oil filled radiators to heat house

[Guest guest]

Well, things were good this summer after we had the ducts cleaned in our central

heating system and did some major cleaning in the house. Now that the heat has

gone on, I wake up with red eyes every day. Pretty sure it's something in the

ducts--on warmer nights when the heat isn't on much at all, my eyes are better.

The house itself seems pretty good to me now, other than the air coming out of

the ducts, so I'm thinking of sealing them off again and heating with oil filled

radiators.

We have a fairly small house, but we're in northeast Ohio so winters are cold.

Our electricity is 6.45 cents/kwh, which I think may be kind of high.

Anyone have experience using these things to heat an entire house?? Are there

brands you like better? I've heard some offgas worse than others. I'm also

wondering how bad our electric bills will be and if it's safe to go out of town

for a week in the winter and leave them on.

Thanks,

Amy

[Guest guest]

Amy,

I don't remember if you addressed this already or not. But is there any

fiberglass or  fiberboard in your plenum? If you have any of that, some of the

problem that you are reacting to could be from the fiberglas being pulled apart

by the high pressure cleaning.

What did the duct cleaners do to clean the system? Did they use any chemicals to

treat? Could it be that you are reacting too? Or that the cleaning just didn't

take care of the problem? Were the cleaners NADCA rated?

Sam

Well, things were good this summer after we had the ducts cleaned in our

central heating system and did some major cleaning in the house. Now that the

heat has gone on, I wake up with red eyes every day. Pretty sure it's something

in the ducts--on warmer nights when the heat isn't on much at all, my eyes are

better.

[Guest guest]

Hi Sam,

We have all metal ductwork. Is the plenum ductwork?

The cleaners didn't use any chemicals. They used a duct whip that travels up

the ducts to within a few inches of the vents. Then they opened up all the heat

and return vents and cleaned the last section and grate by hand. Two guys were

here for 4 hours with a truck mounted vac and my sense was they did a thorough

job. It definitely made a big difference in my symptoms and the freshness of

the air, but maybe not enough.

We had a heating company in to do some minor work afterward and when they opened

a couple sections of the ductwork it looked clean.

Amy

>

> Well, things were good this summer after we had the ducts cleaned in our

central heating system and did some major cleaning in the house. Now that the

heat has gone on, I wake up with red eyes every day. Pretty sure it's something

in the ducts--on warmer nights when the heat isn't on much at all, my eyes are

better.

>

[Guest guest]

Amy,

I have had a few clients who did this. It does work, even in cold areas. Don't

overload any individual circuits.

Try to get radiators that do not off gas too much. (The odor usually disappears

after a few uses.)

May

May Indoor Air Investigations LLC

www.mayindoorair.com

>

> Well, things were good this summer after we had the ducts cleaned in our

central heating system and did some major cleaning in the house. Now that the

heat has gone on, I wake up with red eyes every day. Pretty sure it's something

in the ducts--on warmer nights when the heat isn't on much at all, my eyes are

better.

>

> The house itself seems pretty good to me now, other than the air coming out of

the ducts, so I'm thinking of sealing them off again and heating with oil filled

radiators.

>

> We have a fairly small house, but we're in northeast Ohio so winters are cold.

Our electricity is 6.45 cents/kwh, which I think may be kind of high.

>

> Anyone have experience using these things to heat an entire house?? Are there

brands you like better? I've heard some offgas worse than others. I'm also

wondering how bad our electric bills will be and if it's safe to go out of town

for a week in the winter and leave them on.

>

> Thanks,

>

> Amy

>

[Guest guest]

Sam made a very good point about the fiberglass ductboard. It can be a

particular problem, plus it has a tendency to harbor mold. But there is

something even simpler than that. Does your furnace have a hunidifier? If so,

turn off the water supply. My old house and its very old furnace in Cincinnati

had a furnace humidifier, and after my workplace mold exposure, the furnace

humidifier triggered severe coughing. Simply turning off the water worked

miracles.

Gil

oil filled radiators to heat house

Posted by: " amybreau " abreau4@... amybreau

Date: Sun Oct 11, 2009 9:00 am ((PDT))

Well, things were good this summer after we had the ducts cleaned in our central

heating system and did some major cleaning in the house. Now that the heat has

gone on, I wake up with red eyes every day. Pretty sure it's something in the

ducts--on warmer nights when the heat isn't on much at all, my eyes are better.

The house itself seems pretty good to me now, other than the air coming out of

the ducts, so I'm thinking of sealing them off again and heating with oil filled

radiators.

We have a fairly small house, but we're in northeast Ohio so winters are cold.

Our electricity is 6.45 cents/kwh, which I think may be kind of high.

Anyone have experience using these things to heat an entire house?? Are there

brands you like better? I've heard some offgas worse than others. I'm also

wondering how bad our electric bills will be and if it's safe to go out of town

for a week in the winter and leave them on.

Thanks,

Amy

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