Aprilaire Humidifier

tonypete

A little while back, I asked for help regarding a serious humidity (lack of) problem in a condo apartment that just had hardwood flooring installed.

The suggestion was to install a steam humidifier by Nortec and after reading the literature sent to me, I totally agree. However, the owner of this suite will be returning soon from his winter home in FLA and the consultant for the building has poked his nose in because he sells and installs Aprilaire 350 units.

After looking at this product, I am less than impressed because it relies upon a constant flow of hot water drooliing over an evaporation element. To my way of thinking, this unit will start out at 100 percent and then begin its decline in efficiency due to mineral deposits slowly clogging up the evaporation media.

Have any of you guys used this model and do you have any comments regarding it? I can visualize a pissing match developing here between me and this other guy over which unit is best. As stated previously, the suite owner is gone for up to six months and needs a unit which will work for that long without any need for human intervention.

Thanks

Tom

don_24

it

really depends on how much humidity you need,if its a old building where you have lots of cold air entering the home
then one would need a steam humidifider.

But if the envelope is tight then the 350 would do just fine.

What ever you choose make sure it one that will bring on
the fan with the humidistat.Most heatplant I see dont run
long enough to give the humidifier a chance to do it job anyway,and it usally because the heatplant is way oversize.

It really hard to say which is best,without knowing anything about your building envelope.This is where we hvac guys are at a disavantage because the architect does his
thing and it up to us to to conform to the envelope of his choosing.

What type of heatplant do you have?

tonypete

The condominium unit is on the seventh

floor of a building built about ten years ago just outside of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Essentially, the envelope is fairly tight. It is a corner unit and therefore has exposure on two sides. I would think that the condo is a bit under 2000 square feet in size, eight foot ceilings and everything on one level.

It is not uncommon to get sub-zero F. days in January and February.

The plan here would be to install the humidifier in the separate laundry room because hydro, water supply and drainage are all there. A hole would be cut high up on the wall to allow the moist air to blow into the suite.

The apartment is heated via two scorched air, gas-fired wall furnances. There is no hope of adding humidification to these units at this point.

It is imperative that whatever humidification unit is selected, it keeps working at maximum efficiency all by itself during the time the owners are away. If you missed my earlier post, the freshly installed engineered wood flooring began to curl up at the edges within one week of being laid. It cost over ten grand for this flooring job. Fortunately, after putting humidity in the suite, the bulk of the flooring uncurled but a number of boards had to be pulled and replaced. This cannot be allowed to happen again.

This is why I am concerned about any humidification unit that relies upon some sort of evaporation pad. Sure, I know that the amount of "contamination" in the local water will greatly affect the amount of time it takes to clog the pad.

I have no history with the Aprilaire 350 so I am looking for direct experience by those who have personally used and maintained it. If the condo owner could safely go away for six months and rely upon the 350 to keep the humidity level safe for the flooring, then I am good with that. Finding out that this was the wrong choice of humidifier would likely cost $20,000.00 to remedy.

Tom

jim lockard

do you

Intend to install a safty pan under this humidifer? Just replaced one that overflowed/clogged and curled the hardwood. Installed an Aprilaire 650 which is a bypass type. Best Wishes J.Lockard

John H

nortec vs 350

I don't think you can compare a nortec steam hum. to the aprilaire 350.I have installed both and the 350 will do a desent job.Must be hooked up to hot water and the duct connection should be a special accustic duct(TLA)if not the fan is fairly noisy.I also agree a safty drain pan should be installed since no one will be there if there was a leak.In my opinion stick to the best a put in a nortec

jim f

consider april air model 700 with outdoor sensor. this is a fan assist which condensate would need to be discharged to an inside drain(for freezing reasons. no stagnent water, change filter annually or sooner. steam humidification is prefered if within your budgets.