The steam humidifier is truly an independent appliance. It’s a moisture making machine, a small boiler. We’ll explain how a steam humidifier works in the article below.
Installing a Steam Humidifier
Installing a steam humidifier requires a little more work than your typical humidifier. The most difficult part of the installation is getting an electrical circuit to the humidifier. It requires a 20 amp 240 volt circuit. If you don’t have that already set up we’ll need to do some electrical work to guarantee power to the humidifier.
We run our circuit to the humidifier unit and next to it will look like a typical light switch. It’s actually a double pole switch, so we can kill the power to the humidifier if we need to.
We need a space to mount the unit. It can be a wall or space near the furnace where there is room for serviceability. Typically we will install a piece of plywood up on the wall so we have a nice secure place to mount it.
It also requires water so we run a water line to it and and outlet that comes off the top and injects steam into the home. The steam gets injected straight into the supply plenum.
When the furnace blower is on a circulation mode we will inject steam into the air and spread it throughout the house.
How Does the Steam Humidifier Work?
When you call for humidity at your thermostat, water will begin boiling inside the steam humidifier and will be immediately injected into the airflow. It is much like if you have a pot of boiling water on the stove.
Inside of the steam humidifier there is a canister. Inside the canister there is are probes that goes down into the water. Two electrical probes literally boil the water inside the canister.
The humidifier constantly adjusts itself to the hardness of your water. It may take several days for the humidifier to figure out what it’s going to take to both boil the water to and keep the water as low as possible.
As the humidifier is in use, the canister will collect residue on the sensors. The water level will rise to overcome the residue.
Since the steam humidifier is constantly finding the optimum water level, it will occasionally need to drain hot water. We don’t want to drain hot water into the floor drain, so it will actually mix cold water into the water that needs to be drained so it will be able to be drained through a plastic tube.
It helps to have the plastic hose secured to the floor drain so the water does not end up on the floor.
Please enjoy the video below as Ramon explains the installation and operation of a steam humidifier.
