W2R
Moderator Emeritus
Living in New Orleans, I find that a humidifier somehow isn't at the top of my "wants" list lately... 
I really like living in a humid climate.
I really like living in a humid climate.
Whole House Humidifier??
- Thread starter Pleeplus
- Start date
happy2bretired
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
I have one hooked up to the hot water line. I really do appreciate having it. Since I had a problem with my hot water heater about a month ago, I had a small problem with both my washing machine and my humidifier, due to clogged filters. Everything is back to normal now. My heating/ac people change the filter on the humidifier every year when they do my furness maintenance. I KNOW...but I'm a worry wart so furness maintenance is peace of mind to me.
I have one of these units, but it's for air cleaning/purification not humidification. You can get them with paper filters that need to be replaced or permanent metal media filters that you rinse monthly. This was installed by to previous owners, we don't really have allergies in our family, so if it breaks I'll just switch back to reg. paper filters.
Awesome! You will enjoy the change. Be sure to monitor the humidity levels carefully for a while. You can damage your house if they are too high. If you see condensation on your windows (in cold weather) this is a sure sign that you are set too high.
We also have the inline "drip" type of humidifier and couldn't be more pleased. I have musical instruments that benefit from constant humidly environments. My piano tech always comments on how stable the instruments are.
One maintenance item I've found to be mildly annoying is the drain/overflow tube on my system tends to get kinked during furnace filter changes (stacked components) and I always have to check after DH (or other helpful person) changes filters or risk a small flood.
Texas Proud
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
- Joined
- May 16, 2005
- Messages
- 17,265
You used a quote about a filter when asking me this question.... so I am not sure if they are related....
Yes, we do have a humidity problem when the heater runs when it is cold... not horrible bad so I do not do anything about it here.... but when I shock my cat when trying to pet her, she does not like it...
DUFUS
Dryer sheet aficionado
- Joined
- Feb 8, 2013
- Messages
- 40
I've got this sucker:
Aprilaire Model 600 Whole-House Humidifier | Bypass Humidifier
hooked to HOT water line. I thought the theory there was that hot water evaporates easier/quicker than cold. Regardless, I'm too lazy to research now. It's done the job for 13+ years now, although I had to change out the controller a couple of years ago. I change the wick ("filter") probably 3-4 times a season. I have a H2O softener but the wicks still develop buildup and become less efficient over time. I have a well, so I'm not paying for water, but I'd expect the cost is negligible.
Oddly enough, just last week I was greeted by a ton of water on the basement floor. Seeing as my H2O heater was one year beyond warranty I ASSumed it had a leak. Only after having it replaced did I check the humidifier to discover the supply tubing had become disconnected, thus it had been the culprit. D'OH!
That's literally a one second (free) fix. I just never thought to look beyond the drain tube as part of my cursory humidifier "inspection". It was fine. The supply tube is inside the unit and out of sight/out of mind unless I'm changing the wick. Oh well... I look at it as preemptively replacing my H2O heater. However I bet that thing had years of life left in it, there was very little gunk/deposits/rust visible when it was drained.
Aprilaire Model 600 Whole-House Humidifier | Bypass Humidifier
hooked to HOT water line. I thought the theory there was that hot water evaporates easier/quicker than cold. Regardless, I'm too lazy to research now. It's done the job for 13+ years now, although I had to change out the controller a couple of years ago. I change the wick ("filter") probably 3-4 times a season. I have a H2O softener but the wicks still develop buildup and become less efficient over time. I have a well, so I'm not paying for water, but I'd expect the cost is negligible.
Oddly enough, just last week I was greeted by a ton of water on the basement floor. Seeing as my H2O heater was one year beyond warranty I ASSumed it had a leak. Only after having it replaced did I check the humidifier to discover the supply tubing had become disconnected, thus it had been the culprit. D'OH!
That's literally a one second (free) fix. I just never thought to look beyond the drain tube as part of my cursory humidifier "inspection". It was fine. The supply tube is inside the unit and out of sight/out of mind unless I'm changing the wick. Oh well... I look at it as preemptively replacing my H2O heater. However I bet that thing had years of life left in it, there was very little gunk/deposits/rust visible when it was drained.ERD50
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
You used a quote about a filter when asking me this question.... so I am not sure if they are related....
Yes, we do have a humidity problem when the heater runs when it is cold... not horrible bad so I do not do anything about it here.... but when I shock my cat when trying to pet her, she does not like it...
Right, when I saw 'media filter' I was thinking of the filter in a humidifier. Never mind
But heck, while I'm here I'll add that you need to make sure any filter like that has plenty of area so it doesn't restrict the flow too much.
-ERD50
ERD50
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Yep, hot water should evaporate quicker. I've had them done both ways, mine is on cold now, and it provides plenty of humidity. From the manual on yours:
Looks like either is fine on your model. If you want to split hairs, I suppose if your furnace is more efficient than your water heater, use cold
-ERD50
The Aprilaire units I've seen lack a lip or trough at the inside edge of their humdifying compartment. If the unit does not lean back toward its drain, water can leak out the front.
You all have much more positive experiences with this than I did.
Just before we got married, my husband moved into my house, that I'd lived in for several years. For Christmas (a week before we got married) he gave me a whole house humidifier. This was not something I wanted/needed/cared about. It was soooo not romantic, also.
(edited to add - this was when we lived in suburban Philly.)
He installs it a few weeks later, after we're back from the honeymoon, etc.
It never worked right.
He'd bought a cheap, off brand... botched the installation, and it broke within a month.
I did not miss it. But it's probably the one and only thing I can hang over his head as a truly awful gift.
We're close to the coast in San Diego - we have plenty of natural humidity. No need for one here.
Just before we got married, my husband moved into my house, that I'd lived in for several years. For Christmas (a week before we got married) he gave me a whole house humidifier. This was not something I wanted/needed/cared about. It was soooo not romantic, also.
(edited to add - this was when we lived in suburban Philly.)
He installs it a few weeks later, after we're back from the honeymoon, etc.
It never worked right.
He'd bought a cheap, off brand... botched the installation, and it broke within a month.
I did not miss it. But it's probably the one and only thing I can hang over his head as a truly awful gift.
We're close to the coast in San Diego - we have plenty of natural humidity. No need for one here.
Last edited:
45th Birthday
Recycles dryer sheets
We have had whole house humidifiers in all our houses, including Aprilaire in several. By now, I'm not sure how much difference there is amongst the brands, but they are pretty simple devices. Ours have always been connected to cold water.
They do help.
I think the colder it is outside, the lower you need to set the humidistat, but you should look online for advice on that.
I would look at an electronic air cleaner for the air filter. Our current house has two of those and when we did an addition I didn't pay much attention to the third they added and it is a media filter type. I don't think it works as well; I wish we had gotten an electronic one. More $$ upfront, but you can just put the filter elements in the dishwasher a few times a year instead of buying replacement filters.
They do help.
I think the colder it is outside, the lower you need to set the humidistat, but you should look online for advice on that.
I would look at an electronic air cleaner for the air filter. Our current house has two of those and when we did an addition I didn't pay much attention to the third they added and it is a media filter type. I don't think it works as well; I wish we had gotten an electronic one. More $$ upfront, but you can just put the filter elements in the dishwasher a few times a year instead of buying replacement filters.
ERD50
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
I'm guessing the installation was the problem, unless you just got a 'lemon'. See below...
I took a look after these posts, and I see now my current one is an AprilAire. The one in the old house was the generic 'General' Brand or something.
Yes, very simple, and really no difference in brands that I can see. It's just a generic plastic box, some generic filter media, and a generic solenoid valve and the generic humidistat. Anything should work, until it got so cheaply made that it fell off the duct!
Regarding the leaks earlier - I looked, and as I expected, there is a hole about an inch above the drain port. So if the drain port clogged, water would come out that hole before it would leak into the furnace. Seems reasonably fail-safe - you could put a water alarm on the floor if it was somewhere you wouldn't see a leak for a while.
Well, when it's really cold outside, you'll get condensation on windows/walls/attic, which can be bad. I'll turn the humidity down if I see that, but you still want it higher for comfort, you just can't always do it. Even in the latest cold spells, I've been able to keep it to where we don't get shocks from the carpet (~ 28~30% according to a couple digital humidity gauges), but I turn it higher (~ 35~40%) when I can. I've never been able to trust the old analog humidity gauges, they seem to be all over the map.
-ERD50
We have an Aprilair, installed with our replacement heater about 10 years ago. Does the trick; our air must be really dry, as I don't see much water making it to the drain. I replace the diffuser about every other year, if I remember to...
happy2bretired
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Don't forget to turn it to "summer" or off during the summer if you live in a humid area. Most people only need it during the winter when hot furness air dries everything out.
Quick update: We had the Aprilaire installed about two weeks ago with it running on 35%. My sons dry skin seems to be getting better with no noticeable rashes this week. To be fair last week was much much warmer than it has been over most of the winter which probably helped. The static electricity in the house is also now completely gone and our dog no longer looks like the picture below! So far so good.
So far so good.I have a whole house one in my new house. I really like it. At the old house I was adding several gallons of water to the free standing kind every day which was a PITA. With the new one I just swap out the antimicrobial filter once a year in the fall. The control system determines whether water is flowing or not, but there is a valve you can turn off if you want manual control in the off season.
There is some debate on whether the antimicrobial filters really do anything in the real world. They cost more than the ones with out the coating.
There is some debate on whether the antimicrobial filters really do anything in the real world. They cost more than the ones with out the coating.
- Joined
- Oct 13, 2010
- Messages
- 10,735
I figured I'd buy the appropriately sized AprilAire for my house, but it looks like AprilAire is carried by HVAC contractors and not Lowes or HomeDepot (I was going to install it myself). It looks like AprilAire has an outdoor sensor and adjusts the indor RH depending on how cold it is. The ones at the hardware stores (Hamilton and Honeywell) might not have that feature, but seem to use the same "technology". I wondered if anyone had any experience with those.
I've see plenty of AprilAire units sold on Amazon and ebay, you may want to check there.
The only other brand I've had was an Autoflo and a sibling had another model of Autoflo. The concepts are the same. From reading about the Aprilaire outdoor temp sensor, it make the humidity setting automatic vs. manually setting the humidity level (My unit is a manual setting). Once you set it, you almost never change it. The unit will turn off, if the level is reached.
Agreed, the one that I had installed was the Aprilaire 600 series and is a manually controlled unit. I was able to find the exact unit on eBay for less than $150 (see link). I noticed it was rated to handle up to 4000 square feet and it seems to be handling my 3000 square feet nicely.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Aprilaire-600M-Whole-House-Humidifier-/170975238611
ERD50
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
My older AprilAire does not have an outdoor temperature sensor. I occasionally set it to a lower humidity level when it gets down to zero or so outside - but generally go by condensation forming on the windows. It's no problem for me, and if I were to travel, I'd just set to the low side. It might be convenient, but not a big deal, IMO.
Compared to a stand-alone humidifier, it is already miles more convenient.
-ERD50
zinger1457
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
- Joined
- Jul 22, 2007
- Messages
- 3,229
When I look at the installation manuals for the whole house humidifiers they all seem to refer to the need to make connections to both the supply and return ducts. I have a forced gas heater but there are only supply ducts, there is a big vent under the heater with an outside air source that acts as the return but there are no return ducts. Does anyone have similar design and have a whole house humidifier connected to it?
- Joined
- Oct 13, 2010
- Messages
- 10,735
That sounds like a really inefficient way to condition your living space. If you pump air from outside to the inside, then you'd need to have somewhere for all that air to go back outside. Is your house in a special climate? Is it standard construction? If not, I'd take another look and see if there isn't a return air duct. SSomtimes its built into the house, for instance, just pulls air through between floor joists instead of having a true duct. If that is the case, the installation would proceed normally with the bypass duct installed on either side of the furnace.
PS: To the posters about Aprilaire vs other brands, I think I will order one from eBay, but I've decided to put it off until next season.
ERD50
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Yes, it sounds very, very odd to me.
I wonder if he is confusing the supply of outside air to the furnace for combustion with the inside air returns?
I agree, the air returns might be hidden in the walls and not obvious.
-ERD50
zinger1457
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
- Joined
- Jul 22, 2007
- Messages
- 3,229
This is in high desert of Arizona and the duct system is shared between the heater and an evapoartive cooler. The house is built on a slab and there is only a supply duct, I'm sure of that. The heater is centrally located in the house and there is a big air vent that sits under the heater that acts as the return line. It is a common duct design for homes with an evaporative cooler. Only use the heater ocassionally for maybe 3 months (Dec-Feb) of the year but definitely need a humidifier for those months. Currently use a big console model but it is a pain to fill.
ERD50
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
OK, that's very different from any set up I've seen, but I've lived in colder climates. Regardless, it seems an ineffective way to get the air circulated through the house. Does that same furnace blower drive the air through the evaporative cooler?
I've seen that some of the whole-house style humidifiers have their own fans, rather than depend on the flow from supply-return duct. Maybe that would work for you?
-ERD50
