moisture problem/ no place for cooking stove vent

I have a 1000 sq ft. house. When it gets very cold (here in western NY) I get a lot of condensation on the windows. MY humidity is around

45 most of the time give or take 5 degrees. i keep the house pretty cold (especially when I'm not home or sleeping at 55degrees) I have already heard the basics. Use a bathroom fan, turn the humidifier off, etc. I have no humidifier on my furnace. I run the bathroom fan for an hour after showering. I use my stove and a rice cooker/steamer a lot and I have no where to vent the steam. Right above my stove is a window. The only thing I can do is open the windows. Is there a solution to this kind of setup?Will hanging wet clothes in the basement bring that moisture upstairs/ do i have to use the dryer? What about whole house dehumidifiers? I dont want any mold problems. i just moved into this house a couple years ago. Thanks
Reply to
chrisc
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if you have forced air heat try leaving the fan ON all the time.

your overall moisture level is likely still low, but high enough to condensate.

you could install a thru the wall kitchen fan, but frankly your probably better off as is.

if your humidity is under 55% to 60% everything is fine.

are your windows double pane?

Reply to
hallerb

if you have forced air heat try leaving the fan ON all the time.

your overall moisture level is likely still low, but high enough to condensate.

you could install a thru the wall kitchen fan, but frankly your're probably better off as is.

Or try one of these:

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Reply to
1D1OT

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Reply to
1D1OT

I think that the laundry hanging in the basement is *asking* for a mold issue. If you're going to do that on a regular basis with more than a couple of shirts you need to get a dehumidifier. Basements tend to be damp anyway so just let the thing run with a permanent drain to the a floor drain. Otherwise, you'll be emptying the catch pan several times a week and that gets to be a drag - sloppy. My inlaws did this and the only went thru two dehumidifiers in 30 years.

Reply to
C & E

Hi, Trolling?

Reply to
Tony Hwang

Got a dehumidifier in the basement . Windows are double pane and I just had two brand new ones installed. I am getting the condensation on all of them.

Reply to
chrisc

45% is OK if the outside temp is 40 degrees or higher. But in western NY, I'm sure it's been more like 0 many nights. In which case the humidity should be more like 25% to avoid condensation problems.

Without a humidifier, that excess moisture has to be coming from somewhere. I'd go along with the advice to not hang wet laundry in the basement. I would think it would take a long time to dry there anyway. Time to get a dryer.

I would think you would have to do a lot of cooking for that to raise the humidity in the house enough to be a problem.

Reply to
trader4

Your right. It has been in single digits. The thing is dryers shrink clothes.I am so confused. It can't be from just wet clothes in the basement and a little cooking. I was told I need more air movement in the house and that their are ceiling vents (kind of like soffits (in other words too stuffy inside). The bad window theory is out because I have 10 of them and they all have the moisture problem. 2 are brand new and arent as bad but still get moisture on them. I'm going to try to keep the fan runnning on the furnace for a few days and see if that helps as one of the previous posters suggested. I am trying to pinpoint this problem before I have more serious mold problems (Which are already forming on the window sills). I was also told to keep the house warmer! To kind of get a defroster on a car window effect. Anywhere else I have to spend gas or electric dollars?!!! Gees! Thanks for all the replies though.

Reply to
chrisc

What's next to the stove? Would you be able to use a through-wall exhaust fan?

Cindy Hamilton

Reply to
Cindy Hamilton

I was looking at that, but I plan on remodeling the kitchen soon, so I'll probably just open windows for now when it gets too steamy. I left my furnace fan on all night last night and all day today while at work and kept the heat up to 65. The humidity gauge only went down a couple of degrees. I was told that I might need ceiling vents also to let some of the stale air inside the house out. This totally defeats the purpose of having insulation to me though. Opening holes up in the ceiling in the rooms throughout the house? Im asssuming it's too stuffy in here.?

Reply to
chrisc

"chrisc" wrote

Hi Chris, I saw the other replies so will add a few that they havent, and keep the costs low. They may be somewhat more workable for your conditions?

The cold differential as you realize is why it's gathering at the windows.

No, not really (to both). I'm assuming a normal person's laundry level here, say 2 medium loads a week (not a family of 6!). Not hung up dripping but spun as dry as possible.

It'd better if you take the heavy things outside, but in your area they'd freeze on the line in winter ;-)

Assuming your basement is pretty much dry with no dampness issues you have noted here, a load or so that is dry within 2 days is reasonable and cost/energy effective and a heck of a lot more comfortable than standing outside to hang it. People have been doing this inside one place or another in any cold weather country for as long as man has lived in houses and needed to dry a few things in winter.

I'd augment the basement with either a dehydrator (costs to run but not that much and can be set to cut off when humidity is under a set level), or if it's not bad at all and you dont have kids/pets to worry about, get a bunch of those 'dehydrator buckets' people use in closets. They are filled with little pellets that attract water and have to be tossed out every so often but they work reasonably well if it isnt too damp. Some change color when they need to be replaced. Usually a blue to pink shift. You'd need quite a few, say 10 just to start with.

No significant mold now except on the windows themselves right? Several years? Seems you don't need to do more than keep the sills cleaned down fairly regular with a little spraybottle of bleach and water. This will degrade the paint after a while but so will mold if left to grow. Repaint window trim every 5 years or so and you'll be fine.

I'd add a spot dehumidifier in the kitchen that you can plug in and run when steaming foods in the steamer. This will help as it seems to me a main adder of water to at least the kitchen area. If you have a door you can close to somewhat trap the kitchen steam in when you cook and let the counter top dehydrator deal with it, this will help most likely a good bit and not cost too much to buy or run. Check though to make sure the internal return flow for the heating unit isnt in the kitchen. If it is, you cant separate that steam off very much at all.

As to the bathroom, instead of running the fan for an hour, consider running it just when showering then close the heat vent to the room, open the window, and close the door for 15 mins or so. (set a timer so you hear it and remember to go back and close the window then open back up the heat! No frozen pipes!). This one assumes you have a vent you can close easily enough to make it workable for you. It will be cold in there, but not a deep chill that takes time to reheat. Just lets the steam out.

BTW, check the bathroom fan assembly above (assuming attic). Mine was mis-installed and just vents freely to the attic so can't use it (bought house where the additions were sometimes not done right but we found out later as inspector didnt notice them. Most not horrible, just odd and not that hard to fix). We keep planning to fix that bathroom fan vent but we got so used to not using it, we've not bothered yet. All I need is a 25ft dryer vent coil to attach at one end, and the other to the attic side venting so it all flows outside.

Reply to
cshenk

One thing you could try is to put plastic over the windows. We have 50's style windows and get a lot of condensation at times -- and the window insulating plastic you can probably buy at your local hardware store seems to get rid of this. It effectively makes triple pane windows. I believe

3M still makes these kits -- and probably others as well. I think we got some small amount of condensation at -30 F, but under normal conditions it seemed to work well.

A new window also having condensation is not really any indication -- kind of depends on what you purchased. Window R values and costs vary widely. I have a friend that ordered R8 windows -- while common windows are usually R2 to R4, with R4 considered pretty high end.

The bathroom fan idea is a good one -- but maybe it's not big enough or the vent plumbing is too long -- or maybe it's not on long enough. Not all bath fans or bath fans installations are equal. Also, I think people recommend a automatic cycling timer if you want controlled venting with a fan.

Other thing you can do for venting -- we have an external intake vent for our forced air system with a controllable baffle so we can choose how much air the system takes from outside. We no longer open windows in our house and the place seems a lot fresher overall as well.

Rob

Reply to
Rob

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