DC

[Jonathan Finger]

Well for one Greg, all but the high end April Air units are based on the
"water wall" method.  I'm not saying that it doesn't work, however it
isn't the best solution for the environment here.  Temperatures might
get cold here, but we also have 300 days of sunshine a year.  Couple
that with a mile less atmosphere between us and that sun, and you have a
pretty intense heat source.  Even if the temp is below 30 degrees
outside, the sun itself is very warm.  With this kind of intense sun, a
houses heater might only run a couple of times during the day here.
With the water-wall method of humidification, you're relying on the
heater to pick up water, and carry it into the house.  With the steam
based unit, it's producing steam, and using it's own fan to blow it
throughout the house.  In this particular environment, you get a much
better result (measurably better) with the steam based units as a whole.
The key to any of these units is installation.  And I have seldom seen
an April Air installed that worked very well.  Again, I'm not saying
that they don't work, I'm saying that I haven't seen many that did the
job as well as the units I'm describing.  I think the Skuttle is also
possibly designed to do a better job.  Just looking at the two units,
one seems to be made more for home use, while one has an industrial
flare to it.

Anyway, experience speaks louder than anything else, and at least out
here, I've seen great results with high powered, high-end steam based
humidification units.  Unfortunately I can't say the same for the
alternatives.

Jonathan Finger RPT

-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org] On
Behalf Of Greg Newell
Sent: Thursday, February 13, 2003 7:36 PM
To: Pianotech
Subject: RE: DC

Jonathan,
         I'm not really sure what you're seeing about these things that 
seem so great. It seems as though there roughly the same item as the
"April 
air" units sold by Sears for the longest time. What makes these any 
different? I do agree that whole house humidification is far better than
a 
Damp-Chaser, however.


Greg


At 05:45 PM 2/13/2003, you wrote:

>Greg, the particular unit I've been referring to can be found @
>http://www.skuttle.com
>
>
>I'm sure there are other units out there, that can provide adequate
>results, but I haven't had experience with all of them.
>
>The other one that I do know provides great results is the Nortek.  But
>they are also quite a bit more expensive I think.
>
>Regards,
>
>Jonathan Finger RPT

Greg Newell
mailto:gnewell@ameritech.net