Health effects - convection vs radiant stoves?

[precaud]

Is it far-fetched to suspect there can be health-related impacts from using a stove that convects more than radiates?

I've been burning the Kent Tile Fire for three weeks or so, and as I wrote when I first stated using it, this stove is an intense convector, more so than any stove I've ever used, cycling a huge amount of very hot air out the top, while the hearth wall remains relatively cool to touch. Adjacent rooms are 2-3 degrees warmer as a result, which I really like.

A couple weeks ago, my eyes started feeling sensitive and irritated, very sensitive to glare, almost painful to be out in sunlight at times. I even had to reduce the contrast on the computer monitor. I've never worn sunglasses but now I can't drive without them. Humidity levels in the house are low but nothing unusual, it's always drier in the winter.

So before I go down the path of suspecting things like the sudden onset of macular degeneration (which is certainly possible at my age), I'm looking at what, if any, environmental factors have changed in the last few weeks that could have caused/exacerbated this. And the only thing I see is changing out the Quad for the Kent stove. Compared to the Kent, the Quad is a mild convector, and radiates much more of its heat into the hearth bricks.

Is something like this possible?

 

[LLigetfa]

Adjacent rooms are 2-3 degrees warmer as a result, which I really like.
...
Humidity levels in the house are low but nothing unusual, it's always drier in the winter.

First off, if it's warmer the RH will be lower since it's relative to temperature.

Is this a new stove still burning off paint?

 

[precaud]

The stove isn't new, it's a 1985 model.

 

[LLigetfa]

Maybe it's burning off some dust, cob webs, dust mite feces?

Maybe your diet changed? Not drinking enough... vitamin deficiency? Prone to migraines?

 

[oldspark]

Maybe you whould have your eyes checked for cataracts.

 

[precaud]

Maybe it's burning off some dust, cob webs, dust mite feces?

Are you saying it's time I vac'ed the carpet again? ;-)

 

[Peter B.]

precaud:

Interesting (if nearly impossible to prove) surmise.

As a sidebar, I bought a convection wall mount propane furnace this fall to supplement the old wood stove (which is not aging as gracefully as one might hope).

Most days and nights, the furnace only cycles intermittently... and there seems no 'impact' from same. Twice, I dialed the furnace up to the point that it ran nearly continuously overnight... and both times woke with nasal irritation and congestion... which abated when the furnace was dialed back down.

I haven't been using the furnace fan (much... and on neither night in question), so that pretty much rules out additional dust being kicked into the room air... and for all intents and purposes, I live in one room only.

Go figure.

Peter B.

-----

 

[begreen]

I kind of doubt it is the stove unless you have singed or dried out your corneas from very close up fire viewing. Maybe too much time at the computer? Have you been taking any meds that heighten sensitivity to sunlight?

 

[BrowningBAR]

Is it far-fetched to suspect there can be health-related impacts from using a stove that convects more than radiates?

I've been burning the Kent Tile Fire for three weeks or so, and as I wrote when I first stated using it, this stove is an intense convector, more so than any stove I've ever used, cycling a huge amount of very hot air out the top, while the hearth wall remains relatively cool to touch. Adjacent rooms are 2-3 degrees warmer as a result, which I really like.

A couple weeks ago, my eyes started feeling sensitive and irritated, very sensitive to glare, almost painful to be out in sunlight at times. I even had to reduce the contrast on the computer monitor. I've never worn sunglasses but now I can't drive without them. Humidity levels in the house are low but nothing unusual, it's always drier in the winter.

So before I go down the path of suspecting things like the sudden onset of macular degeneration (which is certainly possible at my age), I'm looking at what, if any, environmental factors have changed in the last few weeks that could have caused/exacerbated this. And the only thing I see is changing out the Quad for the Kent stove. Compared to the Kent, the Quad is a mild convector, and radiates much more of its heat into the hearth bricks.

Is something like this possible?

What I gathered from this post is that Precaud is actually Dennis DeYoung.

 

[LLigetfa]

I have a 650 CFM central heat option blower on my stove and I put a 16x25x1 Filtrete high particulate filter on it. I use the same size Filtrete filter on my gas furnace. The woodstove fan runs most of the time and the gas furnace fan runs a total of about an hour a day. When I replace the filters, the one on the gas furnace is always dirtier.

With the wood stove I often hit 75 - 76 and am not bothered by it but if the wife bumps the furnace up to 75 I am. Now, the furnace fan does move more CFM and has many feet of ducting probably laden with dust mite feces. It also has a humidifier where the wood stove doesn't.

Oh, any chance you have an ozone generator in the house, intentional or otherwise? I have no tolerance for ozone at all. Sit near a laser printer and my eyes go crazy. At work, I can't spend more than a few minutes in buildings that have electronic air cleaners.

 

[littlesmokey]

Are you adding any moisture to the air? I would suggest that you are hovering at the point where the air is dry enouugh that your own tears can't keep up. Friends who heat with wood in North East Idaho say there is no dramatic change in relative humidity, except the temps hover near zero all winter. Both were tested by their doctor for all kinds of problems and ended up with a non-prescription artificial tears. Two or three times a day. I have noticed this year for the first time, my eyes are bothering me more, but all of my contemporaries are having cataract surgery. I suspect it's about that time. I's try the over the counter drops, a lot cheaper than a co-pay.

 

[SteveKG]

precaud:

As a sidebar, I bought a convection wall mount propane furnace this fall to supplement the old wood stove (which is not aging as gracefully as one might hope).

Most days and nights, the furnace only cycles intermittently... and there seems no 'impact' from same. Twice, I dialed the furnace up to the point that it ran nearly continuously overnight... and both times woke with nasal irritation and congestion... which abated when the furnace was dialed back down.


Peter B.

-----

Just as something to look into, we have a small greenhouse here and when I was looking into ways to put just a little heat in it, not to actively grow plants in the winter but to keep it above freezing in there, I read in numerous sources that one should never use a propane-fired stove/furnace in a greenhouse as some of the byproducts of burning propane are injurious to plants or downright caustic. I don't recall the chemicals but think some of them involved sulfur and byproducts given off by the flame while burning the gas. I did go with propane after all, but I bought one of those types of heater that have the outside air source and there is no open flame, I mean open to the inside of the greenhouse. I have never had a problem with damaged plants.

If your furnace burns air from the inside of the home, and if the flame is an "open" flame, perhaps your house is getting some byproducts which, if they will burn the leaves on plants and/or kill them, might be enough to damage eye tissue. If your heater is not open, then I have no idea what is going on.

 

[precaud]

Peter: I'm not looking to prove anything, just trying to isolate the cause.

BG: No meds of any kind, unless you count the occasional ibuprofen.

LLigetfa: No ozone sources here. It's been decades since I lived in a place with forced-air furnace, but I remember not liking it at all.

smokey: This is New Mexico and I do add moisture to the air in the winter, via small pots on the stove, ultrasonic humidifier when I'm not here (I don't like breathing the dust), and a vaporizer sometimes. Those habits haven't changed. My humidity meter reads in the 40-45% range during the winter, who knows how accurate it is.

Steve: No furnace here, I'm all solar and wood.

 

[DonNC]

staying too long in front of the stove...feeling the heat on my face/eyes...started making my eyes hurt. Whether it was the light or heat or both, that was the cause.
For the last twenty hours Ive been away and Im alot better now.

 

[begreen]

The other change this winter has been the additional solar heater. Any possibility of some substance there outgassing in the heat?

 

[BrotherBart]

A new girlfriends perfume? ;-)

Yeah I am like you. Have to find the cause for every new effect. Made my living doing that for too long. Now I have too much time to focus on what is making me fall apart.

 

[raybonz]

My stove is a convection and I run the blower 98% of the time and also steam water on the hotplate directly above the cat and this translates to 2 gallons of water a day.. I am close to 50% humidity in here so I suggest you do the same as I find it very comfortable in here even 8' away from the stove...

Ray

 

[precaud]

The other change this winter has been the additional solar heater. Any possibility of some substance there outgassing in the heat?

Interesting thought, BG. The materials used in it are identical to those in the first solar heater I built, and in both cases, for the first couple weeks there were definitely "irritants" of various kinds being outgassed. But it passed, and it was nothing like this. So I'm inclined to think it's not that.

A new girlfriends perfume?

Funny you mention that... when I first fired up the Kent, it absolutely wreaked of the prior owners' perfumes and aftershave. What an awful smell - how can people live in a house that smells like that? Anyway, I took the thing apart and gave the whole exterior a good scrubbing. That nixed it.

staying too long in front of the stove…feeling the heat on my face/eyes…started making my eyes hurt.

Yup, it definitely will do that. I always (i.e. have to) wear glasses so I can see what I'm doing and it blocks that direct radiation into the eyes.

and this translates to 2 gallons of water a day.. I am close to 50% humidity in here so I suggest you do the same

Boy, I would have to pump moisture in here nonstop to get it to 50% in the winter. The only time I've ever seen my meter at 50 is in our monsoon season.

 

[begreen]

Boy, I would have to pump moisture in here nonstop to get it to 50% in the winter. The only time I've ever seen my meter at 50 is in our monsoon season.

What day was that? :coolsmirk:

 

[raybonz]

The other change this winter has been the additional solar heater. Any possibility of some substance there outgassing in the heat?

Interesting thought, BG. The materials used in it are identical to those in the first solar heater I built, and in both cases, for the first couple weeks there were definitely "irritants" of various kinds being outgassed. But it passed, and it was nothing like this. So I'm inclined to think it's not that.

A new girlfriends perfume?

Funny you mention that... when I first fired up the Kent, it absolutely wreaked of the prior owners' perfumes and aftershave. What an awful smell - how can people live in a house that smells like that? Anyway, I took the thing apart and gave the whole exterior a good scrubbing. That nixed it.

staying too long in front of the stove…feeling the heat on my face/eyes…started making my eyes hurt.

Yup, it definitely will do that. I always (i.e. have to) wear glasses so I can see what I'm doing and it blocks that direct radiation into the eyes.

and this translates to 2 gallons of water a day.. I am close to 50% humidity in here so I suggest you do the same

Boy, I would have to pump moisture in here nonstop to get it to 50% in the winter. The only time I've ever seen my meter at 50 is in our monsoon season.

I don't know anything about your stove but this cooktop gets really hot and I use a 3 qt. porcelain coated cast iron dutch oven without cover and it is always steaming.. Tonight we will get sub-zero and wind and there is zero humidity outdoors.. If you use distilled water you'll get no dust from an ultrasonic humidifier.. Another thing you could try is maybe drying some damp towels near the stove as a humidity source plus you'll save money on the dryer..

Ray

 

[precaud]

LOL. We actually have a very predictable rainy season, from early-mid-July to mid-late-August, moisture streaming in from the south/west. A good number of intense thunderstorms in there. It really cools off what would otherwise be an unbearably hot time of year.

If I'm not mistaken, that's your dry period in the PNW, yes?

 

[begreen]

Yup, we send it all down to you. Good to know it's appreciated. I just read that getting branded by a seat belt buckle is a real hazard in AZ in the summer.

 

[Renovation]

Yup, we send it all down to you. Good to know it's appreciated. I just read that getting branded by a seat belt buckle is a real hazard in AZ in the summer.

I winter here, and am here now.

There's a whole series of "You know you're an Arizonan if" jokes, and one is

"You see someone driving with oven mitts on, and you think it's a good idea."

 

[Boozie]

I have high pressure in my eyes (onset glaucoma if I don't treat them), plus VERY dry eyes. When I would load the stove my eyes hurt from the heat and dryness. I use eye lubricant several times a day normally, but have stepped that up. Now when I load the stove I put safety goggles on (plus a mask in case of smoke). I know you are picturing it now. But, it helps. After I take the goggles off I feel of them and you would be surprised how hot they are. I also keep a humidifier going in the room where the stove is plus one in the kitchen and one in my bedroom. If you are "of the age" of a lot of us on here, I would definitely advise you to see an eye doctor.

 

[maverick06]

How are your hands doing? Drying out?

I think you need to add moisture to the air!

Also, When I am loading/poking the fire, I usually wear gloves and a face shield, Something like this:

Otherwise my skin really dries out, especially my eyes. When I am done working with the stove, the face shield is very hot! All that heat would be going into my face, not good.

Also, might be a good idea to get your eyes checked. I have been getting headaches more often, couldnt figure out why. Then I noticed I am squinting more and more at the computer screen and when reading.... time to go to the eye doctors!