I had some hardwood flooring delivered yesterday, and I noticed on the
box it calls for 72 hours for the wood to adjust to the environment,
and humidity in the 40-55 range. It suddenly occurred to me that I
hadn't checked the humidity setting on the stat (had meant to do it
when I changed the pad, but something shiny...). It's an Aprilaire
humidifier attached to the return air duct at the furnace, no air
exchanger or such like, and the house is finally pretty well sealed.
Of course, I had forgotten it and it was essentially off, with a
humidity reading on the stat of 22. (no wonder the kids are suffering
with dry skin issues). So I whacked it up to 50. Roughly 24 hours
later, it has crept up to 29. Does it make sense that it is taking so
long? The house is about 5000 sf, so I guess could take a while, but
I expected quicker than this. I checked the pad, and the water is
filtering through fine. I'm in MN by the way, so very cold and dry.

TIA
Cub

cubby wrote:
I had some hardwood flooring delivered yesterday, and I noticed on the
box it calls for 72 hours for the wood to adjust to the environment,
and humidity in the 40-55 range. It suddenly occurred to me that I
hadn't checked the humidity setting on the stat (had meant to do it
when I changed the pad, but something shiny...). It's an Aprilaire
humidifier attached to the return air duct at the furnace, no air
exchanger or such like, and the house is finally pretty well sealed.
Of course, I had forgotten it and it was essentially off, with a
humidity reading on the stat of 22. (no wonder the kids are suffering
with dry skin issues). So I whacked it up to 50. Roughly 24 hours
later, it has crept up to 29. Does it make sense that it is taking so
long? The house is about 5000 sf, so I guess could take a while, but
I expected quicker than this. I checked the pad, and the water is
filtering through fine. I'm in MN by the way, so very cold and dry.

TIA
Cub
Hi,
Aprilaire has several different capacity size. I wonder if yours is
undersized? I live in Alberta, 2 story house is approx. 2600 sq. ft.
not counting basement living space. I can push the humidity upto
~60% RH but leave it at 35% or so in the winter months. We have a grand
piano made in 1912 which needs sound board protction. We watch humidity
pretty close year round.

On Jan 8, 8:00*pm, cubby wrote:
I had some hardwood flooring delivered yesterday, and I noticed on the
box it calls for 72 hours for the wood to adjust to the environment,
and humidity in the 40-55 range. *It suddenly occurred to me that I
hadn't checked the humidity setting on the stat (had meant to do it
when I changed the pad, but something shiny...). *It's an Aprilaire
humidifier attached to the return air duct at the furnace, no air
exchanger or such like, and the house is finally pretty well sealed.
Of course, I had forgotten it and it was essentially off, with a
humidity reading on the stat of 22. (no wonder the kids are suffering
with dry skin issues). *So I whacked it up to 50. *Roughly 24 hours
later, it has crept up to 29. *Does it make sense that it is taking so
long? *The house is about 5000 sf, so I guess could take a while, but
I expected quicker than this. *I checked the pad, and the water is
filtering through fine. I'm in MN by the way, so very cold and dry.

TIA
Cub

The floor only has to equalise the indoor humidity, 22% may be fine
depending on outdoor temp and you dont say what that is. Humidity
should not be raised to where you get any condensation anywhere, and
windows are usualy the place to look, get a cheap moisture meter to
test the wood, you never know it could be over wet if its natural
wood.

On Jan 9, 4:28*am, ransley wrote:
On Jan 8, 8:00*pm, cubby wrote:





I had some hardwood flooring delivered yesterday, and I noticed on the
box it calls for 72 hours for the wood to adjust to the environment,
and humidity in the 40-55 range. *It suddenly occurred to me that I
hadn't checked the humidity setting on the stat (had meant to do it
when I changed the pad, but something shiny...). *It's an Aprilaire
humidifier attached to the return air duct at the furnace, no air
exchanger or such like, and the house is finally pretty well sealed.
Of course, I had forgotten it and it was essentially off, with a
humidity reading on the stat of 22. (no wonder the kids are suffering
with dry skin issues). *So I whacked it up to 50. *Roughly 24 hours
later, it has crept up to 29. *Does it make sense that it is taking so
long? *The house is about 5000 sf, so I guess could take a while, but
I expected quicker than this. *I checked the pad, and the water is
filtering through fine. I'm in MN by the way, so very cold and dry.

TIA
Cub

The floor only has to equalise the indoor humidity, 22% may be fine
depending on outdoor temp and you dont say what that is. Humidity
should not be raised to where you get any condensation anywhere, and
windows are usualy the place to look, get a cheap moisture meter to
test the wood, you never know it could be over wet if its natural
wood.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I'd say the humidifier is probably working fine. If water is running
over the
media and out the drain, there isn't much that can be wrong. IF
it's a bypass
model, make sure the damper in the duct connecting it is fully open.
But
it does take a while to raise the humidity. And it obviously depends
on the
capacity of the humidifier. IF you want to increase the capacity,
you can
use hot water, instead of cold. Also, in MN, I would not be taking
the humidity
up to 50. Somewhere around 35 sounds more reasonable. 50 would be
max if it were say 35 or 50 outside.

On Jan 9, 7:02*am, wrote:
On Jan 9, 4:28*am, ransley wrote:



On Jan 8, 8:00*pm, cubby wrote:

I had some hardwood flooring delivered yesterday, and I noticed on the
box it calls for 72 hours for the wood to adjust to the environment,
and humidity in the 40-55 range. *It suddenly occurred to me that I
hadn't checked the humidity setting on the stat (had meant to do it
when I changed the pad, but something shiny...). *It's an Aprilaire
humidifier attached to the return air duct at the furnace, no air
exchanger or such like, and the house is finally pretty well sealed.
Of course, I had forgotten it and it was essentially off, with a
humidity reading on the stat of 22. (no wonder the kids are suffering
with dry skin issues). *So I whacked it up to 50. *Roughly 24 hours
later, it has crept up to 29. *Does it make sense that it is taking so
long? *The house is about 5000 sf, so I guess could take a while, but
I expected quicker than this. *I checked the pad, and the water is
filtering through fine. I'm in MN by the way, so very cold and dry.

TIA
Cub

The floor only has to equalise the indoor humidity, 22% may be fine
depending on outdoor temp and you dont say what that is. Humidity
should not be raised to where you get any condensation anywhere, and
windows are usualy the place to look, get a cheap moisture meter to
test the wood, you never know it could be over wet if its natural
wood.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I'd say the humidifier is probably working fine. * If water is running
over the
*media and out the drain, there isn't much that can be wrong. * IF
it's a bypass
model, make sure the damper in the duct connecting it is fully open.
But
it does take a while to raise the humidity. *And it obviously depends
on the
capacity of the humidifier. * IF you want to increase the capacity,
you can
use hot water, instead of cold. *Also, in MN, I would not be taking
the humidity
up to 50. * Somewhere around 35 sounds more reasonable. * 50 would be
max if it were say 35 or 50 outside.

Thanks. In prior winters, with the humidity set to the point where it
is comfortable (no sore throat in the morning or skin complaints) we
have had a little (and I mean little) condensation on the windows when
really cold overnight. It's -4F this morning, and nothing. I think I
will try to raise until the condensation starts, which may be around
the 35 you suggest. Thanks all.