Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I spent a lot of time deciding on a humidifier. I checked humidity levels all over the house and they were pretty consistent at 23-25% at 25-30 degrees outside. My home is 3000 sf and the specs for this model put that size at its limit. I was debating between the 600 and this model, the 400. Ultimately, I picked this model for its efficient water usage and after a lot of use I am positive I made the right choice. Unlike other humidifiers this one does not drain water unless there is a problem. Water still comes in from the top and flows over the water panel but water flow stops when a holding cup gets filled on the bottom. Other models just keep running water until there is no longer a call for humidity by the humidistat. The water in the cup is then wicked up and then water flow turns on again, This happens over and over as needed. Installation was pretty straight forward. It took $36 worth of parts at the hardware store and about 3 hours to get it installed. Tape the supplied outline on either the supply (make sure it's above the AC Coil) or the return duct and cut a hole. Find a spot for the bypass (a 6" round duct) on the other duct and make a hole there. The unit mounts the the duct with several screws (self taping sheet metal screws make fast work) and two screws for the 6" duct coming off of it. Just a tip - if the unit can be mounted with the first section of duct attached then screw it on before mounting it. I had a little trouble getting a drill in there once it was mounted to the furnace. I used metal tape on the edges of the unit itself and all the duct joints. I used two adjustable elbows and a short section of flex duct to make the connection between the unit and the bypass. Now for the water. I did more research on this than I care to admit. Here's what I kept reading, if the furnace does not have long run cycles then run hot water to the humidifier. They explained it that if the furnace doesn't get hot for a long time then the humidifier will not work as efficient. So, with that logic I ran hot water to it. The kit includes a saddle valve which makes for an easy install. Unfortunately these aren't the greatest so I put in a different valve. This took more time than anything else. Once the valve was in, I ran the shortest possible length of tubing to the humidifier in an attempt to keep the incoming hot water as hot as possible. After running the humidifier for some time now, my opinion is the hot water makes no difference. The water flow doesn't run enough to keep it hot for very long. I found that water will run for maybe 1 minute max before the fill cup fills and shuts off the water. After a couple minutes the cup will empty and water will run again, but this time for even less time because the water panel is already wet. The heat from the furnace, even on a short run time, seems to do just fine. Next was the wiring. Turn off power to the furnace to avoid frying the board. I tapped into an existing 24VAC line for the power, connected the C (common) and H (humidifier) from the furnace board, the white and yellow from the humidifier and the outside temp sensor wires to the humidistat. I mounted the humidistat before the humidifier on the cold air return. The humidistat will work in automatic mode based on outside temperature. I found this a little conservative for my home. When in manual mode I can maintain over 40% humidity without a problem. I usually don't keep it this high but wanted to see if it could do it. I took the same humidity readings as prior and have a reading within 3% throughout the house.