Aprilaire 400 water flow rate too low?


  #1  
Old 02-16-13, 06:18 PM
P
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: USA
Posts: 2
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes on 0 Posts
Aprilaire 400 water flow rate too low?

I just installed a brand new Aprilaire 400 on my HVAC (a trane heat pump) and I'm not sure the water delivery is working properly.
The solenoid valve clicks open with the heat pump or fan, but I think that the water flow rate is too low. It is a really slow drip. The documentation says the humidifier should flow 0.7 gph, but it took about 20 minutes for just 1 cup to drip out (that calculates out to only ~.19 gph).
At this slow drip level, the water pad stays almost completely dry during operation, and the floats on the bottom don't rise up at all.

I thought that this unit was supposed to fill up the right-side sump with water until the float shuts off the circuit, and then refill it as necessary?

Can anyone with this model comment on if I'm seeing the expected behavior or is something going wrong?
Thanks!
 
  #2  
Old 02-16-13, 06:57 PM
Jay11J's Avatar
Member
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: Rochester, Minnesota
Posts: 16,984
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes on 0 Posts
Make sure the water valve is on all the way.

Is this a new water line too? or old? If it's old, maybe remove the screen to make sure nothing is plugging it.
 
  #3  
Old 02-16-13, 07:05 PM
P
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: USA
Posts: 2
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes on 0 Posts
Solenoid valve was stuck.

Jay, thanks for your reply. This is my first post on the site but I read through quite a bit when deciding what humidifier to get and figuring out it it was a job I could do myself, and your posts have always been helpful.

I just finished my troubleshooting and it's working fine now.
I wired up the 24V directly to the solenoid. Water flowed but still just a tiny drip.
I pulled off the water lines to make sure nothing was blocking the flow. The pressure was just fine on the supply line and since it was an old line I let it run for a little while to try to flush out any crud.
There wasn't any object I could see blocking the solenoid, but I could tell that it wasn't completely open.
I clicked the 24V on and off a few times with the water lines off and the valve got unstuck and opened fully.

I hooked everything back up, and now I get the expected behavior: water flows over the pad until the sump float shuts it off. It comes out as a nice steady stream rather than pathetic dripping.

Also, I realized as I was taking this apart that my valve doesn't have an inline screen. I searched my box but didn't see it, so either I misplaced it during installation or mine got shipped without one.
I guess I'll try to pick one up online so that the valve doesn't get clogged in the future.
 
  #4  
Old 02-16-13, 08:19 PM
Jay11J's Avatar
Member
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: Rochester, Minnesota
Posts: 16,984
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes on 0 Posts
Glad to hear you got it up and going, and also glad to hear that my posts had helped you out with your project! :-)

If you need anything else, please let us know!

Have a great weekend.
 
 

Thread Tools
Search this Thread
 
Ask a Question
Question Title:
Description:
Your question will be posted in: