We built a new house in NH - roughly 3,000 sq. ft.two years ago. It has a Boderus propane fired furnace with both radiant floor heating and forced hot air (through a heat exchanger). During the first heating season (year ago), builder noticed that the humidity was too low and wood was drying so he had the sub take out original humidifier and put in a new one. Sorry, I am not at house now and don't recall name of new unit.
This new unit, installed in April last year, has worked well this heating season, however, our kwh consumption has been through the roof (up 2.5 times last year's winter months) (March 08 13 kwh/day vs. March 09 43/kwh/day. I used to work for an electric utility and have gone through the house carefully. We don't use the house in the winter but for an occasional winter weekend and house is set at 58 degrees. The only difference this winter from last is this new humidifier. It is attached to the heat exchanger and to the water system to supply water. Is it possible that a humidifier could use so much more power?