Humidifier recommendations

[Junkman]

I am in need of a stand along humidifier that will keep the home at 50% humidity year round. I live in CT on the MA line, so winter will be here shortly, and the hot air heat will dry the house out quickly. We are having hardwood floors installed sometime in December, and were told that we need to maintain a 50% humidity through the winter so the wood doesn't shrink too much. Our wood will be arriving next Wednesday, and has to be stacked in the room to acclimate to the home.
The first floor is approximately 1500 square feet, and the second floor is approximately 1300 square feet. First floor all rooms are interconnected with openings that don't have doors. Second floor has 2 bedrooms and baths. however, it isn't as critical as the fist floor with the hardwood floors.
I contemplated adding a humidifier to the air handler, however, the sheet metal installer, has said that it is a bad idea, since he said that he hasn't ever seen one that didn't leak, and rust out the air handler sheet metal.

 

[walrus]

My hard wood floors shrink every winter. 50% humidity is asking for a mold issue if that air condenses in your walls or attic

 

[brewchief]

You will not be able to maintain 50% in the winter months, the amount you can have in your house will be controlled by your windows, expect major amounts of condensation if indoor humidity is over 30% when it's close to zero outside.

 

[Showkey]

Agree ^^^^^^^^^^ 50% is way too high as the outsidetemp drops......... one of many guidelines:

 

[Junkman]

OK on the amount of humidity, but I am still looking for recommendations as to what is the best stand alone unit to buy. The season is closing in on me, and I have to get something, and I would like to only buy this once. thanks

 

[csp]

General air and Aprilaire powered units (among others) mount on the outside of the ductwork. Even if they did leak (have never seen one leak) there's no way for the leak to make it to the heat exchanger.

Good luck finding a single stand-alone that adequately humidifies the entire area if it's all getting hardwood flooring.

 

[Showkey]

80% of my home is hardwood floors..........I have a whole house humidifier.........and......never turn it on. The home is very well insuslated and sealed and has air to air heat exchanger runs when neeed.

As the weather turns cold.......we will see multiple posts in this section........my windows are sweating or I have ice on the bottom of my widows and the sills are wet, what do I do???

 

[My Old Tools]

We run two small Walmart humidifiers in different areas of our home in the winter. They help quite a bit. I've never tried a whole house humidifier.

 

[BillK]

Junk,
We have a pretty old Sears console unit. It has two pads that look sort of like giant air filters. It has no problem keeping our house at about 30% during the heating season and you definitely feel the difference when it is empty During the coldest part of the winter I have to put about 4 gallons in it each evening.

 

[PT Doc]

Get a powered humidifier and wire to an indoor air quality sensor and controller. Have an exterior temperature and humidity sensor and get all this installed by a qualified HVAC company. Set to 35% and forget about it.