What brand of whole house humidifer's do you guy's recommend? Looking at Aprilaire now. Just wanted to check with this board first.
Thanks for any info.

anyone out there...slow week on this board...lol

Talk to your HVAC guy, they would know best.

http://www.hardwoodinstaller.com/hardwo ... cation.htm

Pictured is the one I tell my clients to get. You can find it at Home Depot. I could not find a better one even at HVAC dealers. I think stand alone ones are better. Holds 10.5 gallons and has a built in thermohygrometer in the controls. Oh...look it's me at thebottom.

I love my Kenmore portable. Looks exactly like the one SP posted, and takes care of 3000'.

Well heck Howard, I never thought of checking Sears. I shoulda known. That one from HD says it only will do bout 2200sf.

Thanks guys! Much appreciated. Never looked at the portables but like the idea of not putting moisture into my old ductwork.

My brother just had one installed by his hvac guys that actually has a boiler in it so it works well with a/c and heat. Not sure of the brand and I know he paid a little extra for it but it seems to be doing a far better job of regulating the R/H than any model I have seen. If you need let me know and I will get some specs for you.

Yea Mickey...the more info the better. Appreciate the help!

I just installed a Truesteam whole house humidifier, by honeywell. It is meant for a professional installation, but i was able to figure it out after a few days of messin with it. Basically it hangs on the side of my hvac evaporator, and has a tube that goes into the ventilation. It boils water and shoots steam into the system. It is controlled by a honeywell visionpro iaq thermostat, which also controls my hvac system. when the humidity is below what i set it at, it will turn on the furnace fan if either the heater or the ac is not running. It is quite expensive though to be honest. I did not get a professional quote but i believe it will be about 1600, installed. I found a used unit on ebay for about 250, then i bout a thermostat for about 150, and an additional sensor for 50 bucks. Plus a bit of plumbing for the waterline, and drain line. Well i could ramble on for a few hours about the install, but if your interested lemme know and i can give you more details.

My brother was also the Truesteam. He said it added about 800-900 to have it installed at the same time as his central air went in.

I am on the same journey for a whole house humidifier, did some extensive research and here is what i am going with: Honeywell TrueSTEAM 12 gallons HM512. http://yourhome.honeywell.com/home/Products/Humidifiers/Whole-House+Steam/Whole-House+Steam.htm There are pluses and minuses of steam humidifiers but to my personal opinion the positive side overweight's negative.
Negative: more expensive then others humidifiers(drum, bypass, fan powered, mist); recommended to have dedicated power line due to high power consumption (1kW - 1.8kW depends on model); will increase your electrical bill (can't find any numbers but just logically thinking how much energy will require to convert 12 gallons of water into the steam on daily bases); requires professional installation, but with honeywell it is not a brainier if you ever done any pluming work.
Positive: Does not require pads as other humidifiers which leads to cheaper maintenance, no mold, easier maintenance (spoke to couple friends who has bypass and fan powered humidifiers and both said that during heating season when humidifier is used they buy packs of pads because it's really hard to clean them from water crystals or you need to install water softener filters).
The reason for Honeywell brand is to use one thermostat for all (heat/air conditioner/humidifier) and if you worried about new wire they have RedLink version of it which is wireless more expensive but available.
I hope it will help you to make proper decision.

found interesting document about Honewell TrueSTEAM which also has it operating cost.
http://www.alpinehomeair.com/related/Honeywell%20Wireless%20TrueSteam%20Reference%20Guide.pdf

Hey thanks for the link. Those are some interesting stats.

Not a problem, it's my pleasure, something that i can help you with in return for all of you pro guys helping us (DIY enthusiasts).
Here is another link for Honeywell products which i could not get through normal google search and it has more docs for professional installers, etc.
http://www.forwardthinking.honeywell.com/