Do we need humidifier on HVAC in the Triangle? (Raleigh: hardwood floors, house) - Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, Cary - North Carolina (NC) -The Triangle Area - City-Data Forum

cstleddy · 03-05-2009, 11:17 AM

We are finding the air in our home very dry from using the furnace. We wake up in the morning with dried-out noses and throats; we shock eachother, our dog, electronic equipment, etc.; our skin is dry; we have hardwood floors on first floor and upstairs is all carpeted. We don't notice any damage to the hardwood floors.

We don't want to use a portable humidifier that you have to fill with water because our water has a lot of minerals and this type of machine leaves a powdery residue all over everything. We had an HVAC tech out this morning to see about getting a steam humidifier (he promised it would not leave a residue) attached to the HVAC and he thinks we need two (one up and one down). We just want to do the upstairs where the carpet is and this would run $800 to cover about 1400 sf. Down would be $900 to cover 1700 sf. but we'd add that later if we need it.

I'm curious what other's in the Triangle think. Is it worth doing given the short heating season here in the Triangle? Is this just an unusually cold winter? Are others doing this?

MI-Roger · 03-05-2009, 11:59 AM

With the symptoms you described, you need a humidifier. Not only can the dry air be detrimental to the structure of your home and furniture ude to drying and shrinkage of wood, but it can also be detrimental to your own health (colds and sinus problems) and the static electricity can damage expensive electronics.

If your furnace is located indoors you can have a unit installed in your air supply plenum located right at the furnace. I installed a new humidifier on our furnace this past fall (die hard D-I-Y'er) but later discovered the cost to have one professionally installed would have been almost identical to my costs of ~$300.
Our home is ~1750 sq ft two story.

Call around for additional quotes. Or if a D-I-Y'er try www.IAQsource.com. It is getting harder and harder to find this type of equipment in hardware and big box stores for home owner installation. You will need a water supply, a draining method, and familiarity with furnace controls.

Grawburg · 03-05-2009, 02:16 PM

Are you sure it's a *steam* humidifier? I don't see steam humidifiers in residential applications.

cstleddy · 03-05-2009, 02:54 PM

Grawburg: Yes, Honeywell steam humidifiers. Uses 70% less water to produce more moisture. The literature states it as a "true steam" humidfier.

MI-Roger: the HVAC company is proposing to install both units like you describe in your post. One in each ventilation system (we have two separate systems), attached to a water supply & drains and operated by Honeywell's IAQ control. The only thing we need to do is change the filter annually. I think this is the water filter as the tech mentioned it filters the water.

We keep going back and forth on whether to invest in such a thing. I've yet to hear from anyone else in the Triangle (except you, MI-Roger) who has a humidifier installed to their HVAC. Most use the portable units if they need it at all. This is our first winter here in Raleigh and I don't know if what we are experiencing as far as the dryness is typical. Some people have told us this winter has been unusually cold. The colder it is the more our furnace runs and the drier our inside air becomes.

sacredgrooves · 03-05-2009, 04:09 PM

I see them on maybe 1 out of 50 furnaces. They do work though if the dry furnace air bothers you. I would recommend calling Justin Woodlief 796-2017 and check his prices against your current quote. The guy is fantastic! I use him on my own house, as does most of my family...and I know a tremendous amount of HVAC techs

I have no vested interest in referring him, I just know he is about as honest as they come, and tends to quote lower prices.

Grawburg · 03-05-2009, 05:05 PM

I have one in my house. Keep in mind something. The humidifier only works when the heat is actually running. We have a very well insualted house so I set the tstat to 69 and even when it's cold outside, the unit doesn't run that often so we don't get as much moisture added as we might like. You'll be humidifying only when the heat is on and we have a cool mist humidifier when it gets too dry to summplement.

MI-Roger · 03-05-2009, 07:24 PM

The Honeywell True Steam humidifiers require more than an annual filter change. You need to periodically dismantle the unit, flush and clean the water resevoir, and clean the heating element. There is an external filter in the water supply line that needs to be replaced annually. My personal experience with water resevoirs on humidifiers is that they are very difficult to clean, it is usualy easiest to replace the resevoir every two years - an added cost.

Go to Honeywell's website or the IAQsource website I referenced earlier and read the owner's manual for the models recommended to you on the bid you received. Maybe I looked at the wrong unit, but it appears to require more maintenance that what you were told.

How complex is the IAQ controller? Does it require an outside air temperature sensor to operate? If so, will this sensor be non-obtrusive to view; protected from kids, pets, lawn mowers, etc?

I am a firm believer in the K.I.S.S. principle (Keep it simple, stupid!) and the unit I installed (an Aprilaire 500M) is about as simple as they come. I need to manually adjust a humidistat once per month during the heating season, replace a $7 expanded metal evaporation grid once per year, and replace a small in-line filter (under $1) every two years. But I no longer have to scrape sediment off a water resevoir, or soak it in caustic solutions, to clean! The only "moving" part on my unit is a solenoid valve that opens to allow water flow when the gas valve is energized on the furnace.

The other major brands all make simple units. The less there is to go wrong, the less it will cost to maintain.

cstleddy · 03-06-2009, 06:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MI-Roger

The Honeywell True Steam humidifiers require more than an annual filter change. You need to periodically dismantle the unit, flush and clean the water resevoir, and clean the heating element. There is an external filter in the water supply line that needs to be replaced annually. My personal experience with water resevoirs on humidifiers is that they are very difficult to clean, it is usualy easiest to replace the resevoir every two years - an added cost.

I am a firm believer in the K.I.S.S. principle (Keep it simple, stupid!) and the unit I installed (an Aprilaire 500M) is about as simple as they come.

MI-Roger, your first reference about the maintenance of the unit is most likely true...our quote included an optional $344/yr to maintain the all the HVAC equip incl the humidifier. That's a lot of annual maintenance!

In reference to your second point, we had an Aprilaire system in one of my former residences. It was really nasty to change the metal filter and keep the drain tube cleared. The water there was awful. I'm not sure why the tech didn't suggest this unit but I'll look into it further.

Grawburg, Yes, the tech did explain that the way this system would be hooked up that it would only be working when the furnace was actually blowing.

Sacredgrooves, thanks very much for the statistic! That's very interesting. Also, thank you for the referral.

geoff2v · 03-06-2009, 07:46 AM

I looked into getting a humidifer installed, but never did. I will next year (I write as I sit here, sniffling in the continued dry air...)

I'm not certain I'm going to get systems for the whole house. The furnace for upstairs is in the attic, and the HVAC guy didn't seem thrilled about the concept of tapping into the water line upstairs given the consequences of a leak. So I may do a central system for the downstairs furnace, and get portable models for the bedrooms. They're a bit of a pain in the neck, but I've gotten used to it.

tsmithgolf2000 · 03-06-2009, 08:16 AM

I had a humidifier installed (Aprilaire 600a) about 15 months ago. I could tell the difference almost immediately as my nose/skin was not dry when I woke up in the morning. I only installed one on my downstairs unit as the HVAC company recommended that we not install one on the upstairs due to leak potentials and the fact the the air will mix throughout the house with the downstairs unit and will actually humidify the whole house. One thing I wish I had done differently is I wish I would have run hot water to the humidifier instead of cold water. If I would have run hot water to the unit I could have set the humidifier to run when the fan was on instead of just when the heat was on. That way you can set your thermostat for the fan to "circ" which will turn on the fan roughly 15-20 mins every hour which would add more humidity to the house as we do have a tight house and the heat doesn't run for lengthy periods of time. Very minor problem as it's not a big deal as the humidifier is doing a good job. When my builder came back to do my 1 year punch list he remarked on how good my hardwoods/trim looked due to the humidifier compared to my neighbor who didn't get a humidifier installed and there trim/hardwoods are really drying out.