Aprilaire 700A Whole House Fan Power Humidifier

by Aprilaire

Product Features

• Deliver 50% more moisture than competitive models
• Can be installed in manual mode if necessary
• Highest capacity rate of all humidifiers sold
• Handles up to a 4,200 square feet home
• Humidistat controller sensing bulb and water pad

Product Details

• Item Weight: 19 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 19 pounds
• ASIN: B000Y8GCW8
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #361,433 in Home & Kitchen (See Top 100 in Home & Kitchen)

Product Description

This high-tech humidification system can deliver up to 50% more moisture in comparison to competitive units. With flexibility in mind, it can even be installed in manual mode if necessary. Complementing any HVAC system, the 700A has an evaporation capacity of 0.75 gallons per hour, among the highest capacity humidifiers sold. If you own a larger home and want the best, then this may be the humidifier for you, as it will handle up to 4,200 square feet if your home is tight in construction. Includes humidistat controller, sensing bulb and water pad. Aprilaire weatherstation available upon completing registration. This unit includes a separate 120v to 24v transformer. Other items needed for installation that are not included: 1/4" copper tubing for water line, 1/2" ID plastic tubing for drain, 2-conductor 18 to 22 gauge wire. The Aprilaire 700A should not be installed on horizontal flow ducting. Maximum Coverage Area of 4200 square feet. Aprilaire brand humidifiers include a remote sensing bulb in the box with the purchase.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great humidifier, easy maintenance, uses lots of water, April 3, 2010

By 

rex - See all my reviews

This review is from: Aprilaire 700A Whole House Fan Power Humidifier (Kitchen)

I was fed up with constantly filling portable humidifiers and cleaning up all the mineral deposits so I bought this. Install was straighforward but time consuming. Bottom line: this will easily humidify a large house and the only maintenance is changing the filter each year. The filter traps all the minerals or they wash down the drain and there is virtually no cleanup. So much nicer than scrubbing caked on deposits with vinegar in my portable unit. Be prepared for a bigger water bill. When running it wastes a lot of water, but I figured I offset the higher water bill with a smaller heating bill because you feel warmer with more humidity and we were able to reduce the inside temp 2 degrees.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Humidifier, March 12, 2010

By 

H. Beckerman - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Aprilaire 700A Whole House Fan Power Humidifier (Kitchen)

I installed the unit using hot water to speed up humidification. The outer vent in the photo is just to cool the blower motor and is separated from the air duct by an internal barrier. After installation, a loud whistling noise occured even when it was powered off. Seems that there are several small round holes in the barrier that once upon a time were used to mount something. Once they were plugged, it ran quietly. Aprilaire really needs to remove these holes.

Its built in fan drives air thru a honeycomb block that has alot of wet surface area. Water went in hot (120F) but came out (10F) colder than the room air. House humidity jumped 10% in a few hours and then stopped rising. It took nearly two weeks of continuous operation before the humidity rose again. I think that wood, carpets and fabrics must have been absorbing most of the moisture that it was producing. Now it runs an hour or two a day to maintain the set point.

The electronic control has a remote outdoor air temperature sensor that changes the units set point to prevent condensation on cold windows or glass doors. So if you want that feature a little more effort is needed to run the wire outdoors. The control works well and looks good.

The unit has been running for 3-months now and I am happy with its operation.

10 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Only buy if you are a HVAC professional, December 21, 2010

By 

Sean "Sean" (Reston, VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Aprilaire 700A Whole House Fan Power Humidifier (Kitchen)

We purchased the 700 in 2004 and it has been nothing but a headache for us. The first two years the water panel wouldn't stay wet. The installer blamed it on the saddle attachement to the water pipe. He came out and cleaned the saddle and claimed it worked but we never had anything but dry air. About 2007 we had someone come out and tell us the panel holder doesn't distribute the water well and they came out with a new version that has fabric in it. Bought that and it helped for a year and the fabric came loose and had to buy another. (in addition to replacing the panel each season). Finally last year we had someone install a real valve to replace the saddle. Then this unit started pouring water all over the floor. Apparently the low-flowing saddle was masking other problems. Some low-flow, inlined device was broken. (read $.01 piece of plastic) I ordered a new hose for it and put it in. The new hose was so stiff that part of it broke on trying to install it. Duct tape helped hold it in place. Turn on the water and NOTHING... back to no water again and a dry panel = dry house. Generally this unit has me running to the furnace room every day since we owned it. It has never worked right despite having 3 different companies come out to service it. The general features of this thing that I don't like are:

- water panel: I just don't believe that this puts as much water in the air as one could
- fan: The fan is outside of the duct work blowing unconditioned air into the duct which is supposed to deliver humid air to the system. But I feel more air coming out than going in and isn't it reducing the heat in the duct by inserting cold basement air?
- vent: The vent on this thing is a giant hole in the summer. The unit is off in the summer and the cold air just blows out. One may suggest that I leave this thing on all year and just turn off the water... that would help but the way these are wired is to turn on only when heat is asked for. We keep our house fan on all the time to balance the system and the 700 only comes on when heat is generated. So even in the winter, conditioned air is escaping through this unit.
- water delivery: The pipe it goes through is entirely proned for error and anyone with harder water than us will suffer tremendously.

This is probably the worst house purchase we have made since 1998.