Aprilaire humidifier question?

[Rudyjr]

I decided to help a buddy out by changing out his old humidifier with a new Aprilaire 500 with the Model 60 digital control. His furnace had been changed out in 2005 with a Rheem Classic Quiet 80 but the old humidifier was left in. Everything seemed pretty straight forward with the control. It calls for wiring from the R, C, terminals in the furnace to supply 24 VAC, along with a line to the W terminal and the G terminal. You are supposed to tie the G wire from the stat to a Gf wire from the control. When I power it up I get an error light. Is there possibly something different about the wiring on the Rheem furnace that is different than most furnaces? Any techs who might be able to help me figure this out? Thanks, Jim

 

[brewchief]

You disconnected the G wire at the furnace and connected it to the G on the control then the Gf on the control to the furnace board correct?

Do you have the outdoor sensor hooked up?

Did you turn it to test mode and leave it? It will only run for a min or so that way.

 

[Rudyjr]

Yes, disconnected the G wire and tied it to the G from the control, landed the Gf to the furnace from the control.Yes the sensor is hooked up and yes I tried the test mode never did anything other than clear the error. It never operated the water solenoid never turned the fan on either. I keep getting an E3 error message, which from the manual says to check the resistance on the outdoor temperature sensor. When I leave it in the test mode the green light flashes and then I get what appears to be a lower case r1 message.I would think it would still work in the test mode even if the sensor was defective.

 

[brewchief]

There should be a dip switch behind the cover that will set it to manual mode and not need the sensor, easy way to rule out the sensor.

A pic or two showing how it's wired would help, I've only installed 50-75 of the controls with the fan switch but I should be able to figure it out.

 

[Rudyjr]

Brewcheif, You were on the right track. I lifted the two leads to the outdoor sensor and set the control to manual, worked like a charm. Tested the resistance against the chart in the back of the installation manual and found higher and fluctuating resistance. Pulled the wire back out going to the sensor and used stake-ons for the connection from the wiring to the leads and rechecked the resistance, dead on. Hooked everything back up and it runs perfectly. Thanks, Jim

 

[wsommariva]

Hi everyone,

I have the same trouble with my Aprilaire 60 humidistat that I just installed for my Aprilaire 560 unit. Furnance is a Lennox gas forced hot air.

I get the same r1 in test mode. Solenoid does not open. I did the ohm test for the outside temp wires and the value agreed to the manual.

Any more ideas?

Thanks

 

[wsommariva]

Got it. I missed a step and now it works as it should.

 

[larry4406]

I have one of these that has worked fine for 10 years +/- now it starts stops starts again etc when called on

Any ideas?