Generalaire SL-16 Humidifier

Fort McMurray Alberta is a very dry place, it can be at times as dry as a desert. This can be devastating on hard wood floors, furniture and peoples sinus’s.

Most homes are only equipped with a plate humidifier which is a tray of water that refills with a float valve and sits above the furnace heat exchanger. When the warm air of the furnace is blown into the home it passes over the tray of water and provides humidity into the home. Unfortunately this is not a very effective form of humidifying and usually results in not enough humidity in the home and sometimes water over flows onto the furnace heat exchanger that can causes rusting and shorten the life span of the furnace.

Some homes are equipped with a “upgraded drum humidifier” I use the term loosely.  Drum humidifier’s are slightly better at providing humidity but with water sitting constantly in a tray filled by a float valve this type of humidifier is faced with the same problems as the tray humidifier with flooding and mold build ups. (more…)