Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Exactly what I was going to suggest. Our son is an architect specializing in energy efficient design, so I am familiar with some of things he deals with. He is very happy to share his research with me.
You would be surprised what these two tests will tell you. The blower door test will help determine if your house is too tight or too leaky. The infrared scan will help locate places where there may be too little (or no) insulation.
Once you have answers to these two questions, a lot of the guesswork and speculation about how to remedy the problem will disappear. Both of these will be money well spent.
If you can see above the bathroom vent line, check to see if it is insulated, and make sure the damper at the exhaust end closes to keep outside air from leaking in.
Good luck. I hope you find the problem(s) and can get things corrected.
Can you elaborate on what kind of professional to call? The last thing I would think of is an architect.
As I was plodding down the research trail I happened upon this very interesting article from a few years back in our local paper. It wouldn't allow me to post the link, so I'm just going to paste it below with the things that stood out to me in bold text.
STAR TRIBUNE STAFF
March 17, 2012 - 11:41 AM
Q My house was so dry this winter that I was having nosebleeds. I bought a humidifier and that helped, but now I have so much ice on my windows I cannot see out of them. I read about solutions to excess window condensation in an earlier column, but I can't afford new windows and I don't want to live with such dry indoor air. What's the solution?
A You have discovered one of the conundrums of living in cold climates.
Research indicates that for health and comfort, a relative indoor humidity of 40 to 60 percent is desirable. But keeping the air that moist over the course of a winter is more than most Minnesota homes can handle.
Water or ice will appear on windows, and if there's moisture on windows, it's also likely to be collecting, unseen, in wall and attic cavities. A few seasons of that, and building materials -- sheathing, studs and woodwork -- will begin to rot. Eventually homeowners will have to pay for repairs and replacements, but in the meantime, they may pay in another way -- poor health. Mold associated with rotting building materials can make people sick.
For existing homes, the solution is to maintain indoor humidity at a level that isn't so low as to cause nosebleeds, but isn't so high as to create moisture problems.
In your case, dry indoor air indicates that too much outdoor air is coming indoors. One can slow the infiltration of this cold, dry air by caulking and sealing windows, doors and other leaking areas. Stopping excessive cold air infiltration also saves on your heating bills. But do not plug the combustion air return. It is necessary for the proper operation of your furnace.
But since you already have a humidifier, a good move right now is to adjust its operation so you don't overhumidify your home. The guidelines below will help you do that. You'll need a hygrometer (which measures relative humidity and is available at most hardware and home stores).
The following list, supplied by the Minnesota Department of Public Service, is based on a double-glazed window and an indoor temperature of 70 degrees. You will notice that the lower the outdoor temperature, the lower the indoor humidity should be.
• If outside temperature is 20 to 40 degrees, humidity indoors should not be more than 40 percent.
• If outside temperature is 10 to 20 degrees, humidity indoors should not be more than 35 percent.
• If outside temperature is 0 to 10 degrees, humidity indoors should not be more than 30 percent.
• If outside temperature is 10-below to 0, humidity indoors should not be more than 25 percent.
• If outside temperature is 20-below to 10-below, humidity indoors should not be more than 20 percent.
• If outdoor temperature is lower than 20-below, inside humidity should not be more than 15 percent.
end of article
So based upon that, my next question is: How does one go about lowering the humidity in the home as far down as 15 percent? I was under the impression that dehumidifiers are not built to lower the RH in home to under 40%. I really need to dig into this further because the whole home dehumidifier was one of the first things we were going to try, but I DO NOT want to lay out a couple grand for something that is going to be limited in fixing the problem. We got a hygrometer and the RH in the home was between 40 and 50 percent the past few days, but outside temps were in the 20's and 30's so I'm assuming that will change this next week when temps fall into the teens during the day and below zero at night. In addition to this, I saw some other articles that said dehumidifiers have a very short lifespan and that it is really expensive to fix them.
This is making my head spin, but I'm committed to staying on track in search of a solution here.
Last edited by Tyryztoll; 01-14-2020 at 01:18 PM..
You never said what type of heating you have. Forced air or baseboard radiation or infloor radiant? Do you have a wood stove or fireplace? Have you tried any of the free/cheap things suggested earlier, like running bath and kitchen vent fans, installing plastic sheeting over the windows, caulking and sealing doors and windows? If so, have you noticed any improvements?
You never said what type of heating you have. Forced air or baseboard radiation or infloor radiant? Do you have a wood stove or fireplace? Have you tried any of the free/cheap things suggested earlier, like running bath and kitchen vent fans, installing plastic sheeting over the windows, caulking and sealing doors and windows? If so, have you noticed any improvements?
Forced air. We have vents in the floors if that’s what you mean by infloor radiation.
Electric stove. No fireplace.
We run kitchen fans and the downstairs bathroom fan but can’t run the upstairs bathroom fan when it’s below 20 or so because water will drip onto the ceiling and floor.
We tried plastic over the windows, it wouldn’t stick and kept falling off. Perhaps we should have done that before it got really cold?
Haven’t sealed or caulked yet....like I said before I’m not too good at that stuff and am worried I won’t do it right. May try to get a buddy to help me or have it done professionally.
As I was plodding down the research trail I happened upon this very interesting article from a few years back in our local paper. It wouldn't allow me to post the link, so I'm just going to paste it below with the things that stood out to me in bold text.
STAR TRIBUNE STAFF
March 17, 2012 - 11:41 AM
Q My house was so dry this winter that I was having nosebleeds. I bought a humidifier and that helped, but now I have so much ice on my windows I cannot see out of them. I read about solutions to excess window condensation in an earlier column, but I can't afford new windows and I don't want to live with such dry indoor air. What's the solution?
A You have discovered one of the conundrums of living in cold climates.
Research indicates that for health and comfort, a relative indoor humidity of 40 to 60 percent is desirable. But keeping the air that moist over the course of a winter is more than most Minnesota homes can handle.
Water or ice will appear on windows, and if there's moisture on windows, it's also likely to be collecting, unseen, in wall and attic cavities. A few seasons of that, and building materials -- sheathing, studs and woodwork -- will begin to rot. Eventually homeowners will have to pay for repairs and replacements, but in the meantime, they may pay in another way -- poor health. Mold associated with rotting building materials can make people sick.
For existing homes, the solution is to maintain indoor humidity at a level that isn't so low as to cause nosebleeds, but isn't so high as to create moisture problems.
In your case, dry indoor air indicates that too much outdoor air is coming indoors. One can slow the infiltration of this cold, dry air by caulking and sealing windows, doors and other leaking areas. Stopping excessive cold air infiltration also saves on your heating bills. But do not plug the combustion air return. It is necessary for the proper operation of your furnace.
But since you already have a humidifier, a good move right now is to adjust its operation so you don't overhumidify your home. The guidelines below will help you do that. You'll need a hygrometer (which measures relative humidity and is available at most hardware and home stores).
The following list, supplied by the Minnesota Department of Public Service, is based on a double-glazed window and an indoor temperature of 70 degrees. You will notice that the lower the outdoor temperature, the lower the indoor humidity should be.
• If outside temperature is 20 to 40 degrees, humidity indoors should not be more than 40 percent.
• If outside temperature is 10 to 20 degrees, humidity indoors should not be more than 35 percent.
• If outside temperature is 0 to 10 degrees, humidity indoors should not be more than 30 percent.
• If outside temperature is 10-below to 0, humidity indoors should not be more than 25 percent.
• If outside temperature is 20-below to 10-below, humidity indoors should not be more than 20 percent.
• If outdoor temperature is lower than 20-below, inside humidity should not be more than 15 percent.
end of article
So based upon that, my next question is: How does one go about lowering the humidity in the home as far down as 15 percent? I was under the impression that dehumidifiers are not built to lower the RH in home to under 40%. I really need to dig into this further because the whole home dehumidifier was one of the first things we were going to try, but I DO NOT want to lay out a couple grand for something that is going to be limited in fixing the problem. We got a hygrometer and the RH in the home was between 40 and 50 percent the past few days, but outside temps were in the 20's and 30's so I'm assuming that will change this next week when temps fall into the teens during the day and below zero at night. In addition to this, I saw some other articles that said dehumidifiers have a very short lifespan and that it is really expensive to fix them.
This is making my head spin, but I'm committed to staying on track in search of a solution here.
A good commercial whole house dehumidifier can definitely lower the RH below 40% if that's what you want it to be; however, 15% is too low under any circumstances. I don't care what the article says. I've lived with 15% RH in the house: everything fabric crackles; animal fur crackles - I'm just glad I didn't have carpet or I probably would have electrocuted myself with static. BTW, a good commercial dehumidifier does NOT usually have a short life span either. I ran my first Santa Fe unit for 7 years pretty much continuously in my crawlspace and the second unit was still going strong at 5 years when I sold the house. That's why I recommend that brand without hesitation.
Question? Do have blinds or drapes pulled down on the windows?
We have blinds over the sliding patio door and the small kitchen window, otherwise drapes. They are usually all open during the day and all closed overnight.
A good commercial whole house dehumidifier can definitely lower the RH below 40% if that's what you want it to be; however, 15% is too low under any circumstances. I don't care what the article says. I've lived with 15% RH in the house: everything fabric crackles; animal fur crackles - I'm just glad I didn't have carpet or I probably would have electrocuted myself with static. BTW, a good commercial dehumidifier does NOT usually have a short life span either. I ran my first Santa Fe unit for 7 years pretty much continuously in my crawlspace and the second unit was still going strong at 5 years when I sold the house. That's why I recommend that brand without hesitation.
Do you have to have a whole home dehumidifier attached to the HVAC system or do they make portable ones? I’m talking about an industrial strength one that can dehumidify the entire house.
We have blinds over the sliding patio door and the small kitchen window, otherwise drapes. They are usually all open during the day and all closed overnight.
Try not closing them down all the way.
We’ve had ice build up on our windows too. Leaving the blinds open pretty much solved it
Before you invest in a whole house dehumidifier, find out what the humidity is first. You can pick up a decent humidity meter for under $40.
I am in the Twin Cities, 2010 built house with forced air gas heating. Our indoor humidity is never above 15% in the winter months, typically at 10%. In our mid'-'80s build house in Eagan (also forced air, gas), it was the same for winter months. We added a who,e house humidifer there because it was too dry in the winter and are considering it here because the wood floors have planks that shrink in the winter. Plus, adding moisture to such dry air increases the comfort. Because winters are so dry here, whole house humidifiers for winter use is common.
Getting an accurate assessment of the indoor humidity will help you figure out if you have a hunidity problem or a circulation issue. If a humidity problem, something is not venting properly or exhanging air properly to bring in outdoor air. That is dangerous.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
