A Shockingly Dry House

Dear Husband wandered over to his desk, reached out to grab the Doritos, and got shocked. Literally!
Our house was so dry, that he got a static shock from a potato chip bag.

Our house came with a humidifier attached to the furnace, but I don't know the last time it was used or if it even worked. (It's that black and almond colored box at the top center of the picture.)
I didn't even want to think about the mold that could be growing in there, much less spreading through the house if we turned it on.

This past December we replaced the furnace on short notice (out of necessity) so we didn't have time for them to replace the humidifier as well.
We had it on our list to get replaced when our DIYer friend, HandyE, mentioned he had installed his own humidifier. While it was too much for us alone, he was willing to help us out and came over to take the lead.

The first step was to remove the old humidifier. Taking it apart, we found... whatever this is. 
I don't know how/what filter you would need to replace, but that is assuming they still sell those filters 20 years later.

Below is Dear Husband (DH) safely removing the wires from the old unit. Don't worry we turned off the power. 





And here he is again removing the humidifier base that was attached to the duct. 

What did we find? Huh, that's weird... the air conditioner comes down right into that part of the duct work, effectively cutting off any air flow from the humidifier. That just won't do. Looks like we will have to mount the new humidifier lower.

To the left is HandyE cutting out the new spot. I also got in there to help... yes, I often make funny faces while trying to do something tricky. (I'm just glad I wasn't caught with my tongue sticking out!)












HandyE also replaced the old water line and valve. (Whew, because I don't think I would have known how!)


Don't worry, Eva was supervising as usual to make sure we were on track!




Such a good supervisor!









 Ta-dah! All installed! The shiny rectangle at the top is a sheet of metal sealing up the old hole. The brand new humidifier can be seen below that attached above the new furnace. The small white rectangle to the right (with the circle knob) is the humidifier control.

Let me tell you, having a properly humidified house makes all the difference! No more sore throats in the morning, not as much dry skin, an no more getting zapped from the Doritos bag!