Humidifier Q

[padkison]

A tech came out today to get my Aprilaire 560 working after it had been reinstalled on the new HVAC system they installed.

What he told me was this bypass humidifier would not do a good job of keeping the humdity up in the house. He suggested I should consider a Honeywell steam humidifier (for $1720 installed).

House is 2200 sq feet. Current unit is hooked up to hot water and kicks in on heat cycle.

The skin on my son's hands do get chapped during the winter. However, I am thinking the new VS Dual Fuel system w/ HP and 2 stage gas will run more often than the old single stage gas furnace and therefore put more humidity into the air. In past years, the humidifier never satisfied the humidistat at 40% RH and always ran during heat.

I've read some posts on humidification and saw reference to Honeywell's TrueSteam.

Is my current humidifier undersized per the tech? Also, are bypass units bad at humidifying a house compared to a steam unit? Does one need to worry about condensation and mold with a steam unit injecting steam into the duct?

Thanks

Cary, NC

[small change]

A tech came out today to get my Aprilaire 560 working after it had been reinstalled on the new HVAC system they installed.

What he told me was this bypass humidifier would not do a good job of keeping the humdity up in the house. He suggested I should consider a Honeywell steam humidifier (for $1720 installed).

House is 2200 sq feet. Current unit is hooked up to hot water and kicks in on heat cycle.

The skin on my son's hands do get chapped during the winter. However, I am thinking the new VS Dual Fuel system w/ HP and 2 stage gas will run more often than the old single stage gas furnace and therefore put more humidity into the air. In past years, the humidifier never satisfied the humidistat at 40% RH and always ran during heat.

First and foremost

The Aprilaire 560 has changed numbers, the new nomenclature for it is the Aprilaire 600

here are some facts from the cutsheet about it

################################################## #

.


Has an evaporation capacity of 0.70 gallons per hour

Humidifies tightly-constructed homes up to 4,000 square feet in size

################################################## #

That being said the 600 also has the updated humidistat and outdoor sensor that controls the amount of humidity electronically

You probably have just the manual humidistat

Which isn't bad, just a different way of setting and maintaining the correct amount of humidity during the heating season

Another question I would ask since you replaced your single stage furnace with a 2 stage

With a newer furnace your need for humidity may be decreased just from not having a draft diverter on the actual furnace anymore, switching from the old furnace to the new one

And if you bought a 90 percent furnace the need for more humidity may be less.

[padkison]

I have the XV80, not one of the condensing furnaces.

Draft diverter?

Another question I would ask since you replaced your single stage furnace with a 2 stage

With a newer furnace your need for humidity may be decreased just from not having a draft diverter on the actual furnace anymore, switching from the old furnace to the new one

And if you bought a 90 percent furnace the need for more humidity may be less.

[small change]

I have the XV80, not one of the condensing furnaces.

Draft diverter?

If you have a Gas Water heater, located on top usually where the flue pipe begins is the draft diverter, it allows an air gap allowing the air to mix with the flue gas to send it up the flue pipe into the chimney.

By not having a draft diverter on your new furnace, the old one may or may not have had one either depending on how old it was

But if it, did then you won't be losing humidity which would also go up the chimney with the air through the diverter.

If you have fireplaces in your home , keeping the damper closed when not in use also keeps a house warmer and keeps humidity in the house