House Humidity Your Thoughts?

[JayD]

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Outside Air Intake does not reduce house humidity Un-subscribe from this thread
JoeyJ Posted: 25 September 2008 03:04 PM [ Report ] [ Ignore ]

Fire Honor Society

New hampshire
Total Posts: 106
Joined 2008-09-13 Using old stoves in the past has left my house very dry, but with a new E.P.A. stove with an air intake from the outside has not not reduced my house humidity.... So, good and bad news ...Good news is just what I said...that outside air does not decrease humidity in your house. ....Bad news is that these outdoor sucking air stoves need to heat up cold air before proper combustion can occur ...Some trade off there…

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kevin j Posted: 25 September 2008 06:01 PM [ Report ] [ Ignore ] [ # 1 ]

Fire Honor Society

minnesota us
Total Posts: 155
Joined 2008-01-21 go with the good news!

The bad news part is not really bad news. the indoor air was heated by the stove too, just via heat put into the house or contents, as outside air leaks in around the windows to make up the combusiton air, it has to be heated up to room temp.
and this way, you only draw in what you need, and from a known point. no cold drafts or floors.
I have stove with outdoor conection, just have never hooked it up, and I do see the draft drawn in all over.

k

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pecor Posted: 26 September 2008 01:00 AM [ # 2 ]

Fire Honor Society

35 miles north of detroit
Total Posts: 71
Joined 2007-08-21 Humidity Jezz, Never gave that a thought? If installed only for that reason Whats eveyones thoughts on this? Or would the stove still dry out the air? Jay

 

[JayD]

This was in the Gear Section by kevin j, I hope its ok to move it here? This could be a Good topic That I see little about. Would this work? Jay

 

[North of 60]

There is several threads on this issue. I would be an idiot not to use an OAK in my environment. John Gulland can kiss my a$$.
@ 15-18 cents a kilowatt, damed if Ill send my humidified air up my chimney or watch it condense and form ice around my windows. :snake: Yes your post touched me. :red:

 

[savageactor7]

Hey...it's only humidity, a variable comfort level...

... it's a pan of water on a stove or an OAK why make it any harder than it is. Whatever makes the family feel better.

 

[Adios Pantalones]

Heating the air makes it feel dry. It doesn't take water out of the air- but since warm air can hold more water- the RELATIVE humidity drops. I don't think it matters where the combustion air comes from when considering house RH.

 

[Tarmsolo60]

would an OAK also allow you to turn your air adjustment down more because the oxygen is more dense in cold air. would this put more heat in your room and less up your chimney? I don't have an oak or plan to get one. It's just something I was thinking about while reading this thread.

 

[Adios Pantalones]

Folks using an OAK say that the cold air does not make a much cooler fire, but if the air is more dense- that means more mass per volume of air to heat up. Theory would be that turning the air intake down would keep you even with the case of drawing in less dense air.

 

[Tarmsolo60]

I was thinking less air with more oxygen moving slower through the stove, so less heat up the chimney with the air turned down. I have nothing to back this up, I was just thinking it.

But if the air is denser it takes longer to heat up, so you have the same amount of heat going up the chimney. Thats what your saying right? (It's been a long time since science class for me)

 

[Adios Pantalones]

I'm saying that less volume of air that is more dense is really about the same amount (# molecules) of air. Once it heats up- it will expand to the same volume that it would if it was room air heating up.

Does an OAK draw less mass of air? Well, I guess that will depend on a lot of factors.

 

[Tarmsolo60]

Ok, I get what you are saying. Thanks

sorry about the brief thread hijack.

 

[SteveT]

I think an OAK should make a significant improvement. Air inside the house has much more humidity than outside air due to respiration, cooking, showers etc. (this won't necessarily show as higher RH; as AP pointed out warmer air can hold more moisture. RH is the percentage of 100% saturated air. So inside air has higher moisture content than colder outside air at the same RH).

An OAK will not use this moist air to support combustion and lose it up the flue

 

[North of 60]

Thanx engine rep you understand my angle. To boil off 10 gal of water a day from a humidifier to maintain a comfort level of 30%+ that = to $1.25-$1.75 a day in electricity. That makes an average extra cost of $45 a month. Times 6 to 8 months minimum =$315 a year. Add that to the discomforts of drafts and iced up opening. It all makes a difference. It can cause frozen pipes. Ive been there . Ive heated both ways and in this climate its worth doing it. savageactor if you have been in 17 to 22% humidity for 6 months you would understand comfort and discomfort. I wish it was just a pan of water.
N of 60

 

[fossil]

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/23709/

 

[RedRanger]

We don`t have an OAK with our new insert which is located in the rec-room in our finished basement. At 2 pm today the humidity was 82%. Now, after 4.5 hours burning, the humidity has dropped to 57%. This is always the case, light it up and the humidity goes way down.

Last winter even with our old insert on cold dry days, the humidity would start at 70% and drop all the way to 35% after about 4-5 hours burning. Got so dry it irritated my skin and I bought a humidifier to try and keep it at around 50%.

 

[Adios Pantalones]

I would believe the case that Engine made.

Sonny- 35% would be a blessing indoors in January here.

 

[RedRanger]

I would believe the case that Engine made.

Sonny- 35% would be a blessing indoors in January here.

Sorry, I am not following. Meaning, higher is better or lower is better? Serious on this one AP..

 

[karl]

Higher is better. Unless it's August and 95 out.

Last year was the first year with my stove and I got a nose bleed. I don't normally get nose bleeds. I don't think the stove dried it out all that much. I think having the house alot warmer than before dried it out more than anything. Or to be more correct. Made it feel dryer.

When you light that stove and your humidity drops, it doesn't necessarily mean there's less water in the air than before. The air is hotter and can hold more moisture. Relative humidity is percentage of how saturated the air is. Arizona on a hot day has more moisture in the air than North of 60 has where he lives in the winter time even if it's snowing out even though his relative humidity is higher.

 

[fossil]

This is from a NG supplier, but the discussion about indoor humidity is germane, regarless of your space heating appliance/fuel. Rick

(broken link removed to http://www.blueflame.org/datasheets/humidity.html)

 

[Highbeam]

I discovered that I am allergic to dust mites and their poo. The doc tells me to keep the RH below 50% to prevent these weird creatures from thriving in my home. So I have actually gone out and looked at dehumidifiers like people use in wet beasements to try and dry my home. I already monitor RH in several places so I know what I have and in the summer we are in the 60-70% range which is too wet.

When it is 40 degrees outside and 50% RH outside the air has a fixed amount of water in it. When you suck that same air inside (by not using an OAK) and heat it up to 75 you are increasing the amount of water that the air can hold but not adding water so the RH goes way down. Now that heated outdoor air is VERY dry with a RH way lower than 50% and will try and suck the moisture out of your body leading to dry skin and nose bleeds. But no dust mites!!

I will conclude that an OAK actually limits the change out of air in the home allowing you better control of humidity. When temps are cold outside, even 100% RH air will be dry once you heat it to 75.

 

[InTheRockies]

Humidity will help you feel more comfortable at lower temps, which is especially important if your only heating source is very expensive, i.e. fossil fuel-based. The forced air propane furnace that is in my home actually has a whole house humidifier that does help the house feel more comfortable at a lower temperature setting. It's often hard to control heat output exactly with wood stoves. I do keep an enameled coffee pot filled with water on a trivet on the stove. It doesn't have as big an impact as the whole house humidifier that works with the forced air propane furnace, but it helps. My skin and sinuses are thankful for the slight bit of moisture that it puts out. I had room humidifiers in the past, but did not bother to bring them with me when I left the east coast, knowing that this house had a whole house humidifier.

 

[Vic99]

Sonny,

I think a higher humidity level in the winter is better, particularly if your house has cooler spots (room the greatest distance from the stove, for example).

Think of it this way, air has so many molecules in it. When these molecules collide with your body, they transmit energy (think heat) to you. The more molecules in the air, the more collisions with your body, thus you FEEL warmer. By adding water to the air, you're increasing the number of molecules that could potentially hit you.

This is why high humidity in the summertime is tough to deal with. 90F air can hold sooooo much more water than 40F. That cooler air could not hold as much water as the summertime air. You never hear of oppressive humidity in the late fall/early winter, like you do in the summertime. At 40F, when that air could hold all it could, further evaporation would result in fog, codensation, or rain.

Most of us have a tough time getting over 30% relative humidity in the winter, even with a pot on the stove. If you want that, you'll need a plug in humidifier (maybe two).

 

[woodsie8]

I thought that higher humidity means more mold and we were suppose to dry out the air............

 

[fossil]

(broken link removed to http://www.epa.gov/mold/moldguide.html)