Humidifier connection to hot water outlet

[DataDonkey]

I just replaced my hot water heater. The new tank is a 80 gallon Westinghouse -- it ended up being 9" taller than my old one (which was also 80 gallon, but shorter and wider).

I figured I could do it myself. I consulted with some ppl and did a lot of research. Overall, things went well.

One snag was that I had to cut about 8" out of the Pex pipe in order for it to be able to connect the lines to the cold water inlet and hot water outlet properly. I used a hacksaw for that as I couldn't find a better way. Seemed to work fine. I used a Shark bit coupling to reconnect and it worked GREAT! No leaks at all.

We now have hot water again -- and my wife/kids are very happy.

The only remaining issue I have is the humidifier connection (see photo). Whenever I connect it to the Flow Tite valve it starts to leak. It seems to do this even when the valve is closed. If I connect the line and open the valve, I can hear the pressure build up but then it starts leaking. If I remove the line from the valve and close the valve, there is no leak from the valve itself.

This, it seems to me, might indicate that too much pressure is building in that line for some reason. The line itself connects to an Aprilaire humidifier on the furnace.

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

 

[Reach4]

Get a new valve. Do you have the PEX expansion tool? If not, something like the SharkBite 23336-0000LF could do it. http://www.sharkbite.com/how-to/sha...all-pex-tubing-copper-tubing-and-cpvc-tubing/ You could also connect to the PEX with a compression fitting with a compression insert.

That particular SharkBite angle valve is for 1/2 PEX (5/8 OD) and 1/4 OD tubing .

If you have the tool, you can get a valve that connects using the expansion method.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Dana]

Humidifiers are a "solution-problem" for over-ventilated houses. If your hot air heating system draws outdoor ventilation air in an unsophisticated manner, your ventilation rates soar during the cold weather when the outdoor air is driest, and the duty cycle of the furnace is highest, and drops to nearly nothing during the shoulder seasons when the heating or air conditioning loads are near zero, but when the humidity of that ventilation air is in a human-healthy range.

The problem with adding humidity comes from over-humidifying the air, which makes some of the structural wood of the house take on excessive amounts of moisture over the winter, resulting in high mold spore counts in the spring when it's releasing that moisture. (It worst-case scenarios it rots the wood over time.)

The better solution to dry wintertime indoor air is to separate the ventilation and heating/cooling functions, seal up the outdoor air intake on the furnace, then air-seal/tighten-up the house to where even during cold snaps the indoor air doesn't drop below 30% RH @ 70F. This isn't "mission impossible", it's doable even in homes in much colder locations than MN. If the house is already that tight, retrofitting more sophistcated ventilation controls on the existing system or setting up a heat recovering ventilation system operating independently of the heating/cooling, or setting up an exhaust-only ventilation operated under dehumidistat control during the winter, and duty-cycling during the rest of the year all work pretty well, and have less of an energy-use impact than overventilating then running a humidifier to make up for the uncomfortable and unhealthy dryness.

 

[FullySprinklered]

I couldn't have said it better myself.