DO NOT get the TruSteam. EVERY one ive come in contact with was bad after a few months of service. From what i was told the Aprileaire is a GREAT copy of GeneralAires new steam humidifier that is supposed to be Nice....
I am planning on having a humidifier installed into an existing system. I have a proposal from a good contractor with two different options. I would like to get some opinions on which option is better.
Background: This is for a 1750 square foot 3 level townhouse. Existing furnace is a Carrier Infinity 80 (58CVA) with Infinity controller/thermostat and Infinity 24ANA1 AC.
The two options are:
1. Honeywell 9 Gallon True Steam Humidifier HM509DG115
2. Aprilaire 800
The contractor is suggesting option #2 because of the hard water in this area. Option #2 would also require running wiring to the circuit board. Which means some additional dry wall repair.
Here are my questions:
1. Any opinion on the two different humidifiers? Is the Aprilaire worth the price difference?
2. Can both be controlled by the Infinity controller/thermostat? How well does this work? Can I just set the humidity level on the Infinity thermostat and then it will take care of everything? And when needed it will lower the humidity based on the outside air temp like the Aprilaire controller will in automatic mode?
3. Why would the Aprilaire require the additional wiring? I'm guessing this is to get 240V? Is that needed for my setup? It looks like the 800 can run with either 120V or 240V. It will just have a lower capacity with 120V. Is that correct?
Thanks!
DO NOT get the TruSteam. EVERY one ive come in contact with was bad after a few months of service. From what i was told the Aprileaire is a GREAT copy of GeneralAires new steam humidifier that is supposed to be Nice....
I thought Generalaire copied Aprilaires humidifier.
How they compare on efficiency of both electricity and water? What about maintenance? Warranty service? Can they both be wired in 240v instead of 120v for better efficiency?
I'm in the market for one or the other too but so far it seems to be a Chevy & Ford debate between them.
Honeywell is 120v.
I don't think there's an "efficiency gain" for 220v over 120v.
We put in honeywells for awhile. One out of 4 had missing parts/defective parts right out of the box.
We're waiting for a customer to install an aprilaire so we can try it in a real home, instead of our shop.
"Better tell the sandman to stay away, because we're gonna be workin on this one all night."
"Dude, you need more than 2 wires to a condenser to run a 2 stage heatpump."
"Just get it done son."
Dad adjusted
ive installed 6 aprilaire 800. they are a nice humidifier. they can be wired 120v or 240v(removing jumper) at 120v u will get 11.5 gpd of humidity. at 240v u can get 23gpd. they need cold water supply fed to them. the aprilaire has better conductivity with harder poor quality water. there only maintenance is a canister that needs replaced once a year. to answer ure question about humidistat. the contractor could wire in a isolation relay from the hum terminal on the furnace control board and take the 2 hums from the humidifier to it. then you could use the infinity stat to control humidity
Evaporating humidifiers are use your space heater to evaporate the water. Steam humidifiers use electricity. 1 KW evaporates 3 lbs. of water. With a heat pump, +6 lbs. of water is evaporated with 1 KW. Nat gas is 66% less cost.
Whats wrong with you people? Get 200-300 cfm of house fllowing through an evaporating humidifier and get all the moisture needed with cold tap water. I put a 300 duct fan on a small honeywell bypass humidifier and got the windows to sweath in 24 hours.
Regards TB
Bear Rules: Keep our home <50% RH summer, controls mites/mold and very comfortable.
Provide 60-100 cfm of fresh air when occupied to purge indoor pollutants and keep window dry during cold weather. T-stat setup/setback +8 hrs. saves energy
Use +Merv 10 air filter. -Don't forget the "Golden Rule"