Water keeps dripping out of a box on my furnace

[Mar]

I put a bucket under the dripping a couple of years ago and this one bucket never got an inch of water in it at any time, it was there for years. Last week I happened to hear some splashing while I was downstairs and found the bucket entirely full to the rim, I have no idea how long it had been full as any drops splashing out onto the concrete floor would probably evaporate pretty quickly. So I emptied the bucket and now after a week it's half full again with drops every 3 seconds. I'm wondering if it'll make it through tonight.

I did mention it to my furnace guy that came and replaced my smart valve 2 years ago and he told me it was the tap that was coming out of my hot water tank pipe which was causing it. He said I should remove that entire unit from the furnace right back to the hot water boiler and put a plug type thing in there. And he gave me the plug for free. Here are some photos to show what I mean.

The furnace, hot water boiler and bucket. You can see the unit on the side of the furnace.


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This is the top of the hot water tank, see the piece tapped into the pipe and the hose coming out. WTF is this? The furnace guy tried turning the t-bar handle to loosen it but broke it off, you can see it sitting there below it (gold piece). So he gave me a new plug piece to put in there and left.

He said I had to shut off the water, turn it with pliers a little bit to alleviate all the water pressure, then take it out all the way and put the plug in there.


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The unit causing the dripping.


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The screw on the bottom right which is where all the water is leaking out from.


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So now that I've forgotten his instructions completely and have had no luck finding this plug piece he gave me which is somewhere in my house, can someone here re-explain to me how to get this box off so the leak stops? Thanks a lot.

[kenny]

Its a ghetto humidifier. The reason its dripping is because there is a float inside of it that is used to stop the flow of water when the container is full of water. The float probably has a lot of build up from the hard water. You can see the build up coming outside of it.

Just open it up and clean off all the gunk and it'll be fine again. Clean it up every few months or feed softened water into it.

[roll_over]

Humidifier unit these things are a pain in the ass. CLR or vinegar both work for cleaning it one better then the other. Check the float valve I use a sponge under the float of the valve to keep it closed

[codetrap]

Or you could remove it entirely and replace it with a real one.

[hedge]

I'd also remove that piercing saddle valve and plumb in a proper valve. Although it will be a real pain to do in your case because the pierced the copper pipe. If you look at the blow up of your picture you can see that the saddle valve is leaking as well.

also while you're add it, I'd remove that plastic hose. They make a nice braided cable now, it's the same stuff used for fridge ice maker hookups.

[GTS Jeff]

Run a hose from the drippy part into the drain hole in the floor. Fuck the valve.

[Mar]

Originally posted by hedge
I'd also remove that piercing saddle valve and plumb in a proper valve. Although it will be a real pain to do in your case because the pierced the copper pipe. If you look at the blow up of your picture you can see that the saddle valve is leaking as well.

also while you're add it, I'd remove that plastic hose. They make a nice braided cable now, it's the same stuff used for fridge ice maker hookups.

This is what I'd like to do, how do I do this?

[roopi]

Originally posted by GTS Jeff
Run a hose from the drippy part into the drain hole in the floor. Fuck the valve.

[raceman6135]

Originally posted by Mar

This is what I'd like to do, how do I do this?

Depending on your plumbing skills, the proper way would be to cut out a small section of the pipe where the saddle valve is (the leaking fitting where the handle broke) and solder in a TEE fitting. Then install a valve on that line which runs over to the humidifier.

I've had very good luck with compression fittings such as these:



It requires only crescent/adjustable wrenches to install, and it has a valve built into the line that runs to the humidifier.

They're available in different sizes, so be sure to look at the copper pipe that you are TEEing into; usually 3/4" and the TEE side is usually 1/4", but that's not gospel.

[klumsy_tumbler]

This thread is perfect... I totally just started having this issue at my place. Thank you, Beyond members! (And OP, of course)

[Mar]

Originally posted by raceman6135


Depending on your plumbing skills, the proper way would be to cut out a small section of the pipe where the saddle valve is (the leaking fitting where the handle broke) and solder in a TEE fitting. Then install a valve on that line which runs over to the humidifier.

I've had very good luck with compression fittings such as these:



It requires only crescent/adjustable wrenches to install, and it has a valve built into the line that runs to the humidifier.

They're available in different sizes, so be sure to look at the copper pipe that you are TEEing into; usually 3/4" and the TEE side is usually 1/4", but that's not gospel.

Would I still need this if I removed the unit? I don't think it serves much of a purpose, especially when it's already dry here and I use a humidifier at night to counteract this.

[firebane]

The fact you use a humidifer should tell you that either the one you have isn't work right or working properly at all.

If your house is requiring a humifider ontop of a humidifer then you really need to look at getting a better unit for your house.

[Mar]

How much is a proper unit for a house with basement, main and top floors? Very open floor plan and 1200 square feet without basement.

[cyra1ax]

I have the exact same(Crap) humidifier as you. Convinced it doesn't work either. Took a peek inside and the insides didn't even look like something I would bother fixing, probably turf it for something that actually works.

Interestingly, in my house the line for the humidifier runs on a copper line that is on a tee from the main cold water line. There's also a inline valve(ball valve? I'm not an engineer haha) on this copper line as well.

[lilmira]

Yeah, looks like that piece of shit the builder charged me for a few hundred bucks. I didn't know better back then. I threw it out and replaced mine with desert spring.

[bignerd]

Originally posted by Mar
How much is a proper unit for a house with basement, main and top floors? Very open floor plan and 1200 square feet without basement.

We had that same shitty "humidifier". Bought an Aprilaire from Trail, think it was about $550 with install. Install company that Trail sent was awesome. Our house is a little bigger than yours (1500 square feet). We are thinking about getting a water softener too since the hard water just fucks everything eventually.

[codetrap]

I bought the desert spring humidifer at Rona. Installed it myself. Love it. Also bought the Aquamaster Pro AMP51 water softener, and installed that myself too. Would never go back... house humidity has been hovering around 40% throughout this cold weather.. got a little bit of moisture on the windows.. but nothing major. And the softened water is great. No more dry skin. Solved my excema issues totally on my hands. Would never go back.

[roopi]

Originally posted by codetrap
I bought the desert spring humidifer at Rona. Installed it myself. Love it. Also bought the Aquamaster Pro AMP51 water softener, and installed that myself too. Would never go back... house humidity has been hovering around 40% throughout this cold weather.. got a little bit of moisture on the windows.. but nothing major. And the softened water is great. No more dry skin. Solved my excema issues totally on my hands. Would never go back.

Isn't 40% a little high? I really have no clue about this but thought the goal was right around 30% in the winters?

[loweg]

Ditch the humidifier , do what I did, put in a 500 gallon fish tank in the house. No more issues!

[BigDL]

How much does something like a water softener cost installed? I also need to figure out the right humidity level for my house for the hardwood, what is a good level?