I’m wanting to fire up the humidifier which is connected to my furnace because even with my stand alone unit, my nose is on fire. Two questions:
Is using that humidifier going to promote massive mold growth in my home? When I bought this house, the inspector told me to never hook the thing up due to mold. But I figure that if it was such a big problem, no one would have them.
Eh, how do hook it up and turn it on? I know it has to get moisture from the water supply, and I believe I saw some clear plastic tubing coming out of the housing. How do I go about doing this? I’m assuming it doesn’t require electricity to function. Am I wrong?
Seen lots of humidifiers in my HVAC days most went from bad to horrid. If it were my house I would disconnect it and seal up the hole. The very nature of humidifiers require constant maintenance in cleaning and disinfecting. The automatic filling and remote location of the one you described leads to none of that happening on a regular basis. it was a good idea that was basically flawed.
Maybe the technology has improved them some what, I haven’t looked into it lately, you could goggle that, but even so I would rather humidify remotely without involving my whole heating system.
I just bought a humidifier for a new baby’s room I chose a slant Fin model you can compare some of the better ones here. http://www.allergybuyersclub.com/compare-humid.html
2 I could tell you how to hook up and run your old one but not in good conscious, sorry. Get two and try it that way
Good Luck
I was hoping it would be a good idea to hook it up. Sigh. At least I know for sure the inspector guy wasn’t exaggerating. I’ll check into a couple more remote units.
I hope I’ll be able to find some replacement filters. Last year, Wally World quit carrying the ones I need.
Time to Google!
Thanks so much for the advise,** Rikster**!
We have a furnace-mounted humidifier that sounds much like the one you are asking about. The unit mounts on the side of the hot-air plenum and has a tray (1.5" to 2" deep) on the bottom that holds the water. There is a cylindrical “sponge” in the middle that picks up water from the tray and brings it into the hot-air stream. There is a float-driven valve that keeps the tray from overflowing, and water is delivered to this valve via a plastic tube that goes to a tap mounted on the side of a cold-water pipe.
The cylindrical sponge is driven by a small clock motor, so yes, there is a power requirement as well as the water connection. The motor is controlled by a “humidistat” that is connected to the cold-air return. This is to keep the humidity at a reasonable level - not so dry that your nose bleeds, not so humid that your windows fog up.
I drain the tray weekly, and then add a “humidifier conditioner” that I buy at the hardware store to keep scale and mold from forming. Every 4 months of use, I change the sponge.
By their very nature, humidifiers are problematic. Whether they are furnace-mounted or freestanding, they all have problems with “scale”, i.e. the minerals dissolved in your water that are left behind as the water evaporates. Ultrasonics have the “white dust” problem for the same reason. Whatever humidifier you use, it will require ongoing maintenance.
We clean our humidifier weekly and use the conditioner every time we fill the tanks. I would expect to do the same the furnace mounted unit as well. I’m under the assumption that even with weekly maintenence, the whole house unit would make mold start cropping up all over the house. (I do realize that mold occurs naturally where ever you are.) I certainly don’t want to have to de-mold my house. Yuck.
All in all, I’d be willing to put the extra effort into cleaning it just so my sinuses and skin don’t dry out. But Rikster and the home inspector alluded that the cons greatly outweigh the pros.
I wouldn’t expect it to be a problem, unless you’re keeping the humidity at excessive levels (condensation streaming down your windows, damp walls, etc.). If you’re going to get mold growing throughout your house, it would be more likely to occur during a damp and humid summer period, not in the wintertime.
The only place we’ve ever had a mold/mildew problem was in the front porch, where a leaky roof supplied excessive amounts of moisture (until we got it fixed). That area has no furnace ducts/outlets, so the humidifier could not have been a contributing factor.
True, which is why industrial systems use deionized water.
Ultrasonic transducers systems, BTW, are really great for humidifying air. While the initial cost is high, they’re very efficient from an energy usage standpoint.