Trusteam!!!

[Cbssteve]

Guys,

Another one. I recently went to a house where someone installed 3 trusteams. The house is roughly 4500 square feet. There is 3 HM506 6 gallon trusteams in there. It could not keep up with the 40% humidity this customer wanted in there. After talking to Honeywell, the guy told me to basically throw their chart out the window and go by feel. He suggested just adding another trusteam to raise humidity more. He also explained to me that the more wood and sheetrock, anything but metal and glass, that was in the house, the more humidity you will need. The house has a a ton of 4' poplar trim along all the walls on the first floor, and a mahogany trey ceiling on the second floor. Hardwood floor throughout as well, except for bathrooms. The heating system is all radiant in floor heat. I control the air handlers and trusteams with prestige t-stats. The house is fairly tight as well, 2x6 walls, but not foamed. I am not looking for an exact answer, I know that is impossible without al the info, but again, your thoughts, thanks. Hoping to see the tedbear gut on this

[dunkman]

Why not 12 gallon units?

[beenthere]

Why not 12 gallon units?

Get rid of those toy 6 GPD humidifiers, and put in 3 12 GPD. Plus, recheck your air handlers and duct work for leakage to/from unconditioned space.

What ID humidity are they holding at what IN temp, and what are the OD temp and RH.

Basically on a 4500 sq ft house with 8 foot ceilings through out at a .3 ACH with outdoor conditions of 0°F and 40% RH. 3-6 GPD humidifiers would have to run all day, and no one could leave or enter the house or the humidifiers would lose ground as soon as any door was opened. Now throw in their flush/self cleaning time, and your not gonna reach or maintain 40%, which is a fairly high RH to begin with.

[Chuck]

If 3 6 gallon trusteams can't keep up in that house, then it is not a tight house.

They should fix the house rather than keep throwing humidity at it. I have 2800 sq ft conditioned space and went from a AA fan powered humidifier running almost steady, to leaving it shut off and still maintain 30-40% RH. All I did was seal air leaks on the attic and rim joists.

[jrbenny]

I agree. Fix the leaking house. I have 3200 SF and a 9 GPD. RH is hanging at 37% with very little humidifier run time.

If 3 6 gallon trusteams can't keep up in that house, then it is not a tight house.

They should fix the house rather than keep throwing humidity at it. I have 2800 sq ft conditioned space and went from a AA fan powered humidifier running almost steady, to leaving it shut off and still maintain 30-40% RH. All I did was seal air leaks on the attic and rim joists.

[Cbssteve]

that's what we are going to do tomorrow, put a 12 on first floor and take it from there.

[Cbssteve]

Orignal installer told the guy he put in 3 9 gallon. Did not want to tell the guy to just throw in 12 gallon humidifiers and spend more money. Also was under the impression from a honeywell class I went to, promoting the trusteam, you do not want to go overboard with sizing them. I suppose the house is not as tight as I think, owner assures me everything was insulated well and sealed up. He was a commercial roofer, and built the house, so took that info a little more serious then I normally would. As far as indoor temp, it stays at 68, indoor humidity varied by area. The first floor seems to sat around 27 - 30 % indoor humidity, and outside varies, not really sure. The second floor stays around 35, but there are 2 6 gallon units up there on two different AHU. I am in central/south NJ, so it stays around 20 - 50 in the winter. Ceilings are ten feet. Agree to that the 40% is a little high, but got him down to that from the 45% he wanted. I figure he can set the humidity at what he wants, if that is what is comfort to him and he is not going to far off the map. Thanks for the input guys.

[beenthere]

Does the house have a fresh air intake/HRV/ERV?

10 foot ceiling. That brings it up to needing almost 5.5 pounds of moisture per hour at 20° OD temp and 20% OD RH. So those 3-6 GPD can only put 6.25 pounds an hour. So again anytime a door is opened, the humidity is gone.

The 3-6 GPD are too small. Get a 12 put on at least the first floor system.

[slctech]

Not being a basher here...but I am sure anyone with experience with the TruSteam will tell you to save yourself the heartache, future warranties, and an upset customer and throw the TruSteam in the garbage. Look into the AprilAire 800 series and have a nice issue free relationship with the equipment and your customer.

[gravity]

Get rid of the truesteams. They are @&%&#&^@@ JUNK!....Sorry, my tourettes kicked in.

Go with the aprilaire 800. If wired to 240, they can produce up to 22GPD i believe.

The trusteams are nothing but trouble. The homeowner will spend a fortune on them before a year of run time and every year after that.

the aprilaire 800 likes dirty water and maintenance is simple...by replacing a canister or cleaning it out.


have the homeowner tighten up the house. It leaks too much

[Cbssteve]

Gravity,

Does the Aprilaire 800 allow for remote mounting and if yes what is the distance. I have another client looking for humidifier but can not make it happen with the 20' max allowed by the trusteam, would need aprox. 28 '.

[beenthere]

Gravity,

Does the Aprilaire 800 allow for remote mounting and if yes what is the distance. I have another client looking for humidifier but can not make it happen with the 20' max allowed by the trusteam, would need aprox. 28 '.

A Nortec NTHC 20 can have 34 foot of remote hose when installed with an over sized steam pipe.

[jrbenny]

Interesting. I love my TruSteam. Had one client will a failed level sensor on start. No problems beyond that. We sold many.

[cjpwalker]

Just curious - have you checked the control setup? Is humidification allowed any time, or only when heat is calling? I have run into a couple like this that wouldn't maintain to set point because they would shut down whenever the heat call satisfied.

[Cbssteve]

Just curious - have you checked the control setup? Is humidification allowed any time, or only when heat is calling? I have run into a couple like this that wouldn't maintain to set point because they would shut down whenever the heat call satisfied.

With a call for humidification, the thermostat will put on the fan. Thermostat is a prestige by Honeywell. We made sure it would work and verified by double checking the installer set-up.

[Joehvac25]

I found these humidifiers the other day, two of these would work maybe?

[gravity]

What beenthere said.

They are just like an aprilaire