Furnace humidifier motor

I just purchased a house which has a Sears 3000 furnace mounted humidifier. It's mounted to the supply side with the controls on the return side. There is a motor driving a drum with a foam pad. When I pulled it apart the foam pad and reservoir was full of mineralization. Original owners must've never cleaned it (7 or so years) You couldn't even tell there was a foam pad under there. I cleaned the reservoir and got a new pad (actually, a paper wicking pad cut to fit since I could no longer get the original replacement) and it's looking new again. But when I hooked it back up the motor doesn't seem to be turning the drum. Without load it seems to turn fine. With it hooked up to the drum, there's a lot of clicking like a timer but no turning. Even with the slightest resistance using my finger it clicks. I'm wondering if the motor is bad due to years of neglect since I wouldn't be surprised if the drum hasn't turned in years due to mineralization. It's a SIEBE Appliance Controls 115VAC 1RPM (3W) motor. One place online says discontinued, but I wonder if there is a replacement.

Reply to
cl999
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Just buy a new Aprilaire unit, which IMO are the best, and be done with it. They aren't that expensive that it's worth trying to salvage a screwed up one. Aprilaire uses a water trickling over a media element which eliminates many of the problems, like fouling and bacteria with units that use the rotating pad arrangement. I'd also go with the one that is fan powered (760?) as opposed to the bypass type.

Reply to
trader4

Yep, thats a good idea getting the 700 fan powered model Why? Reason number...........

1) A teeney little humidifier motor is certainly stronger than a 1/3, 1/2, 3/4 or 1 hp furnace blower motor. 2) A 700 has a motor, relay, outdoor sensor and humidistat circuit board to go bad Somethings just DONT need to be that complicated. Bubba
Reply to
Bubba

The small fan only moves air through the media, not through the whole house, so the comparison is irrelevant. The bypass models reduce the blower capacity of the furnace by shunting air around. And they send concentrated humid air straight back into the furnace heat exchanger. It never seemed a good idea to have high humidity air in the presence of steel to me.

Yeah, it is a little more complex, but not much. In my experience, the bigger problem is poor design of other units leading to scale, crud build up, exactly as his current unit failed. Which also has a motor, that failed, BTW. And it has a humidistat and some kind of relay to control the motor, doesn't it?

As for the outside temp sensor, I'd rather have a unit that automatically lowers the humdidity as the outside temp drops than have condensation. It works well on my Aprilaire. If you don't like that feature, Aprilaire has other ones.

Reply to
trader4

.......and Im telling you that the furnace blower motor negates any movement of air that little useless humidifier motor does.

....and a 6" bypass pipe carries 110CFM (if I remember correctly) under perfect conditions. Not really a decision maker.

Well, the hole in that theory is that furnaces since about 1975 or later have been made with stainless steel, aluminized steel or some form of it in the heat exchangers. By your own admission, you are saying that you would be putting the humidifier on the supply plenum of a furnace. That, my boy is a horrible idea. Rusted cabinets, shorted gas valves and circuit boards I find all the time from humidifiers that leaked down into the furnace controls. ALWAYS put the humidifier on the Return. THATS why I dont like the powered fan models. Those have to be on the supply plenum and thats where the mess starts.

Its not that its complex, its just the fact that they tried to make it something it doesnt need to be. Wait till you pay to have that circuit boarded humidistat replaced. A far cry more than a standard humidistat. A failed motor? Exactly my point. A bypass doesnt have one. Crud comes from humidifiers that I dont consider humidifiers (like ones with a rolling drum or resovior that holds mineral concentrated water. Aprilaire does a pretty good job of making a simple humidifier.

Thats why I like the model 550. Simple and economical. I install the humidistats at the thermostat though. I dont like them in the return ductwork by the furnace where the homemoaner seems to never go. Bubba

Reply to
Bubba

Nonsense. The fan in the Aprilaire moves air through the media perpendicular to the main air flow. If it didn't move air, it wouldn't have a higher water output capacity than the cheaper 550.

Yeah, because they're crap humdifiers like the one the OP has. I've had an Aprilaire for 10 years and there have been zero problems. No rust, no seized motors, no failures due to your alleged complexity, nada. All I do is change the media element every 2 years. And I've seen lots of folks on here over the years that have the same model and everyone of them has said it was a super, trouble free unit.

ALWAYS put the humidifier on the Return. THATS why I dont

10 years later and the unit, which only cost like $160 new, doesn't owe me a nickel. Just checked online and the replacement "circuit board" is a whopping $55. I won't lose sleep worrying that it's gonna fail.

Yes, but it doesn't automatically lower the humidity as the outside temp drops, a feature I like. And with the bypass models, you're always shunting some of the furnace blower capacity. And typically they have a flap to move to cut off the shunted flow when in cooling season, assuming the homeowner knows or remembers to move it.

I install the

I set mine once and with the automatic compensation for outside temp, never touch it.

Reply to
trader4

You'd be better served to have a HVAC guy cut that rotating drum disaster out, and put in a flow through model like an Aprilaire 600, or Honeywell's equivilant.

The rotating drum types have some inherent problems.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

Not to start name calling or anything but you seem rather pig headed. Reading your entier post shows me just exactly how much you dont know. Ive got about 25 years of HVAC service in now on residential and light commercial. All but about 3 of those years I have owned my own company. You can believe whatever you want to spew out of your mouth. I know what I know because I see it everyday. Just so you dont get too confused, I am pointing out that Aprilaire IS my humidifier of choice. Powered models are NOT my favorite although some furnaces have no other choice due to space or whatever. From a business standpoint I LOVE the powered models. Higher initial cost and higher repair cost. What's not to love? Kind of like being a plumber with garbage disposals. You get paid to put em in. Paid to unclog em. Paid to unstick them and finally get paid to replace them. Oh the love of em. Now let me point out what you spewed that you are wrong on. The air flow that the powered humidifier moves and air that gets "shunted' by the bypass is very neglegible. Period. The reason the 700 puts out more than the "cheaper" 550 is NOT because of the humidifier motor, brainaic. The 700 uses a bigger media filter (#35 ) AND a larger orifice. The 550 is able to evaporate about .50 gal/hr good for about a 3000 sq ft home. The 700 is good for about .75 gal/hr in a 4200 sq ft home. The media in your humidifier is supposed to be replaced every 1 years, NOT every 2. Ive already quashed your "humidity through the heat exchanger" theory. Although the 700 and others have the auto control it is still adjustable and Id rather it be upstairs by the thermostat where I can see, control and adjust it. You dont go to the basement to change your temperature do you? Nuf said. Believe what you want. Think what you want. I see them everyday. Bubba

Reply to
Bubba

Not to start name calling, but you sound like the pot calling the kettle black.

Yes, and I know what I know because I'm a degreed engineer who put in my own Aprilaire 760 ten years ago. I did it myself because I didn't want to deal with guys like you. And guess what, it's running fine. No leaks, no repairs, nada. Just put a new media in it every 2 years.

Yeah, well no one would know it from your first post attacking me.

Powered models are NOT my favorite although

Oh gee, really, and how is it that we only hear that hollow endorsement now? Did you even ask the OP about any of that before your proclaimed the Aprilaire 760 crap?

No repair cost here, nada. Besides your own claims, I'd love to see any credible references that say powered models have a shorter life than unpowered ones. You can buy a crap unpowered one and it will fail like the one the OP has. Or you can buy a powered or bypass model from a quality manufacturer and it will last.

No problens here with my garbage disposal either, thank you. Had a Kenmore that was in the house when I bought it. Lasted 18 years. Replaced it with an Insinkerator 4 years ago myself and its running fine.

Please site your reference that says a 4" shunt duct around a furnace from plenum to plenum is neglible. And if it's so negligible, why do most install have a flap for the homeowner to move to close it during AC season? That's assuming they know about it or remember.

Well it seems logical that it would use a larger orifice. That's the only way it could supply more moisture to the significantly more air moving through it. Why would that surprise you?

The 550 is able to evaporate about .50

Hmmm, I thought the fan was useless and the 760 was no good. Funny how it's applicable to larger homes. Gee, maybe that's another reason I bought it. You can just put a tin can on your stove in your trailer.

Yeah, and I suppose I should pay you to do it. BTW, who came up with that suggestion? Could it be the idiots at Aprilaire that according to you don't know squat and sell overly complex units that are failure prone and useless according to you? 2 years between media changes has worked perfectly fine for me. You are aware of the concept of inspection and only replacing if necessayr aren't you? Hmm, maybe you just like to go replace them every year for $$$. No failures here, no replaced expensive circuit boards( oh whopping $50, how shall I survive that?) , nada.

Cool, so you live with your customers so you can see control and adjust it.

No, and I don't go there to change the humidity level, because I set it once and it's fine. It SELF ADJUSTS for the outside temp, which is a feature I LIKE.

Reply to
trader4

Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree......

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

Tons of trader babbling deleted here and at the bottom

Another f****ng engineer that thinks they know everything. Gee, I'd a never guessed. Babbling and talking in circles. Go the fuque away and lick a window. Bubba

Reply to
Bubba

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