Ridge vents in high wind situation

[Sharfra]

We have a 2 story 15 year old home, high on an extremely windy hill. We have two problems which we think might be related to our ridge vents.

First- We have a one story, 12 x 12 study that extends out from the main part of the house. It has about 16 feet of baseboard radiator. This room is extremely cold in the winter. When it is around or below 0* which happens every winter, and when there are high winds, which happens frequently, that office hovers around 50* even with the thermostat wide open! We cannot get it warm. We wonder if the severe winds we have here are just too much for our ridge vent system. The wind just whips through that shallow attic space above the study!

Secondly- We have a bathroom on the second floor, in the very center of the house, which has a pipe that freezes in cold windy weather. The center of the house! We are baffled! We cut a hole in the wall and stuffed the space around the offending pipe with insulation. We also run an electric heater aimed right at the hole. Even tho the bathroom itself is not cold, that pipe freezes a couple of time each winter. We wonder if somehow our extremely cold and windy attic space is causing the freeze up.
Has anyone heard of trouble with ridge vents in extremely windy and cold locations? Any ideas or solutions?

 

[ree]

Unless we can see a plan view of the rooms in question its difficult to answer why a pipe freezes away from an outside wall - does the pipe run across the attic joists, or does it run to an outside wall and drop down?

Why not "blank" the ridge vents and see how you get on - sounds like you have enough ventilation without ridge vents. I presume that you dont have a gas water heater in the attic?

A house built 15 yrs ago should have pretty substantial insulation installed. There are companies that can measure all heat loss patterns in a house -they can also do "wind tests" against the walls.

 

[Sharfra]

You are right. Insulation should be adequate. We feel it's just the insane winds we have. The bathroom in question is above our kitchen. We can't tell where the pipe goes without tearing down our kitchen ceiling. Measuring the heat loss patterns is a good idea. And no- no gas heater in our attic space. What do you mean by "blank" the ridge vent?

 

[ree]

Literally just that - find a way to cover the vents either on the inside or the outside of the roofs. I dont know what type of vent you have so its not possible to advise you. Perhaps a roll of heavy duty sticky tape eg. Metal tape used on gas W/H vent connections.

You could also search the roofs from the attic side looking for any chinks of daylight and if found then block them up with whatever is suitable.

Foam self seal pipe insulation lengths are the best kind of pipe insulation - all exposed pipework in an attic or wall must be insulated using self seal lengths.

Thing is that pipe might freeze and burst when you are away from home, so it would be best to get it sorted. If you post pics of all the rooms and areas involved i would try to help you further. You can hire endoscopes or borescopes to see into walls and floors.

 

[theprinceofdarkness]

Lofts will be at the outside temperature (+ 1 degreeC?), with or without ridge ventilation. If your loft is extremely windy, it could be that the draft is getting into the top layers of your loft insulation and blowing the "trapped" hot air away. So if the loft is not used , make sure it is properly insulated and perhaps cover loose glass fibre with some sort of blanket like an old carpet. The top layer must breathe so a plastic sheet is NOT the way to go.
As for your bathroom pipe, you do not say what sort of pipe it is (cold water or waste?) and the fact that you broke into the wall (which wall?) and insulated it, would mean that your cavities are not insulated?
Waste pipes that discharge into a hopper are prone to get an icy blast up them. The easiest solution is to stuff the hopper with a black plastic bag with some glass fibre in it (to give it body) and make sure the bag goes around the bottom of the waste pipes. This way the only way for cold air to get into the pipes is from the bottom of the down pipe.
Frank

 

[ree]

The guy's in the USA in a timber framed house built to entirely different specs to a UK house. Virtually nothing you say applies.

 

[Sharfra]

That's right. Timber framed house in the US. My question I guess really is, is it EVER permissible to block or remove the ridge vent in extreme circumstances? Again we experience high winds constantly (the house is actually vibrating in the wind as I write) and when it's around 0* we have these freezing issues. We were considering blocking the ridge vent (6 feet long) over just one small room extension.

 

[jeds]

That's right. Timber framed house in the US. My question I guess really is, is it EVER permissible to block or remove the ridge vent in extreme circumstances? Again we experience high winds constantly (the house is actually vibrating in the wind as I write) and when it's around 0* we have these freezing issues. We were considering blocking the ridge vent (6 feet long) over just one small room extension.

The purpose of the vent is to allow water vapour to escape, preventing condensation forming in the loft. So blocking vents is not an issue per se, as long as you monitor the loft to make sure condensation does not start to cause a problem. My advice is try it for a limited period to see if it makes any difference to your room temperature, but monitoring your roof timbers to make sure moisture content does not build above about 16 or 17 percent. Take a measure before as a base level.

Also, what type of pipe is freezing? Waste pipes are prone to freezing in cold windy conditions due to cold air being carried along the pipe. This is usually quite easy to resolve.

 

[ree]

Could you post pics of the vent from outside and inside the attic or, if possible, a make and name.

Do you have any summertime eletro-mechanical fans/extractors in the main attic? What about soffit or gable vents?

Of course its permissible. The venting is not fit for purpose at this high wind moment. Just monitor the situation - its not a permanent solution/situation. Why not start by blocking off say 2/3 of the vent?

What you have is sometimes a very complex difficulty,esp. if snow and high winds are involved. Sierra and Rocky Mountain new builds have had these issues for some time - a brief chat with the Building Dept's in such areas might help.

 

[Sharfra]

Vent pictured below.
We have soffit vents, no fan or extractor.
The pipe that is freezing is a cold water supply to the toilet tank. It goes into the wall and heads straight down through the 2x4. There's no way to see where it heads. The wall cavity around the pipe is not cold. We think it heads off toward that cold office area and comes in contact with a cold wall and freezes.
This forum has been helpful and has helped us decide what to do. We are going to close off the ridge vent this summer and see what happens. Hope it helps! We haven't taken an overnight when it's around zero in 15 years. It will be nice not to worry about it!

 

[Sharfra]

Trying to post the pic...