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Thread: HVAC air exchange

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
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    Montfort, Wi.
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    HVAC air exchange

    We've had an air exchange added to our hot air furnace as well as an air cleaner that replaced a single 1 inch pleated filter. The TVOC and general air quality has improved considerably. At first the filters on the air exchanger were dirty after one month, now we're able to let them go much longer before replacing. It seems we had a lot of dirt in the duct work even though we'd paid to have the ducts cleaned. Now the concern is humidity. Our house has never gone above 25% humidity and regularly is at about 20%. We both have allergies and I have chronic sinusitis so those humidity levels aren't acceptable. I have a room humidifier in the shop that helps with static electricity and recently have been using that in our bedroom. It still only reaches 26%. I have a whole house humidifier on order from our HVAC company and plan on setting it at 35% during the winter unless we go below zero for too long. I'm wondering how you handle humidity in your home in the winter, esp. those living in the northern states?

  2. #2
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    Aug 2021
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    Redmond, OR
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    594
    I live in the high desert of Central Oregon. It is very dry here year round. I have a few of the evaporative humidifiers in the house as well as a big aquarium. The larger console evaporative humidifier can dump 10 gallons of water into the air in about a day and a half. I don't like the ultrasonic humidifiers at all. They leave a white dust everywhere if you do not use distilled water in them. With the evaporative humidifiers all the water deposits are left in the wick which has to be changed a few times a year.

    We stopped using our very inefficient central HVAC since I installed mini-split heat pumps in the great room and 3 bedrooms.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
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    SE PA - Central Bucks County
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    65,688
    I hear you on the lack of humidity thing...here at our new place, it seems that the combo heat pump/oil heating dries the air significantly more than the natural gas units did at the old property, my an order of magnitude. My eyes are paying the price and Professor Dr. SWMBO's nasal passages are suffering, too.

    For awhile, we did have a system mounted humidifier on one unit at the old property, but it got gummed up too much and often due to minerals in the water. I may need to consider one here before next heating season, however...

    As to filtration, this house is the first time I've experienced MERV-16 filtration and it seems pretty darn effective relative to dust. Filters are expensive, however...I just bought two and even at discount they were about $160 for two.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  4. #4
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    Jan 2011
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    Montfort, Wi.
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    I'm hoping by using softened water we'll eliminate some of the calcium build up. We have a contract with the HVAC company for maintenance so they'll have to change things out as needed. Getting old costs more as we have to hire more and more done, things we used to do ourselves. But then I haven't bought new clothes in ages. I like to shop at Goodwill or Agrace Thrift Store. Having parents talk about the depression as a child left it's mark. Paying someone to do chores is still cheaper than buying a condo or renting an apartment. We'll see how this works out.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    The Hartland of Michigan
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    7,628
    I keep the house at about 45RH. Any higher and my Wife complains the windows sweat.
    Softened water doesn't help. You'll still get buildup on the element. Just change it once a year.
    Never, under any circumstances, consume a laxative and sleeping pill, on the same night

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    Franklin, Tennessee
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    348
    Quote Originally Posted by Myk Rian View Post
    I keep the house at about 45RH. Any higher and my Wife complains the windows sweat.
    Softened water doesn't help. You'll still get buildup on the element. Just change it once a year.
    We also have both upstairs & downstairs units set to (attempt to) 40% RH -- the thermostats even know to cycle into a very low fan speed (without heat) to push air past the humidifiers attached to the HVAC units when the humidity is low. I've tried several different kinds of central humidifiers over the 30+ years we've been here, trying to get around the totally excessive mineral build up from our municipal water. About 10 years ago, I installed Trion Herrmidifiers, which use a very stiff pleated pad, and the results are better than the previous set-ups. The unit purposely uses a little more water than will evaporate in order to wash the very mineral rich run off into the AC condensate lines, which drain outside. Like Myk said, I have to replace the elements each fall, but they're not very expensive.

    If we get an extended cold snap (rare here in middle TN), I'll dial back the units a little to limit the condensation on the windows.

    No problems with the white dust that the cool ultrasonic types seem to generate.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dave Fritz View Post
    I'm hoping by using softened water we'll eliminate some of the calcium build up. .
    Yes, that's something we have here, too, so I'm hopeful that if we do add a humidifier, there will be little or no issue with buildup of "stuff".
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  8. #8
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    Feb 2003
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    McKean, PA
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Becker View Post
    Yes, that's something we have here, too, so I'm hopeful that if we do add a humidifier, there will be little or no issue with buildup of "stuff".
    Only distilled water would leave your humidifier mineral free.
    Lee Schierer
    USNA '71
    Go Navy!

    My advice, comments and suggestions are free, but it costs money to run the site. If you found something of value here please give a little something back by becoming a contributor! Please Contribute

  9. #9
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    Jan 2011
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    Quote Originally Posted by John M Wilson View Post
    We also have both upstairs & downstairs units set to (attempt to) 40% RH -- the thermostats even know to cycle into a very low fan speed (without heat) to push air past the humidifiers attached to the HVAC units when the humidity is low. I've tried several different kinds of central humidifiers over the 30+ years we've been here, trying to get around the totally excessive mineral build up from our municipal water. About 10 years ago, I installed Trion Herrmidifiers, which use a very stiff pleated pad, and the results are better than the previous set-ups. The unit purposely uses a little more water than will evaporate in order to wash the very mineral rich run off into the AC condensate lines, which drain outside. Like Myk said, I have to replace the elements each fall, but they're not very expensive.

    If we get an extended cold snap (rare here in middle TN), I'll dial back the units a little to limit the condensation on the windows.

    No problems with the white dust that the cool ultrasonic types seem to generate.
    When you say upstairs and downstairs I'm stumped on how you control the different zones. I've seen zone heating on this old house but it's usually with hot water heat. can you do that with forced air heat?

  10. #10
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    Jan 2011
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    Montfort, Wi.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dave Fritz View Post
    When you say upstairs and downstairs I'm stumped on how you control the different zones. I've seen zone heating on this old house but it's usually with hot water heat. can you do that with forced air heat?
    We use water from our reverse osmosis system and haven't had that problem either with our small ultrasonic unit but can't with the whole house unit so we may have to change out the filters more frequently. BTW, thank you for all the information, I'm learning a lot.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Ottawa, ON Canada
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    1,468
    Here in the great white north, I used the drum unit from this company

    https://www.desertspringproducts.com/ds3200

    Instead of a foam sleeve, it uses a plastic drum with ridges that capture the water. I installed one of their autoflush units. Every 48 hours, it flushes out the reservoir. Since installing that, I have had no mineral build up at all.

    I don't work for them.
    Grant
    Ottawa ON

  12. #12
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    Mar 2003
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lee Schierer View Post
    Only distilled water would leave your humidifier mineral free.
    True for sure. I'm just hoping that there's less stuff in the water here than at the old place.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  13. #13
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    Mar 2010
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    Franklin, Tennessee
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dave Fritz View Post
    When you say upstairs and downstairs I'm stumped on how you control the different zones. I've seen zone heating on this old house but it's usually with hot water heat. can you do that with forced air heat?
    Nothing that exotic: It's two separate forced air HVAC systems - one located in the attic to heat/cool the 2nd floor, one located in the crawl space to heat/cool the 1st floor. Each has its own thermostat. It seems to work best when I keep the thermostats within a degree of each other, as we have a large foyer area open to both floors, and if I offset them too much, then one unit or the other is doing all the work & the more distant rooms get either too hot or too cold.

  14. #14
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    Thanks, sounds simple enough. Some of the systems on this old house look pretty complicated but I'm sure they're well done.

    Quote Originally Posted by John M Wilson View Post
    Nothing that exotic: It's two separate forced air HVAC systems - one located in the attic to heat/cool the 2nd floor, one located in the crawl space to heat/cool the 1st floor. Each has its own thermostat. It seems to work best when I keep the thermostats within a degree of each other, as we have a large foyer area open to both floors, and if I offset them too much, then one unit or the other is doing all the work & the more distant rooms get either too hot or too cold.

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Becker View Post
    True for sure. I'm just hoping that there's less stuff in the water here than at the old place.

    Despite living in an area with NO KNOWN LIMESTONE deposits, our water had calcium in it. Had to use distilled water in humidfier (ultrasonic.) Since adding a water softener (Fleck 5600,) i use tap water in humidfier. no white dust. Output from humidfier is piped directly into return duct, on a unit that has continious run fan, so it is distributed over whole house.

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