Hi,
My dad had one installed in his condo. The problem is his condo unit hardly needs heat because the condo unit is on the second floor (of 3 floors) and is between 2 other condos on adjacent sides. His AprilAire unit does not have a separate power-fan so I told him to leave the HVAC fan in the "on" position even if the heat unit is not on. But still he can't get the RH above 33. Is the AprilAire unit installed wrong?
TIA, Danno
Be sure the humidistat is calling for more moisture. Also, unless the air is heated, it is difficult to add moisture. Therefore, running the fan alone is not likely to add much humidity even though the Aprilaire is running. The only other method you could employ to add more humidity would be to connect the Aprilaire water supply line to the hot (rather than the cold) supply line, since hot water will evaporate more quickly into the cooler air coming from your HVAC fan. Your operating costs will rise since you are then using heated water to humidify.
Smarty
On Sun 23 Nov 2008 05:43:51p, Dan told us...
I don?t know if they?re all installed the way ours was, but the AprilAire we had would not actually activate unless there was heated air passing through the duct. From what I understand this is to prevent rust. Heated air will vaporize the mist whereas cold air will not, and ?wet? moisture is carried into the air.
Hi, Hot air should flow through the water panel to help generate moisture. Blowing through cold air is the problem. How about supplying hot water to humidifier.
On the contrary, that is almost quite the wives-tale. How quickly do you think that "hot" water is going to cool off after traveling through a 1/4" copper pipe at a slow rate, then trickeling down slowly over a honeycomb pad while aproximately 1200cfm of cool/room temperature air is wizzing by it?? You will do nothing but dump water down the drain. Bubba
The OP says it's already warm in the apartment. How would hot air "generate moisture"? The moisture (water) comes from the water pipe. Supplying hot water would help, as hot water evaporates more easily. However, that needs someone mechanically minded, to change the water feed.
How would we know if it's installed wrong? Hold your computer screen up to the furnace, so I can see. Now, turn a light on. I can't see it yet....
Illustrating nicely that there are different designs of humidifier. Yours was aparently a mist sprayer. The ones I used to install are bypass model with media pad and drain.
Hmmm, Then you haven't looked into how Aprilaire works? I installed one on my furnace. It is not spray tipe.
Well perhaps it is a wives' tale. But since my Aprilaire was switched from a cold water supply line to a hot water supply line, the relative humidity in the house has risen substantially. This was the method recommended to me by Aprilaire Customer Service in Wisconsin when I contacted them and asked for their help in solving a similar problem to the one stated in the original post. It works well for me and I suspect it will for him also.
Smarty
I have a stand alone ultrasonic humidifier of the type I recommend to folks all the time. I have a Sunbeam unit that has worked well for years. I've worked on HVAC systems for 35 years and in all that time I've never seen a duct mounted humidifier that was working after being in place for 3 to 5 years. The reason being that people will not maintain the darn things. One of the biggest problems is minerals in the water clogging up the different types of units. Your father might be better off with a unit like one of these:
I agree that an evaporative unit needs maintenance once or twice a year, but I find that preferable to adding more dust (dissolved minerals) to my house.
Boden
Sell the humidifier and caulk the condo.
Nick
Duh! The in duct humidifier puts a water mist (especially the spray type) containing minerals into the ductwork where it distributed throughout the home. Another problem could be dampness in the ductwork or stagnant water in a malfunctioning humidifier that is not serviced because it is out of sight out of mind. Have you ever heard of a little beastie called Legionnaires' disease? A properly functioning in duct humidifier is a wonderful thing if homeowners would maintain the damn things. In my experience, unless a homeowner is willing to pay for a service contract with a competent, conscientious service company that will perform the proper maintenance on their in duct humidifier, it will quit working. I've seen it time and time again. It's like an old English sports car, don't get one unless you have lots of money or know how to work on it yourself.
TDD
I agree with the advice to switch it to using hot water. That is recommended by Aprilaire to increase the evaporation rate. And don't worry about the cost of using hot water. You're paying to heat the water one way or the other either way. Using cold water, some furnace heat goes to raising the temp. With hot, that energy is being supplied by the water heater. If both are gas, it's about a wash. If you have electric water heater, then there is going to be some cost diff, but not all that much.
But first, I would verify that it is actually running all the time when the furnace is running. Don't know how he's measuring 23 RH, but many of the humdidty gauges vary widely. Key questions are if it feels comfortable, and there are no static shocks. If you start getting condensation on windows, you know it's too high. And better to err on the side of a little too low.
Forgot to add: Don't run the blower constantly. That is going to increase the electric bill substantially. Another obvious factor is how cold of an area you are in. If it's somewhere dry, but not cold enough that the furnace runs enough, then a furnace humidifier isn't going to work well. But I think those cases are very rare. In such a case, a seperate stand alone humidifier in the house may be better.
33% what is outside temp, what type of humidistat are you reading. All analog need calibrating and most cant be calibrated. Taylors best analog model states to calibrate every 6-9 months, and they make alot of unaccurate junk too. Start by asking him if he has condensation on any windows or anywhere like window sills, if so he has way to much humidity. Get a good digital humidistat, if you go to a store that has a display of analog units look and see how they will be 15% varied, most are junk. If the other 2 units are humidified he may not need anything additional, humidity moves around well. I have no humidifer on, its 32 out and 40RH, I dont need one yet. I have a bypass mode for summer with my april air, does his flow excess water down the drain, it should, open it and look and check airflow and waterflow. Does his have an outside thermostat.
Sell the humidifier and caulk the condo. Dry winter air is a sign of too much air leakage. Given internal humidity sources (breathing, cooking, cleaning, showers, green plants) a perfectly airtight house would need wintertime DEhumidification.
Nick
Not everyone is so inept that they can't maintain their own humidifier without resorting to one of the guild members. It only takes a few minutes to do, but it does need to be done. Not all in duct humidifiers put a water mist into the duct. That's why evaporative units are cleaner and better. With the humidity controls available now excessive moisture and the possibility of Legionnaires' disease are not a great risk...certainly not one I fear.
BTW, I spend far less time maintaining my two furnaces and humidifiers than I ever did keeping my Triumph TR3 and TR4 up and running.
Aparently? my April Air is media, which April Air are mist.
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