Notes from a furnace-free day

[basjoos]

The concept of maintaining the entire house at above freezing temperatures throughout the winter is a fairly recent one in the overall history of housing. It dates back to the late 1800's with the introduction of indoor plumbing and canned foods, both of which can be damaged by below freezing temps. Chamber pots and stored foods using the older food preservation techniques of salting, drying, fermenting, and the relative newcomer. sugaring, weren't affected by freezing temps. Also most temperate food crops (cabbage, turnips, carrots, parsnips, etc.) can tolerate frost and the few that couldn't (mostly recently introduced tropicals such as potato and winter squash) and eggs and dairy could be stored below the frost line in the root celler. So back prior to the mid 1800's, it wasn't uncommon for the parts of the house away from the cooking fires to drop below freezing. I've read accounts from the 1700's where the writers mentioned that there had been a cold snap and the contents of their chamberpot was frozen when they got up in the morning.

Back in the day when indoor freezing temps were common, most beds were covered with a thick down comforter and those who could afford them slept in canopy beds with heavy curtains around all sides of the bed to retain heat. In Denmark, beds in traditional houses were placed in bed-sized alcoves built into interior walls with a heavy curtain covering the opening to retain the sleeper's heat. Beds were often placed on the upper floor or in a loft, so they could sleep up where the warm air gathered under the roof. In the days prior to electric blankets, beds could be preheated by placing hot rocks heated near the fireplace in between the sheets to warm them up. Just a few old fashioned ideas for those of us trying to stay warm in cooler houses.

[MN Renovator]

basjoos, I better be careful so I don't decide close the door on the walk in closet with an electric radiator heater next to me and live in there instead of in the rest of the house. I'm kidding, but in the past those descriptions put it together as being just about the same thing through necessity, except with really heavy blankets that I don't have and canopies that sound pretty cool.

I've hung out under the covers with a blanket over me and my laptop and tucked the top of the blanket behind the pillow that I'm resting on. The laptop heats the area under the blanket tent to an unbearable temperature after about 15 minutes and I don't have any need for the mattress pad heater. It is what I do if I ever start to feel cold while hanging in the 50 degree house usually after I feel warm I can then go about things normally and continue to feel warm for quite awhile, especially when accompanied by a hot drink such as hot chocolate or coffee.

[Piwoslaw]

Thanks for the historical context, Basjoos
I was going to remark something similar: Before people had whole-house heating systems, insulation, low-e glass, etc., it was normal to see large temperature swings in the house during winter. In fact, normally the only place it would be "barely warm" (by today's standards) was next to the stove, and only when there was something in it. Most people (with the exeption of aristocracy) couldn't afford to keep the whole house warm 24/7, but somehow they survived. Warm clothes are a one-time investment, while fuel is used up pretty quickly.

Which reminds me of a joke:
Husband: "You remember that wool vest I been lookin' for for half a year? Well, I's found it!"
Wife: "Oh yeah, well where it been?"
Husband: "Under my sweater."

[osolemio]

Humidity is such an overlooked parameter. So much emphasis on temperature, overlooking humidity and also air flow.

Consider the summer time, and air conditioning. There are upcoming technologies where dehumidification can be done with hardly any energy used (compared to actual cooling). If you dehumidify the air in your house, in the summer time, you will find comfort up to even 30 C (85 F). If it gets hotter than that, of if you are not comfortable, add a simple ceiling fan.

For more info, look up "wind chill factor" as well as "humidex" tables. It would be interesting to have some table or formula for air conditioning and space heating, combining temperature with humidity and air flow.

[Piwoslaw]

Citing what ecomodder Old Tele Man once had in his signature:

...and the Devil said: "...yes, but it's a DRY heat!"

[Higgy]

So if humidity is good in the winter, why do they tell you to remove the humidity from your home? I mean too much will cause mold, but my settings are showing that it should be like 25% when it gets really cold.

FYI...furnace broke down last night so it got pretty chilly. The basement temp this morning is 60F and the upstairs temp in the living room (which is on the north side of the house) is at 61F.

I basically bundled everyone up under a few layers and now I'm waiting for the repair guy to come and look at the furnace so I'm all bundled up in layers. I think it's the ignitor but we'll see. But we did pretty well overnight. Only hard part for us at night is when my wife gets up because the kids are crying, other wise we'd be fine without it turned on all night I think.

[RobertSmalls]

Excessive humidity is inadvisable because condensation and mold can form in the coldest parts of your house. A leaky, drafty house, or one with R1 windows, can't tolerate much humidity without condensation forming.

To see how close you are to having condensation forming, measure the temperature and RH in your house, then consult the psychrometric chart on page 2 of this thread to find the dewpoint. If the surface of your windows reaches the dewpoint, expect condensation. The same applies to badly insulated corners of the house, and cracks that let in drafts.

For example, if you keep the thermostat at 65°F, and your leaking window frame makes it 20°F colder in that corner, you'll have condensation at 15% RH. But if you can improve your house such that the coldest point is 5°F below ambient, you can get away with 75% RH without condensation.

The advantages of high humidity are better human health (less dry skin and sinus problems, which I seem to develop below around 30% RH, but I haven't looked for scientific studies on this) and better human heat retention at any given temperature. Hence, you can turn down the thermostat when you have more humidity.

[Daox]

I'd recommend a whole house humidifier. Mine seems to work quite well.

http://ecorenovator.org/forum/other-...umidifier.html

[osolemio]

You have to look at all the consequences.

If you hang up water containers on your heating system radiators or take other steps to generate humidity, then also be aware of the energy required to heat this water to evaporation.

Yes, a more dry air must be warmer to feel comfortable, if we are at the low end of the comfort scale. But to moist the air to allow for a lower temperature does not make sense if the energy require to moist it is higher than your difference in heating cost.

I can also second the concern about mold and so on. Water is the base of all our life in this world, but "life" like mold and fungus is not so compatible with our way of living.

I only recommend to add humidity if it is very dry, and you have issues with static electricity or other building related problems. Never use it to fiddle with energy conservation.

[Daox]

You make some good points osolemio, however I still think its worth looking into. Additional humidity can allow you to substantially lower the temperature and still maintain comfort. The lower temperature leads to less heat loss and greater comfort (no dry throat in the morning, etc). I agree one doesn't need to go overboard, but instead needs to find a good balance as mold may become an issue.