Humifer's steam??

[heatpumpguru]

I have a customer who contacted me off this site,both he and his wife are opera singers. They had asked me about NORTEC steam humidfers because dry throat is not good for persons who makes their living singing. We seem to be looking at Carrier 58vmr(variable speed oil furnace) with 38ydb 2 speed heat pump and Thermidistat control(Infinty cannot work with the oil furnace F.Y.I.). I was looking at Aprilaire 700 with hot water connection to unit.I had just heard steam humidifers were a pain. Home has bare sheetmetal in crawl space,40 year old home.R-0 floors. I am recommending ductwrap and insulation in floor area.He will read this so be candid,but you sell and stand behind your brand let me do mine.Thanks!!!

[beenthere]

Not familiar with Nortec.

We use Auto Flo by EWC, it will run the blower to add humidity even without a call for heat from the stat, has auto blow down to minimize maintaince.
We find they work better with heat pumps then standard humidifiers, even when they're hooked to hot water.

Check to see if Nortec has simular features.

Always a good idea to insulate duct work.

We use the Aprilaire for cost concerned customers.

[gruvn]

I have used Nortec several times in small lab applications, if this is where you are going ?

If you truly want to maintain lets say a 50% humidity level, it will have high operting costs and will need a control system. The humidifier itself works pretty well, you can send it a 2-10 signal, with a high discharge air humidistat and it controls well enough for a + or - 5 % application.So if 45 % to 55% is ok then it is ok, If you want to maintain within 2% then forget it, its not good enough to control within those specs.

And remember there will be times when you will need to dump perfectly good air just to bring in new air so that you can humidify it.

Basically you will be letting humidity be the priority, over the rest of the system functions.

Controlling humidity is not an easy task, ecspecially in a home. What humidity setting and range are aceptable to them ?

Their is a pretty high maintenance factor for those things also, a typical canister is only good for about 2000 hours of operation. They are probably around 400 to replace them, replacement is easy though.


PS,

Nortec can do the controls for the humidifier, but won't be able to help you on the control of the rest of the equipment in the sytem.

To answer the steam is a pain question, yes it is, but you can't beat ateam for hunidity control, it basically is humidity. With better control and better performance , comes more maintenance.

[Edited by gruvn on 10-05-2005 at 07:02 AM]

[gruvn]

Thik of it this way, if you use steam with a control package you will have no problem getting the discharge air up to 95% relative when needed, and you cannot approach that performance with a water humidifier. So if you go to water the system will be less capable of adding humidity to the space.This can hurt you when demand is high,

You will have to do some calculations to find out what equipment you need to install to meet their needs.

Heatpumpman,

I'm going to try to sun it upo because I need to leave for work,

Their spec will dictate the type of system they need , so that is a critical piece of info tht you need to get from them, now understanding that soemtimes a customer's spec will change once they are given a ballpark price I feel that I should give you at least a ballpark price of an installation like the one talked about above, I know that it seems against the rules, but it is only to be used so that they can have enough info to determine their spec, to go with a well controlled steam humidifier, I would hink that they are going to spend 7 to 10 thousand dollars on the equipment,installation and controls for it. That is to be added to the cost of the rest of the system that you are estimating.



[Edited by gruvn on 10-05-2005 at 07:39 AM]

[simpleman]

Gruven is thinking big..but what new.

If you need more capacity then a steam humidifider will give
you in a home enviroment..then you need to look more at the
envelope and see how she wrap.

In today home I dont see how a steam humidifider could not
fit the bill.

Gruven..I really enjoy reading your reply this morning lots
of good infro.







[Edited by simpleman on 10-05-2005 at 08:00 AM]

[heatpumpguru]

I stand before you as a WISER man,I thought it was like that but seeked knowledge from wiser men then I.You guys did not let me down!!!!Thanx HP Guru

[gruvn]

Soemtimes a customer wants you to think big enough to solve their problem, and they are not always limited to an investment that we may not be able to make in our homes. If you want a more reasonable approach to the problem, just throw a 760 in and see what it does. It depends on their perspective, their voices may be as important to them as a surgreons hands are to him.

[beenthere]

HPG,

Go to EWC's web site, and check them out.

[heatpumpguru]

I am going 760 model HOT water feed and really do not want mold issues,due to age and construction of home.Thanks again,and my customer read your posts and got the answer from you guys.If they want to go higher a would recommend a room humidifer,at least you can watch it.