Does anyone know about adding a humidifier to an existing forced hot air
furnace? I hear from a few people that it isn't a good idea because it will
ruin the furnace components. My house air is very dry and needs to be
helped. The heating contractor that I have said that they now make
humidifiers that don't ruin the furnace itself. He also said that a UV
light along with the humidifier helps with killing off mold. Question is:
should I believe him? I'm not sure. Does anyone know about this subject.
( It is a forced hot air furnace with a Beckett burner ).

A humidifier never ruined any furnace if it was instaled properly,
mainly meaning location. April Air has a nice unit that you set once
and forget . It senses outside temp and auto adjusts.

"Al D" wrote in message
news:CuTbc.71454$K91.159277@attbi_s02...
Does anyone know about adding a humidifier to an existing forced hot air
furnace? I hear from a few people that it isn't a good idea because it
will
ruin the furnace components. My house air is very dry and needs to be
helped. The heating contractor that I have said that they now make
humidifiers that don't ruin the furnace itself. He also said that a UV
light along with the humidifier helps with killing off mold. Question is:
should I believe him? I'm not sure. Does anyone know about this subject.
( It is a forced hot air furnace with a Beckett burner ).



First..the addition of a properly sized humidifier will work wonders.
Properly sized and installed, it will not hurt a thing...period.
Make sure they install a humidistat with it, and fully explain how it works
to you.

The UV-C band light is a good idea, but its going to kill more than mold. IT
WILL NOT kill any mold that the light does not hit, or mold spores that are
not in the air stream. If hes told you otherwise, or given you the
impression otherwise, he lied. The mold, viri, germicidial element MUST come
in contact with the UV-C band light emissions and do so with a properly
sized UV unit, or else its not going to do a thing. Some units will require
up to 3 units to be totally effective.
If he is charging you more than $400 for a good UV-C unit, he is charging
too much. Prices have come down, and while you can get these cheapy $150
units, they are NOT as effective in most cases as the contractor grade
units, and there is a reason for that. Comsumer grade units have a lower
output so that the makers are not getting sued from someone in a year or two
because they screwed up and installed one and actually plugged it up and
looked at the damn thing. I have worked on units, actually..installed a few
that after just a couple of seconds exposure in the return with say....an
arm, it would blister up and be "sunburned" due to the exposure from the
bulbs.

Do the UV units work? Yes.
Do the humidifiers work? Yes

The key to both those statements is, when installed and designed correctly.

Al D wrote:
Does anyone know about adding a humidifier to an existing forced hot
air furnace? I hear from a few people that it isn't a good idea
because it will ruin the furnace components.

Only a poorly designed, sized or installed unit will damage anything.

My house air is very
dry and needs to be helped. The heating contractor that I have said
that they now make humidifiers that don't ruin the furnace itself.

Very true.

He also said that a UV light along with the humidifier helps with
killing off mold.

Mold should not be a problem if everything else is working as it should.
It sounds like he is trying to sell you something you don't need. As always
get a second contractor to bid on the project. See what they say. It is
possible the first one saw something that triggered the mold issue, or it
may be that he has run into a number of such problems, maybe something local
maybe just him.

Question is: should I believe him? I'm not sure.
Does anyone know about this subject. ( It is a forced hot air furnace
with a Beckett burner ).

--
Joseph E. Meehan

26 + 6 = 1 It's Irish Math

"Joseph Meehan" wrote in message
...
Al D wrote:
Does anyone know about adding a humidifier to an existing forced hot
air furnace? I hear from a few people that it isn't a good idea
because it will ruin the furnace components.

Only a poorly designed, sized or installed unit will damage anything.

My house air is very
dry and needs to be helped. The heating contractor that I have said
that they now make humidifiers that don't ruin the furnace itself.

Very true.

He also said that a UV light along with the humidifier helps with
killing off mold.

Mold should not be a problem if everything else is working as it
should.
It sounds like he is trying to sell you something you don't need. As
always
get a second contractor to bid on the project. See what they say. It is
possible the first one saw something that triggered the mold issue, or it
may be that he has run into a number of such problems, maybe something
local
maybe just him.


Actually....when one is placed where it will shine directly onto the A-coil,
cleaning it and dirty sock syndrome are non existant.
Mold exists EVERYWHERE...just needs three things to take off...dark, water,
and food....a dirty A-coil is the ticket..and yes...we see mold in EVERY AC
unit at the coil at some time or another.


Question is: should I believe him? I'm not sure.
Does anyone know about this subject. ( It is a forced hot air furnace
with a Beckett burner ).

--
Joseph E. Meehan

26 + 6 = 1 It's Irish Math