Well, it just so happens that the mounting spot for my model 600 will be just beside the water heater. It would be mighty convenient to use the supplied tapping saddle valve right out of the water heater. I also read that it is recommended to use hot water.

I wonder though, is it that much of an advantage? I was doind some rough numbers and the instructions say it flows 3gph. that's 72gallons of hot water per day. that sounds awfully expensive and/or wasteful.

Can someone chime in on my saddle valve location and also the hot water necessity?

 

it's not going to be running 24/7 if installed properly. yes. use hot water. produces humidity better and faster then cold water.

 

There's no waste of hot water, the heat is put into the air flow.

I took a reading on mine, and I had 120˚ going into the humidifier, and at the discharge, I was getting 52˚ going down the drain.

 

Great!

makes sense. so can I install the saddle valve right on the water heater outlet?

Also, any tips/shortcuts for installation wiring which were not included in the instructions? I've got a natural gas furnace and I was (like many other people here) planning to wire this directly to the furnace board and transformer(provided it has 24v out).

 

Yes, you can add the valve. If you are really good with plumbing, put in a "T" and add real shut off valve.

What's the furnace mode/make? Also, what model humidistat did you get?

 

I will check this info tonight. thanks!

 

Carrier 58YAV and I think the humidistat is model 60.

 

Humidistat-----Fur
R--------------R
C--------------C
W-------------W
G-------------(G wire that was on G at the furnace.)
Gf-------------G
H--------------HUM
H-------------Yellow wire to humidifier.------Other yellow wire to C on board.

 

C on which board? the humidistat?

Also, I see there is no transformer in this instruction. I presume that means my model furnace has all 24v circuitry to begin with?

 

Also, what is the hum terminal on the furnace? I notice that your instructions differ from the orange paper included with my humidifier. Make no mistake, you are clearly an expert who knows all the short cuts which I can appreciate but I'm a really anal person and I have to understand everything, so what does the hum terminal do?

 

hum terminal is a switched terminal that turns on with heat running. It is better to run with heat then with blower because the humidifier could run all the time if running with the blower. this will also keep the water panel from slimming up with biological growth.

 

The unused yellow wire from the humidifier goes to C. The other yellow wire is going to H on humidistat.

Correct.

 

Thank you both!

also, I hope this is the last question... The water line going from the solenoid to the water tray was this really stiff, oddly shaped gray hose. It was so stiff and oddly shaped that when I opened the box of my unit, it was broken to boot. The little cirular collar that the water line goes into where the water line sits atop the distribution tray was broken off. I used a plastic welder to repair it and it seems ok. I know that this piece would break again if I didn't do something about it so I replaced that hard gray hose with soft plastic icemaker water hose. I also used this type of water line to feed the solenoid from the supply valve off the hot water line.

Is there any problem with using this hose with the hot water? seems ok but if it HAS to be the 1/4" copper then I had better get some of that.

 

no. you'll be fine as long as the humidifier is not in a space that has any potential of freezing.... ie garage with door open for hours. I have seen some plastic line not last as long as copper but I've also seen them last the life of the humidifier when using plastic line.

 

but would that be C on the furnace board or C on the humidistat board? or does it not matter because those two will be connected to one another anyhow?

 

Works like a charm. Thank you for all the advice!

A couple of questions in closing:

1. a solenoid valve has two positions; open, and closed. Also, the water supply hose has a fixed orifice inside of it. I see all mechanical, constant, non-variables in the equipment so, how on earth does the humidistat increase or decrease humidity based on the knob's position?

2. What percentage relative humidity am I shooting for in Maryland?

3. Does the system take 24 hours or so to reach it's desired relative humidity? seems to climb slowly as it was at 31% prior to install and after the first HVAC heat cycle rose to 32%.

 

1. humidistat contains a band of horse hair that with increase/decrease in humidity expands(loosens) Contracts (tightens). In doing this it is attached to a micro switch that opens and closes.
2. around 35% but your humidistat should have a chart on it that correlates with outdoor humidity. unless you are using a humidistat that uses an outdoor sensor this calculates on a different scale and you would need to refer to the manual.
3. it can a length of time to bring the humidity up depending on how your system is setup to run.

 

This system does use an outside air temp sensor.

 

depending on the outdoor temp. the humidistat will decide on its own if it will allow the humidity to go up to your set point. this is to help prevent condensation on the windows

 

Sorry to barge in on someone else's thread, but referring to this ^^^^^^^; does this mean that it would be better to install the humidistat up in the main living area instead of in the basement where the humidifier is? I don't want the humidistat to operate based on the humidity in the basement, but would rather it be based on the humidity of the rest of the house.

 

No, the stat is reading the humidity in the return duct. this will get a good avg reading for the whole house.

 

I do however prefer the living space location of a humidistat over return duct mounting.