I cannot get water to my Aprilaire 600A. I have done all the things suggested in the manual- cleaned in-line strainer, opened orifice in outlet tube. The valve is open. However there are never any lights on on the control panel. No water runns throught the pad. If I turn the knob to reset, the 'Humifier On' light flashes but when I turn the knob back it goes out. This humidifier was installed 15 months ago. I'm wondering if it ever was working. I cannot reach my installer. Could it be a selenoid problem?

The solenoid valve unit will work upside down however, I am concerned that the tech that installed the unit might have installed it backwards. Look on the side of the valve the solenoid is connected to and you should find an arrow. Thats the direction of the water flow.A strainer helps keep the valve clean however if there is dirt in the valve it would be stuck opened not closed. Make sure the solenoid is getting power via float valve. If the solenoid is getting power you can tell by touching the top of the solenoid with a metal non magnetic screw driver. It will pull the screw driver like a magnet. Good luck

Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} Your Aprilaire Humidifier is designed to operate in conjunction with your furnace blower motor. Most installers wire a humidifier to operate when the furnace is calling for heat. To determine if your Aprilaire Humidifier is maintaining proper humidity, turn up the heat temperature 5 degrees above the current room temperature on your thermostat and set your humidifier control to call for humidity. The humidifier control is located on the cold air return duct. To set your humidifier control to call for humidity, turn the control dial to the off position and slowly rotate the dial until you hear a “click” on the control. You should also hear a click at the solenoid valve located on your Aprilaire unit. The humidifier control will have a click point at the current relative humidity level in your home. If the current relative humidity is 45% or the outdoor temperature is above 60F, the control will only operate the humidifier in the test mode.
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1. No click at the solenoid valve indicates an electrical problem. Contact your heating and air conditioning dealer to further check the electrical components of your Aprilaire Humidifier.

1. The click sound at the solenoid valve indicates there is electricity to the solenoid valve. By turning the dial of your humidifier control to a setting above the “click point” you should see water coming out of the drain line within a few minutes which would indicate your humidifier is working.

1. If the solenoid valve makes a click sound and there is no water draining from the unit, this would indicate the flow of water is being obstructed.

1. To determine if water flow is being obstructed, turn the dial of your humidifier control to the off position. The first location you would want to check for an obstruction would be at the saddle valve located on the water line supplying water to the humidifier. When checking the saddle valve, you want to make sure it is completely open. This can be done by turning the valve all the way to the left. If anything is clogged, it can be dislodged by turning the saddle valve all the way to the right and back to the left. Once this is done, turn the humidifier control dial above the click point and you should see water coming out the drain line.


If water is still not coming out of the drain, check the orifice and in-line strainer to make sure they are not clogged. The orifice is located in the tube on the discharge side of the solenoid valve and the in-line strainer is located on the inlet side of the solenoid valve. You may clear the orifice by inserting a needle through the small opening. Clean the strainer by running it under warm water to dislodge deposits or replace. After clearing and re-installing the orifice and strainer (be sure to double wrench all water connections), turn the humidifier control dial above the click point and you should see water coming out the drain line.

In the water line where it connects to the solenoid is an orifice. You can install a smaller plastic orifice or you can install a manual feed valve to where you can control the flow.

There is both Voltage to check there (should be 24 volts) and there is a strainer that needs to be cleaned on the intake of the solenoid and an orifice on the output of the solenoid that needs cleaning also.

Hope this helps
Tinner
Sunsetmech

do you hear a clicking at the solinoid? grab the solinoid and turn it on to see if its getting voltage, you should feel it energize. you can turn off the water supply and disconnect the water line from the solinoid. there is a black pre screen inside the inlet if you have a tiny flat heat screwdriver insert it into the inlet and turn it out. clean it and retry. you can also make sure the orifice isnt clogged its located on the outlet side of the soliniod. when you remove you will probably have a stream of water come out of the feed tube thru the orifice, even if it has sat all summer. if water comes out you dont have a clogged orifice. donot try to **** out the orifice if its clogged you will need to get a new one fron www.aprilaire.com . you can verify it clogged by after cleaning the prescreen reconnect the water line inlet and turn on humidifier if water comes thru the solinoid with the outlet feed tube not connected then the orifice is clogged. If you clean the prescreen and the orifice is fine ,still no water then you will need a new solinoid you should also be able to purchase from aprilaire. here is links to the solinoid and orifice

http://estore.aprilaire.com/catalog/humidifiers/all-humidifier-parts/299

http://estore.aprilaire.com/catalog/humidifiers/all-humidifier-parts/267

hope this helps,
Mac

Yes, just check to see if you have 24 volts going into the solenoid. If you do and it is not opening its probably bad. Since you verified the water lines, filter, orifice and saddle valves are not obstructed. Change the solenoid valve. When you price the part. (it's not cheap) consider paying about 30% more and just change the whole unit.
Good luk
HVAC Teacher

The tune up kit that I ordered arrived on Friday and I installed most of it on Friday night. While it is nice to have a new frame and the distribution panel and I think the price of the whole kit was fair considering it comes with the parts and 2 water panels, the fix was really simple.

The kit came with the water distribution tube with with a new blue orifice (Aprilaire #4232) already inserted. This orifice is in the end of the plastic tube at the solenoid end. When I removed the old water distribution tube, the old orifice was not really dark blue anymore but kind of a light blue and was deteriorating from 12 years of exposure to the chemicals in the water. What should have been a pin-hole size opening in the orifice was up to about 2mm or a little more so the orifice was letting way too much water through.

If anyone else has this leaking problem, and your orifice is several years old, I would check that first. It is a $2.75 part and may be the cause of the leak. The whole feed tube kit is only $8.75 and includes the feed tube, nozzle, orifice, ferule, compression nut, strainer so if you need to replace the orifice, I would order the whole feed tube kit for a little bit more.

Hope this helps,
Roger...

I corrected the problem...RH is rising nicely!! Installed by "professionals" on my Trane XV90....I redid their wiring and now have the following setup...

600A water supply coming from hot water line.
Removed orifice inside incoming feed tube.
control incoming water flow from saddlevalve on hot water supply ( make sure its a nice solid flow, no drips, but no "force" too it either)..enough to insure entire evaporator unit is wet and water is slightly flowing out of bottom to drain.

I also have it wired to run when ever the furnace blower is on. Heat or no heat. XV90 is variable speed, and by doing this the 600a is always adding moisture, until it reaches correct RH%

Also, I disconnected the outdoor temp sensor. I went to Radio Shack and bought a 47K ohm resistor ( 1/2 watt....4 pack for 99 cents). Installed that in place of outdoor sensor...now runs in manual mode. Have unit currently set to number 5.

http://www.aprilaire.com/themes/aa/en/manuals/600a.pdf look at page thirteen in this manual there is allready a inline filter on the unit. hope this helps

I have had the same problem , off and on, on my two 700 units for over 4 years. It is caused by water hammer which results when a water solenoid valve closes quickly under pressure. Refer to your owners manual or get a copy of it off the internet. Note the areas where they tell you to remove and clean the inline water strainer and the inline orifice restrictor. These are VERY small components and can clog up easily so they need to be cleaned per the manual. While cleaning them won't totally eliminate the problem it has helped mine with the noise. You really need to have a qualified person, like a plumber, install a small, water hammer arrestor in the inlet line. The trick is to be sure it ends up parallel to the water line flow and not perpendicular to it.... a common mistake. If you are not qualified to work on solenoids and piping, don't do it......it will end up costing you more to repair your mistakes. Good luck

Carl