Aprilaire 600 humidity output

[Hongyi Kang]

ain! Unfortunately I'm Chinese but I always wished I could understand Kore an :D

air flow from supply to the humidifier(the one that I could control with th e horizontal/vertical switch), then yes I did double check and make sure it was fully on. I've also tried different water flow from the hot water sup ply, from minimum to maximum, humidity output did not change. The humidity monitor I was using was AcuRite 00613A1 Indoor Humidity Monitor. Bought f rom Amazon, not sure if it's okay to post links here so I'll just skip that for now. Anyways for the two years since I had it its performance had bee n satisfactory for me, it was able to sense humidity changes and never fluc tuated when in a stable environment.

have was 16%, therefore the hot air I was measuring probably was even lower than 16%, this is the main thing I was concerned about, and also why I thi nk I might be >experiencing something different from other people who has t he same unit.

ing much higher than 16% sounds reasonable, but I'm not sure if this hot/co ld air difference will be able to account for the difference between the 45 % and 16%. The humidifier should not sense the outside temperature because when I had it installed I specifically asked for them to not put in the au tomatic one, but the manual one instead. So the humidistat on the return d uct is just a round knob pointing to different numbers, no digital display.

of register is reasonable or not, if it is, I probably shouldn't even both er getting the service guy back in again. But if it's not, I'm thinking wh ether there are other hardware configuration problems involved that they co uld make improvements on.

r. That is why in the winter the inside of your house is so dry to begin w ith - it may be 80% RH outside at 20 degrees but (let me google for a real number) that same mass of air heated to 65 degrees will be around 15% RH wi thout having any change in water content.

but in fact as far away from them as possible, as the air coming out of the supply duct will be warmer than the ambient temperature of the house.

r than your target of 40-45% due to the temperature difference.

This is definitely very useful information! I never knew this hot/cold RH difference before. I'll keep my humidistat by the return register then. Th anks Nate!

[Edward Reid]

Just FYI ... the control device is a humidistat. The sensor (or gauge) is a hygrometer.

You'd be surprised how much difference temperature makes in how much water air can hold. I found a calculator at

and plugged in some of the numbers you'd quoted. It doesn't convert directly from RH at one temperature to RH at another temperature, so you have to take it in two steps.

If the temperature is 72F and the relative humidity is 45%, then the dewpoint is about 50F.

If the dewpoint is 50F and the relative humidity is 16%, then the temperature is 105F.

And 105F coming out of a register from a gas furnace is reasonable.

So yes, it's quite reasonable that the RH could be 16% at the register and 45% in the middle of the room. Or IOW, 16% RH at 105F and 45% RH at 72F are the same *absolute* humidity.

Edward

[Tony Hwang]

Hi, Every house I had custom built and lived in always had humidistat mounted side by side with thermostat. In present house I upgraded to wireless thermostat which I can move around in the house and humidity is monitored by humidistat still at location next to thermostat used to be on a wall.

[Hongyi Kang]

Thanks Edward, one of the websites Nate posted earlier:

actually had the conversion between different temperature's RH. And I just finished the salt calibration of my hygrometer, it's actually measuring 70 % instead of 75%, so I guess it is 5% off. The temperature of the air comi ng out of the hot register was between 95 and 102. Based on these, I think my humidifier is probably working fine, just not enough yet for my wife's problem. I'll ask the service tech and see if they could rewire the unit s o that it can run while the blower is on. Thanks!

[hrhofmann]

If you are getting condensation on your windows, you have enough humidity. Whether or not it is comfortable is a separate matter. If the humidistat is set for maximum, that is all you can do if everything else has been chec ked out.

You might call the manufacturer and see if they would send out someone for free to look at your problem as a goodwill gesture. If you tell about an un satsfactory service call and your wife and new baby, they might be more wil ing to send someone out without a charge to preserve their reputation. It might not hurt to mention this series of posts on this forum and how it is hurting their reputation to not have solved the problem. A little pressure on them.

[micky]

That' a very good idea. I had a room AC when I lived in a very small room and the AC was right next to my bed, and the fan ran all night even if the air had cooled off and the compressor wasn't running. I hated the noise.

I took off the cover, and just had to rearrange three slip-on connectors. I didnt' have to cut or solder anything, and when the compressor went off, the fan did too. Furnaces and humidifiers are more spread out so it probably won't be that easy, but it can certainly be done.

Actually you only need one wire with two ends.

There is probably a neutral wire from the humidifier to a common neutral somewhere . You can leave that alone. All you need is a hot wire that runs from the hot wire where the blower gets its power and goes straight to the humidifier, where the hot wire from the furnace control unit already connects to the humidifier. So the power doesn't have to go through the furnace control unit.

You ought to put a switch on the wire, for when your wife is fully recovered, or for when you trade houses with someone from New Zealand.

[micky]

You also might (eventually?) want a humidistat to control this wire too**. I didn't read all of the thead, but I'm guessing you want higher than you have now, but lower than 100% RH. If you put the blower on ON, so it runs 24 hours a day, you might well get more humidity than even you want.

**You could probably wire it to inlude the current humidistat, but I never read whether that was part of the problem or not. AFAIK yoiu might need a second one set higher.

[trader_4]

st finished the salt calibration of my hygrometer, it's actually measuring

70% instead of 75%, so I guess it is 5% off. The temperature of the air co ming out of the hot register was between 95 and 102. Based on these, I thi nk my humidifier is probably working fine, just not enough yet for my wife' s problem. I'll ask the service tech and see if they could rewire the unit so that it can run while the blower is on. Thanks!

If the humidity is already at 70 to 75% and you're intending to drive it higher, you're almost certainly headed for trouble in NY. No building science folks I've ever seen recommend humidity anywhere near that high. About 50% is tops for a house in winter. And if it gets down to 10F or 20F then more like 30% is tops. At 70%+ expect lots of condensation and likely damage. The most I would do is keep maybe a bedroom higher, with a separat e humidifier.

[trader_4]

Are you aware that he said he had a variable speed blower, which today is likely ECM?

[makolber]

right.

and even with an old fashion multi speed blower there are complications. If you connect the humdifier directly to the blower motor, the humidifer will be fed with different voltages when the blower operates at different speed s.

The best way to deal with this is to add another relay to power the humidif er. A not so bad way to deal with it is to connect the humidifier to the H IGH speed tap. Then the humidifier will see full line voltage when the blo wer is on high and it will see LOWER line voltage when the blower is on low . This is not too bad usually. The worst thing you can do is connect the humidifer to a low speed tap. Then the voltage to the humdifier may get a bove 120 when the blower is on high speed, which can be very bad for the hu midifer.

Bottom line, use a relay or be sure to connect to a the high speed tap and use a meter to check the voltage at the humidifer over all modes of operati on. Nothing is ever easy. :-)

Mark

[trader_4]

They have current sensing relays that can be added. But he may not even need one. It's a modern furnace and they typically have outputs on the control board for a humidifier, air cleaner, etc. First thing is to find out what the furnace has and under what conditions it's activated.

Plus it looks like a moot point to me. After measuring the humidity in the house, instead of at the hot air register, I believe the OP reported he was getting 70 - 75% with the way it's wired now. He said something about making it higher, but that's another story, and IMO, a bad idea.

Leaving what's working alone is..... :)

[Hongyi Kang]

On Monday, November 24, 2014 10:54:22 PM UTC-5, [e-mail] wrote :

. Whether or not it is comfortable is a separate matter. If the humidista t is set for maximum, that is all you can do if everything else has been ch ecked out.

r free to look at your problem as a goodwill gesture. If you tell about an unsatsfactory service call and your wife and new baby, they might be more w iling to send someone out without a charge to preserve their reputation. I t might not hurt to mention this series of posts on this forum and how it i s hurting their reputation to not have solved the problem. A little pressu re on them.

Thanks for the advice! Will certainly do.

[Hongyi Kang]

just finished the salt calibration of my hygrometer, it's actually measurin g 70% instead of 75%, so I guess it is 5% off. The temperature of the air coming out of the hot register was between 95 and 102. Based on these, I t hink my humidifier is probably working fine, just not enough yet for my wif e's problem. I'll ask the service tech and see if they could rewire the un it so that it can run while the blower is on. Thanks!

Oh the 70% came from the salt and water calibration you mentioned before. I put the hygrometer with water saturated salt in a zip bag and it read 70% instead of 75%, my room never was that high lol.

[Hongyi Kang]

I think Tony mentioned earlier that the humidifiers should come with a transformer which allows the blower power be hooked up with it, maybe I could ask the contractor and see if they have that?

[Hongyi Kang]

If you connect the humdifier directly to the blower motor, the humidifer wi ll be fed with different voltages when the blower operates at different spe eds.

ifer. A not so bad way to deal with it is to connect the humidifier to the HIGH speed tap. Then the humidifier will see full line voltage when the b lower is on high and it will see LOWER line voltage when the blower is on l ow. This is not too bad usually. The worst thing you can do is connect t he humidifer to a low speed tap. Then the voltage to the humdifier may get above 120 when the blower is on high speed, which can be very bad for the humidifer.

d use a meter to check the voltage at the humidifer over all modes of opera tion.

Tony mentioned that those humidifiers should usually come with a little tra nsformer which transforms 120V to 24V I suppose, and can be used to connect the blower power to the humidifier. I might be able to ask the contractor that?

[Hongyi Kang]

Hi Trader, the 70% was actually measured in a zip bag with water saturated salt to calibrate the hygrometer. My room was never that high. These a few days it had been warmer, the humidity had been aroun 45%-50%.

[Tony Hwang]

[e-mail] wrote:>>

Hi, ECM or X13 type motor draws power from main AC, Humidifier connection should be there. ECM is servorized DC motor ans X13 is also DC motor with speed taps. Rectifiers produce DC for them for main 120V AC input. Look at the control board schematics and trace the AC input to blower circuit. No relay or hard thinking needed.

[trader_4]

. If you connect the humdifier directly to the blower motor, the humidifer will be fed with different voltages when the blower operates at different s peeds.

idifer. A not so bad way to deal with it is to connect the humidifier to t he HIGH speed tap. Then the humidifier will see full line voltage when the blower is on high and it will see LOWER line voltage when the blower is on low. This is not too bad usually. The worst thing you can do is connect the humidifer to a low speed tap. Then the voltage to the humdifier may g et above 120 when the blower is on high speed, which can be very bad for th e humidifer.

and use a meter to check the voltage at the humidifer over all modes of ope ration.

ransformer which transforms 120V to 24V I suppose, and can be used to conne ct the blower power to the humidifier. I might be able to ask the contract or that?

See the post from mako about blower motors. It's not as simple as just connecting the humidifier directly to the blower motor, certainly not with a modern variable speed blower. An older style multi-speed blower has multiple windings that selectively get powered to get the various speeds. New ones are typical ECM, with a complex controller on the furnace board that drives the motor, not a wire with 120V on it.

[Hongyi Kang]

. If you connect the humdifier directly to the blower motor, the humidifer will be fed with different voltages when the blower operates at different s peeds.

idifer. A not so bad way to deal with it is to connect the humidifier to t he HIGH speed tap. Then the humidifier will see full line voltage when the blower is on high and it will see LOWER line voltage when the blower is on low. This is not too bad usually. The worst thing you can do is connect the humidifer to a low speed tap. Then the voltage to the humdifier may g et above 120 when the blower is on high speed, which can be very bad for th e humidifer.

and use a meter to check the voltage at the humidifer over all modes of ope ration.

Hi Tony, my furnace was a Trane XV95, I can probably look through the manua l for the control board schematics? is that right?

[Hongyi Kang]

:

ns. If you connect the humdifier directly to the blower motor, the humidife r will be fed with different voltages when the blower operates at different speeds.

umidifer. A not so bad way to deal with it is to connect the humidifier to the HIGH speed tap. Then the humidifier will see full line voltage when t he blower is on high and it will see LOWER line voltage when the blower is on low. This is not too bad usually. The worst thing you can do is conne ct the humidifer to a low speed tap. Then the voltage to the humdifier may get above 120 when the blower is on high speed, which can be very bad for the humidifer.

p and use a meter to check the voltage at the humidifer over all modes of o peration.

transformer which transforms 120V to 24V I suppose, and can be used to con nect the blower power to the humidifier. I might be able to ask the contra ctor that?

Hi Trader, the furnace I had installed was a Trane xv95. I will look through the manual to see if it's possible. I'm also waiting for the contractor company to call me back and let me know if it is doable.