Humidifiers and Dehumidifiers - humidifier

I own and use a DS humidifier and can not get my humidity over 30%. Is it possible to put the bypass lower near the furnace to get the heat to flow upstream for higher humidity? I found a Honeywell HE160 unit which is identical to the DS. It says in one manual that the unit can be installed in the supply or return. Are the two units the same as much that it I could follow the Honeywell recommendations? I like this site and enjoy all this information.

DS?

I personly perfer the unit on the return itself, and draw hot air out of the main supply. Are the pads in good shape?

good water flow?

The unit is about 2 months old. Ive recently cleaned it and have it running all the time. My bypass duct is installed in the supply approx. 4 inches higher than the humidifier. Im wondering if I lowered the bypass duct to allow hot air to flow upsteam if it would make more humidity? Any thought on that?

I don't think 4" going to make any diffrance.

On an avg, how long does the furnace run in an hour? or how may times it cycles on and off in an hour?

The furnace is set at 70 degree and runs approx. twice per hour. The furnace runs for approx. 5 minutes. The outside temp. is 36 degree. I recently moved the bypass duct to a few inches lower than the humidifier and close to hotter air. It was approx. 4 inches higher and above the A/C coil.

That's why. It only runs 10 min an hour.. That is NOT going to do anything really. Kinda sounds like you got an over sized furnace!

Ours runs maybe about 40 min in an hour.

Isnt that good that my furnace is larger than what I need? I understand your furnace needs to run more to create humidity. How do I get that done if its 40 degrees outside. What can I do to make it work right? Thanks for the help.

No, it's not good to have an oversized furnace in your home.. The on and off is hard on everything.

What's your avg winter time temp? And coldest time? (I don't know where plainfield is at?)

ideal sizing of a furnace is that is able to keep temp in your home when it's running non stop on it coldest day.


How many BTU is it? Home Sq footage?

Not much that you can do to change the furnace size... unless a new one is due?

Otherwise, you can run your fan 24/7, and if I recall, your model have water sitting in the pan? (D/S is dessert spring?)

Our home is approx 24oo sq ft and 3 years old. I live in the suburbs of Chicago. Im sure my furnace is a close match to the home. We set the therostat at 69 - 70 degrees most of the time. The furnace is a Comfort Maker 150,000 BTU. Is there a way I can rgulate the furnace to a longer run cycle? We can run the fun 24/7 to see if that will help;. Yes, its a desert springs unit....the same as the honeywell he160-----go figure.

Whoa! That baby is way oversized! (my guts feeling)

I done a load clac on my home, my home is 1968, same windows/doors. 1,700 sq ft, 60,000 BTU furnace. that is about 35 btu per sq ft.

Your home is 3 years old and that comes to about 63 BTU per sq ft.

My parents home is 2,500 sq ft and they got a 80,000 BTU.

What type of t-stat do you have? You might be able to make it longer, depends on the t-stat.

My thermostat is a programable set at approx. 70 degrees. I did find that I can change the timing when my blower starts from 30 to 60 sec. if need be. Im not sure if or how to extend the running of the furnace. I can run the fan on manual instead of auto? I have changed my bypass duct to be lower than the humidifier and closer to the heat source. Since then my humidity has gone up 5 percent for the times we run the furnace. It has gotten warmer outside. It may go up even motre if the temp. drop and it needs to run more. We will have to wait and see. Thanks Al

Sorry if this is a double post, I sent a reply, and didn't see it.

Anyway.


The fan on 30 or 60 is most likely for heat pump system.. The furnace itself takes care of the blower starting time.

What is the brand and model of your t-stat?

If you are not interested in resizing your furnace ;), you can set the fan to run all the time, but you need to be careful about condensation in the ducts and you don't get a huge amount of humidity increase when there is no heat. I have my fan running all the time with a flow through humidifier and I get probably 8 to 10 percent higher humidity than I would if I had it only on with heat. It is very dry here, so I don't worry about condensation and mold in the ducts, but it is a concern when you are pushing cool humid air through the ducts.

Bruce

Thanks for the tip. I will consider that. I have been getting a 35% and higher since Ive moved the bypass duct higher than the humidifier.