Are my headaches caused by my pellet stove?

[sksmass]

I have a Quad classic bay pellet stove in a finished basement TV room. If I spend too much time there at night I often wake up with a headache. Is it possible that the stove is creating such a dry environment that I am essentially getting a dehydration headache, almost like a hangover? Anyone else experience this?

I suppose I could put a humidifier in the basement for the winter. But it seems ironic because for the rest of the year I run a DE-humdifier in the basement and generally battle wet basement problems. Seems weird to pump water into the room for part of the year and then battle to suck it out for the rest.

 

[lsucet]

It is hard to tell what can be happening and if the stove is the cause of your headaches, etc. Do you have a CO/CO2 detector. That can be a good starting point to see if the stove is emitting something giving you those symptomS.

Do you have a humidity gauge? that can also give you an Idea how dry is getting down there, etc. I will start there.

 

[vinny11950]

What Isucet said.

Make sure you don't have exhaust leaks, first. Then try spending time in the basement when the stove is off.

I would advise against a humidifier in the basement because it can cause moisture issues in other parts of the house.

Maybe something else in the basement is triggering an allergy reaction.

 

[mralias]

I have a Quad classic bay pellet stove in a finished basement TV room. If I spend too much time there at night I often wake up with a headache. Is it possible that the stove is creating such a dry environment that I am essentially getting a dehydration headache, almost like a hangover? Anyone else experience this?

I suppose I could put a humidifier in the basement for the winter. But it seems ironic because for the rest of the year I run a DE-humdifier in the basement and generally battle wet basement problems. Seems weird to pump water into the room for part of the year and then battle to suck it out for the rest.

If you had water issues in the summer than I would be concerned about mold in addition to CO/CO2 issues. A carbon monoxide detector is an absolute must if you don't have one. Mold can also cause headaches and is not good for you at all.

 

[sksmass]

I have several CO detectors in the basement, including one that has a peak digital readout and it always reads "00" so I don't think it is a CO problem. Mold is an interesting idea. But I don't notice the headaches in the summer when I'd imagine mold (if that were the issue) might be worse . Plus I am the only one in my family to get these headaches.

As Vinny suggest maybe I'll try a couple of controlled experiments:
1) spend time in the basement in the winter when the stove is off, see if it causes a headache
2) spend time in the basement in the winter when the stove is on, but chug water the whole time, see if it causes a headache

 

[vinny11950]

Also consider the pellet you are burning or storing in the confined space. Sometimes they are made from questionable materials that could trigger a reaction. I know that when I had to burn the dirtier, nastier pellet brands, the pellets out of the bag when loading would make me recoil from their stink.

 

[tlc1976]

Does your stove have an outside air kit? If not, then it's getting its air from every crack it can find in the house, possibly pulling yucky air out of places were never an issue before. Especially since you say you have water issues.

At least in my experience, I don't think it could be overly dry. I have to run a dehumidifier in my basement too. Sometimes it seeps around the floor perimeter, and there is a water channel to direct it all to a sump pump. Most of the year there is zero water coming in, but the dehumidifier still needs to cycle or it will get too humid.

 

[moey]

What is the humidity level in the basement?

 

[pageyjim]

All good advice has been given, I just want to add a couple things regarding CO detectors. Most only are good for 5-7 years. Look on the back of your detector to check. And if they read 00 doesn't mean there isn't for example 25 ppm in the space. Most don't read low levels. Check the specs on the low level limits.

 

[BUBIBEAR]

You should not be sleeping in that room .All manuals state not to use pellet stoves in sleeping areas . Another reason could be ,when refueling the stove the dust and fines that escape just keep recirculating from the action of the convection blower. This will really do a number on your sinuses

 

[blades]

It just may be the TV picture, seen that happen. You might be straining your eyes to focus or perhaps it is set way to bright, if one of the new sets it is best to have a soft low light behind it - breaks the glare up some- These new fangled sets can be awfully bright like being on a lake all day with no uv protection for the eyes. I have an older plasma set- great picture but it does a number on my eyes that my old tube set does not. can't really explain it more that that.

 

[sksmass]

Thanks for the thoughts guys. I measured the humidity down in the basement tonight with the stove on. The humidity meter read 16. Then I took the same meter upstairs to the main floor (no stove) and it read 29. My phone's weather app says the outside humidity is 52%. So pretty big humidity swings between outside to inside to basement.

 

[lsucet]

You will need a humidifier for sure. Now you know where to start.

 

[pageyjim]

Thanks for the thoughts guys. I measured the humidity down in the basement tonight with the stove on. The humidity meter read 16. Then I took the same meter upstairs to the main floor (no stove) and it read 29. My phone's weather app says the outside humidity is 52%. So pretty big humidity swings between outside to inside to basement.

Low humidity can give you headaches for sure. Remember that you are reading relative humidity. What were the temperature readings upstairs, downstairs and outside? If you heat up cool outside air at 52% relative humidity you will indeed lower the humidity also. 16% relative humidity makes me ask (As tic1976 did) if you have an OAK installed and you are pulling in a lot of relatively cold dry air therefore lowering the humidity in the conditioned space.

As an example not knowing the above temperatures. If it was 32 degrees outside with 52% humidity the basement would have the same amount of moisture in the air at app 70 degrees and 16% humidity. Bottom line if you don't have an OAK get one installed. You still may or may not need a humidifier.

Also if you are running a pellet stove without an OAK in the same area that a gas-oil water heater or gas-oil furnace-boiler gets its combustion air from it is a potentially dangerous situation. Again we don't know your particular situation yet.

 

[bogieb]

You should not be sleeping in that room .All manuals state not to use pellet stoves in sleeping areas . Another reason could be ,when refueling the stove the dust and fines that escape just keep recirculating from the action of the convection blower. This will really do a number on your sinuses

Interesting - my Harman manual only says that mobile/manufactured home standards do not allow installation in rooms designated for sleeping. It says nothing about in a stick built home.

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

You should not be sleeping in that room .All manuals state not to use pellet stoves in sleeping areas . Another reason could be ,when refueling the stove the dust and fines that escape just keep recirculating from the action of the convection blower. This will really do a number on your sinuses

Same thing in stove manuals, about not putting them in sleeping areas. I am really curious why this is directed. There must be a specific reason that they all say this. Anyone from a stove manufacturer please chime in as a public service.

What if my house/cabin is only one room?

 

[alternativeheat]

When our house gets too dry we experience various ailments, most common are dry scratchy throat sleeping, slight bloody noses, dry itchy skin. I get headaches from staring at this computer screen too long LOL ! And the cell phone is even worse, like grand slam headaches from that thing.

 

[Deezl Smoke]

Google "health effects of low humidity" or any variable of that. 16% is not healthy. With each breath you expel moisture from your body. In that low of humidity, you pull nearly zero moisture in, making the situation even worse. So yes, you are on the right track thinking you are dehydrating.

Personally, I would rather open a window or somehow allow outside air into the area before I would set up a humidifier.

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

Google "health effects of low humidity" or any variable of that. 16% is not healthy. With each breath you expel moisture from your body. In that low of humidity, you pull nearly zero moisture in, making the situation even worse. So yes, you are on the right track thinking you are dehydrating.

Personally, I would rather open a window or somehow allow outside air into the area before I would set up a humidifier.

I'm still trying to get buy-in to dry the laundry in front of the stove.

We also set up a fan in front of the bathroom door and blow the post shower humidity back into the house. This helps some, and keeps the heat inside the house. As we have no ceiling fan, helps dry the bathroom also.

 

[alternativeheat]

Google "health effects of low humidity" or any variable of that. 16% is not healthy. With each breath you expel moisture from your body. In that low of humidity, you pull nearly zero moisture in, making the situation even worse. So yes, you are on the right track thinking you are dehydrating.

Personally, I would rather open a window or somehow allow outside air into the area before I would set up a humidifier.

Here in New England in mid winter single digit weather with clear weather opening a window is about the worst thing you could do to increase humidity. In fact it would probably sap out what ever was left, which isn't much, without a humidifier.

 

[articcatbill]

I would get a console evaporative humidifier, lowes, walmart where ever about 100 dollars. You will be amazed at how much water they need to put in the air to keep it about 45% humidity. We burned wood for years (now pellets) I would put a kettle on the stove, dry clothes inside etc etc. Always had issues with dry scratchy throats, and sinus issues. Finally bought a humidifier, wow what a difference it made.

The one we have and still use has a tank that is 3.6 gallon capacity, when it is cold and dry out we fill that 2 times a day. So it is putting 7 gallons of water in the air per day to keep it 45% or so. That is a lot of water to make up through other means. It is automatic, so you set it to the desired humidity and it does it's thing. Works really well. Yes is does bug me I put in humidity in the winter, and run a dehumidifier in the summer, but oh well what do you do. I was really surprised at the difference it makes. One of those wow should have done this earlier type of things.

That is just my experience with this. The only negative is we do buy 2 types of treatment to put into the water, one for calcium build-up on the wick and the other for bacteria so you don't get a smell in the water. 2 bottles from walmart last a winter. We also keep a few wicks on hand (the wick to pull up the water), go through about 1-2 of those a winter depending. They get calcium build up from our hard water and stop working well.

 

[sksmass]

Good points about it being relative humidity I'm measuring (so humidity depending on temperature).

When I measured the basement RH at 16 the stove-warmed room temp was probably close to 80 (I know, but it rises and warms my upstairs a bit).
When the first floor RH was 29 it was probably ~68 degrees.
And when the outside RH was 52 it was probably ~28 degrees.
So, running those figures through this cool online humidity calculator I get water content of:
Basement: 4.0 g/m3
First floor: 5.0 g/m3
Outside: 2.2g/m3

That is interesting. I'm not sure if a 1.0 g/m3 difference is significant or not. Basically, my house is more humid than outside but within the house the basement air contains 20% less water per cubic volume of air than does my upstairs.

Just to clarify, the stove is NOT in a sleeping area. And I do NOT have an OAK (because of the location of the stove, running an OAK is very impractical).

And because now I'm geeking out on this stuff I brought the humidity meter into work and it is reading 16% in my office! So I must be desiccating myself all day long.

I think I will invest in a little humidifier and use it at my office first. If that seems to help I'll get one for my basement too.

 

[alternativeheat]

Our humidifier is an evap console one as well. If your house is 16% it's too low period, regardless of the head ache experience. Right now with clear dry air in New England, the outside air is void of any significant humidity to begin with, in a storm that's another matter. In the sub 0 weather and single digits up into the low teens I'll dump 9 gallons of water in that humidifier a day ( 24 hour period). In the shoulder season it might not even come on. Another advantage is this one has four filters in it that wick the water up but all air is run through the filters, they do plug up eventually with pellet dust you don't even see in the house. I change them out annually. In 12 hours today, this day March 3, 2017 the humidifier has used 3-1/2 gallons of water and the RH in the stove room is 34% so it's probably going to boot itself up on high soon here ( I have it set for 40%), it's gonna sense to catch up soon.

 

[greg13]

How about "Environmental" allergies as my doctor put it. I run a hepa air filter in the winter to suck the dust out of the air, you would not believe the amount of dust it pulls, between a carpet and 2 dogs there is a lot of it in the air. I would try so basic fresh air first so if you have a window try opening that first and see what happens.

Greg

 

[sksmass]

Also a good idea Greg, and improving indoor air quality is never a bad idea. I just found this great idea for making a cheap indoor air filter with a box fan and a HEPA filter. What the heck, I'll give that a try too. Kind of curious to see how yucky the filter gets.