We're going to have a whole-house humidifier installed. We don't want
to go through another winter with cracked skin and static electricity.
We have a 1970's-era two story house of perhaps 2000 square feet plus
a basement.

We were given a Honeywell Enviracaire elite HE225 flow-through
humidifier by family members who used to have installed on their
furnace. They used it rarely and said they had trouble adjusting it
to a good setting. Not sure if it was user error or just a mediocre
model.

We have a drain as well as electric close to our furnace so we can
install just about any model.

Anyone have any experience with the different types?

engwar wrote:
We're going to have a whole-house humidifier installed. We don't want
to go through another winter with cracked skin and static electricity.
We have a 1970's-era two story house of perhaps 2000 square feet plus
a basement.

We were given a Honeywell Enviracaire elite HE225 flow-through
humidifier by family members who used to have installed on their
furnace. They used it rarely and said they had trouble adjusting it
to a good setting. Not sure if it was user error or just a mediocre
model.

We have a drain as well as electric close to our furnace so we can
install just about any model.

Anyone have any experience with the different types?

Hi,
Tried all 3 types. Our water is very hard. Now I ended up with Aprilaire
flow-thru and IMO, this is the best type. B4 season starts, I clean the
pad with CLR. Humidity is very well maintained per humidistat setting.
Wonder if that Honeywell one has a water flow regulating orifice
mismatched?

On Nov 2, 11:03*pm, engwar wrote:
We're going to have a whole-house humidifier installed. *We don't want
to go through another winter with cracked skin and static electricity.
We have a 1970's-era two story house of perhaps 2000 square feet plus
a basement.

We were given a Honeywell Enviracaire elite HE225 flow-through
humidifier by family members who used to have installed on their
furnace. They used it rarely and said they had trouble *adjusting it
to a good setting. Not sure if it was user error or just a mediocre
model.

We have a drain as well as electric close to our furnace so we can
install just about any model.

Anyone have any experience with the different types?

April Air has a model with an outdoor thermometer, you set the control
in the house to just below the point of condensation on glass and it
will maintain the correct amount of humidity by tracking outside temp,
its a set and forget unit. Without this feature you will be constantly
adjusting humididty.

Tony Hwang wrote:

engwar wrote:
We're going to have a whole-house humidifier installed. We don't want
to go through another winter with cracked skin and static electricity.
We have a 1970's-era two story house of perhaps 2000 square feet plus
a basement.

-snip-
Tried all 3 types. Our water is very hard. Now I ended up with Aprilaire
flow-thru and IMO, this is the best type. B4 season starts, I clean the
pad with CLR. Humidity is very well maintained per humidistat setting.

-snip-

An Aprilaire 600a is my first whole house humidifier- but after years
of messing with dozens of room humidifiers, I have to second Tony's
recommendation.

We just completed one season with it- but our water is super hard but
it worked well all season and I see no signs of calcium on the unit
itself.

Jim

On Nov 3, 6:22*am, ransley wrote:
On Nov 2, 11:03*pm, engwar wrote:

We're going to have a whole-house humidifier installed. *We don't want
to go through another winter with cracked skin and static electricity.
We have a 1970's-era two story house of perhaps 2000 square feet plus
a basement.

We were given a Honeywell Enviracaire elite HE225 flow-through
humidifier by family members who used to have installed on their
furnace. They used it rarely and said they had trouble *adjusting it
to a good setting. Not sure if it was user error or just a mediocre
model.

We have a drain as well as electric close to our furnace so we can
install just about any model.

Anyone have any experience with the different types?

April Air has a model with an outdoor thermometer, you set the control
in the house to just below the point of condensation on glass and it
will maintain the correct amount of humidity by tracking outside temp,
its a set and forget unit. Without this feature you will be constantly
adjusting humididty.


Agree with Ransley and the others that have recommended Aprilaire. I
have the 760 and it was trouble free for 12 years until I dropped it
during servicing. Doh! Now I have the 760A which is the new
version. All I ever did was change the evaporator panel about every
2-3 years.

As Ransley said, it has an outdoor temp probe that automatically
reduces the humidity level as the temp outside drops. Really nice
feature. Given that you can get this top of the line unit for $220 or
so and the work of installing it, IMO it doesn't make sense to fool
around with some hand me down unit. Suppose you cut a hole for it,
then it doesn't work. Different unit will likely have a diff size
opening, etc.

When I worked for Sears, my trainer told me that the
rotating drum types are a breeding ground for bacteria.
Warm, wet, and stagnant pond of water. I can see that.

The Aprilaire flow through types I like them. They do waste
a bit of water, but that's life. Use hot water from near the
top of the water tank, cause you get a lot better
evaporation.

Mist types, I have no experience with them.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..


"engwar" wrote in message
...
We're going to have a whole-house humidifier installed. We
don't want
to go through another winter with cracked skin and static
electricity.
We have a 1970's-era two story house of perhaps 2000 square
feet plus
a basement.

We were given a Honeywell Enviracaire elite HE225
flow-through
humidifier by family members who used to have installed on
their
furnace. They used it rarely and said they had trouble
adjusting it
to a good setting. Not sure if it was user error or just a
mediocre
model.

We have a drain as well as electric close to our furnace so
we can
install just about any model.

Anyone have any experience with the different types?

On Nov 2, 11:03*pm, engwar wrote:
We're going to have a whole-house humidifier installed. *We don't want
to go through another winter with cracked skin and static electricity.
We have a 1970's-era two story house of perhaps 2000 square feet plus
a basement.

We were given a Honeywell Enviracaire elite HE225 flow-through
humidifier by family members who used to have installed on their
furnace. They used it rarely and said they had trouble *adjusting it
to a good setting. Not sure if it was user error or just a mediocre
model.

We have a drain as well as electric close to our furnace so we can
install just about any model.

Anyone have any experience with the different types?


The mist injector types are more prone to cause corrosion and dripping/
runoff inside the ductwork. Not familiar with drums, but would say it
adds too many moving parts and would be "pooling" water for the drum
which can be a source for bacteria. The flow through types
(Aprilaire) dont have these issues. In all cases dont let the
installer use a damn saddle valve, have him sweat in a proper soft
copper fitting with a good quality ball valve.