# What is the RH in your home?



## Diabel (Dec 14, 2008)

It is 25% here & my kids are complaining!


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## SnaykeByte (Dec 14, 2008)

27% and too dry.


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## begreen (Dec 14, 2008)

53 right now, but it's going to get a lot colder and drier by Monday. I suspect the inside humidity to drop accordingly.


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## Cearbhaill (Dec 14, 2008)

Right now in the insert room it is 37% and it's a constant battle to keep it that way. I have the standard "pot on the stove" plus a humidifier I fill up twice a day. I do tons of laundry, there are three huge bowls of dog water, and enough pounds of animals respirating that we should be feeling like we're in a rainforest.
And still I struggle to keep it up.


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## beau5278 (Dec 14, 2008)

Mines 46%,it usually runs in the forties,occasionally dropping to about 35 or 37,but it always seems to dry.


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## Backwoods Savage (Dec 14, 2008)

Don't know about ours, but probably 75% of the time when I come indoors my glasses immediately fog up. 

We do keep a pot of water on the stove and my wife dries all the clothes indoors (not in the dryer either), which help a lot.


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## Vic99 (Dec 14, 2008)

Typically this time of the year my runs at 25-33% in the living room, that's with a half gallon soapstone pot on top of the stove.


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## Crabbypatty (Dec 14, 2008)

19% rh here and way too dry. i am thinking about purchasing a trusteam honeywell whole house humidifer. i have a situation where my furnace is in the attic and i can't safely put a regular humidifer on the duct, but the new trusteam can be remote mounted in a closet and the steam piped to the duct sys in the attic. i use my furnace blower to circulate the heat around the house from the wood stove, i just don't know how it's gonna work as far as the warm air is going to accept the humidity vs the hot air from the gas fired furnace. i don't want to spend $350.00 if the humidity is going to condense in the duct system and make a mess.


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## Jimbob (Dec 14, 2008)

Crabbypatty said:
			
		

> 19% rh here and way too dry. ... I don't want to spend $350.00 if the humidity is going to condense in the duct system and make a mess.



I suppose the steam could condense in those ducts if their inside surface isn't warm enough. At any rate, it isn't really necessary to add the humidity right at the point of distribition. Humidity equalizes itself throughout the house as long as there is some air circulation. If you boil a pot of water on the stove in the kitchen, it will raise the RH even in the opposite end of the house.

We had one of these in the house when I was a kid, and it easily kept the WHOLE house humid (and that was with baseboard heat, which has no blower to circulate the air):

http://www.sunbeam.com/productdetail.aspx?section=health-and-home&cid=36&pid=1112
Cost about $16 at the drug store.

But before I would even do that, I would look into sealing up ANY places in the house where cold air could come in from outside, like around windows and doors. Doing that will DEFINITELY raise your humidity.

......And to answer the original question.....44% in here right now.;-)


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## bcnu (Dec 15, 2008)

My gauge reads 40%.  Think I'd better put a kettle of water on the stove to bump that up for my wood floors.


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## Diabel (Dec 15, 2008)

Looks like I am on the low side, time to turn on that humidifier.


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## BurningIsLove (Dec 15, 2008)

Sahara desert..... about 22 percent is average for the burning season


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## caber (Dec 15, 2008)

With a pot of water and a small humidifier going, we can keep it around 30% when burning 24/7.  My biggest difficulty is getting the wife to keep humidifier full and running during the day.  If she'd just fill it once in a while, we'd stay in the mid-30s.


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## jadm (Dec 15, 2008)

30% in room with insert in it.  Higher in the kitchen.  I keep a tea kettle on the back burner on low all day when we are home.  Where we live in Colorado it is always low humidity so we
are used to it.  On days like today with the temp. not going above 7*  dry makes it seem not so cold. ;-)


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## bokehman (Dec 15, 2008)

3am here; 43F, RH 46% outside; 74F, RH 34% inside. Who's got OAK? It doesn't make a lot of sense to me to humidify air just to send it up the flue.


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## jdurando (Dec 15, 2008)

Crabbypatty said:
			
		

> 19% rh here and way too dry. i am thinking about purchasing a trusteam honeywell whole house humidifer. i have a situation where my furnace is in the attic and i can't safely put a regular humidifer on the duct, but the new trusteam can be remote mounted in a closet and the steam piped to the duct sys in the attic. i use my furnace blower to circulate the heat around the house from the wood stove, i just don't know how it's gonna work as far as the warm air is going to accept the humidity vs the hot air from the gas fired furnace. i don't want to spend $350.00 if the humidity is going to condense in the duct system and make a mess.




I think you will be happy with the truesteam at least I hope you will because I am getting one too. One of the nice things about them is they boil the water in the humidifier so the air temp of the furnace is not a concern. By-pass humidifiers are not recommended for warm air furnaces (<120F). Also the humidistat gets wired to the furnace and the humidifier and turns on the fan only when humidity is needed without turning on the burner. I am ordering mind this week I think it will work great no pot to remember to fill it's all automatic


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## FLINT (Dec 15, 2008)

Humidity in our house right now is right at 50% and thats about as low as it ever gets, and its only that low because of the wood stove. 

During the summer, our house stays between 70-80% and may go above 80% if its especially damp outside.  

We live in a hollow at the bottom of a mountain right off a stream and we have seeps and springs all around.  Ground will be wet from now until may probably.  

Its funny hearing you guys needing a humidifier, as we have a dehumidifier that we have to run in the summer to control the mold.


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## Woodrat (Dec 15, 2008)

---        -Around 35% in the upper levels of the house but near 10% in the cellar where stove and wood storage area is located---- that's  why I have no trouble drying freshly cut green wood in a matter of a few days.  Just a matter of directing the airflow where I want it.  Large stove with 30 qt canning kettle on top that evaporates 4-6 gals of water daily- warm,moist air gets drawn in by furnace return duct a few feet away & sent through the house. Hot air from the front part of the stove area gets blown by a pedastal fan over the wood that needs drying--- has worked fine for 30+ years

-    -Woodrat


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## North of 60 (Dec 15, 2008)

bokehman said:
			
		

> 3am here; 43F, RH 46% outside; 74F, RH 34% inside. Who's got OAK? It doesn't make a lot of sense to me to humidify air just to send it up the flue.


EXACTLY


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## d.n.f. (Dec 15, 2008)

35% and dropping.


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## oconnor (Dec 15, 2008)

47% with some condensation on the new windows.  Just air sealed the house this year, (windows, attic, and basement joists/sill plate) so RH is way up from before. Last year, digital readout just read "low" from Dec until April. Only moisture was my bleeding nose.

Much better now.


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## BucksCoBernie (Dec 15, 2008)

FLINT said:
			
		

> Humidity in our house right now is right at 50% and thats about as low as it ever gets, and its only that low because of the wood stove.
> 
> During the summer, our house stays between 70-80% and may go above 80% if its especially damp outside.
> 
> ...



You may want to keep it around 50% year round. 70-80% is an invitation for mold growth, which can make you and your family sick. A good dehumidifier during the warm months should keep your house in the high 40's, low 50s range. It did for my house anyway. If left unchecked my RH in the basement is 70%+ in the summer. Right now im around 37-42% due to the cold air (no insert yet, dehumidifier not running).


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## Highbeam (Dec 15, 2008)

And dustmites love the RH above 50. You don't want to know about dust mites.


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## pinewoodburner (Dec 15, 2008)

32% in the room with the stove, about 48% in the rest of the house.


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