We have one on the furnace but have never had it working. I see it was installed in 2003. It's a General brand.

I think I tried to make it work once and it didn't work but I didn't check the wick or valves, etc.

Are these worth having or fixing? If it is something that's going to break every few years I will keep running the stand alone humidifier.

I'm unfamiliar with General humidifiers, admittedly though I am not in the biz.

We had to have our A/C replaced this past summer, the company included an Aprilaire humidifier with the purchase.

I have never had an add on humidifier that worked, the old one which was on this house when we bought it never worked. So we shall see.

Not familiar with the General brand, but I'm sure that it has the same typical problems as most.

The thing I would check first is the water orifice. Locate it somewhere between the solenoid that controls water to the unit and the evaporative surface. Clean it with a very thin needle.

Make sure the solenoid works by setting the humidistat to it highest setting and check for water flow

I had an Aprilaire. Pain in the butt to keep the paddlewheel clean but if you don't mold will overtake it. I wouldn't have another one.

We had a HERRMIDIFIER brand installed on our lowboy furnace. It is designed to be installed on.the supply side rather than the return air side. It worked very well, but our water was so hard, frequent replacement of the filter medium was necessary. If I'm not mistaken, HERRMIDIFIER was out of Lancaster PA.

We have one similar to this:



Product page: GeneralAire Model 1042LH

It uses a "vapor pad" over which fresh water runs. Installed properly: The water only runs when the furnace is still firing.

Upsides: Always fresh water. No pad, etc. to get nasty. No float switch to fail or malfunction. Downsides: Pad has to be replaced annually. Has to have a drain for excess water.

It does kick out serious humidity. Too much, if you're not careful. We had moisture condensing on the ceiling along the walls on the western and northern exposures a couple winters. So much that I originally thought it was ice dams on the roof. Finally fixed that problem last winter with one of these:



Honeywell HumidiPro Digital Humidity Control

Outdoor sensor (wired) automatically readjusts the max humidity allowable based on outdoor temperature.

quote:

Originally posted by doublesharp:
I had an Aprilaire. Pain in the butt to keep the paddlewheel clean but if you don't mold will overtake it. I wouldn't have another one.

LOL
I didn't even know they had to be cleaned out...
but noticed the house was super dry.
Well.... the humidifier wasn't working. I think it jammed up with sediment. Cleaned it out with some vinegar on an old toothbrush (to loosen the sediment) and a dawn or palmolive soap/water mix. After it's cleaned out... you have to put in a new filter. Mine was all crusty.

When I lived in Anchorage, I paid to have an Aprilaire installed on my furnace.

When I lived in Calgary, my rental already had a Generalaire installed.

They both worked the same way (pad that water poured over top), and the main difference was that the Aprilaire worked better as it had the digital controller with the external thermometer whereas the Generalaire had the stupid, el cheapo dial (digital controller with the external thermometer are available for Generalaire, but I was renting in Calgary). The amount of humidity that can be in the air without condensation forming on windows (risk of rotting out window sills and mold forming like my buddy's house), and the external temperature probe combined with the digital controller insured the perfect amount of humidity was always present.

I had to heat several more months a year in Anchorage so I went through two pads per year, but in Calgary only wen through one pad per year.

if they force moist air through the duct work, why isn't there all kinds of mold build up in the duct work ?

wouldn't that be the perfect place for mold /mildew to propagate?

quote:

Originally posted by bendable:
if they force moist air through the duct work, why isn't there all kinds of mold build up in the duct work ?

wouldn't that be the perfect place for mold /mildew to propagate?

It isn't that moist. We have an Aprilaire and it's okay with a controller to make it go on and off based on humidity level in the house.

Pretty much just check the cartridge the water flows through annually - it clogs up with minerals. Plumbed with a tiny copper line off the hot water heater - runs when the furnace is on.

We had an add on one put in when we replaced our unit.
$100 bucks extra, including a solenoid valve, water line, wiring and a humidistat to control it.

It was just a single nozzle that hooked up via an icemaker type waterline kit. It simply sprayed a very fine mist into the air stream right before the gas heat chamber. It was on a humidistat inside beside the regular thermostat. It would only spray if the heat was running and the humidistat was calling for it as well.

It worked well with no maintenance at all for years. When the plastic water line split and leaked I shut it off and never bothered repairing it. By that time we had a house full, more cooking, more baths etc and didn't really need it.

The biggest drawback might be clogging due to hard water.

I have an Aprilaire 700, generally we like it when it is working, but something is always going wrong. I just had to replace the water solenoid, it was like 40 bucks on Amazon. I bought mine brand new and had the folks install it when we got new HVAC. If I had to do it over I would have bought it through the HVAC company so they would warranty the repair.

I prefer to install it on the supply side with hot water, make sure you use copper.

Aprilaire is the leader.

General and GeneralAire is the same and is ok. Just not as simple to keep clean and maintain.

Would never install one without an automatic controller.

If your water has a lot of calcium, you must stay on top of the cleaning or you will end up with water damage.

Looks like mine has a clog between the saddle valve and solenoid. Not sure which. I didn’t have time to break out the ladder to fully disassemble. The solenoid does click when the dial is turned on.

While I'm not familiar with that brand, all of those designs operate about the same. I like them, (others may not). But every winter I replace the pad, clean the system, and throughout the winter you need to adjust the setting (unless you have a digital one that adjusts automatically). I keep a temperature and humidity gauge in the house and adjust to try and maintain about 40%RH year round. In other words, I think they're worth fixing and maintaining. Consistent humidity results in fewer drywall cracks, cracking wood, and overall improves the comfort and feel of the home. My wife used to complain about being "hot" or "cold" when the thermostat was always the same. Once I got a consistent humidity, the complaining (about temperature) mostly subsided.

The most comfortable HVAC system I've every had controlled humidity year round. In the summer, it had a small and large compressor, and ran the small compressor for longer periods to dehumidify. In the winter, it would adjust the humidifier setting to maintain a RH setpoint. Alas, 2 years after I put that system in we moved.