WeatherCat as an aid to your respiratory health.

[elagache]

Dear WeatherCat users who have this "thing" about breathing . . . . .

Alas, I am finding that this nose surgery business is leaving me a bit "breathing challenged."  Something that had really helped me during my last hospital stay was a "blow-by" or bubble humidifier.  Alas, this sort of device really requires a source of compressed gas.  I have been using a more conventional ultrasonic humidifier in my bedroom and that does help.  However, because it humidifies the entire room (instead of just my nose,) it is effected much more by the outside humidity.

The humidifier has a hemostat and is supposed to keep the room humidity at about 50%.  This room also has my Davis Weather Envoy so I decided to graph the room temperature and humidity using WeatherCat as a way to see how well the humidifier was performing.  Here is the past 24 hours or so:



The graph might look a little peculiar until you compare it with the outdoor conditions:



Yesterday afternoon the humidifier was doing a good job keeping the room moist even if we were in an off-shore wind event with outdoor humidities under 30 percent.  Unfortunately that left the room a bit warm for sleeping.  Just opening up the room for an hour or so caused the humidity to plummet.  The humidifier did recover reasonably quickly, but if you have any sort of respiratory issue - opening the window even for a brief time might expose you to whatever exacerbates the problem.  In the summer we have run the central air conditioner precisely because this sort of predicament.  Even if the outside air is cooler the pollution levels can be too high.

This morning there is a curious spike in indoor humidity corresponding to moist outside air.  We were lucky enough to get a little rain and I decided to open up once more to take advantage of that.  The rain also reduced particulate pollution and I assume pollen counts as well.  The extra outdoor humidity was sufficient to keep the room above the 50% target level for most of the morning.

For many WeatherCat users, WeatherCat serves mainly to get your weather station data out on the web and social media.  However, WeatherCat is much more than that.  It is well worth flexing the muscles of da' cat  when it can help you in other ways!

Cheers, Edouard

[Blicj11]

Very interesting use of WC's flexibility. Thanks for sharing, keep  breathing, and best wishes for continued healing.

[elagache]

Dear WeatherCat users concerned with "indoor weather,"

I have a quick addendum to this posting caused by the changing seasons.  We had an extremely early heat wave that necessitated waking up our central air conditioning.  Here is the graph of the outside temperatures and humidity:



It wasn't extremely hot, but remained hot late in the day that the house became uncomfortably warm.  Here is the graph of the interior temperature and humidity:



Of interest in the wide swings in humidity in the center third of the graph.  If you look carefully, the humidity is high when the internal temperature is rising - i.e. the air conditioner has cycled off.  When the air conditioner starts, the humidity rapidly drops by 5-10 percent.

For those who life in areas of high humidity, the removal of humidity by air conditioning is a benediction.  Alas, the humidity removal mechanism works the same way even in locations of low humidity.  Central air conditioning supplies air with a temperature in the mid-40s (Fahrenheit) and air that cold can only carry limited humidity.  Excess water condenses and is drained off - even if you body needs that moisture as humidity!

At the moment, my nose is very sensitive to humidity levels and there regions in the United States (and the world) where the outside humidity is so low that interior spaces require considerable humidification to be comfortable.  I have already increased the humidity threshold on our two humidifiers and are looking into purchasing a third!

So here is another example where WeatherCat can assist you in making your life a bit more comfortable.

Cheers, Edouard

[Blicj11]

This is really interesting to me. I live at 8300 feet (2530 meters) and at this altitude during the winter and early spring, when it is cold outside, if my internal humidity was as high as yours, I would have condensation running down the inside of every window in the place. We don't have air conditioning because it is not needed, but we do have radiant floor heat. So in the winter, without a humidifier, our internal humidity would drop below 10%. We have a whole house humidifier that keeps us between 30-32%. If our internal RH falls too far below that, the house is full of static electricity. If we get much higher than that, we get condensation on the inside of the windows. I also use WeatherCat to track internal RH so I know when and how much to adjust the humidifier settings.

[elagache]

Dear Blick and WeatherCat curious about weather types,

This is really interesting to me. I live at 8300 feet (2530 meters) and at this altitude during the winter and early spring, when it is cold outside, if my internal humidity was as high as yours, I would have condensation running down the inside of every window in the place.
. . . . .
We have a whole house humidifier that keeps us between 30-32%. If our internal RH falls too far below that, the house is full of static electricity. If we get much higher than that, we get condensation on the inside of the windows.

It turns out indeed your altitude is limited the amount of moisture the air can hold inside your house, but it is more complex than one would normally imagine.  This fellow has a discussion that is a bit technical but covers the basics:

http://davidburchnavigation.blogspot.com/2012/09/relative-humidity-and-dew-point-as.html

He correctly points out that the amount of water vapor depends exclusively on temperature.  However, at your location the outside temperatures are lower.  Lower temperatures simply cannot keep as much water vapor as a gas.  When you exceed what the air can hold it will condense one way or another.  In your case the temperature of the outside air turns the windows, walls, and other surfaces into perfect condensers.  Unless you could insulate to the point of eliminating all heat loss, these surfaces can only maintain a limited temperature gradient.  Beyond that gradient, they are cooled by the outside temperatures and can condense water vapor as you have found out the hard way!

Fortunately, the human body is very adaptable so the 30-32% is probably ideal for you and your wife.  Of course there are other factors in my case.  Pollen is causing my sinuses to suffer with allergies and the higher humidity helps with that.  In your location, pollen is most likely not a problem at least yet.

Cheers, Edouard

[Blicj11]

Thanks for the explanation, Edouard. Your summary is a lot easier to understand than the technical stuff in David Burch's blog.

This is more than anyone will want to know, but just, in case ...

I have a whole house steam humidifier, which uses electrode technology. Electrical current flows between two submerged electrodes and resistance of the water to the electric current heats the water. The submerged electrodes are located in a replaceable canister. At the end of a humidifier season (winter), I just replace the canister – including the electrodes. This means I don't have to clean or scrub anything.  Electrode technology requires impurities in the water to promote the transfer of electricity. For this reason, I have plumbed the humidifier water intake line before house water goes through our softener.

The steam produced by the humidifier is introduced to the home home via a simple wall mount one-speed fan.

During the summer and fall, we just turn the whole system off because we cool by opening the windows and do not require additional internal humidity. By the way, Edouard, I use your excellent script in a WeatherCat custom text window to notify me when it is time to open or close the windows, which is another extremely helpful way of putting the 'Cat to work around the home.

[elagache]

Dear Blick and WeatherCat home maintainers,

I have a whole house steam humidifier, which uses electrode technology. Electrical current flows between two submerged electrodes and resistance of the water to the electric current heats the water.
. . . .
The steam produced by the humidifier is introduced to the home home via a simple wall mount one-speed fan.

It is an excellent solution that avoids many of the cleaning problems with humidifiers and the heat introduced by the boiling water is an advantage in the winter time.  I'm in search of a solution that doesn't add heat to the house since we need additional humidity during the heat of the summer.  The search continues.

Edouard