Humidifiers and Dehumidifiers - TrueSteam and Bypass???

Greetings:

About 5 years ago I had an Aprilaire bypass humidifier (560) installed on the furnace in my home outside Boulder, CO. While this has definitely helped things in the winter, it has never been able to sustain a constant humidity level (i.e. furnance cycles too short, too much wood flooring, etc.).

I've been considering upgrading to a Honeywell TrueSteam 12 Gal unit (house is ~4200 finished sq feet, incl the basement). I only have one furnace, so I'm going with the largest Honeywell unit. Originally, I planned to remove the Aprilaire bypass unit when I installed the Honeywell.

My question is: what would be the issues with using BOTH the Honeywell AND the Aprilaire bypass? -- i.e. leave the Aprilaire to run with the furnace and leverage the TrueSteam to top off/maintain things when the heat is not needed.

Thoughts? Issues? Should I definitely consider de-installing the Aprilaire?

Thanks in advance!

Well, let's go over a few things first.

You said furnace short cycle, sounds like you have a large home.. How many BTU is the furnace itself?

What do you have for t-stat? Is there more than one t-stat?

Is the bypass damper open?

Water on hot or cold?

Outdoor sensor used (Auto mode)?

The home is ~3000 sqft in the main two levels, with ~1200 finished in the basement. As constructed, we only have one furnance and one Thermostat in the home. I will need to get the spec's for you, but the guys that installed the humidifier and Electrostatic filter a few years back noted that it was one of the largest units avail for residential use (but is also approaching 15 yrs old).

Bypass damper is open (in winter), line is connected to hot water supply, and humidistat is placed on cold air return duct. Unit was professionally installed.

My comment about furnance running on short cycles is that it is not always that cold here in the winter, but it is ALWAYS dry. The thing that attracted me to the Truesteam was the fact that it could provide humidification when the furnace is not running. As it stands, I run tank based humidifiers all winter long in the bedrooms and I'm simply tired of filling up water tanks...

Let me know if anything here raises a flag. I'll try and get my make/model of the furnace for you as well.

Thanks in advance!
Tom

Ok, I would then keep the Aprilaire, and let the TrueSTEAM take over when humidity is needed.

and then the aprilaire can help out if you get a cold snap where the true steam may not be able to do the job. If it seems like the steam handles it just fine, then you can remove the aprilaire.

I had similar issues, but ripped out my flow-through before deciding that both was the way to go... Details here: http://forum.doityourself.com/humidifiers-dehumidifiers/377633-happy-high-humidity-truesteam-flow-through-installed.html

Thanks for the feedback guys!

I'm going to give them both a go for this winter and see how things work.