26 of 28 people found the following review helpful.
By Wisconsin Hunter
We had the Honeywell Truesteam installed on our new home. It worked fine the first year, but by the second year it kept flashing service messages, which of course in the manual it does not say what the flashes mean. We ended up having a certified HVAC tech come out to examine it, He could not get it working so he contacted his distributor. The distributor after finding out the date code admitted they had a BAD batch of units made around that date. Honeywell did replace the unit, but will not pay for any labor even though they admit the unit was a lemon. We have contacted Honeywell many times and they will not stand behind their product. Needless to say we are stuck with a $350.00 repair bill. We even asked customer service if business is that good that they can afford losing future business? They do not understand the power of word of mouth and the internet
18 of 20 people found the following review helpful.
By Greg
UPDATE 01/26/2012
I do NOT recommend this product.
After only 1 year in service and 2 cleanings, the unit has failed. As stated in the Owners Manual (not the "installers" manual, the OWNERS manual), for a failure during the warranty period (5 years, which of course sounds great unless you attempt to obtain warranty repairs), you should call Honeywell customer service for a repair or replacement. And even though I read to the customer service representative directly from the Owners Manual that the warranty states that they would repair or replace the unit, he would not, unless a "licensed installer" calls.
The poorest customer service I have every dealt with.
Do not buy.
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I installed this item in less than a day with a drill, 1 3/4 inch hole saw (rated for metal), wire cutters / strippers, pliers, nut drivers, screw driver with Torx bit, tubing cutter, brazing torch, solder, solder paste, sandpaper and a few other hand tools.
Having a down-draft HVAC and a slab foundation, I needed to install the control unit remotely from the HVAC supply thus I purchased the 10 foot remote option, installed the control on the blower chamber (which is above the furnace and ac coil), then installed the remote steam outlet between the furnace and ac coil below the control unit. Having installed the remote steam outlet below the control unit, "steam rated" t-fittings and p-traps were required as per Honeywell documentation (and common sense). Unfortunately, Honeywell does not offer "steam rated" t-fittings or p-traps as part of the high priced remote installation package ($150.00 plus for a plastic nozzle, 10 feet of insulated automotive radiator hose, two hose clamps, a few brackets and a few sheet metal screws), nor did any plumbing supply or "licensed installer" in my area or on the web, thus I made my own from 1/2 inch copper tubing, elbows, unions and t-fittings purchased from the local hardware chain for around $10. You will need a brazing torch, solder, flux, etc., to construct one, but it is easy.
I am not at all happy with Honeywell customer service, as they would not provide any technical information regarding return vs. supply installation, "steam rated" components, etc., unless I was a "licensed installer". I simply wanted to know if it was acceptable to install the unit in the return air system since, as previously noted, I have a down draft HVAC and a slab foundation, thus there is no access to the supply side. Ultimately, I had to rely on common sense and an understanding of summer humidity in Oklahoma; passing steam over the ac coil in winter would be no different than passing Oklahoma humidity over the ac coil in summer, thus installing the remote nozzle in the space between the furnace and ac coil should not present a problem.
One last note; the schematic for the "recommended" air flow detector may lead one to believe that the "C" wire between the HVAC and the TrueSteam is not required if you decide not to install the "recommended" air flow detector. The "C" wire IS required regardless of the installation of the air flow detector.
In summary, easy to install, but very, very low marks for Honeywell's pathetic customer service.
As a final note, the last "licensed installer" as recommended by Honeywell installed a whole house humidifier in my home that ended up costing me $3700.00 in damages. He wired the system to come on when the blower was on, and neglected to consider whether or not the AC or HEATER was on, thus the unit continually streamed moisture into the HVAC in the summer months. The result was standing, rotting water in the supply ducts. The entire HVAC had to be replaced at my expense since he filed bankruptcy. I won't be calling Honeywell for technical advice, and I advise anyone installing this system to do the same.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful.
By ryan
Update 12/2011:
Still running great. I noticed that the dial Humidistat wasn't calibrated very well - I had to set the dial to 50-60% in order to get it to turn on when the humidity in the house was 30%. After a little research, I discovered that these things are controlled by a long nylon strip inside the unit that changes length based on the humidity. By changing the slack in that strip, you can calibrate the dial. If you look at the back/side of the humidistat, you will notice that there is a little, red, hex screw knob thing. By twisting that slightly either way, you can change the amount of tension on the nylon strip and calibrate the unit. The easiest way to do the calibration is to use a hygrometer (just a thing that tells you the relative humidity). Let both sit in the same room next to each other for a few minutes, then turn the humidistat knob until you hear it click to turn on (it will click even if it's not hooked up). Based on where that on/off threshold is, adjust the red hex screw (little at a time) until that on/off point is the same as what the hygrometer says the humidity level is (eg. my hygrometer was saying it was 43% RH, so I adjusted it till the click was slightly higher than the 40.
After adjustment, it works perfectly. I set it to 40, and house stays between 35 and 40% RH all the time now. I can't recommend this thing enough.
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Original Review (01/2011):
Bought this for a 3000 sqft house with two zone HVAC. There's a gas furnace for the main level and a heat pump for the upstairs.
After we moved in, the house was consistently in the mid to upper 20's for RH. I was waking up every day feeling parched and with cracked hands and feeling like I was going to get a nosebleed.
I did some research and decided that the steam humidifier was my best bet and I was fine with the simple dial control mounted to the return duct on the HVAC system. I installed the unit on the gas furnace. Installation was a big project. This is not an easy project for the common DIY'er. You should avoid using the saddle valve. I have CPVC, so installing a T with a shutoff valve wasn't too hard. I used the remote mount because there wasn't really enough clearance on the supply duct to mount the unit. I ran a single length of 7 strand thermostat wire from the furnace to the humidifier and a 2-strand wire between the humidistat and the humidifier and wired the unit to control the blower on the furnace and to detect when the furnace is on. I'd recommend making your jumps in the furnace to keep the wiring in the humidifer simple because there's not a lot of room to work with under its cover.
Start to finish the project took a solid day. Mostly because mounting the steam outlet was a total PITA due to clearance issues. Probably could do it in a few hours if the HVAC layout was more typical. It helps that I have a lot of experience hacking HVAC systems, though. One complaint is that the humidistat didn't want to stay seated on the mount. It has a couple clips that snap together, but they won't stay together so I had to put a little bit of tape around the edge of the unit to keep it together. I had to order the water filter because the kit doesn't come with one. Makes sense since you will be buying a different filter depending on how hard your water is. Luckily, my water is not hard at all.
Overall I was impressed with the quality construction and the thoroughness of the installation instructions. It took a day to install it. As soon as I started it, the humidity started to rise. It took about a day for the humidity to go from 27% up to 40%. It's pretty much solid now between 35 and 40%. The blower runs a lot, but it's around 30 degrees F outside and drops into the teens at night, so I can't complain. The great part is that the humidity has gone up in the whole house because the upstairs unit has a return at the top of our foyer staircase, so the humid air from downstairs is circulated to the whole upstairs as well.
Product Feature
- Application flexibility - Mount directly to the duct or remotely up to 20 feet away into tight-fitting or unconditioned air spaces
- Installs in minutes - Limited duct cutting and bracket-mount design takes less than 5 minutes to complete
- Easy maintenance - Self-regulates cleaning cycles throughout the year. Annual maintenance requires no tools to access and clean, saving time and money on annual contractor service calls
- 5-year warranty
- Capacity: 9 gal per day
Product Description
Honeywell Product HM509H890824V MOD IV MOTOR NON SPRING RETURN N.C. 90-160 STROProduct Number HM509H8908
Product Detail
- Amazon Sales Rank: #25463 in Home Improvement
- Brand: Honeywell
- Model: HM509H8908
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 17.80 pounds
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