whole house humidifier wiring


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Old 11-05-15, 10:11 AM
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whole house humidifier wiring

I've had an aprilaire 400 for abotu 5 years now and I've never felt like its done a good job. I have a humidity sensor in the upstairs and during the winter it always has a sad face. I'm not sure what the humidity reading has been, maybe upper 20s or lower 30s.
I mentioned this to an hvac serviceman and he said my humidifer is only wired to run when the furnace is on. I have a variable high efficiency furnace, if it matters. So he said maybe wiring it so that it turns on my fan when the house needs humidity might help. He also mentioned some people recommend running the humidifier for 2 days straight in the beginning of the season to get the house humidity setup.
So my question is if that really does help and is it something I can do myself? And how would I do it? I can provide pictures of the manual if needed.

Here is some info on my AC/Furnace system.
Product: Split System: Air-Cooled Condensing Unit, Coil with Blower
Outdoor Unit Model Number: AL6B036F3
Indoor Unit Model Number: FC/MC/PC43B+TXV
Furnace Model Number: L*9C*B12 (It might be LP9C080C16MP11)
Manufacturer: LUXAIRE BY JOHNSON CONTROLS
Trade/Brand name: ACCLIMATE
 
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Old 11-05-15, 10:20 AM
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Having the humidifier turn the blower on without heat is a waste as cool air doesn't carry and deliver enough humidity to justify running the blower.

I wouldn't be so quick to blame the humidifier. Air leaks into the house reduce the humidity level too. If you have an older home you may be light on insulation which is one sure way to lose humidity by the infiltration of cold dry air.
 
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Old 11-05-15, 11:18 AM
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I'm not sure how much air leakage I have. But what your saying about insulation is probably true of most older homes. Such that a whole house humidifier would not make sense for 80% of the houses in my area (NYC suburbs has a lot of old homes).

So what do people in my situation do? I'm sure they don't insulate the walls from the inside. A small minority probably have changed their siding. Does that solve the issue without insulating walls from inside? I'm guessing some get a room humidifier. But those are hard to maintain and only apply to one room. I think a lot get a whole house humidifier. Are they all as unhappy with their whole house humidifier as I am?
 
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Old 11-09-15, 09:51 AM
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Hey PJ,

You mention cool air doesn't transmit humidity, but when the fan is running isn't it circulating warm air from inside the house? Or is it only taking cold air from outside?

I want to run an experiment and turn on the fan and then the humidifier to see how much humidity is improved. How do I turn on the humidifier? IS there an override switch? Right now it only turns on when furnance is supplying heat.
 
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Old 11-09-15, 09:57 AM
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By cool air I was referring to room temperature/unheated air.

You should be able to put your fan in FAN ON mode at the stat and then turn the humidistat up.
 
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Old 11-09-15, 10:17 AM
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A few days ago I tried turning the fan on and starting the humidifier but it would not start. I'll try again, but don't think its wired to work that way.
 
 

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