Consumer question:

 

Will the aprilaire media's standup to UV lights? I know the honeywell's at one time would get holes in them within a few months. And if the aprilaire's are compatable how far away does the light need to be?

Aprilaires' response:

Thank you for contacting us regarding our Aprilaire air cleaner filters. We do not recommend any exposure from UV light onto our filter media. Our filters are made of acrylic and polypropylene fibers that break down when exposed to UV light. This break down could lead to shortened filter life and lowered efficiency.

If you have any further questions regarding this or any of our products, please feel free to contact our customer service department at your earliest convenience.

will the aprilaire media's standup to UV lights? I know the honeywell's at one time would get holes in them within a few months. And if the aprilaire's are compatable how far away does the light need to be?

 

 

Consumer question:

 

I have not yet purchased a whole house humidifier yet. My question is what kind would you recommend in my situation. My house is on a slab and the cold air return is through the attic down into the furnace unit. I have no one of attaching a bypass pipe to the supply ducts since it is underground. Is there a unit that I can install solely on the return side of the furnace?

Aprilaires' response:

Thank you for contacting Aprilaire.

Yes, you could install the 700 on either side of the furnace, and it does not have a bypass to go to the other side. You will need to run hot water to this humidifier.

We do not recommend installing any humidifier in an attic where conditions may freeze.

Other wise you could go with a stand alone unit, the 360. That goes through a wall. It does not connect to the HVAC system at all.

Thank you for contacting us with regards to your model 600A Humidifier. When power is applied to the solenoid valve, there should be an audible "click." If your valve does not click, verify the voltage supplied to it by measuring between the two yellow wires at the valve for A/C power. It should be around 24v, +/- 4v. Additionally, the amps available are also important. This valve needs .4 amps to open. If the amperage available is less than .1, it may not click at all. Between 1. and .3 it may just make a humming noise. If you verify all power is good and it still doesn't open, the diagnosis would be a bad valve. We would recommend that you contact your supplier for any replacement needed.

Thank yo for your email regarding your interest in our Aprilaire humidifiers. The model 400A is a drain less bypass humidifier which can be installed on the supply or return duct. It utilizes the fan of the HVAC system to force the air through the humidifier as well as to distribute the humidified air through your home. The 400A has no internal fan.

I love our Model 350, but it's vented into the main part of the house and it's very noisy. Do you have a similar model that's quieter? Or can we replace the fan with one that's not so loud?

Aprilaires' response:

Thank you for contacting us with regards to your model 350 Humidifier. The replacement parts for this unit would be the same ones that originally came with your unit. We don't offer alternate motors and fan blades. If you feel that your unit is operating at a higher noise level than when it was originally installed, you might look into replacing the motor. Fan blades don't typically wear out. Also, this model can be ducted in applications where the unit isn't in the space that it's humidifying. Flexible duct will offer more sound dampening properties than rigid duct, and more distance between the humidifier and its discharge vent will also help. We would recommend that you contact either your installer or current HVAC service technician to discuss each option.

Please let us know if we can be of further assistance.

Thank you for your email regarding your model 800 Aprilaire steam humidifier. Your model 800 can work with a 110, 208 or 240 volt power supply. The higher the voltage, the higher the gallons per day output. A power supply of 240 will produce 23.3 gallons per day. A home of 6000 sq. ft with 8" ceilings would typical need 23- 25 gallons per day. Your HVAC installer would know how they sized your home for humidification and what power supply they used. As long as your thermostat has dry contacts, it may be used to control humidification from your model 800. We ask for you to please contact them to discuss how they have wired your system.

My humidifier was set at 7 and put too much condensation on my windows so I turned it down to 4. The condensationis just minimal now, so that's good, but the numbers don't match. When it\'s set to 4, my readings upstairs shows 36%. I thought setting 4 was 25% to 30%. Also, ideally I would like the humidity in the 40s. Is there something wrong with the settings? Is the 700 model too large for my 1500sf townhome? Its the one my hvac guy installed with new furnace. Any help you can give is appreciated. Thank you.

Aprilaires' response:

Thank you for contacting us. The setting 4 should equate to approximately 30%. Is the control mounted on the return? If so this might explain the different readings. The 700 has a large evaporative capacity however if you install a unit with excess capacity it usually just runs less.

We have an Aprilaire 760 humidifier installed on the return side of our furnace, connected to the cold water line, and the units leak water from the front edge of the unit. The HVAC tech says it is condensation build up on the water panel dripping down. Thoughts?


Aprilaires' response:

Thank you for contacting Aprilaire.

This does not sound like condensation. Actually, you should not have condensation in your humidifier.

Leaking is caused by a few different things... You will want to make sure that the water panel is not leaning forward, back, left or right. Also, make sure that the distribution tray at the top, (where the water is dropped into) make sure that there still is a gritty/sandy coating in there. If the tray is smooth where the water builds up before going into the 'collar' type holes, all the water will go into the first hole or two it comes to and will not be evenly distributed. When this happens, the water panel is not able to handle that amount of water and will go over the sides of the scale control insert and leak.

The last thing to check is if there is an orifice correctly in place. Then check to make sure that it has not been stretched out.

To check proper water flow through orifice, you would pull out the water feed tube, and have the water go into a 32 oz jar. That jar should fill in two and half minutes. If it fills way faster than that, you have too much water going in that it can not handle, and will leak out. The fix for that would be a new orifice.

You may check these things or give us a call Monday thru Friday from 7:00 am to 5:00 pm central time.

Aprilaires' response:

Thank you for your email regarding your interest in our Aprilaire humidifiers. The only model that will not work on a horizontal heating system is the model 700. The humidity level is reduced by 50%. We wold recommend the mode 600 for your application.

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to be of service

Thank you for contacting us regarding your model 760 humidifier. The model 760 has its own 24 volt transformer built into the unit therefore it has all of its own power. If you would like to see if the fan is working while the cover is on, simply touch the brown leads together while the unit is plugged into a powered outlet. This would complete the 24 volt connection to the relay, turning the fan on and opening the solenoid. This is a low voltage connection so there is no risk of injury. You can perform this test while the furnace is off, this way the sound of the furnace running will not interfere while you are listening for the fan on the 760.

If the fan and solenoid operate the unit is ok. If not, we recommend contacting your installing contractor to come to your home and troubleshoot the unit. However, you have the option to contact our tech support department at 1-800-334-6011 and troubleshoot with one of our technicians. Our tech support department is open Monday through Friday, 7 am to 5 pm CST.

Thank you for contacting Aprilaire.

If the water is coming through the humidifier non- stop, you may want to shut the water valve till things can be checked.

Having water come through the humidifier when the furnace is not on might mean that there is direct and constant power going to the solenoid. The solenoid should only be activated when the furnace is on and there is a call for heat.

When the water is running, try turning down the humidistat... does the water stop? If so, then the problem is a lack of communication with the furnace. You may want to have an HVAC technician come out to check that for you.

Please let us know if you have any further questions.

Thank you for contacting us with regards to our model 1750A Dehumidifier. Models 70 and 75 will each work with this model. The difference lies in how the controls sense humidity and how they use that information to create a set point. The model 70 sends humidity, temperature and set point values to the dehumidifier for it to use in determining if humidity is too high. The 75 works with a simple 2-wire signal to turn the dehumidifier on and off. This is a simpler control and works the way most other manufacturers' de-humidistats will work.

Please let us know if we can be of further assistance.

Consumer question:

Unit was installed in February 2011. fails to feed water when the furnace is running.....even on the highest #7 setting. Worked fine last heating season

When the dial is moved to the "Test" setting, the water will flow and the 'reset light' will blink like it's supposed to....but when moved back regular run mode - even on # 5, #6 or #7 - it will not put water into the filter pan.


Aprilaires' response:

Thank you for contacting us regarding your 600A humidifier. Our controls have a built in design condition that allows the control to make a maximum of 45% relative humidity. If the digital screen has a value of 45% or above, the control will not turn on the humidifier outside of test. Also, the control has a accuracy differential of +/- 5%. So even if the screen reads 40%, due to this differential it may not turn the humidifier on.

Once the air in your home drops below 40-45% relative humidity your humidifier will turn on to add moisture to the air.

If you have any further questions regarding this or any of our products, please feel free to contact our customer service department at your earliest convenience.

Thanks for contacting Aprilaire in advance of your new Aprilaire air cleaner is installed.
Only the 210 or 213 media filter will fit the new 2210 model air cleaner you will be getting; you cannot use the filter made for the 2200.
If you have any other questions regarding the air cleaner, please let us know.
Thanks for being a loyal Aprilaire customer.

Thank you for your email regarding your model 600 Aprilaire humidifier. The red LED indicates the outdoor temperature terminals(ODT) are not receiving a temperature reading from the outdoor temperature sensor. The humidifier control will not function without the outdoor temperature reading. Our recommendation is to have your HVAC installer review the wiring and test the outdoor sensor and replace sensor if necessary.

Thank you for contacting us regarding the model 600. A bypass humidifier gets its air movement through the Water Panel® by the differential pressure between the supply (hot air) plenum and the return (cold air) duct. The supply plenum is under positive pressure and the return duct is under negative pressure. One of the advantages of a bypass humidifier is that it can be installed either on the supply plenum or on the return duct with equal effectiveness. No matter which duct the unit is mounted on, the airflow always goes from the supply to the return through the humidifier.

A bypass humidifier will also have no adverse effect on any component in the furnace, air cleaner or filter. Aprilaire® Humidifiers put “water vapor” into the air, not raw water. This is nature's way of getting relative humidity into the air.

Additionally, the Aprilaire published capacities on our literature are based on the humidifier using cold water, but there are many cases where you may want to boost the capacities of the humidifier. There are no detrimental effects in using hot water on our humidifiers.

There is no additional cost to you when using hot water either. Heat is required to evaporate water. It doesn't matter if that heat comes from the warm air of your furnace or hot water. If hot water is used to supplement the warm air, it simply increases the capacity of the humidifier. This added capacity will satisfy the humidistat quicker, reducing the amount of time the humidifier runs. This results in less water used.

If you have any further questions regarding this or any of our products, please feel free to contact our customer service department at your earliest convenience.

Thank you for your email regarding our model 400 Aprilaire humidifier. There are may variables which affect the size home our humidifiers can effectively humidify. The tightness of the home and run time of the heating system will typically determine which model to select. The model 400 is a drain less model which can only add humidity when the heating system is operating. If the heating system has a short run time then the humidifier will as well. The model we typically suggest for heating systems with short run times is the model 600 as it can be wired to run on a fan call provided the humidifier is supplied with hot water. Our recommendation would be to discuss your options with your HVAC installer.

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to be of service.