Give Your Whole-House Humidifier A Helping Hand This Winter

Maintaining your heating system is obviously important for comfortable temperatures and lower utility bills during winter. However, when it’s nice and warm indoors, the air tends to be too dry for comfort for many home occupants. Help keep your home comfortable by making sure your whole-house humidifier is well maintained through the winter.

Maintenance procedures

Like any other HVAC equipment, whole-house humidifiers need regular maintenance for peak performance, to prevent water leaking inside your home, and to enhance indoor air quality. Use these tips to make sure your system is performing efficiently:

• Whole-house humidifiers receive water from your home’s plumbing via the solenoid valve, orifice metering device and feed line. The feed line may need to be replaced if there are deposits and/or debris inside, or if you see signs of wear. If the humidifier isn’t receiving enough water, there may be a blockage in the orifice metering device. Insert a needle into the small hole to dislodge scale, deposits or debris that may be blocking water.
• The water panel is typically an aluminum mesh that simultaneously allows water to flow down the panel or pad and air to flow through it. Minerals and debris from the water tend to accumulate in the mesh construction, which hinders water flow and, perhaps more importantly, restricts air flow through the panel and ducts. Remove the water panel and clean with mild soap and water, using an old toothbrush.
• The distribution tray and drain spud should be cleaned with mild soap and water. Make sure that when reinstalling the distribution tray that it’s level, or water won’t disperse evenly through the water panel.
• The drain line should be checked for deposits and debris. Maintaining clear drainage is important to prevent water from leaking inside your home. The drain line should maintain a continuous slope to the drain. Check the drain pan once a month to make sure water is properly draining.

For best maintenance and performance, ask your HVAC professional to include whole-house humidifier service with your HVAC system’s annual preventive maintenance.

For more information, please contact us at Paschal Heat, Air & Geothermal. For more than 40 years, we’ve provided reliable service for northwest Arkansas homeowners.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in Northwest Arkansas about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information about Whole-House Humidifiers and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

Image courtesy of Shutterstock