How To Use Whole House Humidifier

How Does a Whole-House Humidifier Work?

I accept been in the residential/light commercial HVAC business organization for 30 years. I grew up in a sail metallic fabrication shop and have installed, serviced, sold and helped people choose new systems to all-time fit their needs and lifestyle. I look forward to helping you lot pick the best fit for your home!

Almost This Article

Whole house humidifiers come in a variety of types: bypass, ability and steam humidifiers all work slightly differently in providing your home with moisture to maintain humidity levels. What'south the difference, and which is the all-time blazon for yous?

Dry, itchy skin. Cracked floorboards. Flu flavour hits harder than usual.

These are signs you need better humidity control in your home during the dry months of the year (usually the winter). And that means y'all need a whole-home humidifier.

Whole-house humidifiers are mutual add together-ons to an HVAC system. They allow you to maintain a comfy level of wet in the air, especially during the colder, drier months.

Merely not all humidifiers are fabricated the same. In fact, we're going to talk over three distinct types of whole-house humidifiers in this article. They all work similarly, but some considerations may make ane the all-time choice for your home.

We're going to hash out each, and teach you well-nigh their inner workings. You lot may never accept to know how to repair a humidifier, but understanding how each works tin can aid to improve explain why there are situations where one may exist better than some other.

QUICK NOTE: These are all ducted, whole-dwelling house humidifiers detailed beneath. While portable, single-room humidifiers can exist good in a pinch, they don't solve systemic issues with humidity in your home. They besides won't require professional installation, so at that place are fewer considerations when purchasing one.

Bypass Humidifiers

Bypass humidifiers use the airflow generated past your furnace - and more than specifically, the blower fan in the air handler or furnace cabinet - to evaporate air.

A bypass humidifier sits on either the supply plenum or the render air drop area of your ductwork. Inside the humidifier, there is a console. When there is a call for humidity from your system, the humidifier draws water and allows it to trickle down the panel.

The warm air from the furnace then blows over the panel, which causes the wet droplets to evaporate. This evaporated air is then moved throughout your ductwork and abode past the air supply coming from your system.

Bypass humidifiers get their name from the fact that they rely on the air from your system to pass through. As a result, it requires that your blower fan be on in guild for the humidifier to practice its job.

Power Humidifiers

Power humidifiers act similarly to bypass humidifiers, simply they have their own fan inside of them. In this mode, they facilitate the evaporation of air without needed air from the furnace or air handler to pass through.

Within a power humidifier, y'all'll detect the aforementioned panel as you'd discover within a bypass humidifier, and water drips downward this panel when there is a telephone call for humidity.

The deviation is that the internal fan in the power humidifier evaporates the water, and air channels on either side of the panel allow for a circular airflow within the unit of measurement. One time this evaporation takes place, the air travels through your ductwork system and into your habitation every bit usual.

For clarity, your air handler or furnace still needs to exist running. The fan in the humidifier isn't enough to become the wet to travel through your entire habitation. But it does provide some extra power to facilitate airflow.

Home humidity control

Steam Humidifiers

Steam humidifiers accept to boil water to create steam, as opposed to utilizing a fan or warm air from your furnace or air handler. There is a pocket-sized pool of water in a steam humidifier, and this volition be heated to produce steam that travels through your ductwork and into your dwelling house.

In that location's no panel like you'd find in a bypass or power humidifier, merely there's an boosted electric component in a steam humidifier that allows it to heat the h2o into steam.

Pros, Cons and Comparisons

If they all do roughly the same thing, aren't they all about the aforementioned? Well, sometimes.

For some homes, yous could have whatsoever of the 3 types listed in a higher place and each would work well. Sometimes, all the same, there is a valuable benefit to one that won't be available with another.

Size of Your Home

Humidifiers accept dissimilar sizes and power levels depending on the square footage of your home. In the largest homes, you'd actually demand more than one humidifier, since even the most powerful whole-home units have limits.

If you have a large home (3,000+ square feet), yous'll most certainly need a Power Humidifier or a Steam Humidifier. Their methods of creating moisture and transporting it are ameliorate equipped for larger homes. If you lot have a smaller space to keep comfortable, a Bypass Humidifier is generally the best option.

Admission to Hot Water

As you might suspect, warm or hot water evaporates more easily than cooler h2o. This means that the humidifier needs admission to a water supply such as a hot water tank.

If this water isn't warm, you'd be amend off with a Featherbed unit of measurement or a Steam unit, since these rely on other methods of heating the water. A Power unit will still produce humidity without hot h2o, but not at the aforementioned efficiency.

Maintenance Troubles

Technology has come a long way in recent years, so in that location isn't a huge gap in reliability between the unlike types of humidifiers. All the same, historically, steam humidifiers take had issues with mineral buildup in their water supply.

You've probably seen or heard about this with portable humidifiers also, many of which use like steam technology. If you're not careful with cleaning, mildew and mineral deposits can build up.

At Burn & Ice, we install Aprilaire humidity products. Nosotros like this brand, considering they've found ways to reduce these deposits to the betoken where regular yearly maintenance (which you should be getting done anyhow for your HVAC system) is enough to handle any potential issues.

However, this wasn't e'er the case, and we can't speak for every brand on the market. Aprilaire is a large national supplier, simply others exist throughout the country.

Humidifier Maintenance, Functioning & Installation

Permit's run through some FAQs and considerations for whole-house humidifier installation and maintenance:

Maintenance

Do they demand maintenance? Yeah, this should be washed on a yearly basis, simply like any piece of HVAC equipment.
Does humidifier maintenance cost money? Yes, but it can generally exist rolled into the cost of a full organization melody-upward for your furnace, heat pump, or air conditioner.

Installation

Can a humidifier be installed at any time? Aye, information technology doesn't take to be when you install new ductwork or a new furnace or air conditioner. In fact, nosotros often take people phone call us later a new installation to add in a humidifier.
Is at that place ever a time when a whole-home humidifier can't exist installed? Yes. Y'all need to have room for it to fit, then a furnace or air handler in a tight closet might not have plenty room. You also demand to accept admission to a water supply and a floor bleed. Running a drain line outside would risk freezing over in the winter. The same is truthful of the humidifier itself, which can freeze if information technology's in an unconditioned space (such every bit an attic).

Functioning

Does the humidifier have to run year-circular? No. You can usually set information technology to come on merely when your arrangement is heating. Many featherbed humidifiers also come with manual dampeners so that y'all tin manually close it off from your system if your home is humid enough.
Tin I control the humidity from my thermostat? Information technology depends on the thermostat and the wiring you have running to it in your abode. Many times, the answer is yeah. Just fifty-fifty when you lot can't, a command panel on the ductwork near the humidifier will allow you control it every bit well.
Tin humidifiers adjust on the fly to my house? Yes, you'll often be able to set a humidity level and the humidifier volition work until information technology reaches that level. Some sophisticated models have outdoor sensors as well, to suit naturally with outdoor temperature (since high humidity in cold climates tin can produce window condensation).
How much energy and h2o does the humidifier apply? Relative to your regular water bill, you lot shouldn't run across a huge spike in utility costs except in the driest climates. The electrical burden is also very footling. Steam humidifiers use more the other 2 types, but shouldn't make a large dent in your overall electrical beak. The other two types utilize even less, and outside of a small solenoid valve in a bypass humidifier, that style of humidifier uses almost no electricity.

Moisture on a window

Price of a Whole-Home Humidifier

The toll of a whole-house humidifier, including installation labor costs, tin range from $600 to $two,500.

Does that seem like a broad range? The biggest difference is home size. The style of humidifier makes a difference as well (power humidifiers offset at most $800, for instance).

Want the total rundown of cost considerations, to get you closer to an expected full? Check out our article beneath on humidifier cost!

ALSO READ: Is a Whole-Home Humidifier Right For Me? Total Price Analysis Included

The toll is a drop in the saucepan (or drop down the evaporator console) compared to the long-term benefits of a whole-dwelling house humidifier. They tin even lower your wintertime utility bills!

If you live in an area with dry winters and programme to spend more five years in your current home, nosotros absolutely recommend a whole-house humidifier.

And if y'all're in Columbus, OH, we'd exist excited to exist your installer. Give the states a call or enter your naught code below to start the process. And before you go, check out these awesome resources to learn even more about how to keep your home comfortable year-round!

Additional RESOURCES:

Commodity: What's the Best Humidity Level For Your Habitation, and How Practise You Control It?
ARTICLE: Autumn & Winter Abode Heating Tips and Strategies
Article: The Definitive List of Home Heating Myths

Check Our Service Area

Check to see if we service your area.

Enter Your Nix Code:

Exterior of Service Expanse

We're sorry, nosotros unfortunately do non service this area.