Hillbilly OAK for insert and humidity level.

[Dmitry]

I had a problem last year in a dead of the winter with keeping humidity in normal range. I did everything to seal the gaps around the house but apparently it's still leaking the air. The only solution was to use humidifier.
This year I'm thinking of trying hillbilly OAK . My insert draws the air from front bottom part. I can hear air being sucked into it when air is wide open. I'm thinking about adding some kind of tubing to get air from my unheated basement to the insert. I have unused floor register nearby so its not gonna be that hard. May be I can use it just for first couple hours of burning . It hurts to hear the heated air going out of the room and watching humidity go down to 20 plus %. And damn humidifier is noisy.
What are your thoughts ?

 

[Handsonautotech]

I had a problem last year in a dead of the winter with keeping humidity in normal range. I did everything to seal the gaps around the house but apparently it's still leaking the air. The only solution was to use humidifier.
This year I'm thinking of trying hillbilly OAK . My insert draws the air from front bottom part. I can hear air being sucked into it when air is wide open. I'm thinking about adding some kind of tubing to get air from my unheated basement to the insert. I have unused floor register nearby so its not gonna be that hard. May be I can use it just for first couple hours of burning . It hurts to hear the heated air going out of the room and watching humidity go down to 20 plus %. And damn humidifier is noisy.
What are your thoughts ?

Once you get it into the basement why not take it one step further and run it to the sill plate.

Is your clother dryer electric or gas? Someone suggested venting the clothes dryer into the house during the winter to hel0 with humidity levels. You could the use the dryers outlet to hook your temporary oak up. Can not vent a gas dryer inside though.

I think that if you do not run the oak directly to the out doors it will not work. You will create negative pressure in the basement. Unless the basement drafts more then the upstairs you will still be drafting cold air in.

Also keep in mind while an oak will slow down the flow of cold air coming in to feed the stove, it will not stop the flow of warm humid air out of the house through your insulation leaks. Only sealing the house will do that.

 

[Dmitry]

My biggest concern is that I'm not going to be able to actually connect it to air intake . It's just going to be a tube from basement or whatever in front of insert grill where the air intake is. Do you think it will do any good?

And my dryer is standing next to the wall with almost no tubing. No moving of this thing allowed by the boss.

 

[Handsonautotech]

My biggest concern is that I'm not going to be able to actually connect it to air intake . It's just going to be a tube from basement or whatever in front of insert grill where the air intake is. Do you think it will do any good?

And my dryer is standing next to the wall with almost no tubing. No moving of this thing allowed by the boss.

I do nt think it will make any difference if it does not make it outside the house. The stove will continue to pull air that is in the house and dump it out the roof. The house air will have to be replaced and that will come from outside. You may relocate the drafts to the basement instead of upstairs, but I dont think it will help with your humidity. Maybe someone with more experience in how house drafts and air flow works can give you more insight, but in my inexperienced opinion, it would not be worth the effort if the oak does not hit outside air.