Door open or closed

[Stereo]

I've been reading up on the effect of ripping out open fires from old houses and how they would pull air through the house, allowing it to breathe properly. I live in an old house and we suffer with high humidity.

 

I also find that we get more heat from our stove with one door open. Probably burn more wood but we burn big logs in it and it doesn't seem to go through a massive amount. Plus it's just more homely and to me the air feels fresher. I'm told that doing this will make the house breathe as it was supposed to. Making it airtight will end with cold and mouldy walls which I can confirm is correct.

 

Am I an Eco scumbag for having my stove door open?

[Big J]

Short answer - yes.

 

Long answer - yes, definitely!

 

An open fire (which is what a stove with the door open effectively is) is at best 30% efficient. A typical stove is 65-75% efficient. Therefore, you need to burn more than twice as much wood for the same heat output. Perhaps there is a degree of the placebo effect being better able to see the fire with the doors open!

 

Having the doors closed won't cause stagnant air. The fire will still draw, though not as much. If you are concerned about humidity, get a dehumidifier. It's very humid up here, and despite constant heating of the house with the stove (it's a very comfortable 17-22 degrees in here and 4 degrees outside) the RH is 65-75% indoors.

 

Old houses are unhealthy, which ever way you look at it.

 

Jonathan

[Stereo]

It seems there are 2 schools of thought on this. Personally I think that old houses are perfectly healthy. It seems to be divided down the lines of airtight boxes vs. houses which breathe. I think the problem comes when you try to turn a house which was built to breathe into an airtight box. Hence the question really. I was reading something about mould (which I now can't find) where the feeling was that the lack of open fires very much increased mould growth. It's not even down to temperature as warmer air can hold more moisture, just the drawing of air through the house and the ability for the walls to dry out quickly by themselves.

 

Anecdotaly, when we did our barn conversion, building control insisted flat out that the whole house had to be tanked with Vandex. I believe they have now abandoned this policy but our lovely barn conversion has all it's exterior walls coated in this horrible waterproof concrete garbage. Upstairs we left one exterior wall in stone pointed in lime mortar. They never came back to check. Guess which is the only exterior wall in the house which doesn't grow mould unless we have the heating cranked and the windows open all day? Most of them we have now dry-lined with a future plan to remove this filth they made us put on. I have half a mind to take them to court over it. Idiots.

 

So, that's why we need airflow through the house.

[Ty Korrigan]

Ah...

In France we have something called VMC or Ventilation mechanical controllee or some such spelling.

Basically...

Its a fan in a box hung from your rafters.

It vents to the exterior and draws air from up to 6 points via ducts like slinkys covered in plastic or foil.

Silent, they are hydro-reglable or automatically adjust to the humidity in individual rooms via a simple vale like a big carb.

I have fitted this to a renovation and they are in fact a requirement in new builds (I live in a new build flat).

The air is drawn out at the correct rate as humid air is hard to heat.

Simple system, costs less then 300euros for a house.

Saves more over time.

I'm retro fitting one to my parents place soon, should cut down on condensation on windows.

Ty

[mendiplogs]

HI stereo we have a euro heat stove 16 kw its cast iron it very good stove we keep the doors closed our stove is very good on logs and it holds the heat in for hrs after the fire is out all the best jon

[Stereo]

Very interesting ty. In the uk new houses are vacuum tested to make sure you are properly killed by whatever people expel into the air. It can't be right can it? Apparently the issue of dust mites is becoming massive as they love our super insulated sealed in houses.

 

We are all animals and we need fresh air day and night to thrive. Why are kids allergic to so much these days? Is it additives in food? Is it poor quality music or is it because they live in boxes made of gypsum? I wonder sometimes. I grew up in the coldest draughtiest house in the world and I never get I'll while all around me get the bug. Might be the lack of blood in my alcohol stream I suppose.

[Big J]

Very interesting ty. In the uk new houses are vacuum tested to make sure you are properly killed by whatever people expel into the air. It can't be right can it? Apparently the issue of dust mites is becoming massive as they love our super insulated sealed in houses.

 

We are all animals and we need fresh air day and night to thrive. Why are kids allergic to so much these days? Is it additives in food? Is it poor quality music or is it because they live in boxes made of gypsum? I wonder sometimes. I grew up in the coldest draughtiest house in the world and I never get I'll while all around me get the bug. Might be the lack of blood in my alcohol stream I suppose.

 

Air tightness is a crucial part of a healthy indoor living environment. A building being airtight does not mean that there is no fresh air, only that the ventilation in the house is controlled by the occupant. My wife is an architect/architectural consultant specialising in sustainable building.

 

Many of the issues with older buildings is that they have no moisture permeable membrane. On modern builds, the membrane allows the egress of moisture from the house, but prevents moisture coming in. This alone creates a healthy, non damp environment. Our 200 year old cottage is not damp as such, but the relative humidity is rarely below 65%, despite constant heating with the stove.

 

This is a huge topic, but basically a lot of the reasons that we think modern houses are crap is because in the UK we build such bad houses that we tend to see the older, also crap houses with rose tinted spectacles!

 

Jonathan

[Stereo]

I see what you are syaing Jonathan, I really do. The problem we seem to have is that we pay lip service to the theory in the UK and build houses which do nothing well and don't last more than 50 years.

 

I do love to watch Grand Designs etc. and learn all about 'neutral' houses and the like but I really don't fancy living in one. Any more than I would like a glass of lukewarm champagne in a lukewarm bath.

[Ty Korrigan]

The lack of heating in Kiwi houses was maddening for me!

They just wrap up warm instead the green B@$^#$%s...

I love to relax in front of a blazing stove.

Ty