Oh, so thats why we get dozens of static shocks every day. My son touched the cat the other day and swore he saw the cat light up with static - poor wee scone

The kids also found out that if you turn off the lights and rub the fleece blanket between the sheet and top cover it definitely lights up and looks like forked lightening - they don't do it anymore because they think they may set the bed on fire

Our new house (moving in 3 weeks) has an air exchanger, does this humidify or just silently circulate the air?

Air exchanger pre heats the fresh air coming into a (well insulated) house from outside using the heat in the outgoing air. This is done in order to reduce energy costs but keep some fresh air coming into what would otherwise be a sealed environment...if it does anything it will reduce overall humidity by removing humidity laden air from inside.

Gotta love Canada, Heat in the winter, A/C in the summer, Humidify in the winter, Dehumidify in the Summer.

Why on earth did Europeans settle this godforsaken land? They must have landed in the Fall, though "Oooh, this is nice", and then had to burn their icebound boats to survive that first winter, and the rest is history

There is a couple of flow through humidifier brands in home depot. The customer reviews for the AirKing brand is pretty bad. Then there are these Honeywell models but there are no customer reviews for these model. Has anyone used them before. Are they any good. I am planning to buy one of these honeywell models.

In response to another poster who was asking for humidifiers with sensors that are mounted outside the house, there is a model called Aprilaire 700 which has this feature. You can find them at this link http://www.alpinehomeair.com.

Cheers
rsk

Years ago I took a remedial French class for backward parents. I sat opposite M L'air Conditionee who's French conversation was entirely about his day job as a heating and cooling contractor. The cost effectivity of argon filled windows was amusing, "rien, non, pas du tout, san fairy ann". His eyes misted over when he spoke of Aprilaire humidifiers "les bollock du chien". I've wanted one ever since.

I have just bought a Honeywell room humidifier for my dining/sitting room as the guy who came to tune my piano said it was drying out. I bought one that said it would "do" 1200 sq ft.

I have to say I hate the bl**dy thing already. It makes a constant fan noise (despite being called "quiet air"!) and blows cold air into an otherwise warm room. It's meant to switch off when the desired humidity is reached, but that hasn't happened yet - 4 days later. Either my furtniture is just incredibly dry and is just sucking up all this moisture or it's going to carry on like this forever - including needing 2 refils a day.

I don't know if this is the type you are talking about. It's probalby working in that the water is obvioulsy going in to the air, but there must be a nicer way to do this. I have a humidifier attached to my furance which is set at 40% but obvioulsy isn't doing anything if my furtniture is drying out.

So like you, I am looking to find the perfect solution. Anyone?

Snowqueen

When we got a quote for new heating we were advised that for the size of house (1200sqf)we had a dehumidifier wasn't needed. Could be 'cause the estimater saw the size of the fish tank we've got and realised that the water needed for the air would get sucked out of that We don't get very much static within the house though.

Snowqueen

The one I am looking for is a central humidifier which I can install in my heating system so that I dont have to put a separete humidifier in each room. Till now I have not been able to find a good one. I think I am gonna go with the honeywell central humidifier in home depot. I & wife are tired of electrocuting each other.

Cheers
rsk

Let us know how you get on. That is perhaps what I need to replace the one on the furnace that's meant to be doing it's job but isn't! I don't get electrocuted, but then I don't have carpets. I just have furniture that is drying out after being used to the damp Irish climate!!

Personally I like the dry air, stops my hair from going frizzy, but my antiques feel differently!!


Thanks
SQ

Frankly I would go for the Aprilaire one dbds frenchman was so enthusiastic about. There are a lot of duds out there.

Is sounds like Snowqueens central one is not working...blocked plate/ furred up cylinder perhaps? Seems most of them fail at some point. And the problem with room ones is in reality they are never just dealing with one joom, the rest of the house will also suck up that humidity, so it will take a long time to reach equilibrium, by which point the outside temp will probably change again and it will all end up on your windows anyway

He's German, we were just in the French class together because our kids were French (or something). Anyway, his heating/air conditioning business is big time now and he still recommends that brand even though he doesn't sell them. He mentions them with awe, the fact of not selling them seems to bring home to him that he'll only go so far in life, he's like an Acura salesman outside a Jaguar dealership.

The flow through one I installed is a Wait and it was very cheap indeed (fifty bucks I think). It worked well for five years or so but then the inards got clogged up with mineral deposits; I doubt new inards would cost very much.

Another thing you might do is turn your airexchanger down/off/to the intermittent setting. Ours has a temperature thingy on the control that in theory you set to the outside temp. If this is in the -C's then the thing goes into maximum 'condensation' control mode whatever that means. So possibly setting the control to a higher temp would cause less air-exchanger 'drying the air' action. Then mebbe also set to intermittent mode or even turn the thing off overnight as we do.

Mind you ours is completely off at the mo due to the Venmar 'your air exchanger may burst into flame' recall that I posted earlier, awaiting the supply of some plug in dohickey that will prevent this. We get a bit of condensation on the windows but the air is still mighty dry. The cat has started looking at me suspiciously everytime I go to pet him as he usually ends up getting a static shock to the ear or nose!