Whole-Home Humidifier Installation in Salem Township, Michigan

The hard water across Salem Township is the reason humidifiers here need attention every year. Scale from Washtenaw County municipal water or a well builds on the evaporator pad until it is a solid block, the solenoid sticks, and the drain line clogs and sends water down the furnace cabinet toward the control board. Temprasure installs humidifiers in Salem Township with that in mind, with the unit mounted so a leak drains away from the furnace, and we change the pad on every fall tune-up. For 1970s–2000s acreage homes and estate builds with century-old farmhouses between them houses near the South Lyon rail trail at the township's north edge where the existing unit has been neglected, we clean, repad and rewire it, or replace it when that is the better value.

Salem Township houses and what that means for humidifiers

Salem's houses are nearly all custom or owner-built rather than tract, and they are spread thin, so our calls here are long drives between very different problems. The 1850s–1920s farmhouses in and around the village have Michigan basements, rough stone walls and ductwork added in the 1960s or later, often with a furnace that is serving an addition it was never sized for. The 1970s–90s ranches and split-levels along Currie, Tower and Angle Roads sit on crawlspaces or walkout basements and frequently started life on fuel oil or propane. The 1995–2015 estate homes near Napier Road and along North Territorial are large two-stories with two or more furnaces, zoned systems and finished walkouts, commonly on propane with a buried tank. Many properties have a heated barn, workshop or pole building with its own unit heater. Older homes with converted oil furnaces and unlined chimneys are the most frequent safety finding we make here.

Water quality in Salem Township 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 Gotfredson Road south end 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 Salem Township 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 Salem Township gets as dry as any in Washtenaw County, and the 1970s–2000s acreage homes and estate builds with century-old farmhouses between them around Napier Road west side and North Territorial Road corridor 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 Salem Township, from the blocks near Salem Hills Golf Club to the streets out by Seven Mile Road corridor, about 24 minutes from our shop.

Local details we plan around in Salem Township

• Older farmhouses and 1970s ranches that were converted from fuel oil often still have the original oil chimney, and lining it is a standard part of any gas furnace replacement.
• Mechanical permits go through Washtenaw County, and the county inspector's northern rotation can add a few days to an inspection schedule.
• Septic systems serve the entire township, and condensate from high-efficiency furnaces needs to be neutralized or kept out of the septic line.
• Salem is higher and more rolling than the townships along the Huron, and it is exposed to wind from every direction across open fields, with winter gusts that make the northwest corner of any house the cold corner. Snowfall runs slightly heavier here than in Ypsilanti because of the elevation and the distance from the river valley. Woodlots and the Johnson Creek drain hold summer humidity in the low spots, while the higher ground stays drier.