Question about humidifier
I just had a house built that was to include an whole house humidifier and it was forgotten about until after the install and I want to make sure this way of installation is ok, or if they did a “rig job” due to the lack of planning the space. They installed a Lennox Healthy Climate bypass humidifier on the side of the large duct that comes out of the top of the furnace and then ran a small duct that would feed the warm humidified air into the cold air return just before it goes into the furncace. I’m not sure if its efficient to have the already heated air go back though the furnace and whether its ok to have humidified air thrown into the cooler air. It seems that I would then have condensation inside the cold air return and maybe making it into the furnace or at least the filter. Am I over thinking this or does this way of installing it going to result in trouble down the road?
Any input and/or advice is very much appreciated!
Jeff
Replies
This is a perfectly fine approach.
There are three basic schemes:
The "bypass" scheme such as you have.
A "powered" humidifier which contains its own fan and sucks air in from the duct (either hot or cold), humidifies it, then blows it back into the same duct.
A sprayer that sprays a fine mist into the hot air duct.
The bypass and powered schemes are essentially equivalent in function, except that the bypass is much simpler (and cheaper). This would be what was planned by default. The powered scheme would mainly be reserved for cases where the bypass duct is impractical.
The spray scheme uses a compact little box and seems great except for two flaws: 1) If it fails it can flood the duct, ruin ceilings, leak into closets and make a mess. (Ask me how I know.) 2) Over 15-20 years or so the spray fills the supply duct system with a fine white dust. (Ask me how I know.)
Thanks for your reply! I can sleep better knowing its not going to mess up anything or create a mold problem.