humidity with furnace add-on/ what are you doing

[kieth4548]

I was wondering what are people doing to combat the low humidity with a furnace add-on stove. I want to add a humidifier to my house furnace but was wondering if anyone has that with a furnace add-on. This low humidity has been driving me nuts for the last two years.

Thanks
kieth

 

[sdrobertson]

I tried a whole house one that hooked into my duct work for a year and I got really sick of having to clean the hard water crud out of it so I have used a stand alone unit for the last 3 years. Pain to keep refilling it, but allot easier in the long run. A little humidity in the air makes a big difference.

 

[laynes69]

I looked at adding a humidifer on the woodfurnace here about 2 weeks ago and decided against it. If there would be a power outage I don't want anything to happen from the potential heat. Plus I worry if something would malfunction and water go to the wood furnace so I bought a floor model. It will humidify up to 2500 square feet and its doing a fine job. Its comfortable in here, even if its 78. I'm not guzzling water before bed, or waking up with a dry bloody nose. We paid 109 for it and the duct model would have been around 150. I wanted something in the ducting, but this works just fine and I didn't have to install anything.

 

[lexybird]

i just run a small stand alone unit at bedtime .but alot of times my windows are open even in the winter becuase the heat output is too intense

 

[kieth4548]

I looked at adding a humidifer on the woodfurnace here about 2 weeks ago and decided against it. If there would be a power outage I don't want anything to happen from the potential heat. Plus I worry if something would malfunction and water go to the wood furnace so I bought a floor model. It will humidify up to 2500 square feet and its doing a fine job. Its comfortable in here, even if its 78. I'm not guzzling water before bed, or waking up with a dry bloody nose. We paid 109 for it and the duct model would have been around 150. I wanted something in the ducting, but this works just fine and I didn't have to install anything.

this may be a stupid question but how does your unit humidify the whole house and not just that room if it's a stand alone. Is your whole house humidified for say? I am thinking of getting some stand alones but I thought I would see what others were doing in this situation.

 

[laynes69]

We have a large pull in the downstairs from the cold air returns so the unit is in the hallway in between the 5 bedrooms upstairs. The cool humid air goes down the stairs into the returns and its put through the house. Its a larger unit to humidfy properly. Its definitely making a difference. They say to place them near a return, but ours was too loud so its upstairs.

 

[kieth4548]

thanks for the info. where did you get yours?

 

[laynes69]

Home Depot. We set it to low fan speed at night because it too loud, but set it to auto in the daytime. Ours is at 45% humidity now. I think it was around 100.00

 

[Gator eye]

I use a stand alone unit and put it under the cold air return. In the dead of winter it'll go though a gallon or more a day. Kind of a pain to refill everyday but it does a nice job.

 

[freeburn]

Couldn't you get the same effect by putting a flat shallow container (bread pan) of water underneath some of the cold air returns in the house. Of course that is, only if you don't have little ones that will play in it?!?

Just curious what is the humidity level in your house(s)?

Mine is at 57% today. I suppose that will go down with 24/7 use.

 

[kieth4548]

i'm not sure what my humidity level is. I have no way of checking other than my nose. I have a fish tank and it sucks the water out of the tank. I have a small stand alone and I guess I will start to use it and put it under a cold air return.

 

[laynes69]

I've been burning close to 2 months now. Our humidity level is set at 45 and the humidifier runs alot. With a humidifier the water is forced through a pad into the air. Placing a pan of water will only evaporate a little at a time not producing enough humidity for a home.

 

[ihookem]

I wish I had your problem. I wipe the water off my windows almost every morning. I hope my new Eko 25 dries the place out. My house is new and very tight. I don't. Actually, you may have a leaky house, I don't know. You may want to insulate more, caulk windows, replace weatherstripping and find out where the house is loosing heat. Also, part of my problem is my wife likes to can food and that makes for a lot of moisture. All four of us take long showers to make it worse it's a new house.