“I’ve had the Aprilaire 700 for Two Winters & the negative reviews are accurate. This unit does use a lot Water (not sure exactly how much, but my Sump Pump runs a LOT) & Electricity compared to Console units. Humidity was not raised much initially at all.I had this professionally installed then re-wired by another HVAC Contractor & that’s where my 0/5 review goes to 5/5. The trick is to wire it to run without need for Heat (i.e. on Fan-only) which I believe is not what Aprilaire wants it to be wired for. To do this, they had to actually remove the wiring from my Ecobee Theromstat & wire in a Aprilaire Humidistat & now it runs off if that.Today, 1/15/2022 it is presently 11 Degrees, feels like Zero & my Ecobee registers 41% Humidity with the Humidistat set all way toSeven in a 2000 sq. ft. House. I really cannot complain about that, I am now completely satisfied with this Humidifier now that the wiring has been modified. Hope this helps people.*Update 1/21/2022 I have cleaned the unit & replaced the Water Panel along with my Furnace Filter & performance has increased even more. It is Four Degrees right now & my Ecobee is giving me High Humidity warnings even though I dialed the Humidistat down to Six from Seven, I am at 51%. This unit is great with modified installation & staying on top on the maintenance.*”
“You do need a basic electrical understanding to wire in the transformer and some basic tools as well, but beyond that it was pretty easy. It is a necessity for me and my dry skin out here in the mountain west, and it works well right out of the box.”
“If you plan on mounting it in the return plenum, its capacity is at best 30%--even with very hot water. Also, it shipped with the wrong size metering orifice.”
“Very happy with purchase and the unit works well. Instructions where laid out in an easy to read format and same for operation manual. The challenge I did run into was on the furnace side and understanding which terminals to use for operation.”
“I bought my aprilaire 700 unit several years ago. It still work very well. With the newer heating/AC systems and wireless controls now available, you don't need the humidifier control. The 700 wires right into the heating unit. The only thing I have had to replace is the water solenoid, twice. The solenoid unit will leak every couple years. I did find the 700 unit difficult to install. Had to cut medal and install a water flow outlet. I find it a great unit for the price and recommend it. If you are not a handy person, get a professional to install it.”
“My 20 year old model's plastic was fatigued and cracked when I serviced it at the end of summer so I bought a replacement Aprilaire. The old model was beige and this one is blue but they have the same foot print and fit into the existing cut out in the furnace plenum. The new digital Humidistat required additional wiring but I was able to figure it out. BE ADVISED: If you are a handy DIY person comfortable working with electrical connections and able to read a wiring diagram, this is a good project. If not, don't expect your HVAC contractor to install it for you without talking to them first. Note: The Manual Humidistat is a much simpler wiring project.”
“I bought this whole home humidifier because each and every autumn, I look like I just ran through a cactus forest. My legs dry out (oddly, just my legs), and become incredibly itchy, and if I don't wear socks to bed, I wind up ripping them open scratching in the night (impulse control during the day...). I dry out, literally as soon as it turns cold.This thing works -- humidity readings throughout the house are up, and my legs (so far) are thankful. Obviously, installing this is a lot more complicated than filling up the tank on your desktop unit, and plugging it in. While it recommends having a professional do it, I was able to DIY my way through it with only a few stumbles.You do have to cut a big hole in your HVAC ducts. Its big -- I had planned on taking the humidifier with me when I moved out, but this isn't going to be something I can easily patch. This was really the most difficult part for me. Then you put the unit in, attach the water lines to the hot water pipe, and attach a drain line. Putting the control board together is fairly simple, though beware that there is part that has to sit outside the house (a sensor), and you'll need some serious wire length for that. If you don't wire this tightly and correctly, you'll get an E3 error. You also need to hook the controller up to the thermostat and furnace, but that was fairly simple.There's also a strange little piece in the kit that I had no idea what to do with. It's a transformer for the solenoid, and it wasn't mentioned -anywhere- in the directions. You need to wire one end of it to your house (120 line), and the other goes into the controller. It's very poorly documented, and very poorly diagrammed -- just youtube this step.Overall, not too bad, I got it done in 2-3 hours. And the house feels much better already.”
