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#1
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adding a humidifier to a furnace
Hi,
I am new at this. We bought a 70+ y.o. house here in Ontario. The summers are warm and moist and the winters are cold and dry. The A/C was added onto the furnace, bu there is no humidifier for the winter. I opened up the ducting immediately above the furnace and the condensor for the A/C is sitting right there. As far as I can see, if I add a humidifier the only place to put the small duct carrying the moist air would go in immediately in front of the condensor. Would there be a problem with this? I am assuming as the A/C is off in the winter, the condensor is off. And with the air blowing by when the furnace is going that the moist air isn't going to sit around on the condensor. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks. |
#2
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adding a humidifier to a furnace
On Feb 8, 9:26 am, "brechmos" wrote:
Hi, I am new at this. We bought a 70+ y.o. house here in Ontario. The summers are warm and moist and the winters are cold and dry. The A/C was added onto the furnace, bu there is no humidifier for the winter. I opened up the ducting immediately above the furnace and the condensor for the A/C is sitting right there. As far as I can see, if I add a humidifier the only place to put the small duct carrying the moist air would go in immediately in front of the condensor. Would there be a problem with this? I am assuming as the A/C is off in the winter, the condensor is off. And with the air blowing by when the furnace is going that the moist air isn't going to sit around on the condensor. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks. On my system, the humidifier is mounted on the return duct, close to the furnace. Then there is a small 6" duct coming out of the supply duct going into the humidifier. |
#3
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adding a humidifier to a furnace
On Feb 8, 9:34 am, "Mikepier" wrote:
On Feb 8, 9:26 am, "brechmos" wrote: Hi, I am new at this. We bought a 70+ y.o. house here in Ontario. The summers are warm and moist and the winters are cold and dry. The A/C was added onto the furnace, bu there is no humidifier for the winter. I opened up the ducting immediately above the furnace and the condensor for the A/C is sitting right there. As far as I can see, if I add a humidifier the only place to put the small duct carrying the moist air would go in immediately in front of the condensor. Would there be a problem with this? I am assuming as the A/C is off in the winter, the condensor is off. And with the air blowing by when the furnace is going that the moist air isn't going to sit around on the condensor. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks. On my system, the humidifier is mounted on the return duct, close to the furnace. Then there is a small 6" duct coming out of the supply duct going into the humidifier. Right, I will mount my humidifier on the return duct close to the furnace. That end of things I am all right with. The small duct that comes out of the humidifier has to go into the supply duct (hope I have the word right, the part with the warm air) right above the furnace. Right at that point is the A/C condensor, inside the ducting. Is it all right to shoot the moist air over the condensor? |
#4
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adding a humidifier to a furnace
My humidifier blows directly onto the A/C coil and works just fine. My prior
furnace/humidifier was set up the same way and also worked fine for 20+ years. I live in a very cold climate in the Northeast U.S. "brechmos" wrote in message oups.com... On Feb 8, 9:34 am, "Mikepier" wrote: On Feb 8, 9:26 am, "brechmos" wrote: Hi, I am new at this. We bought a 70+ y.o. house here in Ontario. The summers are warm and moist and the winters are cold and dry. The A/C was added onto the furnace, bu there is no humidifier for the winter. I opened up the ducting immediately above the furnace and the condensor for the A/C is sitting right there. As far as I can see, if I add a humidifier the only place to put the small duct carrying the moist air would go in immediately in front of the condensor. Would there be a problem with this? I am assuming as the A/C is off in the winter, the condensor is off. And with the air blowing by when the furnace is going that the moist air isn't going to sit around on the condensor. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks. On my system, the humidifier is mounted on the return duct, close to the furnace. Then there is a small 6" duct coming out of the supply duct going into the humidifier. Right, I will mount my humidifier on the return duct close to the furnace. That end of things I am all right with. The small duct that comes out of the humidifier has to go into the supply duct (hope I have the word right, the part with the warm air) right above the furnace. Right at that point is the A/C condensor, inside the ducting. Is it all right to shoot the moist air over the condensor? |
#5
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adding a humidifier to a furnace
On Feb 8, 10:37 am, "Smarty" wrote:
My humidifier blows directly onto the A/C coil and works just fine. My prior furnace/humidifier was set up the same way and also worked fine for 20+ years. I live in a very cold climate in the Northeast U.S. Great. I'll see if I can hook it up tonight. Thanks. |
#6
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adding a humidifier to a furnace
On Feb 8, 10:46 am, "brechmos" wrote:
On Feb 8, 10:37 am, "Smarty" wrote: My humidifier blows directly onto the A/C coil and works just fine. My prior furnace/humidifier was set up the same way and also worked fine for 20+ years. I live in a very cold climate in the Northeast U.S. Great. I'll see if I can hook it up tonight. Thanks. It's the AC evaporator, not the condenser that you are looking at. The main thing to look out for is not to damage the evaporator while you're cutting the necessary hole for the humidifier. IMO, by far the best humidifiers are the Aprilaire. And I like the self powered models, (760) that don't shunt air from the hot air plenum back to the return. I've had the 760 for 7 years now. It's very easy to service, the whole thing just lifts off. All I do is clean it once a year and replace the media once every 2 years. |
#7
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adding a humidifier to a furnace
On Feb 8, 11:02 am, wrote:
On Feb 8, 10:46 am, "brechmos" wrote: On Feb 8, 10:37 am, "Smarty" wrote: My humidifier blows directly onto the A/C coil and works just fine. My prior furnace/humidifier was set up the same way and also worked fine for 20+ years. I live in a very cold climate in the Northeast U.S. Great. I'll see if I can hook it up tonight. Thanks. It's the AC evaporator, not the condenser that you are looking at. The main thing to look out for is not to damage the evaporator while you're cutting the necessary hole for the humidifier. IMO, by far the best humidifiers are the Aprilaire. And I like the self powered models, (760) that don't shunt air from the hot air plenum back to the return. I've had the 760 for 7 years now. It's very easy to service, the whole thing just lifts off. All I do is clean it once a year and replace the media once every 2 years. I have the Aprilaire also, but it rarely turns on. I have to set my humidstat past 30% for it to turn on. Maybe my air in the house is not that dry. |
#8
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adding a humidifier to a furnace
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#9
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adding a humidifier to a furnace
I too especially like the Aprilaire self powered units, and also use / love
the 760. I'm on my third Aprilaire in 34 years, the first two each lasting nearly 20 years apiece. I would imagine that a small Dremel cutting wheel or nibblers will cut the plenum skin without risk to the coil. Smarty wrote in message oups.com... On Feb 8, 10:46 am, "brechmos" wrote: On Feb 8, 10:37 am, "Smarty" wrote: My humidifier blows directly onto the A/C coil and works just fine. My prior furnace/humidifier was set up the same way and also worked fine for 20+ years. I live in a very cold climate in the Northeast U.S. Great. I'll see if I can hook it up tonight. Thanks. It's the AC evaporator, not the condenser that you are looking at. The main thing to look out for is not to damage the evaporator while you're cutting the necessary hole for the humidifier. IMO, by far the best humidifiers are the Aprilaire. And I like the self powered models, (760) that don't shunt air from the hot air plenum back to the return. I've had the 760 for 7 years now. It's very easy to service, the whole thing just lifts off. All I do is clean it once a year and replace the media once every 2 years. |
#11
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adding a humidifier to a furnace
Sounds like you ought to call a heating guy, and get it put in
right. A humidifier won't hurt the condensor, cause that sits outdoors. The evaporator gets wet when it runs in the summer, so that's not an issue. Evaporator has a drain, right? Cause it gets wet. There are some jobs where it takes longer (and costs more) to do it yourself. Unless you're really good with tools, this is one of thems. -- Christopher A. Young You can't shout down a troll. You have to starve them. .. "brechmos" wrote in message oups.com... Hi, I am new at this. We bought a 70+ y.o. house here in Ontario. The summers are warm and moist and the winters are cold and dry. The A/C was added onto the furnace, bu there is no humidifier for the winter. I opened up the ducting immediately above the furnace and the condensor for the A/C is sitting right there. As far as I can see, if I add a humidifier the only place to put the small duct carrying the moist air would go in immediately in front of the condensor. Would there be a problem with this? I am assuming as the A/C is off in the winter, the condensor is off. And with the air blowing by when the furnace is going that the moist air isn't going to sit around on the condensor. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks. |
#12
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adding a humidifier to a furnace
On Feb 8, 10:05 pm, "Stormin Mormon" cayoung61-
wrote: Sounds like you ought to call a heating guy, and get it put in right. A humidifier won't hurt the condensor, cause that sits outdoors. The evaporator gets wet when it runs in the summer, so that's not an issue. Evaporator has a drain, right? Cause it gets wet. There are some jobs where it takes longer (and costs more) to do it yourself. Unless you're really good with tools, this is one of thems. -- While I agree there are some jobs that it doesn;t make sense to do, I don't think installing a humidifier is all that difficult or requires special tools or skills. Only non common tool might be a pair of tin snips. I put in my Aprilaire 760 and it was fairly easy. I'd say easier than putting in a garbage disposal. Christopher A. Young You can't shout down a troll. You have to starve them. . "brechmos" wrote in message oups.com... Hi, I am new at this. We bought a 70+ y.o. house here in Ontario. The summers are warm and moist and the winters are cold and dry. The A/C was added onto the furnace, bu there is no humidifier for the winter. I opened up the ducting immediately above the furnace and the condensor for the A/C is sitting right there. As far as I can see, if I add a humidifier the only place to put the small duct carrying the moist air would go in immediately in front of the condensor. Would there be a problem with this? I am assuming as the A/C is off in the winter, the condensor is off. And with the air blowing by when the furnace is going that the moist air isn't going to sit around on the condensor. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - |
#13
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adding a humidifier to a furnace
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#14
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adding a humidifier to a furnace
On Sat, 10 Feb 2007 07:38:36 -0600, Mike Hartigan
wrote: While I agree there are some jobs that it doesn;t make sense to do, I don't think installing a humidifier is all that difficult or requires special tools or skills. Only non common tool might be a pair of tin snips. I put in my Aprilaire 760 and it was fairly easy. I'd say easier than putting in a garbage disposal. I agree. Installing a humidifier is one of those jobs that seems daunting until you actually do it ("You installed it yourself? Cool!"). With regard to hacking the furnace, all you're doing is cutting a hole in some sheet metal and covering it with a humidifier. I know what you mean. I thought if I cut a hole in that metal, all the good heating and cooling spirits would come out and get lost. Sort of like drilling a hole in the side of my car's engine. But it worked out ok. The humidifier came with a template. I just had to make sure there was nothing hiding behind the hole I was going to make. And we've just ascertained that the location of the hole is not too critical. Nothing goes 'inside' the furnace. The difficult parts are the plumbing and the electrical hookups, and even those are pretty low on the DIY difficulty scale, IMO. While I don't give a blanket reject to the 'Hire a Pro' mantra, I think that this is one of those jobs that readily lends itself to a do-it-yourselfer. |
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