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Posted by Randy \"Brick\" MacKenna on January 28, 2008, 2:45 pm
> Maybe I wasn't clear enough. You have a SERIOUS PROBLEM. You are risking the
> health of your entire family. If you think respiratory problems from dry air
> are bad, wait until someone develops an allergic reaction to mold. You can't
> afford NOT to leave that fan on 24/7, at least until all the attic ducts are
> COMPLETELY dry, and monitored for at least a week.
>
> You need to get a contractor to properly install a good quality whole house
> humidifier in your first floor system.
>
> Do NOT seal off the vents, and DO leave the fan ON. You need to do some
> serious reading about mold. It is absolutely DANGEROUS. Don't be stubborn or
> stupid or cheap. Don't play games with your family's health. If you already
> read everything on that other link, and STILL are not convinced, read this:
>
> http://www.epa.gov/mold/
>
> Did I mention this is SERIOUS.
>
>
> >> You have some serious problems that need immediate attention. You've
> >> already
> >> started a "mold experiment". Don't cover any supply or return vents. That
> >> will just compound the problem by keeping moisture in the ducts. The mold
> >> is
> >> already starting to grow. If you wait until summer, the mold will grow
> >> faster.
>
> >> You don't say what kind of system it is. Your humidifier should only run
> >> when the blower is on. If it doesn't, get the idiot back who installed
> >> it.
>
> >> You need to dry things out quickly and completely. Turn off the
> >> humidifier
> >> for the rest of the winter. Turn the thermostat fan switch to on and
> >> leave
> >> it there 24/7 for the rest of the winter. Monitor the moisture coming out
> >> the supply registers. Do this before your family develops serious health
> >> problems.
>
> >> Read this:
>
> >>http://www.energystarhomesamerica.com/mold.html
>
> >>
>
> >> > Hi,
> >> > This year I'm using a whole-house humidifier on the 2nd floor of
> >> > our 2-story home. Yesterday I found that there was quite a bit of
> >> > condensation forming both inside the attic (insulated) ductwork, and
> >> > on the surface of the ductwork between the duct itself and the
> >> > insulating layer. I could squeeze the insulation and feel that it was
> >> > full of water in a couple of spots. I cut out that insulation, and
> >> > installed fresh insulation and re-taped everything.
>
> >> > I've got separate ceiling mounted sends/returns in each room. I
> >> > plan on covering each with a vapor barrier (7-mil plastic and either
> >> > tape or magnet strips). Questions:
>
> >> > 1. Will the vapor barrier on each send/return do the trick? That
> >> > is, is this solution good enough to fix the problem?
>
> >> > 2. How worried should I be about the remaining damp insulation or
> >> > the inside of the ducts still being wet? We have another 2 months of
> >> > winter here, so the system will not be drying out on it's own anytime
> >> > soon. Do you think it's okay to just wait until summer when the attic
> >> > will get up to over 110 (F), and it will dry out on its own? Or
> >> > should I do something sooner? I don't want to start a mold experiment
> >> > up there.
>
> >> > 3. If I need to proactively dry the system out now, what is the best
> >> > way to do that? I am thinking that I could turn off the whole-house
> >> > humidifier for a couple of days to get the air inside the house to
> >> > equalize in humidity to the outside (dry) air -- then just run the
> >> > HVAC air handler fan for 24 hours to pull inside air through the duct
> >> > system, hopefully drying it out (?)
>
> >> > Any help/insight would be greatly appreciated....thanks....
>
> >> > -Randy
>
> > OK, thanks for the response. The humidifier is a portable unit that
> > sits on the floor upstairs -- it's not integrated into the system
> > (actually, I should not have said "HVAC" -- it is really just an "AC"
> > system).
>
> > No way I can leave the air handler fan on for the entire rest of the
> > winter. Also, the humidity level in the house during winter drops as
> > low as 20%, at which point we run into respiratory issues with a
> > couple of family members.
>
> > So, I have to figure out how to dry this system out and have humidity
> > control. You don't think sealing off the vents, assuming I can get
> > the system dried out, will be enough?
>
> > -Randy
Gotcha, thanks. I will make sure the system is absolutely dried out.
Now, let's dial the clock back to before I turned on the freestanding
whole-house humidifier. Assuming my ductwork was bone dry at that
point in time, if I put a good vapor barrier over each of the send/
return ducts in each of the rooms -- would that have been good enough
to keep moisture out of the system?
-Randy
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