The Home Improvement Thread

[sa226]

Is it a flow through humidifier? Powered with a fan and weird honeycomb filters?

If so, I have a similar one and the waste is pretty bad, the best you can do is to turn the water valve on only a quarter turn or whatever works best. Still wasteful though.

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[topfiverecords]

Originally Posted by MoneyGuy

Yours does the same? Would a different humidifier work differently or do they all work the same? I’m a water miser and this bothers me.

Mine is old and cheap so water just continuously pours over the ‘filter’ when the furnace kicks on and drains out. I’m not planning on staying in this house much longer so haven’t looked into replacing it, but also curious if any of the newer/higher end units are more efficient.

[Ducay]

I have a Desert Springs drum humidifier (they call it a rotary disc humidifier) and it works great. Second house I've installed it at, this unit been going strong for 7 years without replacement parts, etc. Very happy with it. Just a cleaning couple times a year is all it needs.

Basically a plastic drum made up on tiny wafer discs that have pores in them. And it constantly rotates and the drum dips back into the water as it goes round picking up water. The hot air is forced through the wafers and evaporates the water into the air.

Generally comes with a electronic valve that drains/refills the water (you can do it manually too) every couple days, so there is really minimal water usage.

[MoneyGuy]

Looks good but my current model is only 18 months old. The cost of a new one at this stage doesn’t seem a reasonable solution. Maybe when it needs replacement.

[Fuzz]

Have you tried turning down the humidity setting? Maybe it's trying to keep humidity at an unreasonable level, so just keeps running?

[mrkajz44]

Mine runs that way too - I've closed the water value running to the humidifier as much as possible as a way of reducing the amount of wasted water, but I can still hear a bunch running down the drain.

[Nufy]

Originally Posted by MoneyGuy

Okay, I had a humidifier installed and it has a hose from the unit to a floor drain. When the furnace runs the humidifier runs (so far so good).

The problem is that the water runs almost constantly in winter. Is it necessary for all the water to be running down the drain? I talked to my installer who said that this is a necessary price of having humidity, which I don’t know if that’s so.

Sounds like a valve is stuck open. Flow Through / Drum Style or others should have some type of level control valve to stop flow of water when the tray is full or when water is not required.

it should not be running continuously...

[Red]

Originally Posted by MoneyGuy

Okay, I had a humidifier installed and it has a hose from the unit to a floor drain. When the furnace runs the humidifier runs (so far so good).

The problem is that the water runs almost constantly in winter. Is it necessary for all the water to be running down the drain? I talked to my installer who said that this is a necessary price of having humidity, which I don’t know if that’s so.

If the water is running while the furnace is off then you have a problem. There should be a solenoid that controls the on/off water flow. If that solenoid is bad then you may be able to buy a replacement at home depot. They have some standard types there.

[MoneyGuy]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Have you tried turning down the humidity setting? Maybe it's trying to keep humidity at an unreasonable level, so just keeps running?

I’m about to do just that. I think winter humidity is supposed to be 30-60%. I could set it at the low end and run our portable humidifier especially at night.

Edit: humidity is currently 40%. Seems about right.

[Fuzz]

Does yours have a winter/summer mode flap?

[Wormius]

Has anybody put in those interior plantation shutters for their windows? Any complaints or problems?

[MoneyGuy]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Does yours have a winter/summer mode flap?

Yes, it’s set to winter, 40% humidity.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by Ducay

I have a Desert Springs drum humidifier (they call it a rotary disc humidifier) and it works great. Second house I've installed it at, this unit been going strong for 7 years without replacement parts, etc. Very happy with it. Just a cleaning couple times a year is all it needs.

I have the same. They are awesome. I just throw some vinegar in and flip it on for a few minutes to clean once or twice a year. I hated the idea of throwing out pads and dumping clean water down the drain.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

What's the best option for dimable LED bulbs. I've got since 75W incandescent in my basement theater room that I run at a pretty low level when watching TV. I tried a dimable LED flood bulb before, but it didn't dim past about 25%.

I'm fine with replacing fixtures if I need to, but a good standard bulb would be preferable. I've already got an LED compatible dimmer installed. Anyone found an LED that dims really low?

Late to the party, but if your dimmer is LED compatible it likely has an adjustment for the minimum dimming cutoff. This is for bulbs that flicker under too low of voltage. If you didn't know that, worth a try to adjust the setting lower. I assume this is what you already meant though, that they flicker below 25%.

[Ducay]

Originally Posted by Red

If the water is running while the furnace is off then you have a problem. There should be a solenoid that controls the on/off water flow. If that solenoid is bad then you may be able to buy a replacement at home depot. They have some standard types there.

Just depends on how the humidifier is wired up.

Some have a dedicated humidistat on the unit, some nearby in the vent stack, some are run off of the thermostat, some the furnace, some the fan, and finally - some are just wired to have power 24/7 directly from a transformer.

Sure, the ideal is to have it driven by the thermostat/furnace so operation is limited to when the fan/furnace is running, but it not lining up to that doesn't necessarily mean something is broken.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Bill Bumface

Late to the party, but if your dimmer is LED compatible it likely has an adjustment for the minimum dimming cutoff. This is for bulbs that flicker under too low of voltage. If you didn't know that, worth a try to adjust the setting lower. I assume this is what you already meant though, that they flicker below 25%.

Right, forgot about that. I've only got one bulb I was sampling from a few years ago. At minimum, it would only dim to about 25%. It wouldn't turn off or flicker at low. I'll have to check that. On incandescent it gracefully goes through the full range.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Right, forgot about that. I've only got one bulb I was sampling from a few years ago. At minimum, it would only dim to about 25%. It wouldn't turn off or flicker at low. I'll have to check that. On incandescent it gracefully goes through the full range.

Yeah the LEDs will still provide loads of light where regular incandescents would have dimmed to an imperceptible level. I am surprised that modern dimmers haven’t adapted. The circuits inside the dimmer should allow them to go through the whole range for LEDs and incandescent bulbs.

[Bill Bumface]

Anyone know if a dusk/dawn timer switch exists that is both 3-way and works with LED lights? The Honeywell one I bought at the time was only available for incandescents.

[burn_this_city]

Originally Posted by Wormius

Has anybody put in those interior plantation shutters for their windows? Any complaints or problems?

We had them in our house when we moved in. I liked the look of them a lot but they are a pain in the ass.

To open our windows would sometimes involve moving furniture to deal with their swing radius.

The shutters themselves were entirely made of wood and held together with small staples. Those eventually come out and you have ghetto california shutters with open slats or going the wrong direction.

They also leak a ton of light and are no good with televisions and bedrooms.

We ended up replacing them all with the accordion style blinds.

TLDR, all show no go.

[jwslam]

Originally Posted by Bill Bumface

Anyone know if a dusk/dawn timer switch exists that is both 3-way and works with LED lights? The Honeywell one I bought at the time was only available for incandescents.

TP-Link smart switch would work
https://www.amazon.ca/TP-Link-Switch...004680&sr=8-11

They sell these in sets of 2 but you only really need to smart one side. Therefore the box can smart two different lights.

Currently one of the lowest prices I've seen for this @ $39.99