Amazon Humidifer Panels -beware

[RhondaHonda]

This is the first year I got humidifer panels off of Amazon and not from Lowe’s. My wife was putting away Xmas stuff and there was water all over the basement floor in one of the storage areas. Opened up the humidifier cover and the panel was folded over on itself and super soggy causing water to run out of the housing onto the floor. I checked the others and they were all really soggy and had shrunken an inch or two from their original height. These were Roninby panels that are supposed to be Aprilaire 35 equivalents.

Gladly we caught it as they’ve only been in since November. I’m switching back to the panels from Lowe’s.

The worst one I didn’t grab a pic of but you can see how much one shrunk in the housing.

 

[Rand]

my 2 cents Captain Obvious comment:
Sometimes cheapo is same exact thing.. other times its cheap junk.

Glad you caught that. It might be splitting hairs but I wouldnt call it an amazon filter.. amazon neither supports or stands behind that product.
(ie its not amazon basics brand)

 

[wings&wheels]

Are they even a metal mesh like the originals??

 

[RhondaHonda]

Are they even a metal mesh like the originals??

To me, they seemed the same, if not slightly lighter weight. I feel like the originals were a wire mesh coated in something to absorb some moisture. These are like wet paper now. Glad it didn’t cause any issues in an upstairs unit.

 

[RhondaHonda]

my 2 cents Captain Obvious comment:
Sometimes cheapo is same exact thing.. other times its cheap junk.

Glad you caught that. It might be splitting hairs but I wouldnt call it an amazon filter.. amazon neither supports or stands behind that product.
(ie its not amazon basics brand)

Yeah, I shouldn’t have said Amazon in the title as they aren’t an Amazon product. The reviews show some people having used this brand for years without issue and others with the same problem as me. I think it showed as an Aprilaire 35 replacement and I ordered without much thought. The panels I’ve purchased from Lowe’s aren’t Aprilaire parts but some other brand but worked fine for me so I’m going back to them.

 

[Warstud]

Maybe you have the moisture setting up to high or the fan isnt working . Those will cause it to get to wet .

 

[72C10]

Sadly, Amazon is just filled with so much junk. You can't trust reviews at all any more. Sellers often pay money out to people who give 5 star reviews.

 

[RhondaHonda]

Maybe you have the moisture setting up to high or the fan isnt working . Those will cause it to get to wet .

It did this on 4 separate units. All soggy. All set to 35% humidity and I confirmed the solenoid shuts the water off. They are bolted to the furnace return duct, if the fans weren’t working I’d be freezing in the house.

 

[Warstud]

It did this on 4 separate units. All soggy. All set to 35% humidity and I confirmed the solenoid shuts the water off. They are bolted to the furnace return duct, if the fans weren’t working I’d be freezing in the house.

I was talking about the fan on the April Air Humidifier that blows on the panel to create humidity .
And did you check the humidity with a hygrometer ?
Nevermind .... I see you have the same issue on all four

 

[74DartSport]

I was talking about the fan on the April Air Humidifier that blows on the panel to create humidity .

This is on the return duct and is cross fed warm air from the other side.
Thanks for the heads up. Won’t be buying these online.

 

[RhondaHonda]

I was talking about the fan on the April Air Humidifier that blows on the panel to create humidity .
And did you check the humidity with a hygrometer ?
Nevermind .... I see you have the same issue on all four

These use the furnace fan for airflow, no standalone fan. The basically consist of a water panel, plastic housing, a solenoid to control water flow and a manual humidity control. My thermostats all show relative humidity which matches the control on each unit.