I had a fresh air exchanger and an Aprilaire humidifier on the furnace. The humidity never went above 30% when it was first installed, but I thought it might have been because it was October and the furnace rarely went on at the time. Now the humidity still has not gone above 30%. (I live in the Kansas City area.) I am wondering if the fresh air from outside and continuously changing the air is making the humidifier less effective.
Randy R
Are you finding that 30% is too dry for your needs? How are your measuring the humidity. What model humidifier do you have. What do you have it set for?
I have allergies and my sinuses are often so dry they hurt in the morning. My eyes are also so dry that I can't put in my contacts first thing in the morning (both are only in the winter.) I guess I don't know how exact my humidity sensor is. It's built into an atomic clock that I got from someplace like Sharper Image. The humidifier is an Aprilaire 550. The control is turned all the way up. (The dial says 45 and it is past that.) The installer just said to leave it there till the windows started to fog up, which they havent done.
Randy R
Reply below
I have allergies and my sinuses are often so dry they hurt in the morning. My eyes are also so dry that I can't put in my contacts first thing in the morning (both are only in the winter.) I guess I don't know how exact my humidity sensor is. It's built into an atomic clock that I got from someplace like Sharper Image. The humidifier is an Aprilaire 550. The control is turned all the way up. (The dial says 45 and it is past that.) The installer just said to leave it there till the windows started to fog up, which they havent done.
Randy R
An Aprilaire Humidistat only goes to 45% in manual mode. If dial is turned higher to test mode, unit will run approx two minutes and shut off. It will not function normally. Phil
With dry outdoor winter air the air exchanger and humidifier are working against each other and the result will depend on the relative capacities of each. Just try shutting off the air exchanger and see what the result is.
Don Young
Phil, You are assuming that the Aprilaire 550 has the automatic humidity control. It doesnt. The 550 is the cheap end of the humidifiers. It has a manual humidistat. It does go past the 45% mark. It doesnt have a test mode. Good try though.............. Bubba
This was my first guess. How do I "shut off" the air exchanger? Unplug it? It is a PerfectAir 8500. I'll try that tonight and see if the humidity goes up in the next few days.
Would a higher capacity humidifier take care of the problem?
Thanks, Randy R
Go to Lowe's and buy this humidifier:
Are you sure it is working, you do see water on the pad . How do you know your humidistat is accurate, Wrap a moist rag around it for 30 min, it should read 94-96 if it is an analog large scale taylor. You digital may not register well at extremes. A fresh air exchanger is needed on tight houses, did you have a blower door test and fail. Is your unit-humidifier sized right, you could leave the blower on it will humidify more.
Are you sure it is working, you do see water on the pad . How do you know your humidistat is accurate, Wrap a moist rag around it for 30 min, it should read 94-96 if it is an analog large scale taylor. You digital may not register well at extremes. A fresh air exchanger is needed on tight houses, did you have a blower door test and fail. Is your unit-humidifier sized right, you could leave the blower on it will humidify more.
I don't know that model but check to make sure it is getting water and the media does get wet. It should have a drain attached and it should drain when in use. It works as a flush keeping the media in better condition longer. You also can boost the capacity by tapping into a hot water line rather than a cold water line (check the instructions to make sure this is recommended for your model.) If you have a larger home or if your home is not too tight (since you have an air exchange unit I would guess that to be true) then this unit may be too small for your home with the air exchanger in operation.
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