Help with weird Aprilaire 224 water flow

Hi everyone, I have an Aprilaire 224 installed cira 1980 and I have a weird problem. First, I have cleaned it thoroughly, made sure it was level, got a new water panel, new solenoid valve, new saddle valve, there are no leaks, it is installed on the cold air return with hot water and as far as I can tell is in perfect working condition. When I check the instruction manual, it says to leave the saddle valve wide open and let the orifice work to regulate the water flow to the proper 6GPH. When I do that, it flows much more, in the neighborhood of 15GPH. If I turn the saddle valve in and get the flow back to the 6GPH, I cannot get the house about 30% RH whether I set the fan to run all of the time or just when the heat kicks on. If I open the saddle valve all the way like it says, then I can get the house only 35% but I'm using so much water - hot water at that. Any ideas what I should do?


A few notes, the water panel was a honeywell but said 224 and it fit so I don't think that matters. The temp out site has been about 30 consistently most days. I did not replace the solenoid with the oem one but the guy said that they both allow full flow and it shouldn't matter as long as you have everything hooked up correctly. Last, the humidifier is controlled by my Nest thermostat and it is the one giving the reading of indoor and outdoor relative humidity.

Unit only runs when in Heat Mode (burners on). You can have wired to run in Fan on.,however must be done right or will run in A.Cond also. They do want "some extra water to "flush" system.,but yours sounds extreme.,(water pressure) I'd throttle back. Are you running an H.R.V. in home? remember thats designed to remove moisture !

It sounds like your orifice has either been bored out or worn our from water flow. Get a replacement orifice. One other thought, is the water panel installed correctly, they do have a top and bottom. If you need that much humidity you may want to consider replacing it with a steam humidifier. How did it work before it was cleaned up, did it keep the humidity up in the house?

I wonder if he has the water panel upside down? It's probably the orifice however.

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Originally Posted by Cosmicmuffin

Unit only runs when in Heat Mode (burners on). You can have wired to run in Fan on.,however must be done right or will run in A.Cond also. They do want "some extra water to "flush" system.,but yours sounds extreme.,(water pressure) I'd throttle back. Are you running an H.R.V. in home? remember thats designed to remove moisture !

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No HRV and yes, we do have very high water pressure. The Nest is wired to run both ways (only furnace on and/or blower only) Right now, it is set for 35% and is running the blower all the time and I still can't get above 31% which it has been running for a solid day now. Hummmm, maybe more water?

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Originally Posted by kls-ccc

It sounds like your orifice has either been bored out or worn our from water flow. Get a replacement orifice. One other thought, is the water panel installed correctly, they do have a top and bottom. If you need that much humidity you may want to consider replacing it with a steam humidifier. How did it work before it was cleaned up, did it keep the humidity up in the house?

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I did install a new orifice, I thought that too but I forgot to mention that in my post. It is a house we just bought as a foreclosure so not sure as to before. I did also check the water panel and it is rectangular with no markings and looks the same on both ends. I can only install it horizontally but, I will flip it upside down to make sure. Essentially this thing has brand new parts so I'm really not sure what to do.

I don't know about the HW water panel but the box on the Aprilaire water panel has the instructions that tell you which way it should go. If it is not installed correctly the water will not run through it properly.