Hello everyone. Im fairly new here and hope im posting this right. At the end of last winter I installed an englander 30 stove. I love it. It keeps my 2500 sq ft two story very warm. When its 35 out side it no problem to keep the whole house at 71 degrees. My problem is after about 24 hrs of burning I notice my eyes start to burn and my sinuses start hurting. I dont believe it co because none of the alarms ever register any. I built this house myself in 01. Its very airthight and well insulated. Im using this cheap lowes snap lock single wall stove pipe right now but have a heat fab 22 gauge telescoping one ordered. I dont think thats the problem just wanted better pipe. Any ideas would be great. Thank and merry christmas to everyone
Air quality after stove burns 24 hrs.
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mellow
Resident Stove Connoisseur
I put an outside air intake when I installed the heater. No I dont have a humidifier. Would the drier air cause the eye irritation. For the past 5 yrs during winter I unhook my dryer vent and put an old pair of the wifes panyhose over the vent and use that damp heat in the house.
My house is fairly new and air tight and to be honest I crack a window sometimes just to get a little fresh air.
I try to keep the humidity above 30 and can usually keep it between 35 and 40.
If I use the furnace at all it will suck the humidity down in a New York minute.
The stove is not so bad.
I try to keep the humidity above 30 and can usually keep it between 35 and 40.
If I use the furnace at all it will suck the humidity down in a New York minute.
The stove is not so bad.
mellow
Resident Stove Connoisseur
If I don't run my humidifier in the winter I start getting nose bleeds and my skin dries out, could be causing your eye irritation. My house is leaky so I can only imagine it is worse with a tight house.
Simonkenton
Minister of Fire
That is a bad problem and I don't know what could be causing it. I have burned wood stoves for many years and have not had that problem. The first symptom of CO is headaches so it doesn't sound like that. Good luck in figuring this out.
Your right simonkenton . I really want to use this heater this winter to save on propane. So far I havent turned my furnace on. My wifes sinuses are worse than mine so it might be a problem.
It is usually because I have let it get to warm. The house holds the heat really well and a little fresh air feels good.
Grisu
Minister of Fire
It is actually the opposite with a tight house. Daily human activities produce enough water vapors that a tight house can suffer from mold issues. Modern energy efficient houses often need an added air ventilation system to ensure proper air exchange and to balance air humidity. Dry indoor air during the winter season is a sign of a leaky house where cold air from the outside gets drawn into the house, warms up leading to a drop in the relative humidity, while conditioned moist air escapes to the outside. This article gives a good overview: http://greencomplianceplus.markengl...ew-ventilation-systems-todays-airtight-homes/ (Despite the clear plug for just one product.)
To the OP: Get a blower door test done to check whether you need additional ventilation. You problems could be from accumulation of "stale" air or you may already have a mold problem that you are not aware of. When the stove has an OAK it is probably not the cause of your problems.
blueguy
Feeling the Heat
Using your dryer vent like this can contribute to mould growth, which can cause the irritations you're speaking of.
Is there any possibility of smoke descending due to low pressure and entering the house through the open window?
Is there an OAK on the stove?
yes there is an oak on the stove. I havent had any windows open yet so i dont think that could be it
blueguy iI cant say if i have a mold problem or not. my house is on a slab. no crawl space or basement. ive never noticed any signs though
...Not to mention excess lint in the air, vaporized chemicals from fabric softener, detergent residue, synthetic fabrics outgassing, etc.
A properly working stove (with careful removal of ashes) should emit a pretty minimal amount of smoke/vapor/other material into the indoor air. It sounds like you should be past the point of 'burning off' any 'newness' to the stove. The OAK should eliminate any make-up air issues, though conversely it means the stove isn't really pulling any fresh air into the house.
Super-tight houses are often built with air-to-air heat exchangers to bring in fresh air - do you have one of these on your HVAC system? If so, it could be that turning off the standard HVAC and running the stove allows general 'indoor air pollution' to build up because the heat exchanger isn't running. If you don't have any way to bring in fresh air, you might google 'sick building syndrome' and see if any info there links up with what you're experiencing.
Get a hygrometer and take the guess work out of the humidity question. Most any cheapo unit will be close enough for evaluation.
Highbeam
Minister of Fire
I have had dry eyes and sinus issues in the heating season. Couple of things, we keep it hot in the stove room, keep a ceiling fan going 24/7, and stare wide eyed at a big screen TV without much blinking.
Nelson
Feeling the Heat
+1 - don't unhook your dryer vent. As well as the pantyhose may work, you're likely blowing particulates from your dyer back into your home.
35-40% humidity shouldn't be an issue during the winter. If anything, it could be stale air if your house is that tight. Try running a bath fan for a few days and see if that helps. Your home may be too tight and you might not be exchanging the air often enough. Running a bath fan can help draw in some outside air to freshen things up. If that helps, look into a bath fan that can run on at a low CFM at all times and then ramp up when you enter the bathroom (via a motion sensor). We just had one installed in our home and it's been great.
Yep. Little ones at Walmart for three bucks. Just make sure you compare four or five and take the ones that read the same.
DBoon
Minister of Fire
Ditto on checking the humidity. See what it is - it's an inexpensive test. And ditto also on re-connecting the dryer vent.
Do you have a CO detector that displays the PPM value? Nighthawk (now Kidde Nighthawk) makes some like this. Cheaper CO detectors will not alarm until they hit a certain threshold, and the Nighthawk will tell you what it is sensing even if it is below the threshold. My first step would be to not assume that CO levels are OK - I would get a new CO detector that reads in PPM and see what that says. CO detectors don't last forever, and having a 2nd one in the house is not a terrible idea anyways. It is unlikely to be the issue, but it is cheap insurance, in any case.
When you say you have a "tight" house, this can lead to a lot of assumptions, but "tight" can be pretty broadly defined. Can you give us more detail? Can you arrange to get a blower door test? These are sometimes "free" depending on local utility or government incentives, and would put some numbers behind "tight". Also, what other combustion appliances do you have in the house (oven, range, water heater, etc.). If you have a gas/propane water heater, is it a sealed-combusion type?
Do you run your dryer a lot? Once you re-connect your dryer vent to the outside, you should know that a dryer can exhaust a lot of air to the outside, and that air has to come from somewhere. What kind of range-hood do you have and how powerful (CFM) is it?
The reason I ask all of these questions is that if your house is really tight, and you have don't have a heat or energy recovery ventilation system to exhaust stale air and replace it with fresh air AND keep the pressure inside and outside the house balanced, then you may be pulling air down your combustion appliance vent stacks and/or your combustion vent stacks could be drawing poorly at times. The fact that you never noticed symptoms before you installed and ran the woodstove is the primary reason to think about this as a possible cause.
Do you have a CO detector that displays the PPM value? Nighthawk (now Kidde Nighthawk) makes some like this. Cheaper CO detectors will not alarm until they hit a certain threshold, and the Nighthawk will tell you what it is sensing even if it is below the threshold. My first step would be to not assume that CO levels are OK - I would get a new CO detector that reads in PPM and see what that says. CO detectors don't last forever, and having a 2nd one in the house is not a terrible idea anyways. It is unlikely to be the issue, but it is cheap insurance, in any case.
When you say you have a "tight" house, this can lead to a lot of assumptions, but "tight" can be pretty broadly defined. Can you give us more detail? Can you arrange to get a blower door test? These are sometimes "free" depending on local utility or government incentives, and would put some numbers behind "tight". Also, what other combustion appliances do you have in the house (oven, range, water heater, etc.). If you have a gas/propane water heater, is it a sealed-combusion type?
Do you run your dryer a lot? Once you re-connect your dryer vent to the outside, you should know that a dryer can exhaust a lot of air to the outside, and that air has to come from somewhere. What kind of range-hood do you have and how powerful (CFM) is it?
The reason I ask all of these questions is that if your house is really tight, and you have don't have a heat or energy recovery ventilation system to exhaust stale air and replace it with fresh air AND keep the pressure inside and outside the house balanced, then you may be pulling air down your combustion appliance vent stacks and/or your combustion vent stacks could be drawing poorly at times. The fact that you never noticed symptoms before you installed and ran the woodstove is the primary reason to think about this as a possible cause.
missedbass
Member
Simple test- crack open a window and if air is rushing into the house, the house is in a negative and more outside air is needed. Dryers, exhaust fans, boilers, furnaces, stoves, all remove air from the house and that air needs to be replaced.
1st thing , i appreciate everyone input on this problem im having. as for the co detectors , I just bought two new ones 4days ago. one with the percentage read out. I moved them all around the house and it never went off and never moved off 0. stove water heater and furnace are gas. DBoon no my water heater is not a sealed type. I never thought about reversed draft on it. Thanks for that point. But I dont understand the negative co reading. As for the blower door test, I hate to seem ignorant, but you ll have to fill me in on that. The dryer is really no big deal. Its just me and the wife . It really doest run that much. Once a day for maybe 45 minutes. My range hood is a non vent charcoal filter type. Air does rush in somewhat when you open a window. Humidity level right now in the house is 50%. Im going to wait for my new stove pipe to come in and try it with a window cracked and see how that works. I was a little concerned about my house having that chinese drywall but so far not black copper or wires. well thanks again for everyones help.
Grisu
Minister of Fire
Here is a description of a blower door test: http://energy.gov/energysaver/articles/blower-door-tests
With it you can establish how much air goes out of the house under normal conditions. That air containing carbon dioxide, organic compounds, dust, excess moisture etc. will be replaced by fresh air from the outside. You need to have a minimum air exchange rate to keep the air in your home "healthy".
With it you can establish how much air goes out of the house under normal conditions. That air containing carbon dioxide, organic compounds, dust, excess moisture etc. will be replaced by fresh air from the outside. You need to have a minimum air exchange rate to keep the air in your home "healthy".
Thanks grisu, now im a little smarter. I might check into that. Ive also been considering an air quality check in general. These store bought kitchen cabinet, although 13 yrs old now still have an odd smell. Maybe formaldahyde. We'll see
The house could have negative pressure. Some possible causes would be an open upstairs (like a leaky attic door, recessed can lights, open window, etc.) or a whole house exhaust system that has an inadequate fresh air supply.
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