[yuri]

You need hot water and apparently it can humidify a tightly enclosed 4200 sq ft house. 600 does 4000. I think the fan powered is better and hot water will help.

For your house a steam humidifier may be better and you don't need hot water. They are expensive to maintain as most have a electrode cartridge which needs changing but they can produce a LOT of humidity.

You may have to do some research to see which are best as the technology keeps changing.

HM750 Advanced Electrode Humidifier | Honeywell Home

Find your ideal home humidity with the Honeywell Home HM750 Advanced Electrode Humidifier. Shop this electrode humidifier today.

www.honeywellhome.com

 

[yuri]

Thanks for the response @yuri. The specs you posted were why I bought it. It seemed like an ideal solution for my house. What it sounds like though is that my current setup without real hot water isn't going to give me what I'm looking for. Do you think it's worth trying to mount it on that spot on the supply, or just look for something else like a steam humidifier and not chop up all of my ducts?

You need steam due to it's fast recovery/production rate. The evaporator cell in the other 2 can get dirty and covered in mineral and reduce the capacity versus steam which is endless. There is a PDF install manual on that Honeywell page.

I doubt they sell them to DIYers and it says only installed by a Pro as that is their premium product and for liability reasons in case someone gets a steam burn etc. I installed a few. Honeywell is one of the top companies and easy to get parts for later unlike some other brands. You can see if they sell them to DIYers but it is really complex and critical where the steam nozzle is installed etc or else you can get water condensing in the duct etc etc. Not as simple as it looks.

 

[yuri]

Ah ok. Aprilaire sells a steam humidifier direct to customers. I would probably prefer a Honeywell with professional install though. I'll look around for an HVAC pro in my area. Thanks so much for your advice!

Yur Welcome

 

[yuri]

Steam is great because it can humidify the house VERY quickly. For 11 cents it will definitely have the house up to 40-50 % RH in one hour so in reality is is NOT expensive to run. Unlike a electric baseboard heater running for hours.

I had lots of very wealthy customers with expensive grand pianos , hard wood floors and huge houses and steam is the only way to keep the RH up. You need the proper tool for the job.

Yeah the maintenance electrode cartridge costs $$ but you have to pay to get the job done and if a bypass is not cutting the mustard what else is there? You need a good supply of hot water for them to be most effective. BTW that hot water is not free either.

 

[yuri]

I suspect a new tight house won't need that much humidification and that older homes could need double or more relative to size/sq ft. Granted steam has advantage it can work really well without a call for heat.

970 btu per lb to boil to steam, 8.3452 lb per gallon, 2.37kwh per gallon.
Would need a few gallons per day I think so it would really add up when electricity isn't cheap.

All the people I saw that could afford 2500 sq ft to 5000 sq ft houses were very wealthy so the cost of steam was no issue to them. Lots had a second house in Florida or time share condo.

Had one customer who owned a major car rental agency and his wife was a architect and 1000 sq ft was just for the grand piano and entertaining. One had 4 furnaces and another for the garage. Owned a large media company.

Point is the cost of a bit of steam in no concern to them, just keeping the flooring and piano and artwork safe is the concern. That is why steam humidifiers exist. Super fast and powerful.

You need the proper machine for the job.

 

[yuri]

To me they're for the applications for which a bypass won't provide enough humidity output to meet humidification needs.
Out west/north due to being so cold and dry i'm betting you have much higher humidification needs than much of north america. it's highly regional.

Obviously you need to know your region and how airtight your house is. IMO if your house is over 2500 sq ft and in MB, AB, SK or North Dakota and other Prairie type areas steam is the way to go if a bypass won't work OR if you have the money and just want a highly effective fast humidifier and not have to try a bypass only to find out it is not going to do the job.

Money is not the issue with a LOT of people as they can afford $6000 modulating furnaces and Communicating systems. Plus a steam humidifier is very compact unlike a big clumsy bypass with 6" pipes. They have come a LONG way and work really well now.