It only runs when the furnace is running.


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[Huie83]

I have a Aprilaire 600A in my new (built 2020) 2400sq ft home. It's installed on the return side of the ducting as I guess that's better. Overall I'd have to say I'm not super impressed. This winter it's struggled to maintain 20-25% even if I have it cranked all the way up.

It may be a installation issue or programming issue though. My house does have an air exchange and I don't believe it comes on with that.

 

[tbm5690]

I have a Aprilaire 600A in my new (built 2020) 2400sq ft home. It's installed on the return side of the ducting as I guess that's better. Overall I'd have to say I'm not super impressed. This winter it's struggled to maintain 20-25% even if I have it cranked all the way up.

It may be a installation issue or programming issue though. My house does have an air exchange and I don't believe it comes on with that.

This is my hesitation for installing one, as I've heard that this is often the case in our area of the country. From my understanding the steam units like the one posted above by Snagglefoot are more effective though...albeit a little more expensive.

 

[Fattylocks]

Residual steam from the shower gets it done during the winter months.
Not crackly dry in region

 

[Snagglefoot]

Here are are a couple of shots of it in action. It’s using 11.8 A or 1.4 kw.
At our price it costs about 14 cents US equivalent per hour to run. The water it uses has gone through a reverse osmosis cartridge so it has very few minerals in it, keeping the electrode in good shape. The three black triangles indicate full power while it brings up the humidity, and then the power tapers off as the desired humidity is reached. It only runs when the furnace is running.

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Here is a used plastic boiler assembly. This thing is filled with boiling water when cranked up.

 

[tyman]

We have a Trion unit that was installed a little over a year ago. Took the house from 5-8% humidity in winter to a comfortable 35-45%. Clothes are no longer static bombs and you don't get shocked walked across the living room.

 

[Thermo1223]

I have a Aprilaire 600A in my new (built 2020) 2400sq ft home. It's installed on the return side of the ducting as I guess that's better. Overall I'd have to say I'm not super impressed. This winter it's struggled to maintain 20-25% even if I have it cranked all the way up.

It may be a installation issue or programming issue though. My house does have an air exchange and I don't believe it comes on with that.

Hook it up to the hot water line and go from there. It is a remarkable difference and make sure the restrictor and screen are not clogged on the valve. Plus in your scenario I would expect it to run when exchanging air since it makes no sense to bring in dry outside air without humidifying it.

 

[Huie83]

Hook it up to the hot water line and go from there. It is a remarkable difference and make sure the restrictor and screen are not clogged on the valve. Plus in your scenario I would expect it to run when exchanging air since it makes no sense to bring in dry outside air without humidifying it.

Yep, it is hooked up to hot water. I need to call the installer to see if they installed it to run when the air exchanger runs. So far I haven't noticed it running when the exchanger is on. I also agree, it should be.

 

[Thermo1223]

Yep, it is hooked up to hot water. I need to call the installer to see if they installed it to run when the air exchanger runs. So far I haven't noticed it running when the exchanger is on. I also agree, it should be.

I can always hear water running through ours when it's on, older Aprilaire 600. Sounds like a running faucet on low.

 

[ZZman]

I have this GeneralAire Elite. It boils water using an electrode and injects steam into the air flow. Luckily our power is about 10 cents US equivalent per kwh. The large plastic boiler is replaceable. There are different settings depending on how sealed up your house is. It has a circuit board and thank goodness that part has been dependable.

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Similar to my daughter's new Aprilaire 800.
How much electricity does it use?

 

[Snagglefoot]

Similar to my daughter's new Aprilaire 800.
How much electricity does it use?

About 1.4 to 1.6 kw so if it ran 10 hours per day, 14 to 16 kWhrs. Up here that would cost $1.4 to $1.60 per day. I’ll run it for two months.

 

[ZZman]

I can always hear water running through ours when it's on, older Aprilaire 600. Sounds like a running faucet on low.

May want to look into a replacement kit for it. I think they made the

About 1.4 to 1.6 kw so if it ran 10 hours per day, 14 to 16 kWhrs. Up here that would cost $1.4 to $1.60 per day. I’ll run it for two months.

 

[HonorAndHonesty]

About 1.4 to 1.6 kw so if it ran 10 hours per day, 14 to 16 kWhrs. Up here that would cost $1.4 to $1.60 per day. I’ll run it for two months.

I like the idea of the steam humidifiers, you wouldnt have to worry as much about the unit getting biological growth.

 

[1978elcamino]

As a Florida resident It seems comical to desire humidity.

 

[Brybo86]

Aprilaire 600m bypass unit plumbed close to hot water heater

toss the manual humidistat that comes with it and use the ecobee smart thermostat to set humidity

minimal extra operating expenses(compared to "$team") or separate powered fan other than the cost of the water

 

[kwijibo]

Last spring moved into a brand new house so it's very air tight and we live in MN. We have a Aprilaire 600 along with a air exchanger on the gas furnance. Last summer ran the central air with air exchanger on. The central air ran a lot. Brain cells finally kicked in, turned the air exchanger off when I realized it was just pulling in a lot of humid air. Central air ran a lot less after that. So now comes winter and humidity in house is low and so is the outside winter air. Ran a short experiment with Aprilaire on along with the air exchanger to get the humidity up. Took a long time to get the humidity up. Turned off the air exchanger and this time the humidity goes up to a comfortable level for winter, no dry air coming in. Turned the air exchanger back on and the humidity starts dropping. So when do you run the air exchanger? From what I read on the internet it should be all the time to keep fresh air in the house. It's also suppose to be less expensive to run the furnance with the air exchanger on.