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Is it possible for a forced hot water radiator to make a room humid?
Could a radiator in a forced hot water system be broken in such a way as to make room humid (ie release moisture into the air)? I did a little experiment by 1st using a dehumidifier to bring the moisture down to 35%. Then, I waited for the radiator to go into a warming cycle and turned off the dehumidifier. The warming cycle ended in roughly 20 min and I measured the humidity level again. It was 45%. I then measured the humidity again after another 20 min and it was still 45%. The strange thing is I didn't see any steam coming from the escape. Any ideas? Could there be something wrong w/ my radiator?
7 Answers
- sensible_manLv 71 decade agoFavourite answer
The ambient air (air in the area you tested) could be high in humidity. You reduced the humidity with the dehumidifier, but then turned it off. This would allow the humidity levels to resume their original levels. Unless a radiator is leaking, it will not raise the humidity level.
Source(s): 35 years Plumber - ElizabethLv 45 years ago
Sure, just close the feeder valve at the base of the radiators. Hot water heating systems use a recirculating water system. Closing the feeder to the radiators is like throwing a switch that makes the hot water bypass those particular radiators. The hot water just goes by until it finds the next open valve, where it enters that radiator instead. You don't bleed the radiators unless you have air in the system ... the bleeder valves release the air that may be trapped in a particular radiator ... that's all.
- 1 decade ago
First of all.......45% humidity is well within a comfortable human comfort range. The humidity went up only because you turned off the dehumidifier. However, you may have a faulty device for reading humidity and it is actually around 90%.
- IngridLv 71 decade ago
Radiators do not increase the humidity. Just the opposite. That is why there are special trays to set on top of them with Water to increase the humidity in a room.
- jekinLv 61 decade ago
Your method of measureing humidity is defective. If you used the readout on the dehumidifier, It will change with temp change and air circulation. Warm air will hold more water than cold air. I can't understand why you would want humidity below 50% any way.
