With the Cold Temps, How Low Is Your Humidity in the House?

I keep 2 containers, a kettle and a pan, on one of my coal stoves. It is a nice flat steel cooktop and I can really push the water thru them. I often have laundry air drying too. 35-40% humidity most of the time, with the temp running 75-80ish if im home.

The in house humidity is 26% (room temp 77*) I keep a 1/2 gallon of water in a ceramic pot on the Mark II and a 1 quart of water in a Corning Ware pot on the Mark 1. The dish washer adds some humidity daily. The piano has an installed humidifier on it with a 1 quart reservoir. In the summer, I water the piano once a month, in the winter it's every ten days or fewer. It's better then nothing but it's still dry in the house.

Took the cat to the vet one time in the winter and the vet said that I had coal or wood heat. I just looked at him and said "yeah coal" He told me he could tell because there was no sign of fleas on the cat. He said they needed a higher humidity to survive.

smokerdude wrote:Took the cat to the vet one time in the winter and the vet said that I had coal or wood heat. I just looked at him and said "yeah coal" He told me he could tell because there was no sign of fleas on the cat. He said they needed a higher humidity to survive.

There you go you package that in a brown bag and sell it as a sure fired way to get rid of fleas.

When it gets really cold outside, my basement has practically no humidity. 5-10%. The make up air is drawn into the basement and quickly brought up to 75 degrees...so the RH stays very low. Main house is usually 25-30%. Increasing the humidify via a humidifier does make the house more comfortable...and I don't get shocks when the dogs walk by.

REALLY low is all I can say! Don't have a humidity gauge, but it's low!

Flippen fleece blankets around on the bed in the dark make what looks like a lightning show in my house. Im around 28% right now but I just got the humidifier goin again this morning, so give it a few hours maybe I might bounce back up to a nice 35-40

I run a Essic canister unit in an alcove about 15' around the corner from the stove. The moisture moves through the house with the convection current. In the current cold wave, I'm filling the unit twice a day which works out to about 10 gallons a day. This holds the % Relative Humidity (%RH) between 35-40% anywhere in the house. The oil furnace that cycles on and off in the coldest temperatures has an inline April Air style humidifier that also adds considerable humidity to the house.

Are you a hands-on old school type of techie? You can build a Sling Psychrometer and measure the % Relative Humidity anywhere. It uses the temperature difference between a wet and dry bulb reading on two different thermometers mounted close together. The wet bulb has a cotton gauze sock on the bulb that needs wetting before each measurement. Take the difference between the two thermometers and plot the %RH on the chart. The sweet spot for %RH @ 69*F when there's a 13-15*F difference between the wet and dry bulb.

Here's my contraption. Two thermometers taped into rabbets in the ege of a 1/2" board wit a chain attached. Doubles as a hand-2-hand mini mace

With the super-cold temperatures many of us are experiencing (I'm looking at a HIGH temp. of -15F tomorrow!), the RH level inside your house should be reduced somewhat.

Here is a booklet from Aprilaire: Aprilaire humidification facts that has a chart on page 4 showing the relative humidity vs. outdoor temp. The goal is to prevent excessive condensation on windows or other cold surfaces. I have their automatic humidistat installed that works very well. Without changing the setting, the indoor RH varies from ~25% when very cold to ~40% during normal temperatures.

Chris

This thread reminds me. I should get off my ass and get my humidifier out. It probably needs filters though.

I use a warm mist humidifier, no need for filters. Much simpler design, works well.

skobydog wrote:
My cat turns into Magneto

Mine have been too lately! Like I mentioned earlier, we've never seen it this dry in here, so everything is turning into a spark fest when touched. Especially the cat's ears and wet noses. They hate that crap ...

Also noticed the light show with the bed sheets as Anthony mentioned. It's a whole new world inside this house with that stoker up and running!

SMITTY wrote:Also noticed the light show with the bed sheets as Anthony mentioned.

Um yeah, that's how I got my nick name hahaha.. Contrary to other beliefs

Last 24 hours humidity was from 24% to 37%., with room temp 65 to 68. Kitchen temps and humidity. The basement runs in the low to mid 70's not monitoring humidity down there, might by another gauge.

I try to maintain between 35-40%. Any more than that and my windows get wet, then develop mold. This morning it's ice. I run a warm mist in my daughters' room which is great but, with my well water develops a nasty white crust that needs to be periodically chipped off and soaked in vinegar. Same goes for my iced tea maker.

I picked up a Kenmore at K-Mart several years ago that uses a wicking filter. It's fantastic. The original filter lasted the entire season. I bought a Kenmore replacement filter at Sears for $25. It lasted a month before it designated into a pulp. Since when, I get them at Wal-Mart for about $8 that last for months. Basically looks like this: But I have the smaller one.