Aprilaire 60 Blower Activation


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Old 02-17-12, 09:55 AM
A
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Aprilaire 60 Blower Activation

Okay, I installed an Aprilaire 60 as I wanted the humidifier (plumbed for hot water) to be able to call for the blower to turn on if the humidity is too low. Where we live in CO we don't need to run the heat all that much but we need the humidifier to run at additional times and there is benefit to running the humidifier with blower but without heat.

Wired as described, everything works properly in test mode (humidifier turns on for a minute); everything works when there is a call for heat and humidity is lower than setpoint (in manual mode, set at 5).

Now then, it seems that the humidifier works different than I expect. If there is not enough humidity, I expected the humidifier to be able to call for humidity. Instead, it seems like the humidifier won't initiate the call, rather simply take advantage of it. That is, if the blower is running, and the humidity is less than the set point, turn on humidifier.

This isn't at all what I expected. There is a cryptic insert in the Aprilaire 60 box describing needing to use a Model 4851 Blower Activation Relay is you want the 60 to be able to call for humidity. Is this what everyone is using to initiate this function? I'm confused as I thought the whole point of the 60 was to be able to call for the blower.

NOTES: All wires are wired per diagram. There is ittle chance that I have the input/output for the blower wires mixed up. The fan signal from the thermostat is wired to G and Gf is wired to the furnace. Blower activation switch is on; humidifier in manual mode.

Help!
Thanks.
 
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Old 02-17-12, 02:26 PM
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Well, a call to Aprilaire explained what was going on. I'm posting this because it could be useful to someone else.

First, the cryptic 4851 insert in the packaging is a mistake - it is unnecessary with the Model 60 and was used on earlier models to do what the 60 and 62 can do by design.

More importantly, the way that the humidistat calls for the blower is that it will not try to call for the blower until an hour has passed since the last time the blower or furnace was active. After that time, it will call for the blower, sample the humidity and then run the humidifier (with blower) as needed. The tech person at Aprilaire talked a bit more about the algorithm but I can't remember the rest of the details. I'm just happy it is doing what I purchased it for.
 
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Old 02-20-13, 12:25 PM
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Thanks, I'm researching models, and was hoping that their Model 60 would do just that. I burn wood as supplemental heat, so the furnace isn't always running.
 
 

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