Humidifying a house with hot water baseboard heat!

[casturbo]

Originally posted by kc_srvs
Are you getting nose bleeds? I'm wondering why you need the Humidifier if you have hotwater heat??? Hotwater heat auto. puts humidity in the air.

Hot water heat, using baseboards, doesn't add any moisture to a house whatsoever. I think you are talking about steam heat, that adds a little moisture (or alot if a steam air vent is leaking).

Leaky houses are dry houses in the winter. Insulate the house, close the chimney flue, or replace old windows to increase humidity. I run a stand alone humidifier (copper baseboard heat in my home) and it's able to put upwards of 4 gallons a day into the home.

[johnsp]

I agree with Cas. A well sealed house will not allow humidity to escape and dry outdoor air to enter. Cooking, showering, etc. should add moisture to the envelope. A small humidifer should be all you need for a home. If you have AC ductwork, you might be able to add the humidifier with a small hydrocoil to keep the air flow warm with just keeping the blower running. This will add greatly to your electric bill though.

[hydronicsman]

yes, kc, please tell us how a sealed hydronic ststem puts humidity in the home..?

[Edmund Forsthe]

there is no happy medium you want humidity in the house go with portable humidifiers if not happy with that put in ductwork a warm air furnace with a humidifier, no other answer but that if you put in ductwork you could add ac for the hot summer days

[kc-srvs]

Let me clarify a bit... I'm not saying it will do the job of a humidifier. You can see approx 3% increase of humidity, nothing astronomical. I am sure it is because of the fact it IS a contained system and it allows for the home to maintain a more natural humidity level. People that have hotwater systems are unlikely to need humidifiers, atleast the ones I have come in contact with. That's probably a better explanation. Sorry for the confusion everyone.

And I am in the NW of PA.

[hydronicsman]

Yup, that sounds better

There is less infiltration with bb than with scorched air belching. Less infiltration means the drier winter air stays outside, and the moisture from showers, driers, and cooking humidify..

[casturbo]

How come warm air systems need humidifiers at all? How does warming the air with a furnace dry the air, and warming air with an air handler or baseboard heat does not? A warm air furnace cannot remove moisture, right?

[mark115]

I live in SE PA also, with hot water heat. I have about 150' of bb in a 2400 sqft house. It's the dryest house I have ever lived in. And, "Yes", I get nose bleeds. (No one else in the family does, just some dry skin.) I use single room humidifiers. I need to fill them twice a day, and I hate buying the those absorptive filters every month.

Is that enough bb?

[Edited by mark115 on 03-09-2005 at 11:48 AM]

[hydronicsman]

Based on that VERY vague info ..you have too much bb, 50 feet too much wouldn't surprise me..

Why don't you do a load calc and know for sure!

[mark115]

hydronicsman: Thank you for your reply. I actually replied to this thread before reading through all the posts. Now I understand that a hot water/bb system doesn't really add humidity (maybe a little if any), it just doesn't lower the humidity as much as a hot air system.

On the other hand, I am in the middle of sizing my house for a new boiler, but I'll start a new thread to discuss.

talk to you soon.

[hydronicsman]

Nah, bb doesn't add any humidity, it just minimizes infiltration. In a perfect world, scorched air systems would be tightly sealed, perfectly sized and create no pressure imbalances in the building envelope, thus keeping the interior air less "dry".

It's really important to have the right amount of bb, but not too much for comfortable heating curves ( I don't want to say "swings", because that implies hot/cold extremes).