Everything arrived in one box and the instructions were very clear. Since I was replacing an older power model, the wiring was already done for me but it looked easy enough. I did replace the water supply line which came with the new humidifier and had to cut a larger hole in the plenum and smaller hole in the return air supply for the humidistat.
In all, it took me about 2 hours to cut and fit the new one in. I did't use the outdoor temp. sensor because I prefer to use a manual setting. The unit has been operating flawlessly for a couple of months and the humidity in my house has risen to where it's much more comfortable. I'd recommend this unit.
Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>
We had an Aprilaire 700 system installed professionally, but the solenoid broke after two years. (the solenoid controls the water flow from your plumbing into the unit). This is the most powerful system Aprilaire makes, and was recommended for our house by the ARS professionals that installed it. The system never got our humidity over 30%, but in fact we have hardwood floors in about 1/6 of our house and lots of wood furniture, and about 3500 sq ft of floor space. The unit seems better suited for houses without much wood (floors and/or furniture) and certainly less than 3500 sq ft. Suitability aside, I'm not happy the solenoid, which is over $200 to replace/install, broke after less than two years. Unfortunately, we got only 1 year parts/labor on the unit.Best Deals on Aprilaire 700 Automatic Power Humidifier
We purchased the 700 in 2004 and it has been nothing but a headache for us. The first two years the water panel wouldn't stay wet. The installer blamed it on the saddle attachement to the water pipe. He came out and cleaned the saddle and claimed it worked but we never had anything but dry air. About 2007 we had someone come out and tell us the panel holder doesn't distribute the water well and they came out with a new version that has fabric in it. Bought that and it helped for a year and the fabric came loose and had to buy another. (in addition to replacing the panel each season). Finally last year we had someone install a real valve to replace the saddle. Then this unit started pouring water all over the floor. Apparently the low-flowing saddle was masking other problems. Some low-flow, inlined device was broken. (read $.01 piece of plastic) I ordered a new hose for it and put it in. The new hose was so stiff that part of it broke on trying to install it. Duct tape helped hold it in place. Turn on the water and NOTHING... back to no water again and a dry panel = dry house. Generally this unit has me running to the furnace room every day since we owned it. It has never worked right despite having 3 different companies come out to service it. The general features of this thing that I don't like are:water panel: I just don't believe that this puts as much water in the air as one could
fan: The fan is outside of the duct work blowing unconditioned air into the duct which is supposed to deliver humid air to the system. But I feel more air coming out than going in and isn't it reducing the heat in the duct by inserting cold basement air?
vent: The vent on this thing is a giant hole in the summer. The unit is off in the summer and the cold air just blows out. One may suggest that I leave this thing on all year and just turn off the water... that would help but the way these are wired is to turn on only when heat is asked for. We keep our house fan on all the time to balance the system and the 700 only comes on when heat is generated. So even in the winter, conditioned air is escaping through this unit.
water delivery: The pipe it goes through is entirely proned for error and anyone with harder water than us will suffer tremendously.
This is probably the worst house purchase we have made since 1998.
Honest reviews on Aprilaire 700 Automatic Power Humidifier
Good quality humidifer but requires a 120 VAC outlet so be prepared. Took a few minutes to understand exactly how the rear housing frame mates to the duct opening. Must install the humdifier controller in the return duct upstream from the fresh air intake which required rerouting my fresh air intake. Also installed the Aprilaire Model 8570 Thermostat using a separate 24 VAC transformer. My furnance could not supply enough current from it's 24 VAC humidifier accessory terminal to run the humidifier. Aprilaire recommends not using the accessory terminal when installing the Model 8570 Thermostat so I already purchased the 24 VAC transformer. Pleased with both the 8570 Thermostat and Model 700 Humidifer. Like the ability to monitor outdoor temperature and humidity from the thermostat, and automatically control humidifier operation based on outdoor temperature because I have wooden casement windows. You will need some skills to install this unit.Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Aprilaire 700 Automatic Power Humidifier
I got the automatic version of this for $229 w/shipping on another site. It took me an afternoon to install and so far works great. When I turned it on the relative humidity in my house was 25%, this morning I woke up to an "ideal" (given the outside temperature) level of 35%. One thing to consider though when choosing a humidifier is whether your furnace is over-sized for your house. If that is the case then the furnace will not run frequent enough for the humidifier to work (my furnace is pretty much perfectly sized for my home), in which case one of the newer steam units might be a better bet (or you could try hooking this one up to your hot water supply instead of the cold water).One quick tip with installing it. The temperature sensor can actually be mounted inside the air intake pipe of your furnace (assuming you have a newish direct-vent model). You do need to mount it as close to the outside wall as possible to get an accurate reading but, by drilling a small hole in the pvc pipe and sticking the thermometer in it, you save yourself from having to drill a hole through the outside of your home.
No comments:
Post a Comment