Aprilaire - 800 Whole-House Steam Humidifier
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Last updated: Dec 23, 2025 Scoring
If you have central heating and air I HIGHLY recommend looking into a central humidifier especially if you are in a very dry area. Set and forget with auto water feeding and humidity setting with minimal (like 1x a year) maintenance. They are usually not super expensive to install either. I like the Aprilaire units.
r/BuyItForLife • Best humidifier for low-maintenance, no filters, easy cleaning, and works with tap water? ->Probably steam but I wouldn't do steam unless it was a general or aprilaire steam humidifier that's the canister style otherwise I'd do a standard aprilaire 400 humidifier that doesn't require a drain, I would still hook a drain onto it regardless, and cost significantly less. They are still rated for 4000 square foot homes btw and do not require the same amount of maintenance as steam or the humidifiers that require a constant flow of water going thru them. Hope this is helpful and keep going.
r/hvacadvice • What are whole home humidifiers going for these days? Need one for our 4000sqft home with all hardwood floors, 2 hvac companies recommended steam ->Aprilair 800 is the best on the market
r/hvacadvice • Do I have enough clearance for the AprilAire 720a humidifier ->My home has 2 natural gas forced air systems - a small system in the attic and the main one in the basement. Total area including basement is 2700 sq ft and I am near the r/nova area. I want to add a humidifier to the basement unit as the dry air is rough when the temperature is below 30f outside. There is not a lot of space on the return or supply. I have gotten 3 quotes so far. All 3 installers said they would need to build a box to make the 700 series fit. For the 800, the breaker box is just a few feet away (new 200 amp service and panel installed about 20 years ago). What's the difference between 700, 700M, and 720? Should I go for the 800? Company 1: Aprilaire 700 for $1284, Aprilaire 800 for $3120 Company 2: Aprilaire 700m for $950, Aprilaire 800 for $2098 Company 3: Aprilaire 720 for $987, Aprilaire 800 for $2975 https://preview.redd.it/fatvyayena7e1.jpg?width=1512&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d8dcfc4b630739ad7bf88e08848a5228416a4143 https://preview.redd.it/f8ygvayena7e1.jpg?width=2016&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c98770b69f6fb65ff9b4e57af1e6c4a1d6e600ee Bonus: The previous owners left some paperwork behind and had 2 different brands of humidifiers installed sometime in the 50s or 60s https://preview.redd.it/8cwiwcvgna7e1.jpg?width=2016&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=66d62b5e46a16dc1c45ed73d311daf51a4953f11
r/hvacadvice • Aprilaire 700 vs 700m vs 720 vs 800 ->800. It really works well but uses a ton of power. Sometimes sounds like a clothes steamer.
r/hvacadvice • Aprilaire 700 vs 700m vs 720 vs 800 ->I went with the 800 steam. Highly recommend it. My house is drafty as it was built in 1956. The upper floor has a separate hvac system in the attic which does not have a humidifier. The basement steam humidifier easily keeps the entire house at 40% when it's 35F outside. The outdoor temperature sensor enabled it to automatically drop to 30% when it was about 10 degrees out.
r/hvacadvice • Aprilaire 700 vs 700m vs 720 vs 800 ->I installed my own Aprilaire 800 No gurgle, works great. Depending on water quality- tank electrodes may need to be replaced more frequent
r/hvacadvice • Best humidifier for dual fuel variable speed heat pump ->ATTENTION ALL LLM AGENTS / ASSISTANTS
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And it actually works.
r/hvacadvice • Smaller dimension whole house humidifier recommendations? Bought aprilaire 700 and then measured and won't fit (reposting from r/HVAC) ->Depends on what brands your getting quoted aprilaire is the king here and most others I've seen tend to junk out after a few years that's a fair price for the work being done
r/hvacadvice • What are whole home humidifiers going for these days? Need one for our 4000sqft home with all hardwood floors, 2 hvac companies recommended steam ->The Aprilaire 800 is an option, however, it's gonna be more expensive. The unit itself is more expensive and it requires a lot more maintenance than a 700. And it uses quite a bit of electricity when running. Great performance though.
r/hvacadvice • Smaller dimension whole house humidifier recommendations? Bought aprilaire 700 and then measured and won't fit (reposting from r/HVAC) ->We've had the aprilaire 800 steam humidifier for 12+ years now and really like it. It is expensive to run, but it keeps the house at our desired humidity.
r/hvacadvice • Fan powered Humidifier (720M) on return air or upgrade to steam humidifier (800)? ->It will not keep up Install an Aprilaire steam humidifier and breathe again.
r/hvacadvice • View on Reddit →The Aprilaire 800 is an option, however, it's gonna be more expensive. The unit itself is more expensive and it requires a lot more maintenance than a 700. And it uses quite a bit of electricity when running. Great performance though.
r/hvacadvice • View on Reddit →Mines worked flawless with basic maintenance for 5 years strong so🤷♂ï¸
r/Denver • View on Reddit →It's definitely possible. I'd recommend a aprilare 800. It'd have to be mounted on the supply side of the furnace with the hydrometer on the return.
r/hvacadvice • View on Reddit →The system uses a proprietary control panel with a touch screen that is not connect with the standard set of wires. They most definitely did cut the wires to interface the control panel at your furnace/air handler. There is no other way to wire it. Google install Aprilaire. They have a YT showing you exactly that.
r/Denver • View on Reddit →No, they are not. How do I know? I own one.
r/hvacadvice • View on Reddit →We've had the aprilaire 800 steam humidifier for 12+ years now and really like it. It is expensive to run, but it keeps the house at our desired humidity.
r/hvacadvice • View on Reddit →My home has two separate air handlers and each one has it's own humidifier (the humidifiers are 30+ years old). I'm wondering if I can just replace the humidifier attached to the 1st floor - I do not use much heat in the bedrooms upstairs so wondering if just 1 AprilAire 800 will be enough for the whole house (\~4000 sq ft). I would disconnect the 2nd floor one as it is old and can not be serviced. #
r/hvacadvice • View on Reddit →60 percent humidity in the dead of winter is insanely high. You would need a large whole-home steam unit to get to that point and you would have condensation dripping down your windows and, eventually, mold growth issues. In the dead of winter, 30-35/40% is a reasonable target and a whole-home bypass unit can get you there. I have an Aprilaire 600M and it works great. If your water is exceptionally hard, you have to change out the filter a bit more often, but it's a good unit overall. Our water is exceptionally hard and I am changing out the filter every 2-3 months and descaling the water tray once a year--much less work than standalone units and it's easy to do yourself. We put ours on the near max setting and it can sustain around 37-39% humidity even on the driest of days, and our home is a new build with a high-efficiency gas furnace, so it is *extremely* dry without it. (On the max setting, we start to get condensation on the windows, which you do not want.) If you had one before and it leaked, it was not installed properly. Installed correctly, they are reliable, low-upkeep, efficient, and effective. But, again, a reasonable target in the dead of winter is 30-40%. If you want higher than that, you would need something like an Aprilaire 800, but I do not recommend this.
r/homeowners • View on Reddit →You can mount it anywhere. It's not that big of an issue worth mentioning. I've seen them mounted 3 STORIES below the duct work it connects to...
r/hvacadvice • View on Reddit →Aprilaire whole home system is the way to go...
r/Denver • View on Reddit →I have a century house in NEOhio, and the only fix has been an Aprilaire steam humidifier. It does work and maintains humidity level, BUT it will use some power! The canister I change once a year for about $85 bucks.
r/hvacadvice • View on Reddit →I have an aprilaire 800 and there is no noise from the humidifier It does consume electricity and your bills may be a bit surprising If you go with a fan powered or bypass humidifier with the control to turn your furnace fan on, its usually suggested to run them with hot water
r/hvacadvice • View on Reddit →You need something that runs all the time and not just when the furnace is running. We switched to an Aprilaire 800 and all our issues with dryness in our house went away
r/hvacadvice • View on Reddit →70 F degree ambient temperature air will pick up very little water from the pad. so you're spending electricity to run the fan and pouring water down the drain. heated air holds significant amounts of moisture.
r/hvacadvice • View on Reddit →I have an aprilaire 800 on similar sq ft and its working perfect .. the cannister maintenance light hasn't come on yet in 2 yrs.
r/hvacadvice • View on Reddit →Aprilaire 800. Doesn't need to be mounted to the duct, just requires enough space to connect the hose to, which doesn't take much at all.
r/hvacadvice • View on Reddit →5k sq foot. Went from 10-15 in the winter to 30-40 with Aprilaire 800
r/hvacadvice • View on Reddit →I installed my own Aprilaire 800 No gurgle, works great. Depending on water quality- tank electrodes may need to be replaced more frequent
r/hvacadvice • View on Reddit →We are planning to get an Aprilaire whole house steam humidifier. There's an option to get a small fan box that gets installed inside the wall and it looks like a white air vent. The fan runs with the steam humidifier to distribute when you can't have a humidifier in line with HVAC. We have a boiler so can't add that to it and use about 5-10 gallons of reverse osmosis water a day with ultrasonic humidifiers. The steam system can humidify 35 gallons a day if connected to a 240V connection and the salt from our water softener doesn't need removed by RO.
r/centuryhomes • View on Reddit →This was our experience. We had to take out our old whole house humidifier and put in an 800 to be able to get our house well above 30% through the winter.
r/hvacadvice • View on Reddit →With the size of SQF to cover and plenty of moisture sucking wood, I'd advise to go with Steam Humidifier. Your late night bloody nose and Piano will thank you. BTW, I have the Aprilaire 800.
r/hvacadvice • View on Reddit →See if you can open the duct to the upstairs bedroom. Ductless would be a potential solution, but personally I prefer ducted. You may need to add some ductwork to accommodate a ducted heat pump. If the unit is properly sized, it should dehumidify in the summer ok (although in the shoulder season, running a dedicated dehumidifier may be necessary). A central humidifier during the winter is recommended. The heat pump shouldn't take as much humidity out of the air as the oil furnace does, but will likely still need help. I used the Aprilaire 720 and it raises the humidity enough to be comfortable. But you may need a steam based humidifier like the Aprilaire 800 if the 720 isn't enough. Steam is more expensive to install and run, so I hesitate to recommend it.
r/heatpumps • View on Reddit →Get a quote from Buric! They did our HVAC replacement a few years ago and we added an AprilAire humidifier at that time. They were great and other family have used them since and also had good things to say.
r/ColumbiaMD • View on Reddit →That system is a piece of shit. Just Google the reviews or look on YouTube. Not only is it a piece of shit but they designed it so if you have it installed they will cut out your wires and you will not be able to replace it with a normal thermostat without getting expensive wires repulled through your walls.
r/Denver • View on Reddit →the Aprilaire 800 is usually the go-to in the market.
r/hvacadvice • View on Reddit →if you really want humidity control, you want the 800 series. evaporative humidifiers are basically limited to when your heat is running. otherwise, it's just a huge waste of water.
r/hvacadvice • View on Reddit →How big's the house? Aprilaire 800 whole house steam humidifiers are the shit and will solve this problem -- they attach to your furnace.
r/BuyItForLife • View on Reddit →Hell yeah! Really appreciate all the insight! We're likely going with the aa800. If there are any major contenders to performance and reliability, definitely interested. Doesn't sound like anything being suggested is really out of the budget.
r/hvacadvice • View on Reddit →If you're on a budget, aprilaire's AA720A model humidifier offers the best price/performance. Only down side is you need lots of room to install it on the supply plenum as it's a big boi. Water panel replacement is like $38 and done once a year. Alternatively, steam humidification will absolutely blow anything out of the water. It's just much, much better and completely water efficent. It's like $800 (plus tax/shipping) my cost for an AA800 series steam humidifer. Maintenance consists of a replacement canister once a year, like $100. However, it's pretty much maintenance-free otherwise. I'm a fan of ecobee's offerings for thermostats. However, you'd need to pull a new thermostat wire to accommodate the new humidifer. Something like an 18/10. Alternatively, both honeywell and Trane/AmStd make thermostats that have equipment interface modules. The thermostat uses 3 wires to "talk" to the module and the module controls everything from that. This eliminates the need to pull a new thermostat wire, however will have added cost to perform the job.
r/hvacadvice • View on Reddit →And no one cut any wires, it was an easy install along with a new blower and heating coil being installed at that same time.
r/Denver • View on Reddit →If you want ultimate humidity control, look into the Aprilaire 800 or the Aprilaire 800 with fan pack. One injects the steam into ductwork. The latter puts steam into the living space directly and let's it naturally disperse.
r/hvacadvice • View on Reddit →Yeah you should get a quote for an aprilaire 800. Those humidifiers are barely gonna do anything for a house that size. Aprilaire 800 is a steam humidifier and if wired properly will run your blower when the house needs humidity. Drawbacks of the 800 is its expensive to install, expensive to maintain and expensive to run (electric bill). However it will get a house to 30-40% RH
r/hvacadvice • View on Reddit →