Whole-Home Humidifier Installation in Whittaker, Michigan

Winter air in Whittaker is dry enough to crack woodwork, and the 1970s–90s rural ranches and 2000s acreage homes around an old crossroads homes around Willis Road west toward Mooreville show it every January: floors gapping, static at every doorknob, and a thermostat pushed up to 72 because 70 feels cold. A whole-home humidifier mounted on the furnace fixes that for every room at once, and Temprasure installs them across Washtenaw County as a short, flat-rate job. We are about 16 minutes from Whittaker, we size the unit to the house rather than the price list, and we set the automatic control so the humidity rides between 30 and 45 percent and drops on the coldest nights so the windows in your Whittaker house do not sweat.

Whittaker houses and what that means for humidifiers

Around the crossroads itself the houses are 1880s–1930s farm-village homes with Michigan basements, balloon framing and a forced-air system that was retrofitted into a house built for a wood or coal stove. Those homes tend to have a single undersized return and a furnace that has been replaced two or three times without the ductwork ever being touched. Along Whittaker, Willis and Talladay Roads the common house is a 1970s–90s ranch or raised ranch on a crawlspace or block basement, with the original furnace in a utility room and a condenser that was added in the 1990s on whatever circuit was available. The 2000s subdivisions between Bemis and Willis Roads are colonials and ranches on poured basements with builder-grade equipment that is reaching replacement age, and a lot of them run propane rather than gas. Manufactured homes and modulars on the side roads often have small downflow furnaces and package units that need parts most shops do not stock.

Water quality in Whittaker shapes how we install and maintain humidifiers. The municipal water in town and the well water in the rural parts of Washtenaw County both carry enough hardness that a pad is finished after one winter, and the iron in some wells around Willis Road west toward Mooreville stains the distribution tray and plugs the solenoid screen. We install units with easily accessible pads, show the homeowner how to swap one, and change it on every fall tune-up. For Whittaker homes on a softener we tee the humidifier into the hard side when the manufacturer calls for it, because softened water leaves a different residue on the pad. Small details, but they are the difference between a humidifier that works for fifteen years and one that quits in three.

Winter air in Whittaker gets as dry as any in Washtenaw County, and the 1970s–90s rural ranches and 2000s acreage homes around an old crossroads around Whittaker Road north toward Bemis and Judd Road area were built loose enough that the furnace spends all winter heating cold, dry outside air that leaks in. The result is static shocks, cracked trim, bloody noses and a house that feels colder than the thermostat says. A whole-home humidifier mounted on the furnace fixes all of that for a modest cost, and we install and service them across Whittaker, from the blocks near Lincoln High School to the streets out by subdivisions between Bemis and Willis Roads, about 16 minutes from our shop.

Local details we plan around in Whittaker

• DTE gas is available right along Whittaker Road and Willis Road near the crossroads, but a few hundred yards down a side road the gas main ends and propane takes over.
• Crawlspace ductwork on the 1970s ranches here is frequently rusted, disconnected or chewed, and we check it on every furnace call before we blame the equipment.
• Septic drain fields are universal, so we keep high-efficiency furnace condensate out of the septic line with a neutralizer or a separate discharge.
• Whittaker is on flat, open ground with Stony Creek running through the low land to the north and east, and the creek bottom holds moisture that keeps nearby crawlspaces damp through late spring. There is almost no windbreak between the crossroads and the fields to the west, so winter wind hits the exposed side of every house. Summer is humid and still, and homes without mature shade trees run their air conditioning longer than their size would suggest.