Power Aprilaire 700

Chris 43

Hi

I have the first of many questions that I will most likely asking on this fourm. Newbie installing a humidifier. I will be taking it real slow...just doing a bit a day, and have it inspected before I turn anything on.

The only outlet I have in the furnace area is the outlet for the hot water heater blower motor. I believe this is called power vented.

Can I also plug the aprilaire 700 into this? Or should this 700 fan have its own outlet? I would have to extend the humidifier cord thou.

Or can this be hard wired into the furnace?

Thanks Chris.

raylo32

Hi Chris,

I have an Aprilaire 700... had it for about 6 years and it has worked great. It really isn't a big electric load so you can plug it into any available receptacle, including the one shared by your water heater vent motor.

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Chris 43

Thanks very much raylo32.

ben's plumbing

chris you can hard wire this into furnace before on/off switch..NOT into blower circuit....ben sr

Chris 43

Hi Ben

Will wiring the humidifier this way.... keep power to the fan all the time?

I have a picture to where I think your saying to wire it to.

Just use the existing wire nuts that are in that junction box to tie everything together? plus the ground wire.

Thanks
Chris

carmon

sounds good

Chris 43

1. What about the temps inside that area of the furnace...will the power cord wires that came with the Aprilaire 700 be able to withstand the heat? The wires are rated for 105c

2. Are there special wires that have a higher temp rating that I may need?

3. Also, the draw of power from the Aprilaire fan would not overload that circuit?

Thanks very much guys
Chris

raylo32

Aprilaire 700 fan has a itty bitty motor. It will not overload the furnace circuit. The wires should enter the furnace jbox directly through a grommet on the side of the case so they do not run through the furnace. That jbox really shouldn't get hot enough to be an issue. The other solution that I did for mine was to tap a nearby lighting circuit and add a new receptacle near the water heater and humidifier. Plug em both in there, nice and neat.

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Chris 43

I will wire it into the box. Great thanks again.



Chris.

Chris 43

Ok, I changed my mind...just moved the receptacle from the power vented hot water tank over a few feet and both the Humidifier and the hot water tank blower fit...power to the Humidifier fan done!

FYI Furnace is a Luxaire...about 7 years old.

Next... The two brown wires coming from the bottom of the humidifier that power the solenoid.

I understand that they need 24v . I have a empty HUM and EAC. Also two empty neutrals...but I'm guessing that its not going to hook up to any one of these, not sure thou....here's a pic of my board.



IF not.....I have the 24v transformer that came with it....Should this be mounted inside the furnace near the junction box and then the black/white wires from the transformer feed into the junction box for power, or should this transformer be outside the furnace to save it from heat....here's a pic





What about the gauge of wire...18 gauge is coming from the solenoid valve...is that what I should use to run it from the water valve and back to the humidifier control via the transformer?


I know alot of questions lol...I really dont know much about this stuff, and like learning....and saving money.


Thanks again for your time.
Chris

beenthere

18 gauge stat wire is fine. Use the transformer that came with the humidifier. That HUM terminal should be a 120 volt terminal. And that is where you can get power for the humidifier, it will only be energized when the furnace is running for heat.

raylo32

My furnace doesn't have a HUM terminal so my hookup won't help you. Listen to the guys here, tho, and you'll get through it OK. Also look at the manual. It has great details on the various hookup methods.

One other question for when you get a little further along... which hunidistat are you using, the simple one or the digital one? The digital one requires a 24 v power source and gets a little more complicated. The simple unpowered one works fine, but the digital one has a cool blue glow and has a digital humidity setting and readout.

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Chris 43

Hi..

I have the humidifier fan already powered from a external outlet.

Just checked the HUM its 120 v.

So I'm going to connect the transformer to the HUM terminal...the transformer has a black/white wires...where would the other one go?

I'm reading the wire diagram that came with the unit, but it don't tell me where to power that transformer.

raylo....of course I have the more difficult one lol...digital.


Thanks guys
Chris

beenthere

Black to Hum terminal, white to neutral connection.

Chris 43

Ok got it now, thanks...still would like to know if the transformer should on the outside of the furnace...will it be to hot in there for it?

For my information...what is that EAC terminal beside the HUM?


Thanks guys for all your time.
Chris