Unexpected Consequence from heating with bricks

Hi All;
Shorty Core is the warmest thing our old house has ever had in it!
We love heating with bricks!
After a lifetime of heating metal boxes with wood, we now have this heating thing figured out!
Only took 60 years... now with just two fires a day.
It keeps it so warm, that we constantly have one or two windows open for a cool breeze, the bedroom window in particular is partially open most nights.

Except, I  suddenly started waking up at night with a horrible dry mouth, I attributed it to a mild case of the flu.
And then Liz started complaining of the same thing...

Suddenly the light bulb turned on...
For the last 50 years, we have had a cast iron kettle filled with rusty water bubbling away, day and night... and now we do not!
Who would have thought? I know I sure did not.
As we are off-grid there is no electricity at night, so a regular humidifier would not help.
We are now shopping for a cordless humidifier.

Could you damp some of the bricks down at night? Or put some laundry to dry?

If you have a great big warm thing in the place, there simply must be a way of evaporating a bit of moisture into the air using some of the heat...

the bricks don’t have to be that warm to get a decent amount of evaporation from a vessel on top. not as much as something on a hot wood stove, but maybe enough to move the needle on your dry-air throat stuff.

When I was a kid, my parents had a stainless steel steam table pan that they kept full of water on top of the cabinet circulator stove.  It was not lovely, but with the large surface area, both to absorb heat and for evaporation, it worked pretty well.  Handsome is as handsome does.

As was mentioned, it doesn't take a lot of heat to drive the evaporation, and especially since the air is already very dry (body heat is enough, as witnessed by your dry mouths).  I suspect that the increase in dryness you've noticed is due to the much increased air exchange because of the open windows.  The cooler outside air now being pulled in, and your warmer, humidified air is being passed out.  The outside air probably has a somewhat lower relative humidity than you'd really want in your cabin, but on an absolute metric, the cold Montana air is actually quite dry.  That cool, dry air when warmed to cabin ambient (60-odd degrees F, I suppose) now has a very low relative humidity, leading to the dry mouth (and nose, and skin, etc.).

Some of this effect may be mitigated as you accommodate yourself to the new stove; i.e. you may learn how to not over fire it quite so much for the upcoming forecast (since there is a lot of lag or flywheel effect with the thermal mass heaters) - maybe smaller batches, maybe only fire once per day, maybe add even more thermal mass to store the same amount of heat at a lower brick temperature, etc.  This may reduce the need for open windows, which will in turn reduce your humidification requirements.

But, it sounds like you'll still need some evaporative source of humidity, whether the humidifier you've mentioned, or a kettle or pan of water.  Aesthetically. a copper wash boiler might be tolerable, depending on your taste in decor.

If you have the space, perhaps adding some house plants in clay pots will help.
An added benefit, it appears some house plants will work double-duty as air purifiers:

https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/home/gardening/a32552/houseplants-that-purify-air/

Actually, the ambient temps in the whole rambling structure are now 70 - 73F and we like it that way just fine!
That is why they make opening windows... the room temps hardly change with an open window, just directly in front do you get the cooling breeze.
Currently, indoor humidity is 38%, outdoors this morning it is 33F with 93% humidity.
We have very low humidity all summer but are lower in elevation (2600') than most of Montana and are directly affected by North Idaho and Eastern Washington's warmer wetter weather during the winter months.

Pete, good idea but... we do have two houseplants that are survivors but we also have seven Persian cats in apx a 600 square ft home.

Humidity is a number that people have gotten used to using but it is hard to compare air masses of vastly different temperatures based on the % humidity.  

I think Dew Point is a much better measure.  Your outside dew point was around 31 degrees.  Inside was 44 degrees.  So it's not terribly different in actual humidity.  If you didn't have the windows open, you'd keep more of that dry outside air out and the interior moisture generation (sink, shower, breath, etc) could help keep up the humidity a bit.

We drape our damp tea-towels around the masonry+cob rocket bell after washing the dishes.
We also have two 2L kettles pre-warming water, again on the rocket, and releasing moisture into the room.
What does your brick heater look like? Can you stack functions on it/with it, on a way that increases the air moisture in the house?
Drying laundry, like Burra suggested?

So many question marks!

Hi Nina;
Liz has decided we are getting a small cordless humidifier for the bedroom.
No wet towels or laundry are allowed to be hung on Shorty...
The boss has spoken.  

Nina Surya wrote:What does your brick heater look like?

Here's Thomas' bragging thread about his newest rocket mass heater Montana Masonry Dragon.

thomas rubino wrote:Hi Nina;
Liz has decided we are getting a small cordless humidifier for the bedroom.
No wet towels or laundry are allowed to be hung on Shorty...
The boss has spoken.  

Beautiful build, Thomas, but I'm now confused by the photo.  With the nice flat surface, why not seek out a new decorative 'steamer' for that surface?  You could be honoring the 'Dragon' or your local grizzlies with either of the two shown below....  Or?

thomas rubino wrote:
No wet towels or laundry are allowed to be hung on Shorty...

I can see why! Such a handsome heater!
Our heater bell has organic roundings, some drapes every now and then look quite natural on it.

Thank you, Joylynn, for the build-link, I had missed that one

And John, that grizzly steamer is awesome! I had now idea that kind of things even existed, thanks for sharing.

Oooh look at this - a gargling dragon steamer made of silicone that won't mess up Shorty's pretty tiles!

Currently $12 from amazon.com

just a thought for blind corners, keep above eye level

Or maybe an attractive saddle blanket draped over the arch?

They are usually fairly absorbent to cope with the sweat. Maybe a square one that you could fold in half.

Mine was a great long one that I used doubled under the saddle then opened out to sleep on if I went on multi-day rides. And I can vouch that they make you smell of horse sweat if you do that...