Furnace Humidifier

[TnT~55]

I've been getting tired of having to fill up room humidifiers in my house every day, so I'm interested in getting a humidifier installed on my old furnace (from the late 70s).

What model do you all recommend? Who would you recommend for installation?

This guy seems to get good reviews - https://www.aprilaire.com/whole-hous...fier/model-600

[GoinAllTheWay]

Great thread idea. I have a furnace of similar vintage and would like to find the same. I've looked in the past but seems most people recommended not to bother due to the way they need to be installed on the furnace? Sure hope that was poor advice. The nightly trips to fill up the humidifier is indeed tiring.

[mrkajz44]

There is one installed in my furnace, but it's been a constant headache. One problem after another keeps cropping up to the point where I've just shut it off and now use portable ones in the rooms that need it the most. For how easy it is to run and maintain the portable ones compared to the furnace ones (at least based on my experience), I'd put up with the inconvenience of having to fill up the water constantly.

[sa226]

I installed on of these.

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B005UTVJMO/...FM12BPJS4J0ERR

Mainly because I put about 900 sqft of hardwood on our main floor.

It is a pretty easy DIY, depending on your experience. They even have a youtube video walking you through the installation.

The only "mod" I did was that for the water hookup, I installed a shutoff valve in an existing PEX line rather than use one of those crappy saddle valves.

Some complaints I have heard about these are the water usage. I just close the shutoff valve about halfway or more so that there is less wasted water.

It is a little unnerving cutting a massive hole in your main hot air furnace duct.

[wooohooo]

Originally Posted by sa226

I installed on of these.

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B005UTVJMO/...FM12BPJS4J0ERR

Mainly because I put about 900 sqft of hardwood on our main floor.

It is a pretty easy DIY, depending on your experience. They even have a youtube video walking you through the installation.

The only "mod" I did was that for the water hookup, I installed a shutoff valve in an existing PEX line rather than use one of those crappy saddle valves.

Some complaints I have heard about these are the water usage. I just close the shutoff valve about halfway or more so that there is less wasted water.

It is a little unnerving cutting a massive hole in your main hot air furnace duct.

I put in a similar one and yeah, watch out for those metal ducts. I underestimated how sharp they are and almost needed stitches. Pretty simple DIY.

[OldDutch]

I have that Aprilaire and it works like a charm. I had a General Air, but it kept getting clogged with hard water deposits and would fail. On winter 2 of that April Aire and it is running perfect.

1800 sq/ft above grade with a finished 800 sq/ft basement. Middle floor all hard wood.

[TnT~55]

Did you all install on older low efficiency furnaces or newer models? Like GoinAllTheWay I've heard that it isn't worth to install on older furnaces

[Bill Bumface]

I bought one of these, as I don't like the idea of thousands of litres of water getting dumped down the drain ever year:

http://www.desertspringproducts.com/...ers_rotary.asp

I installed it myself, the mount was pretty easy, adjusting the float switch was a bit finicky. I also had to wire in a relay so it would work with my Nest thermostat properly.

The negative of these is the water will calcify, as water is evaporated, but none is dumped, so all the minerals are left behind.

I plumbed a drain hose in, so I just turn a valve on the bottom of the unit every couple months in the winter to drain the minerals and clean the disks once a year.

No pads to replace or anything which is nice.