fairfarmhand Posted January 5, 2018 Share Posted January 5, 2018 We are dealing with unseasonably cold temps here. The heat is kept at 65, so we're not roasting ourselves and still the humidity in the house is low. everyone is itching. I have insulated curtains on the windows. and the house is decently insulated. Our house is newer, 15 years old. So the windows have been constantly dripping with condensation. We have to wipe them down so the wet doesn't ruin the wood. Do we need new windows? What is the deal? The deadbolt to the front door was dripping water. This is crazy! What's up? You people who live in normally cold climates, what do I need to do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Element Posted January 5, 2018 Share Posted January 5, 2018 My friend's home is like this. She runs a fairly large dehumidifier all winter. I've never heard of anyone needing to run a DEhumidifier in the winter, but her home is the same as yours without it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Selkie Posted January 5, 2018 Share Posted January 5, 2018 We live in a cold climate (it's -19F now) and have never experienced what you're describing. At most, we will sometimes get a little bit of frost or ice on the inside of the windows when it gets really cold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Element Posted January 5, 2018 Share Posted January 5, 2018 We live in a cold climate (it's -19F now) and have never experienced what you're describing. At most, we will sometimes get a little bit of frost or ice on the inside of the windows when it gets really cold. That's how my home is as well, and our windows are new (but the home itself is 50 years old.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjzimmer1 Posted January 5, 2018 Share Posted January 5, 2018 Our windows did the freeze and melt thing every single year since we moved in to our newly constructed house. The builders said our house was just tight and we needed to leave a widow open (it regularly gets below zero here, we are NOT leaving a window open). Project Home (does energy improvement stuff) came and did a blower test and said our is one of the tightest homes they had ever seen (despite a large gap under the front door that daylight can always be seen there. They installed a whole house fan. It made a big improvement but didn't eliminate the problem. Our windows were all wood framed and had molded so we finally replaced them two weeks ago. The seals had broken in all of them but we just didn't know what to look for to realize that. We haven't had the new ones long enough to know for certain but I will say even with this extreme cold we don't have near as much ice as we used to. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wintermom Posted January 5, 2018 Share Posted January 5, 2018 What's happening is the windows and door are cold from the outdoors, and the moisture in the indoor air is condensing on the cold surfaces. Your windows are perhaps single pane, rather than double or triple pane that ours in Canada are. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted January 5, 2018 Share Posted January 5, 2018 (edited) I think that's completely normal. The temperature difference between the outside of the windows and the inside is so large that the inside surface is colder than the 65 degrees of your air temp, and thus the water condensates. Even if the inside air feels dry, it contains water. The biggest effect is usually in the wettest rooms (bathroom, kitchen) and where people sleep and breathe. I don't think windows can be so perfect that the inside pane is at room temp. Mine are double pane, and I still get that when it's really cold outside. Edited January 5, 2018 by regentrude Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MEmama Posted January 5, 2018 Share Posted January 5, 2018 It sounds like bad seals. Do you have single or double panes windows? We've lived in very cold climates for 25 years and have never experienced that. We did have an apartment in Minnesota that had a window that would completely ice over, but because it was cold all winter it just stayed that way all season. Wet windows are a sign that a balance is off. I'd have someone check it out, unless it's going to be very short term for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fairfarmhand Posted January 5, 2018 Author Share Posted January 5, 2018 What's happening is the windows and door are cold from the outdoors, and the moisture in the indoor air is condensing on the cold surfaces. Your windows are perhaps single pane, rather than double or triple pane that ours in Canada are. Nope, they're double paned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wintermom Posted January 5, 2018 Share Posted January 5, 2018 Nope, they're double paned. Maybe the windows are on the old side. Our brand-new window has no frost or moisture around it, but our old ones do. It's -38 F outside right now. Our skin is itching from dry air as well. We've reduced our showers and baths, as that dries out the skin even more - and it may increase the humidity indoors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MEmama Posted January 5, 2018 Share Posted January 5, 2018 Nope, they're double paned. It sounds like bad seals, which would allow the argon gas to escape between the panes reducing or eliminating the thermal properties. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StephanieZ Posted January 5, 2018 Share Posted January 5, 2018 Do you routinely use good fans (that actually vent to the outside) in bathrooms and kitchen? A tight house really requires using a good exhaust fan whenever bathing/showering/cooking. Otherwise, that lovely moisture goes into the air . . . When we remodeled a couple years ago, the new fans we put in are WAY better than the old ones. Two baths have "old" fans in them and the other 4 are new, and, man, the new fans are a million times better. You can get a great bathroom fan for about $100 or so, and it's an easy DIY project. Kitchen fans are another matter and more of a project, but compared to the cost of new windows, a new good kitchen fan is cheap, lol. Be sure you run the fan whenever you are cooking, not only when it's stinky. You can get timer type wall switches for your bathroom fans if compliance is an issue . . . Alternately, you can hook the fan into the light so folks have no choice but to run the fan if they want a light. A timer is ideal since you ideally want to run the fan for 10-15 min after you finish showering/bathing to fully exhaust all the moist air. Also, check if you have a humidifier on your furnace that is mis-set. (Setting should be quite low, google it up if applicable.) Also, run your furnace fan "ON" instead of "AUTO" to keep air circulating, thus moving moisture away from the windows . . . That's easy, nearly free, and is "best practices" year round from what I've been told. (We do this all year.) Last thing to do (or first thing if it's a rental, lol) is to go ahead and use a dehumidifier. We run one in our basement 24/7365. For 200-400 bucks, you can get a good one that will last for several years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laundrycrisis Posted January 5, 2018 Share Posted January 5, 2018 (edited) It's completely normal if you are keeping your humidity comfortable. I was told by an attic ventilation guy that we need to keep our humidity below 20% in the winter - not gonna happen. We would all itch and our noses would bleed and our instruments would crack. So we have water condensing on our windows. BTW our windows are terrible with leaks, so they all get sealed with plastic in November and the plastic stays on until spring. So the water is on the plastic. We keep our humidity at 30-35% for our instruments. We have an attic circulation fan that turns on if the humidity in the attic gets too high. Two years ago our attic fan motor had died and it was raining in our attic - that's how we knew the fan wasn't working. Anyway, here is an article that may be helpful. http://www.startribune.com/fixit-what-is-the-ideal-winter-indoor-humidity-level/11468916/ Edited January 5, 2018 by laundrycrisis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wintermom Posted January 5, 2018 Share Posted January 5, 2018 It's completely normal if you are keeping your humidity comfortable. I was told by an attic ventilation guy that we need to keep our humidity below 20% in the winter - not gonna happen. We would all itch and our noses would bleed and our instruments would crack. So we have water condensing on our windows. BTW our windows are terrible with leaks, so they all get sealed with plastic in November and the plastic stays on until spring. So the water is on the plastic. We keep our humidity at 30-35% for our instruments. We have an attic circulation fan that turns on if the humidity in the attic gets too high. Two years ago our attic fan motor had died and it was raining in our attic - that's how we knew the fan wasn't working. Anyway, here is an article that may be helpful. http://www.startribune.com/fixit-what-is-the-ideal-winter-indoor-humidity-level/11468916/ This doesn't have to be the "normal" is you have a well insulated house and windows. A tell-tale sign of old houses in our city is icicles from the roof. No icicles on new builds, huge icicles on old ones. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MEmama Posted January 5, 2018 Share Posted January 5, 2018 This doesn't have to be the "normal" is you have a well insulated house and windows. A tell-tale sign of old houses in our city is icicles from the roof. No icicles on new builds, huge icicles on old ones. Yup. Icicles are a sign of poor insulation, whether the house is new or old. Newer houses are often poorly constructed though--they'll never last as long as the ancient ones. Either way, attic insulation is key, just as properly sealed windows is key to preventing condensation buildup. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laundrycrisis Posted January 5, 2018 Share Posted January 5, 2018 (edited) We don't get icicles and our attic insulation is great, but the insulation in our walls is terrible and our windows are horrible ! When it is windy outside, the plastic "puffs and sucks" - I don't know how else to say it. Our windows leak so badly that without plastic, the drafts can move paper on a windy day. So with just a plastic sheet over them, it keeps the drafts out, but the plastic still gets really cold, so we get moisture built up on it. I would love to replace our windows but it would be very expensive because two of them are supersized windows. I can spent $40 each year on plastic and keep our bills down - it's hard to spend $$$$$ on new windows. Especially with what happened to property values, and what's going on in our state. Edited January 5, 2018 by laundrycrisis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MEmama Posted January 5, 2018 Share Posted January 5, 2018 We don't get icicles and our attic insulation is great, but the insulation in our walls is terrible and our windows are horrible ! When it is windy outside, the plastic "puffs and sucks" - I don't know how else to say it. Our windows leak so badly that without plastic, the drafts can move paper on a windy day. So with just a plastic sheet over them, it keeps the drafts out, but the plastic still gets really cold, so we get moisture built up on it. I would love to replace our windows but it would be very expensive because two of them are supersized windows. I can spent $40 each year on plastic and keep our bills down - it's hard to spend $$$$$ on new windows. Especially with what happened to property values, and what's going on in our state. If your situation allows, hanging insulating curtains or blinds over the plastic might help keep down further heat loss and is relatively inexpensive compared to replacing windows. One further thought for cold and leaking windows is making sure the windows are locked. It sounds kind of obvious, but while prepping for this latest cold snap I was surprised to find I'd missed locking a few, which allowed a surprising amount of cold air to seep in. Ours open on the top and bottom and if they aren't locked the top can slide down just enough to create a draft (plus where they seal together). This can reduce condensation as well. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skimomma Posted January 5, 2018 Share Posted January 5, 2018 Also, check if you have a humidifier on your furnace that is mis-set. (Setting should be quite low, google it up if applicable.) Dripping is not normal. I live in a very cold climate in an ancient house. We have a mix of modern-ish vinyl inserts, slightly older cheap aluminum deals (both of which are double pained), and a handful of single pane windows. We got the dripping thing one winter and I knew something was up. It turned out that my furnace humidifier, which we never turn on, had malfunctioned and was going at full tilt. Once corrected, it took months to dry the house out. A little condensation/ice around the edges is normal. And I will get dripping wet windows if I am boiling a lot of food and forget to use the fan, but otherwise, I think something is not right. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wintermom Posted January 5, 2018 Share Posted January 5, 2018 Yup. Icicles are a sign of poor insulation, whether the house is new or old. Newer houses are often poorly constructed though--they'll never last as long as the ancient ones. Either way, attic insulation is key, just as properly sealed windows is key to preventing condensation buildup. I guess it depends where you live. The newer houses (50 years and younger) in our city are well insulated. I think the building requirements have changed so that house must have a certain level of insulation. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kbutton Posted January 5, 2018 Share Posted January 5, 2018 Dripping is not normal. I live in a very cold climate in an ancient house. We have a mix of modern-ish vinyl inserts, slightly older cheap aluminum deals (both of which are double pained), and a handful of single pane windows. We got the dripping thing one winter and I knew something was up. It turned out that my furnace humidifier, which we never turn on, had malfunctioned and was going at full tilt. Once corrected, it took months to dry the house out. A little condensation/ice around the edges is normal. And I will get dripping wet windows if I am boiling a lot of food and forget to use the fan, but otherwise, I think something is not right. Ditto. Our new house has older style Pella windows, and even with the inside pane out (we have a broken one and some out for repair types of things), we don't get dripping--just a little fog. It sounds like bad seals, which would allow the argon gas to escape between the panes reducing or eliminating the thermal properties. A local glass replacement company would be able to tell you if it's the seals and will probably look things over for free. I am also wondering if you need better attic ventilation if your house is super snug. We had to put in a ridge vent when we replaced the roof on our old house. It's already been recommended in the new house. They both have moderate (but good for this area and age of house) insulation. Not super tight. My parents had issues with additional moisture when they added insulation in their old house (in this case, in the basement). They got a dehumidifier, but I wouldn't think you'd want to do that in the main part of your home. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fairfarmhand Posted January 5, 2018 Author Share Posted January 5, 2018 We don't have a humidifier as part of our furnace. It's generally not needed in this damp climate. No leaks in the attic. Already checked that out. I just can't see us lowering the humidity in the house any more. As it is, my eczema kid is a giant flake of dandruff all winter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.