Aprilaire - 800 Whole-House Steam Humidifier

I have a 5500 sq ft home and have been struggling with plug-in, fan based humidifiers that just don’t keep he humidity high enough. Hardwood floors are all cracking and filling up 20+ gallons across 3 humidifiers is a major hassle. The wife has cracking skin, the paint is coming apart. I just self-installed an Aprilaire 800 steam unit. It takes a little effort to arrange the power, water & drainage, but definitely worth it. After losing around 1% per hour down to 10-15% with gas furnaces running, I can now have the whole house around 35-40% with the Aprilaire 800 on a 5 ton unit for the largest area of the house. Floor boards closed up on first day. Power use is TBD. The install guide from Aprilaire is not great, but you can figure out with enough reading. I ordered a lot of extra parts for my horizontally mounted plenum and I wired it to a Nest 3rd Gen learning thermostat rather than the included humidistat with the Aprilaire. Extras 1. 240V isolation switch 2. Drain pan (used one for instant hot water) 3. 90-290Q fan relay for Google Nest as humidistat 4. Aprilaire drain trap assembly for plenum lower than steam unit (# 4028) 5. 1/4” anti-hammer valve for water line 6. 1/4” isolation valve to cut off water 7. 1/2” knockout clamps for electrical 8. LOTS of PVC for dedicated drains to outside 9. 20A main panel breaker 10. 18/8 copper cable to add humidifier (*) wire to Nest 11. 18 gauge wire to hook up relay 12. AWG 16 push-on crimp connectors for relay hookups 13. 4x2x8ft, 1/2x12x36 plywood, screws, 4x2 hangers for standalone solid mount separate to plenum Total cost of accessories was around $300. Plumber to install drainage was $663, 120ft electrical circuit professionally installed $450, Aprilaire 800 unit new $969 from Amazon. All in cost just over $2k and a few hours of effort. Well worth it! Good luck on your install.

Probably steam but I wouldn’t do steam unless it was a general or aprilaire steam humidifier that’s the canister style otherwise I’d do a standard aprilaire 400 humidifier that doesn’t require a drain, I would still hook a drain onto it regardless, and cost significantly less. They are still rated for 4000 square foot homes btw and do not require the same amount of maintenance as steam or the humidifiers that require a constant flow of water going thru them. Hope this is helpful and keep going.

Depends on what brands your getting quoted aprilaire is the king here and most others I've seen tend to junk out after a few years that's a fair price for the work being done

Aprilair 800 is the best on the market

My home has 2 natural gas forced air systems – a small system in the attic and the main one in the basement.  Total area including basement is 2700 sq ft and I am near the r/nova area. I want to add a humidifier to the basement unit as the dry air is rough when the temperature is below 30f outside.  There is not a lot of space on the return or supply.  I have gotten 3 quotes so far.  All 3 installers said they would need to build a box to make the 700 series fit.  For the 800, the breaker box is just a few feet away (new 200 amp service and panel installed about 20 years ago). What’s the difference between 700, 700M, and 720? Should I go for the 800? Company 1: Aprilaire 700 for $1284, Aprilaire 800 for $3120 Company 2: Aprilaire 700m for $950, Aprilaire 800 for $2098 Company 3: Aprilaire 720 for $987, Aprilaire 800 for $2975 https://preview.redd.it/fatvyayena7e1.jpg?width=1512&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d8dcfc4b630739ad7bf88e08848a5228416a4143 https://preview.redd.it/f8ygvayena7e1.jpg?width=2016&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c98770b69f6fb65ff9b4e57af1e6c4a1d6e600ee Bonus: The previous owners left some paperwork behind and had 2 different brands of humidifiers installed sometime in the 50s or 60s https://preview.redd.it/8cwiwcvgna7e1.jpg?width=2016&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=66d62b5e46a16dc1c45ed73d311daf51a4953f11

800. It really works well but uses a ton of power. Sometimes sounds like a clothes steamer.

I went with the 800 steam. Highly recommend it. My house is drafty as it was built in 1956. The upper floor has a separate hvac system in the attic which does not have a humidifier. The basement steam humidifier easily keeps the entire house at 40% when it’s 35F outside. The outdoor temperature sensor enabled it to automatically drop to 30% when it was about 10 degrees out.

And it actually works.

If you have central heating and air I HIGHLY recommend looking into a central humidifier especially if you are in a very dry area. Set and forget with auto water feeding and humidity setting with minimal (like 1x a year) maintenance. They are usually not super expensive to install either. I like the Aprilaire units.

We've had the aprilaire 800 steam humidifier for 12+ years now and really like it. It is expensive to run, but it keeps the house at our desired humidity.

The Aprilaire 800 is an option, however, it’s gonna be more expensive. The unit itself is more expensive and it requires a lot more maintenance than a 700. And it uses quite a bit of electricity when running. Great performance though.

I installed my own Aprilaire 800 No gurgle, works great. Depending on water quality- tank electrodes may need to be replaced more frequent