In alt.home.repair on 16 Mar 2005 05:04:31 -0800 "Chris"
posted:

I live in the northeast US and I have a forced-air furnace with central
air and an attached humidifier but the air in the house seems dry.

The humidifier pad looked dry so I poked around a bit and found the
humidistat plugged with dust and I blew it out with some compressed
air. I then saw a trickle of water over the pad but a week or so later
the air was still dry.

Blowing out the humidistat as you did was a good idea, but obviously
didn't solve all the problems. IMO the odds are that the valve where
the water goes into the humidifier is clogged. They probably sell
parts to repair it, or the whole valve to repair the humidifier.

The valve/connection where the tube to the humidifier connects with a
water pipe can also clog. Or it rusts into two pieces and the second
piece stays stuck in the water pipe. Especially if you turn off your
humidifier there each spring. (You don't run your humidifier in the
summer, do you? Remember, it's automatic. You have to do something
to stop it. Well, maybe not on a good one. I have el cheapo, with no
motor, and it works fine except that I have to turn off the water each
spring. The company that made this model seems to be gone.)

If either of these is true, or even if you're just checking them, make
sure you don't have a polyethylene (translucent white plastic) tube to
your humidifier. They will sprout leaks for no apparent reason (did
so to my humidier and a friend's refridgerator ice maker. Good thing
we were both home at the times.). Replace it with copper. Not hard.
Not expensive. Plastic is NO good.

I turned the humidistat up to 40% then 45% and
waited a day or so each time. No (noticable) change.

Aside from foggy windows and not waking up with a dry throat, how can
you tell if a humidifier is working? What else can I tweak, clean,
etc. to get it working? (Or course, we're turning the corner from
winter into spring and I won't want extra water in the air but at least
I'll know for next winter.)


Meirman
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