How should I know if my humidifier work?

Question

I have a Aprilaire 600 Humidifier installed in my basement, as per the manual it should automatically kick off when the lack of humidity is detected.

It didn't seem happening. After I adjusted the dial setting from the default 35 to 40 (it should mean the target humidity is increased to 40% from 35%), the furnace nearby seemed wake up, but only for a short while and it went quiet again.

Another thing I noticed was that the dial setting panel looks different from that I found online or from the manual.

This is how it looks like of mine:

However from online video it looks like and it's more inline with the illustration from the manual:

The bottom one enables users set/reset for diagnosis, which I didn't find in my dial setting.

Another thing I noticed, on the bottom picture, wires go in the setting panel, which I didn't see any attached to my dial setting (on the top).

peinal · Answer

How to know if the humidifier is working?

1) Buy a cheap hygrometer and see if it tracks your humidistat setting? You can get one for less than $10 on Amazon.

2) Check: is there water-flow into the humidifier?

I would have to assume that the wiring for your humidistat is inside the duct. You can probably snap the cover off and see wiring on the base plate and where the wires are routed from. I would be curious to know how well these work once you resolve the issue(s).

Greg Hill · Answer

Don't be alarmed that the controls look different. The Aprilaire 600 is a simple device and could be controlled by a variety of humidistats. Aprilaire sells that unit with and without their own control, and apparently the optional control they offer changes over the years.

Perhaps the easiest test is to set the humidistat to an unreasonably high level and leave a moisture indicator, ie some kind of paper, in the pan in the humidifier. If the paper is still dry after a several hours or days you'll know the humidifier hasn't operated.

How should I know if my humidifier work?

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