Most helpful client reviews
49 of 56 people found the following review helpful.
Very energy effective and works great
By Duane A. Priest
I installed the HE360A onto a new Ruud 95%+ high-efficiency dual-stage heating and cooling scheme and I’m controlling the unit with a Ritetemp 6080 thermostat. The humidifier works beautifully, and based upon my exploration with heating and cooling specialists, this unit is optimally-designed to conserve power and to protect the heating and cooling system. Bypass units (that use a piece of ducting connecting the return and supply sides of the system) rob the heating system’s efficacy and will push moist air through the system. Installing this unit on the supply side of the ductwork ensures that all of the humidified air will be moved into the home, not back into the system. While this design does use more water than a great deal of other units, the savings in power and the increased efficacy of the unit will minimize it is financial impact. By the way, I attached the unit to a hot water supply, not cold, as this helps the moisture to be absorbed into the heated air.
The newer Honeywell humidifiers give rise to steam to humidify the air. While this is in all probability optimal for humidification intents and must minimize the amount of water used, the amount of electricity these systems use to give rise to the steam will unquestionably affect your pocketbook. From a “green” perspective, I find that water is a for less and more renewable resource than electrical power. The old-fashioned drum humidifier units will save water, but use a keeping tray of water to soak a pad that the air travels through. If not cleaned exhaustively and often, they fabricate mold and mildew and that will get circulated through your house… a very dangerous and unhealthful option.
Installing this unit did prove a bit of a challenge because of it’s combining with the Ritetemp 6080 electronic thermostat, which includes a humidistat. Most online “experts” say that the HE360 units won’t work with this kind of thermostat/humidistat because of incompatible electrical design of the two systems. However, I’m a firm believer that anything is possible with sufficient exploration and who doesn’t like a challenge? To make this work, I purchased a little 24VAC SPDT relay from Grainger, share number 4A708 (about $15) and did NOT use the installation kit commended for the humidifier or the humidistat that was provided with the unit. Since my air handler provides 24VAC to the thermostat and the thermostat interally provides settings to determine when the humidifier will run, I applied the relay to control power to the 120VAC side of the scheme which acts as a switch to turn the entire humidifier on and off. To accomplish this, I installed a new electrical circuit and outlet to be used solely by the humidifer. I installed the relay inside an electrical box to control the power to this outlet. Using low voltage wiring I connected the relay to the “C”ommon contact on the air handler and to the “H”umidifier wire from the thermostat. I then used a wire nut to connect the two yellow wires on the HE360, which fundamentally sets the unit “on” any time it has power. When the air handler is running in heat mode and the thermostat determines that humidification is required, the relay is powered and provides 120VAC power to the outlet and the humidifier is turned on. When the relay loses power, the 120VAC is turned off that the HE360 shuts off. The thermostat may be set to work two ways: to run the humidifier and the air handler’s blower anytime when the humidistat says that humidity is required, or to run the humidifier only when the air handler is in heat mode and the blower is running and humidity is required. I could have directly wired this unit to the air handler’s power, but I chose to use the outlet so that I could unplug the unit in an emergency or for service.
I strongly commend this unit… I’ve tried various of whole house units over the last 20 years and this is the original that actually works. I’ve already helped others to install these units on their HVAC systems and all of them work great, none have had any difficulties and all are amazed at the divergence the humidifier makes in their homes.
20 of 22 people found the following review helpful.
Honeywell whole house humidifier
By Sage Guy
I purchased this outdated unit because of the low price. Instructions to install were easy to follow and it went well. I employed a current sensor switch which was also easy to set up and the unit is doing very well. We were dealing with humidity levels as low as 21A% for the duration of winter months. We have set the humidistat at approximately 42-43 and it keeps humidity levels ranging from 38-41%. We are very happy with this system.
34 of 42 people found the following review helpful.
Just doesn’t work as advertised
By Quigdaddy
I was tired of refilling room humidifiers each night, so I installed this unit. Installation was somewhat easy and straightforward, and the unit came with everything necessitated to install except 1/4″ copper tube. However, even when it’s set to greatest or most complete or best possible humidity (60), it plainly doesn’t add a lot of moisture to the air. To check, I ran the water supply from a 5-gallon bucket rather of the hot water pipe, and after 24 hours it had used regarding 3 gallons of water, and hadn’t made a divergence to the humidistat, which read 25%. This is in an 1800 s.f. uninsulated (but not drafty) old house, where the heat runs often times as it’s presently in the teens outside. The other problem is that it uses an enormous amount of water. For the 3 gallons that are sent into the heating ducts, another 15 or so goes down the drain. I checked this by running the drain into a 5-gallon container and it filled up in less than 8 hours. I will in all likelihood shut it off and never use it, so for me it was a huge waste of cash and effort.
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