Home Improvement Today?

I have a smart thermostat...but it came with my heating/cooling unit. They are nice, give you a lot of control on how you heat/cool your house and when. I don't think they are necessary....but then again, I didn't think smart phones were.... till I owned one.

 

Ive always been curious what the advantage of something like a Nest or Ecobee3 is? Yeah i get that they "learn" when you are home and not home but I can do that with my programmable thermostat. Especially with my schedule that could end up changing week to week I feel like i would just confused the Nest more than it learning. Example being right now Im getting up at 3am, next week i might be getting up at 6am, the following week might be 430. Same for getting home, that can be anywhere from 230 to 5.

Most of the reviews Ive read are more from people who were to lazy to use a programmable thermostat. Or people complaining they are hard to set. But i change mine all the time and find it take all of 2-3 minutes to do.

 

The Nest will also detect when you are home via a motion/proximity sensor built into the unit, and there's also a feature you can opt in or out of where it will use your phone to tell if you are home or not. The unit will automatically change from your "Away" temperatures, to your "Home" temperatures or vice versa when it detects that you're home or away and helps for when you're in or out outside of regular programmed times.

 

You can also change temperature, from your phone

 

Any simple way to figure out why my house is always so.. wet? Every morning the upstairs windows are completely covered in moisture, not hazing - actual drops, like someone sprayed the window with a bottle. Also have the accompanying mildew issues in the window frame channels. I don't have central air, windows are newer double pane vinyl retrofits.

Even the sweep on the front door has drops on it each morning, downstairs and away from a room of sleeping humans.

 

High moisture content could be a variation of things. New construction, strippers running out of the hot tub in your living room

 

Does your attic condensate heavily? How is the intake and an exhaust air of your house? Does this happen in winter months only?

Vapor diffusion—moisture permeating through solid surfaces, such as cement, gypsum board, or wood.

Do you take a lot of showers, do dishes or Laundry contributing inside moisture.

Do you have a basement?

 

Do you use humidifiers? Or have any ventless propane logs? I know my windows will get wet on the inside when it's cold out and I run my fireplace or humidifier.

 

I don't believe so. I went up once last year looking for a leak, and don't remember any moisture issues there. We have lived here since Feb/March 2015 and it's been a problem every winter.

No central air of any kind, no attic fan, moisture escapes out of windows only or a bathroom fan (in our showerless half bath..) that's vented outside. Range hood is not vented outside.

We don't have a fireplace or use a humidifier. I've been looking at dehumidifies, but they're spendy. Likely will experiment with some Damp Rid next fall/winter when the weather dictates closed windows, as its cheap and effective.

 

Worth noting I live in a townhome and share a wall with a single story unit to one side and an identical two story unit to the other side, which we also share a roof with, and I've not seen any issues with moisture on the windows of their top or bottom floors, or any others in my development.

Seems to be just a problem I am experiencing.

Windows and home construction are all otherwise identical.

 

What part of the country are we talking about?

 

Is there a garage below you? Just asking, because if your garage is below your living space it may create this problem.

 

Santa Rosa CA.

 

Garage is detached.

 

Have you check the RH Relative humidity at each level?

Do you have single or double pane windows?

 

Household moisture sources

Moisture source Estimated amount (pints)

Bathing
tub (excludes towels and spillage) .................................................. 0.12/standard size bath shower (excludes towels and spillage) ........................................... 0.52/5-minute shower

Clothes washing (automatic, lid closed, standpipe discharge)..........0+/load (usually nil)

Clothes drying
vented outdoors ................................................................................. 0+/load (usually nil)
not vented outdoors, or indoor line drying ................................... 4.68 to 6.18/load (more if gas dryer)

Combustion (unvented kerosene space heater)....................................7.6/gallon of kerosene burned

Cooking
breakfast (family of four, average) .................................................. 0.35 (plus 0.58 if cooking with gas) lunch (family of four, average).........................................................0.53 (plus 0.68 if cooking with gas) dinner (family of four, average).......................................................1.22 (plus 1.58 if cooking with gas) simmer at 203°F, 10 minutes, 6-inch pan .......................................less than 0.01 if covered, 0.13 if

uncovered
boil 10 minutes, 6-inch pan ..............................................................0.48 if covered, 0.57 if uncovered

Dishwashing
breakfast (family of four, average) ..................................................0.21 lunch (family of four, average).........................................................0.16 dinner (family of four, average).......................................................0.68

Firewood storage indoors (cord of green rewood) ............................ 400 to 800/6 months
Floor mopping...........................................................................................0.03/square foot
Gas range pilot light (each)......................................................................0.37 or less/dayHouse plants ( ve to seven average plants) ......................................... 0.86 to 0.96/day Humidi ers................................................................................................0 to 120+/day (2.08 average/hour) Respiration and perspiration (family of four, average).......................0.44/hour (family of four, average) Refrigerator defrost...................................................................................1 .03/day (average)

Saunas, steambaths, and whirlpools......................................................0 to 2.7+/hour

Combustion exhaust gas backdrafting or spillage...............................0 to 6,720+/year

Evaporation from building materials
seasonal ............................................................................................... 6.33 to 16.91/average day new construction................................................................................10+/average day

Ground moisture migration .................................................................... 0 to 105/day Seasonal high outdoor humidity ............................................................ 64 to 249+/day

 

Dual pane. Haven't done any kind of checking.. just not sure we are breathing out or cooking so much moisture that the windows and sills are soaked every morning.

We sleep with the bedroom door closed, it's myself, my fiancée and daughter and our dog. So, I'd expect some level of condensation in the morning but not the drenched window. The other upstairs windows are heavily condensated also, so I don't think it's all escaping underneath the bedroom door and going everywhere else.

The extent of my curiosity so far has only led me to this thread and some head scratching.

 

Is it newer construction? Might be worth leaving a couple windows cracked open a few nights to see if the problem is there in the morning, just to see the house is buttoned up too tight. Some newer construction buttons things up so much the house can't breath.

 

I believe it was built in the early 1970s as apartments, then converted and updated in the mid or late 1990s.

We have cracked the master bedroom window a few times and there wasn't much difference in condensation IIRC. No problems except for in winter, we rarely run a heater in the bedroom, so there really isn't a large variance in outdoor/indoor temperatures and also no difference in a 20 degree dry night or a 40 degree rainy night. Still comparable each morning as far as condensation goes.

 

Indoor air or vapor is getting trapped as air is not moving