Aprilaire Humidifiers

Wayco Wayne_2

a believer in the Apriaire humidifier for forced air aplications. I belive that a flow through pad that drains the water that doesn't evaporate is healthier than a humidifier that has standing water and can breed nasty algae and molds. However.... I was working in my own mechanical room today right next to the drain and I was aware of that constant stream of water coming out the drain. Let's face it. I'm cheap. It irks me to see money literally going down the drain. I'm trying to imagine finding another use for this water or storing it somehow or re=using it through another humidifier, just something. I have a friend that is a gentleman farmer that has a big tank that stores water off his garage and boy does it add up. He uses it for his garden when things get dry. Does anyone have any bright ideas to economize this waste water?

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tommyoil

How about

An irrigation system for Mrs.W.W's indoor plants. I've seen them in greenhouses that I service. A central water manifold system with tees and small rubber hoses to each of the plants. OR you can plant grass(lawn) around the furnace and start your own astroturf and use the water to water your new lawn. Its an incentive to start an indoor garden. I think I've been home way too long. I really need to get back to work.

Wayco Wayne_2

Ha!

Tommy you made me laugh out loud. I may have to build a green house so I can save a little money on waste water. Turf around the boiler would look nice and feel good on my bare feet when I'm doing those late night inspections. WW

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clammy

aprilaire

I>ve been using flow thro humidefers only for years i believe aprilair has a re circ unit whick re circs the evap pad water and makes up as the sump goes low it's a little better then the other resourver type ,but they do get ichy foo mugines and have to be clean at least once a year good luck .I,m hoping you'll post some pics of your mech room it must be awesome if it follows any of the work you've posted in the past peace clammy i believe it's a model #550 ? good luck

Dan Foley

Humidifiers

Wayne,

We have pretty much abandoned the evaporative humidifiers and gone to steam humidifiers as most of our systems incorporate radiant heat. The capacity of the evaporative humidifiers (Aprilaire, General, etc.) drop off as they try to operate with room temperature supply temps.

We have gone to the EWC and Nortec steam humidifiers. We use Pure commercial steam humidifiers for our large projects. Check them out. You'll like them. -DF



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Wayco Wayne_2

Hey Dan

Thanks for the input. I have put in 2 EWC's just recently. Jeff Riley had recommended them highly to me. They are very easy to install and work great to date. I am interested in their long term performance. I used to use the Skuttle steam humidifier with a timer that flushed it 2 times a day but they still built up like Luray Caverns and burnt out a lot of elements and floats and safety floats. I love the Nortex Steam. Before I went out on my own 18 years ago the company I worked for represented them and I installed many on commercial settings. I've only installed a couple since being out on my own. WW

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Wayco Wayne_2

Hey Clammy

Thanks for the kind words. I almost finished my panel and system but then decided to make a big design change so it will be a while. I decided to go with the Vision 2 controls since I had a Munchkin 140M at the source of things, but I had already mounted and piped the circulators out front so to speak. With the vision 2, 3 of the zones must be controlled by a mixxing valve so I have to re-locate eveything so the circs can draw through the mixxing valves. Right now it is working but only because I'm jumping things out as we go. (Can you say "rats nest?") I would never leave a customers house looking like my system is looking at the moment. But my Munchkin is working great and condensing like crazy. :P WW

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jeff_51

boy you are cheap

actually I feel the same way. I like the 550's. Simple bypass. If you have a needle valve on the inlet, get rid of it and us a compression stop. The same one they use for refer water supply and then you can throttle it down so you get just a very small trickle out of the drain. Also hope it feeds from the hot water and not the cold and you should replace the pad every year or alot of water will run right off of the humidifier pad.

Tom_35

Honeywell Steam Humidifiers??

Has anyone used the Honeywell steam humidifiers? If so, what are your thoughts?

We have to provide 6 on a job and I was leaning towards them, but don't have experience with the Honeywells.

Thanks,

Tom A

Larry_10

I agree with your dislike for the waste water from evaporative flow-through type humidifiers. A couple of years ago I looked into various methods for making humidity, and concluded the evaporative flow-through is still the best option out there. My HVAC guy at the time was pushing the Nortec units, but the cost of electricity to operate this type of unit around here made me reject this approach.

One approach to reducing water usage is look at what Lifebreath does with their unit. They have incorporated a timer relay that pulses the solenoid (4 seconds on / 30 seconds off). You can rig up the same idea with a recycle timer relay (e.g. ICS relay - http://www.ics-timers.com/op45_46.html). These relays are adjustable so you can play with the on/off cycle timing. It seems like this approach would offer reduced water usage, but also increased gunking of the pad. The companies that make humidifiers say they need flow of about 3.5 gal/hr to wash away the minerals.

Another approach is to improve the performance of the existing units. Skuttle makes the model 2001 that can be outfitted with dual 6" bypass intakes. Skuttle says the dual intake will improve performace about 20%

clammy

steam humidefers

Sorry about the spelling but in all the years i've done hvac close to 20 ,i've installed a few steam generator type humidefers and i've found duct dereration from the amount of moisture blowen into the ducts is terrible .Most of them that where installed where in medical production clean rooms for manafactoring of surgical instruments and prostect limbs and upon return later found duct filled with scale not good some unit we did where speced with sections of stainless steel still didn,t stop the duct dripping ,plus i believe the auto flush for the remaining resourve water was to be flushed need a cooling or flash tank it was quite a hassle .The co i worked for had 2 ME that where pretty smart but still had promblems .I had a freaind who i helped install a new 90 plus trane vari speed scoarched air said he always had a flow thur type humiderfer and his family always had colds on the new system no humider was installed instead he brought a digotal hydrometer from grainger found out even in the coldest days the humidity levels in his home where running between 45 to 65 % without humiderfer and in 2 years without no colds in the house .I believe not all systems need them but steam humiderfer to me can be installed and serviced and sheetmetal replaceed by someone else not me and i believe that in most cases they are oversized and wayne whatever your system looks like now is nothing compared to the beauty it will behold when it's complete peace and good luck clammy

Tom_35

Clammy,

Tom_35

Clammy,

If we could get 40% without the humidifiers, I would be thrilled. Problem is that there is going to be a ton of millwork in the home, and we generally will have humidities in the 20-25% at times. The wood shrinks, cracks, and the customer then goes beserk.

We are going to set up a mock model with the same cfm that the humidifiers will see in our shop and let it run for a while and see what happens. Will cut plexiglass into the side of the duct so we can see if the steam tries to puddle on us.

Any other recommendations are welcome.

Tom A