Well, I decided to try and run the furnace humidifier without the furnace running. At first I just energized the solenoid that allows water flow through the furnace humidifer with a jumper and turning the blower on manual but then realized I can just increase the setpoint on the thermostat (no propane is hooked up to the furnace) and keep the blower on manually and the solenoid remains energized. The house humidity has increased axactly 1% every hour. I;m not sure if it is worth running the house blower for this. Does it sound worthwile? Would I get better results from a store bought house humidifier?
Humidifying the air - 1%/hr
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Sounds better than my idea, which is a humidifier in the stove room. I'll let you know how it works out. I'm going to set it up now.
I run a hunter humidifier I bought from lowes as well as keep a steamer on my stove and my wife who is quite sensitive to a lack of moisture (she gets nose bleeds) doesn't have an issue. When it's in the single digits, I bet that humidifier puts 4 gals or more of water in the air a day, and my steamer prolly about 2 -3 quarts.
pen
pen
Mcbride
New Member
I just use a portable humidifier, and its sits there and runs and does a great job.
I put it out in the shed in the summer.
A heavy metal pot or 2 on the stove full of water helps a lot to unless its really dry.
Linky for ya.
http://www.greatermedical.com/dh1128.html?mr:referralID=0c0cf759-05a2-11e0-ad8e-001b2166c62d
I put it out in the shed in the summer.
A heavy metal pot or 2 on the stove full of water helps a lot to unless its really dry.
Linky for ya.
http://www.greatermedical.com/dh1128.html?mr:referralID=0c0cf759-05a2-11e0-ad8e-001b2166c62d
After thinking about this more, I get concerned about adding moisture to your cold duct work. That humidifier is designed to work with hot air being pumped through the plumbing. Without the hot air, I worry that the plumbing might accumulate moisture and grow mold / crap that would not be so family friendly.
pen
pen
Renovation
New Member
BeGreen said:
Agreed.
FWIW, this is one of the supposed advantages of an OAK--cold air is dry, so sucking in cold outside air lowers humidity. Also, how about the old pot of water on the stove trick?
Depends on the stove top. Our pot on the stove goes through about 3 qts a day which is probably trivial in a 2000 sq ft house. But we also have lots of plants with help a bit and don't use the bathroom fan when showering in the winter so that the house retains that moisture. Still, like Lig mentioned in the other thread, a properly sized humidifier is going to be more effective.
LLigetfa
Minister of Fire
Probably sage advice and better to err on the side of caution, but duct work designed for both heating and cooling would likely have higher humidity air flowing through it when the A/C is running in the hot and humid Summer. A furnace humidifier would not put out as much humidity with cold air as it would with air heated by the furnace. Humidity being relative, would reach a natural equillibrium at the temperature at the humidifier which is normally placed into the cold air return near the furnace so the air at that point would probably be about as cold as it's going to get.pen said:
Systems are usually professionally designed around normal operating parameters to not harbour mold and bacteria, but wood stoves being essentially space heaters can upset those parameters. If the ductwork goes through a very cold basement that would normally get more heat from the furnace, that would be one example.
Again, better to err on the side of caution. We all remember Legionaire's disease which was a result of poorly maintained A/C ductwork.
Pen you pointed out something I never even considered. I will probably circulate the house air through without the dehumidifier for about 15 minutes when I'm done just in case. I do however agree with the points that LLcoolJ made and it propably wont hurt to check the ductwork every now and again.
The humidifier worked great last night and its absolutely amazing how much warmer the low 70's feels now compared the same temps with much lower humidity. I feel better about my youngest daughter not having to wake up with nose bleeds every night as well. thanks guys
The humidifier worked great last night and its absolutely amazing how much warmer the low 70's feels now compared the same temps with much lower humidity. I feel better about my youngest daughter not having to wake up with nose bleeds every night as well. thanks guys
2yrs ago I installed a honeywell humidifier on my central heat system. 45% air at 70* feels much warmer than 20% 70* air. In Airzona its a dry heat 100* there feels no where nears as hot as 85* in FL. Humidity will make a difference in the way a particular temperature feels. Course now I am burning more wood, so I am going to look for a better way to humidify that just the pot on the stove.
Tony
Tony
So, the humidifier that my wife brought from the Father-in Law's is a very small one, and worse, it boils the water turning it to steam. Can't wait to see how that affects the heating bill.......It brought the humidity up 4 points overnight, and ran out of water. Useless.
precaud
Minister of Fire
clr8ter said:
Is there something wrong with that? I prefer steam to any other method of humidification I've tried.
Th only thing I miss about using the central heating system is the really wonderful quality of moist heat that came from the central steam boiler with radiators in every room.
LLigetfa
Minister of Fire
Steam heating boilers are closed systems, meaning the steam stays inside the pipes, reciculating to the boiler. Unless the steam somehow escapes the pipes and rads, I fail to understand how it could humidify the air. If it did escape, that would be a problem. Over the years I've lived in leaky old houses with steam rads and the only way to get humidity was to hang wet towels near the rads.precaud said:
kayakkeith
Member
We run Sears 14 gallon evaporate humidifier up stairs and the room we have the stove in a 12 gallon unit. Upstairs stays around 40% and down stairs about the same. We also have the pot of water on top of stove but I dont think that puts put much.
I can tell you that keeping the air moist is a big advantage to feeling warmer - even before we started heating with wood we always used them. Where we are we get very cold temps and alot of wind so it gets dry very easy.
We live in a section of WV with some extreme weather - lots of snow and cold but you can drive 40 minutes off the mountain and nothing the same. Like today it warmed up but we will have two feet of snow by tomorrow this time and single digits again
I can tell you that keeping the air moist is a big advantage to feeling warmer - even before we started heating with wood we always used them. Where we are we get very cold temps and alot of wind so it gets dry very easy.
We live in a section of WV with some extreme weather - lots of snow and cold but you can drive 40 minutes off the mountain and nothing the same. Like today it warmed up but we will have two feet of snow by tomorrow this time and single digits again
jharkin
Minister of Fire
LLigetfa said:
Exactly right. I have steam heat. Its not exactly a closed system as the radiators have air vents to let out the air as the steam fills, but the water loss is trivial. I have to no more than a gallon a month to the boiler.
Its just an old wives tale that steam heating humidifies.
precaud
Minister of Fire
They're not completely closed. I forget the jargon, but there was always air escaping through the little stainless valves on each radiator as the system pressurized and cycled. The ones closest to the boiler would almost whistle when the system was really cranking. Whatever you want to call what was coming out, it was moist and hot. I never used a humidifier with that system. I'm not arguing the theory, just sharing what my experience with it was.
nola mike
Minister of Fire
precaud said:
FWIW, my warm air humidifier used 380 watts of electricity, compared to 30 watts for the ultrasonic that I replaced it with. That's a difference of $25-30 or so in electricity per month at $0.10/kwh.
burntime
New Member
How do you like the ultrasonic? Which do you have? I have a sears warm air unit that does a great job but they are energy hogs...
precaud
Minister of Fire
nola mike said:
So true. I have an ultrasonic too but rarely use it because of the white powder blanket it puts on everything.
burntime
New Member
precaud
Minister of Fire
burntime
New Member
precaud
Minister of Fire
I get zero of it with steam. Instead it collects on the electrodes and I have to scrape it off every now and then.
burntime
New Member
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