Humidistat installed...won't turn off

[Bchan]

Just had 2 humidistat fans installed, one in the kitchen, one in the bathroom. They have a master switch which turns them on or off. They have been set to 50% humidity but will not switch off unless turned off via the switch. The guy who installed it advised to leave them running for a few days to see if they turn off but to no avail.

He's coming back to re-adjust the setting but if that doesn't work he advises to call the manufacturer. Could it potentially be a wiring issue? How should they be wired so I can confirm with him when he returns.

Thanks!!

 

[EFLImpudence]

Are the fans only humidistat controlled or

do they have a timer as well for normal switching - even if you have chosen to ignore that function?

 

[JohnW2]

Just had 2 humidistat fans installed, one in the kitchen, one in the bathroom. They have a master switch which turns them on or off. They have been set to 50% humidity but will not switch off unless turned off via the switch.

They could possibly be faulty, and they could possibly have been wired incorrectly BUT, for what it's worth, the humidity in most rooms in my house has been 60% or higher for at least the last few days, quite possibly a lot longer - so fans here with humidistats set at 50% would probably never have switched off during that period.

As I type this, in my living room, the humidity here is 63%.

Kind Regards, John

 

[Bchan]

Thanks John.

They do both have timers but as I said they were constantly running over the past few days so going to re-adjust. If they are wired correctly, what should be a 'normal' setting?

 

[EFLImpudence]

Permanent live to L
Switched live to SL or T (not necessary if only relying on humidistat - not advisable)
Neutral to N

If SL/T is joined to L the fan will run for ever.

 

[Bchan]

Thanks. Im gonna check it's wired correctly and adjust the settings, hopefully that does the trick

 

[EFLImpudence]

Of course - connecting another permanent live, in error, to SL/T will have the same effect as joining SL/T to L.

So, it might look alright but ...

 

[JohnW2]

Thanks John. ... They do both have timers but as I said they were constantly running over the past few days so going to re-adjust. If they are wired correctly, what should be a 'normal' setting?

If you don't want the fans to be on all the time, you obviously need to have them set higher than the normal/usual humidity levels in your house. Do you have a humidity meter?

Kind Regards, John

 

[Bchan]

Nope, dont want the fans to be on all the time, just when showering and cooking hence the auto humidistat. Dont have a humidity meter but 50% setting is probably too low, will try say 70%?

 

[EFLImpudence]

When testing put them to maximum (90%?) first. Then if they stop they will have shown they are working.

Then, if the room is dry and how you want it, slowly, a bit at a time, turn down the adjuster until the fan starts and then turn up a little bit.

 

[Bchan]

Will give it a try, thanks very much!

 

[JohnW2]

Nope, dont want the fans to be on all the time, just when showering and cooking hence the auto humidistat. Dont have a humidity meter but 50% setting is probably too low, will try say 70%?

As EFLI has said, if you could adjust it yourself, the best thing would be to start with a very high setting (90% or more) and, if the fan then eventually turns off, gradually reduce it. However, it sounds as if you need your electrician to adjust the setting, which makes things a bit more awkward.

In my kitchen, you would need a setting of at least 65% today, and a few days ago it would have to have been 70% or more.

As I recently wrote to someone else, one of the problems of humidistat control is that, if the idea is to reduce condensation, there will probably already be quite a lot of it (condensation) by the time the humidistat senses the high humidity and switches the fan on (unless one has the humidistat set so low that the fan was on most of the time - which may be what you are currently experiencing!)

Kind Regards, John