Humidifier by Hunter

Brother, I think you're OK here. I run a couple in my shop, both cheap from Walgreen's, and I'd be ruining the suckers once a week if they didn't have auto-shut-off. Your's should too. Sounds defective.

Hunter carefree humidifiers use a reusable and washable wick this method of humidifying does not produce a fine mist like many centrifugal (cool misting)humidifiers. The fact that it is producing cold air seems to indicate it is working. However it would not hurt to check the water intake for blockages it also a good idea to run these models on high for several mins when starting this ensures that water is being pumped up.

Yes, this solenoid is "Normally Closed". That means that when energized, the solenoid opens the valve to allow water to flow. Otherwise it is closed. Unfortuneately, that doesn't always happen, and there soes not seem to be a pat answer as to why. I spoke with the mfgr (Kip) and they offered plentyof "maybe's" but nothing firm.

What's worse is that I can not find any one or store that stocks or sells these, and Kip's lead time is 4-6 weeks.

unless the humidty in your home is higher then 35%. if it is then the humidifier would not run. try turning it up higher and see if it comes on. Do you hear a click in the humidistat? as you turn up the dail when you hear the click is when the humidifier should come on. Also remember your furnace must be running for the humidifier to come on. if you hear the click and the humidifier fan comes on but no water, you may have a clogged inline filter located in the solinoid valve or a bad soliniod. all parts for your humifier can be purchased from www.aprilaire.com

sounds like you may have it wired to a continuous power source vs one that shuts off with the furnace. The most common wiring is red to C & white to W

get a humidity gauge from radio shack for about 20 bucks. thats the only way to tell. or pay a service compant tocome out for probaby a 100 bucks to tell you what the humidity level is in your home. id get the $20 one a the shack

sounds like to me you have a condensation pump attached to your hvac system. this can be used to pump water produced during the cooling of your house when in the a/c mode. if you have a typical bypass humidifier, you will have excess water running past the water panel and it must be sent to a drain of some kind. I would imagine the pump is being used to get your bypass water to the drain. another scenario may be that you have a 90% condensing furnace. if your exhaust pipe for the furnace is made out of pcv pipe, it is a condensing gas furnace. it will produce water when it is running. the water if from the combustion gases being condensed in the secondary heat exchanger. this is normal. some condensing gas furnaces will draw combustion air from inside the house and some will have a second pvc pipe that is used to pulll combustion air from the outside of the house. either way, it is not dehumidifying your house. the humidifier should be able to keep up if it is runnng properly. you should have water running out the bottom drain of the humidifier any time the fan on your furnace is running and the humidistat is calling for humidity. if this is not happening, it is not wired properly.

Thanks for your question,
Well thats the big problem with bypass Humidifiers, they use alot of water, is yours running all the time, even when the furnace is shut down ? if it is, its wired in wrong, if not then there is not much of a solution for ya, is the humidity level in the home comfortable to where you can actually turn the house t-stat down ? if not you may want to incress the amount of humidity to be able to turn your house t-stat down, you should be feeling about 3 to 7 degrees warmer with the right amount of humidity, sorry I couldnt be more help, but thats the nature of that unit, just a little FYI, if you ever decide to try something different, may cost a bit more, try a steam humidifier, alot less water usage, its filtered, and pretty reliable too, thanks again for your question, hope atleast part of this helped !
mr.grzz

yes water should turn off solinoid is bad

My guess is that you are trying to bring the humidity up too high. There is a chart in the manual that suggests where to set the humidity at based on outdoor temps.

I try to keep the level at 30-35% in the winter.

Hope this helps.