Home humidifer not doing very well

I have a typical colonial house, with a Aprilaire humifier attached to my furnace.

I have it at the Maxium humidity setting, and my house is only @ 26% humidity (per my Radio Shack meter), and everyone feels dry. I can't crank it up any hugher, so what else can I do?

It's especially worse on the upper level where eneryone sleeps.

Reply to
Bill
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Is the humidifier pad clean. What is outside temp, if its near zero

26% might be all you should have, you should not humidify to the point condensation develops on windows.
Reply to
ransley

Purchase a larger humidifier or add a second humidifier. Bubba

Reply to
Bubba

Four quick thoughts.

  1. Make sure the water supply is okay.
  2. Make sure the pad is okay, wet, and doesn't have too much build up on it.
  3. Make sure everything is installed okay and the air is blowing over it.
  4. Eat more pasta.
Reply to
Pat

You may also want to make sure you are getting a good flow of water into the humidifier. Every year when I have my furnace checked in the fall the HVAC tech will close, open, close and re-open the shut off water valve to the humidifier. They tell me that all it takes is a bit of stuff in the small valve to block the flow of water to the humidifier.

When my Aprilaire is running there is a good flow of water going through it and draining out.

Is the humidifier pad clean. What is outside temp, if its near zero

26% might be all you should have, you should not humidify to the point condensation develops on windows.
Reply to
Bobk

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Reply to
Dr. Hardcrab

What do your windows look like if you draw the curtains back. It there condensation on them? Ice? What is the outside temperature? How old is your home. How long have you had the humidifier, or lived in that home?

Is water flowing through the humidifier and coming out into the drain? Is it connected to a hot water supply? When was the last time the media (the pad) replaced? What model is it?

Reply to
Joseph Meehan

The aluminum screen calcites up, Lime Away fixes it in 15 minutes. is it getting water, or is it calcified closed, You need a trusted heating Tech as you know nothing and probabaly have not had any cleaning or work done in years, a typical H.O bs question. Thats Home Owner, or HO as in

Reply to
ransley

Best advice was to start with the drain line. With the Aprilaire, water flows over the media and only part of it evaporates. The rest flows out the drain line. There should be about a pencil size flow of water.

If there isn't there is a tiny screen filter inline with the water solenoid valve, that could be clogged. You could also check that the solenoid is getting 24V to open.

I'd also be suspicious of the Radio Shack accuracy. Those widgets are not very accurate, but given that you also say the house is dry, it sounds like the humidity is low.

Reply to
trader4

I have an Aprilaire humidifier. When I was having trouble I googled something like, "troubleshooting Aprilaire humidifier" This led me fairly quickly to a plumbing supply website that had a good troubleshooting protocol that solved my problem. In my case the saddle valve that attached the humidifier water line to the main water supply had become clogged. I replaced the saddle valve and solved the problem. There are only a few things that can go wrong with an humidifier so they are not too hard to fix. Troubleshooting is pretty much following the flow of water and figuring out where it is stopped.

Reply to
PaulD

Furnace humidifiers are only working when the furnace is going, thats the bad part about them they dont emphasize when they sell you one. Mine never keeps up, as the furnace only kicks on for a few minutes each hour, even Saturday when the temp was -4F the furnace will still not run enough to make it more humid. I still need portables which work better IMHO and they wet-filter the air simultaneously as a side benefit. When I replace this furnace I will get rid of my Aprilaire and not replace it again, as furnace humidifiers are useless unless your furnace runs a lot. You might want to run the fan on the furnace even when the heater is not going just to get it to run longer cycles, assuming the unit is working ok.

Reply to
RickH

This only proves that you or whoever had the furnace installed in your home grossly oversized it. At the outside heating design temperature for your part of the country your furnace should be running constantly if properly sized. If it gets colder than that your home will actually start losing temperature. Anything above that temperature and your furnace should start cycling. Bubba

Reply to
Bubba

Cu ft numbers for sizing are not the whole story, hacks do it that way. I used to use 100000 btu for 1200 sq and a basement, my last load calculation was 40000 btu is needed after alot of insulation and windows, I use a 47000 btu unit with the gas cut back, at the coldest days it should run 80-100%, turn off the boiler, run the furnace and duct it to the basement, short cycling ruins equipment and its efficency.

Reply to
ransley

n't crank

When the home was build the basement boiler was no there yet. I installed the tubing under the slab when we poured, then got a boiler

4 years later after I moved in. Thats why it may be oversized now. But the furnace was definitely not oversized at construction time. I've been told numerous times the house is very comfortable, but I do wish I had gotten water heat instead of forced air heat for everything, and a simple air handler for the AC. It's 11 years old, no problems, will probably replace it at 15 years. The boiler I expect to last till I die.

As for a whole house humidifier, I would not get one again unless the system can be rigged to turn on the fan between heating cycles IF the humidistat still calls for more humidity, IOW heat and humidity motors controlled separately. Having it only run with the furnace cycles was never accurate enough to control humidity, it will always be hit or miss that way.

Reply to
RickH

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