Ideas about an automatic humidifier made onto the woodstove.

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Wyld Bill

New Member
Feb 5, 2011
99
Maine
Anyone else thought About this besides me? In the middle of winter with the woodstove crankin the house gets WAY too dry. So you set a pot with water on the stove to evaporate. I usually fill my 1.5 gallon stainless steel bucket every day.
So my thought is why couldn't I built some sort of a resivoir that wraps around the flue pipe. Picture something that looks like a sponge cake tin. Then there is a water flaot valve to automaticly feed the water. There is an overflow pipe that is piped to a drain or at least to the floor. So the resivoir always stays full of water on it's own & boils off from the heat of the flue pipe.
 
One of our moderators wrote about using a cake pan with an Ecofan blowing across it. I said to myself, "Self, that sounds like a way to get some payback for that useless fan." Like most of the other stuff he posts, it works like a champ. I keep a gallon pitcher close by so I can top things off when I am over there shoveling ashes or poking wood in.

I thought about making it automatic, and taught my wife to do it. Worked for me.
 
Milt said:
I thought about making it automatic, and taught my wife to do it.

Okay, now that right there was funny. I don't care who you are. :lol:
 
Milt said:
One of our moderators wrote about using a cake pan with an Ecofan blowing across it. I said to myself, "Self, that sounds like a way to get some payback for that useless fan." Like most of the other stuff he posts, it works like a champ. I keep a gallon pitcher close by so I can top things off when I am over there shoveling ashes or poking wood in.

I thought about making it automatic, and taught my wife to do it. Worked for me.

How much water does it go through per day?
 
joecool85 said:
Milt said:
One of our moderators wrote about using a cake pan with an Ecofan blowing across it. I said to myself, "Self, that sounds like a way to get some payback for that useless fan." Like most of the other stuff he posts, it works like a champ. I keep a gallon pitcher close by so I can top things off when I am over there shoveling ashes or poking wood in.

I thought about making it automatic, and taught my wife to do it. Worked for me.

How much water does it go through per day?

Mine goes through about half to 3/4 of a gallon, depending on how hot the stove is getting. I am not using a cake pan, but the bottom of my dragon steamer with the lid off, holds half a gallon. I would run through a lot more with more surface area I am sure. My humidifier is also running, using 4 gallons per day, so it stay fairly moist in here.
 
joecool85 said:
I'd be awful careful about using heat from the flue pipe. You need a good deal of heat to go up the chimney to keep it drafting properly. You could do a similar gadget on the top of the stove though.
Already thought of that but it is a top load stove.
 
Milt said:
joecool85 said:
Milt said:
One of our moderators wrote about using a cake pan with an Ecofan blowing across it. I said to myself, "Self, that sounds like a way to get some payback for that useless fan." Like most of the other stuff he posts, it works like a champ. I keep a gallon pitcher close by so I can top things off when I am over there shoveling ashes or poking wood in.

I thought about making it automatic, and taught my wife to do it. Worked for me.

How much water does it go through per day?

Mine goes through about half to 3/4 of a gallon, depending on how hot the stove is getting. I am not using a cake pan, but the bottom of my dragon steamer with the lid off, holds half a gallon. I would run through a lot more with more surface area I am sure. My humidifier is also running, using 4 gallons per day, so it stay fairly moist in here.

Yeah so wouldn't it be nice if you never had to deal with it again? If it was just automatic on filling & working?
 
I was thinking something similar the other day. While I like what you have mentioned better though.
My thought was to bring the water source closer. Like a pot filler that would normally be found next to the stove could be next to the fireplace.
Also along the lines of what you mentioned in your OP. The water could be brought to this humidifier w/ the copper line used to feed ice makers.
 
I agree, I would not use the chimney pipe. If you do anything that cools the pipe too much, you will not only reduce the draft but build up more creosote inside the chimney as the gases want to condense on the cooler metal. I hadn't thought about the use of the Ecofan for this purpose, but it sounds like a good idea. The reduced humidity inside the house can be hard on furniture, or any wood, by drying it out too much. It also causes your nasal passages to dry out, causing sinus problems in some people. Here are some links for anyone who wants to find out more about the Ecofan:

http://woodheatstoves.com/ecofan-for-gas-and-soapstone-wood-stoves-p-9778.html

http://woodheatstoves.com/ecofan-for-wood-stoves-two-blade-p-9775.html

http://woodheatstoves.com/ecofan-for-wood-stoves-three-blade-p-9776.html
 
So,....it is ok for a EPA stove to do reburn & drop the flue temps before it goes out the chimney, it's ok to have a cat stove the burns what's left & at the same time cools the flue gases before they go out, & people still use those lame "heatsaver" things that blow cool air through tubes in the flue piping....but NO WE CAN"T HAVE BOILING HOT WATER ON THE OUTSIDE OF THE FLUE PIPE!! LOL just saying.
 
Alan68 said:
I agree, I would not use the chimney pipe. If you do anything that cools the pipe too much, you will not only reduce the draft but build up more creosote inside the chimney as the gases want to condense on the cooler metal. I hadn't thought about the use of the Ecofan for this purpose, but it sounds like a good idea. The reduced humidity inside the house can be hard on furniture, or any wood, by drying it out too much. It also causes your nasal passages to dry out, causing sinus problems in some people. Here are some links for anyone who wants to find out more about the Ecofan:

http://woodheatstoves.com/ecofan-for-gas-and-soapstone-wood-stoves-p-9778.html

http://woodheatstoves.com/ecofan-for-wood-stoves-two-blade-p-9775.html

http://woodheatstoves.com/ecofan-for-wood-stoves-three-blade-p-9776.html

I think those fans are cool but they are really expensive. I mean I could run a nice quiet small plug in fan for a lot of years before it would cost me what one of those cost. Also for me everytime I put wood in the stove I'd have to move it.
 
Wyld Bill said:
So,....it is ok for a EPA stove to do reburn & drop the flue temps before it goes out the chimney, it's ok to have a cat stove the burns what's left & at the same time cools the flue gases before they go out, & people still use those lame "heatsaver" things that blow cool air through tubes in the flue piping....but NO WE CAN"T HAVE BOILING HOT WATER ON THE OUTSIDE OF THE FLUE PIPE!! LOL just saying.

It's for all those reason that you don't want to do anything that will additionally cool the pipe. It wouldn't be a problem on an old Franklin that was sending most of the heat up the chimney. Besides, with an EPA stove, with or without a CAT, there's less unburned gases to condense inside the chimney. I think the things that blow air through the tubes in the flue pipe are lame, too.
 
Jimbob said:
Wyld Bill, does your house have a central furnace? You could add one of these to it for $70, and run the furnace fan when you need humidity.
http://www.waithumidifiers.com/pages/wait1000.html
This way, you don't change the look of the woodstove. CSA approved, too. :)
Naw I have a boiler for my other heat source. I guess I'll just run a water line over to the woodstove & have it coming straight down to where the bucket is, with a shut off valve on it. That way at least I won't have to keep filling the bucket in the sink every day.
 
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