What Is The Price Of Adding A Humidifier To Your Furnace? – What You Need To Know

An essential element of indoor comfort and air quality is humidity. You may enhance the comfort and quality of your air by yourself by installing a humidifier in your heating and cooling system. What is the estimated cost of installation? We’ve done the research so you may set aside money for this endeavor and add a humidifier to your furnace.

A new humidifier installed in your home’s furnace can cost between $200 and $400, with more expensive versions reaching up to $1,500. The following factors may have an impact on the humidifier installation cost:

-Humidifier type (flow-through, steam, or drum) -Labor costs associated with installation -Specimen settings or humidistat installation

It’s critical to comprehend every element that may drive up the cost of installing a humidifier. We’ll go over the price of installing a humidifier in your furnace in this piece, along with other crucial information that may be useful for this kind of home renovation. Let’s examine this!

How Much It Costs To Install A Humidifier In A Furnace At Home

The sort of humidifier to be installed is the first and most crucial thing to think about. Right now, there are three varieties of household humidifiers available on the market: drum, steam, and flow-through.

Drum

The least expensive kind of humidifiers are drum humidifiers, sometimes referred to as reservoir humidifiers; they usually cost between $100 and $250. Utilizing all of the water within the gadget, they operate at 100% efficiency to humidify the air in your house. When adding humidity to a home, drum humidifiers provide the most dependable results and the easiest operating.

They use a revolving drum with an absorbent pad to create humidity, operating on the concept of evaporation. The drum rotates inside a pan of water while it is in operation, and the pad absorbs the water. The water then evaporates from the pad and disperses into the air as the air starts to flow through its bypass tube.

Flow-through

The average cost of a flow-through humidifier is between $200 and $400. Flow-through humidifiers operate mostly on the concept of evaporation, just like drums do. Both humidifiers circulate warm air throughout their systems using absorbent pads and a bypass tube. How the two get their water is the primary distinction between them. Drums use a moving drum to redirect the water inside of them, whereas flow-throughs move a tiny stream of water across the top of the humidifier pad.

Steam Humidifiers

The price range for steam humidifiers is between $500 and $1,600. Under certain circumstances, evaporation does not occur quickly enough to maintain adequate moisture levels.

In situations like this, steam humidifiers are the best choice because they may usually have a speedier humidification process than flow-through and drum humidifiers, resulting in the desired humidification outcomes.

Electricity is utilized by steam humidifiers to convert water into a gas instead of evaporation. As a result, they can both produce higher humidity volumes and give users more precise control over their humidity levels.

Labor Charges

For installation and repairs, the majority of HVAC specialists bill a fixed cost that often combines an hourly rate and a service charge. The cost of labor might range from $50 to $100 per hour, depending on where you live.

With this kind of installation, it’s crucial to choose a reliable and skilled expert because a poor installation can cause plumbing, HVAC, electrical, or other problems in your house. Installing a home humidifier normally takes two to four hours for technicians, longer if a complicated or unique configuration is needed.

Included Are Special Settings or Humdistat Installs

Similar to hygrometers, humidistats track humidity levels and are typically installed when humidifiers are introduced to furnaces. Because technicians will need to measure and then cut into the ducts to join them, this will result in higher labor costs.

Additionally, humidifiers from pricey companies typically come with extra or customized settings. These configurations frequently call for the technician to do an initial setup or calibration and can necessitate the installation of extra parts.

On A Furnace, Where Should A Humidifier Be Placed?

Each humidifier system will come with installation instructions specific to it. Humidifiers that are steam, drum, and flow-through are typically mounted on the supply (or hot air) duct. When using hot water instead of cold, certain manufacturers permit their installation on the return duct of a furnace. In certain instances, wall mounting is also possible with certain brands.

What Is The Typical Time Frame for Installing A Humidifier In A Furnace?

If no special settings are needed, most HVAC professionals can install a humidifier on a furnace in roughly two hours. It can take two to five hours, depending on your level of electrical expertise and handyman skills, to install a humidifier on the furnace yourself. Let us briefly examine the nature of this procedure.

Below is a summary of the fundamental procedures needed to install a humidifier on a furnace.

How to Connect A Furnace Humidifier

1. Determine the best location for the humidifier by consulting the installation manual. After that, take out and put away every item in the installation kit that comes with your humidifier.
2. Cut off the furnace’s electrical supply completely. This also entails turning off the unit’s electricity at the electric panel in your house.
3. Cut the necessary holes in the duct while donning a pair of heavy-duty utility gloves. Drill the mounting holes after that. (Note: Make sure to indicate the center of each hole’s drill site for precision.)
4. Cut a hole in the duct where the humidifier will be installed using a pair of tin snips included with the humidifier kit.
5. Put the humidifier in place on the duct. To firmly install the humidifier on the duct, tighten the screws that came with the humidifier kit using a screwdriver. You can also connect any mounting tape that might be included with the kit.
6. Cut off your home’s water supply. Next, turn off the water pressure in any room by turning on a faucet. (Note: For assistance with this task, you might need to contact a licensed plumbing professional.)
7. Connect the water supply valve to the plastic tubing of the humidifier, making sure to trim any excess. Then, secure the two compression fittings to the waterline’s ends. Make sure you use an open-end wrench to tighten the fittings.

What Advantages Do Humidifiers Offer For Furnaces?

These kinds of whole-house humidifiers are often installed in conjunction with furnaces by homeowners in order to improve daily comfort, especially during the winter. It actually depends on your own preferences and the average humidity in the place you reside in. Let’s examine the benefits of integrating a humidifier with your home’s furnace in more detail.

The human respiratory system can be severely harmed by excessively dry air. Therefore, during the fall and winter months, it’s normal for many people to suffer the following conditions:

• lips that are always chapped
• symptoms of allergies or flare-ups of asthma
• uncomfortable or scratchy throat
• Flaky and itchy skin
• a little nosebleed

Maintaining the ideal moisture level in your house will help you and your family stay properly hydrated and avoid a lot of these health problems.

Reduced Energy Costs

We typically feel more warmer in humid air because there is less space for perspiration to drain. This explains why, even on comparatively chilly summer days, those muggy ones can appear exceptionally sweltering. In order to stay warm throughout the winter, homeowners frequently fall into a pattern of turning up the thermostat, which lowers the humidity levels.

Nevertheless, this frequently leads to overuse of energy. They may achieve the same outcomes by using a humidifier, for example. Your winter energy costs can be decreased by installing a humidifier on your home’s furnace because the increased humidity will make the air seem warmer.

Safekeeping of Home Goods

Additionally, items in your house that can be vulnerable to drying out, splitting, and cracking from low moisture levels can be preserved with the use of humidifiers. Books, musical instruments, wooden furniture, and wall paint or plaster can all be examples of this. The longevity of the internal components of your house as well as your personal belongings can both be extended by adding humidity.

Do Humidifiers Need to Run All Day?

The present humidity levels in your home will depend on the local climate to determine the response to this. It is safe to leave a humidifier running all day without fearing for your health. In fact, compared to the spring and summer, people tend to leave their humidifiers running day and night throughout the colder months.

During the winter, your home’s moisture levels often decrease because of the combination of the furnace’s operation and the chilly, dry outside air that takes moisture out of the air. Many homeowners find that these dry circumstances aren’t ideal because they can dry out items in your house like paint, furniture, and wooden floors. A humidifier can assist in maintaining a pleasant and steady moisture level in your house.

But in the spring and summer, when there is more moisture outside, there is less of a need for a humidifier. The only exceptions are if you just prefer a certain level of humidity for comfort or health reasons (such allergies or asthma-related problems) or if you reside in an exceptionally dry environment.

It is advised to maintain home moisture levels at or below 50% because prolonged humidity levels over this range can cause mildew problems and become dangerous because of electrical appliances.

Conclusion

Depending on additional setup requirements, installing a humidifier on your furnace can usually be completed in a few hours. It’s always advisable to speak with a trained HVAC expert if you need help choosing the right humidifier for your system.