Getting rid of condensation
 

I recently moved house and as it is older and slightly bigger it gets a lot colder.


I wake up and find the windows dripping wet.


Obviously I'd like to do something about it before we start getting mould and it damaging things.


Does anyone know the best thing to reduce condensation?


Does it mean Im not heating the house enough at night and need to turn the heating up? Someone said it was becuase I need to infact open windows for more ventilation?


What is the secret to getting it right?


many thanks all.


Hal.

Re: Getting rid of condensation
 

Use a dehumidifier if things are quite bad, or try those windowsill dehumidifiers - Ansio or the Unibond types works quite well for window condensation.

Opening windows when using the shower or cooking etc helps, not drying clothes on radiators. And try to keep a constant temp in the home also helps.

I have the opposite problem and I have to use a humidifier when I put the heating on.

Re: Getting rid of condensation
 

My house is 125 years old, and no condensation problems if i ventilate, if you wake up to wet windows [presumably single glazed ] wipe them down and open slightly they soon dry out, i always have the back door open when cooking to drive out the moisture.

one of the main problems with older houses is blocking off chimneys which cuts down air flow.

Re: Getting rid of condensation
 

First … do you have double glazing? That doesn’t eliminate the problem but it does reduce it (by preventing the house getting as cold, as quickly as it otherwise would).

Second … are there extractor fans in the kitchen and the bathroom, and do you use them? In the kitchen, in particular, if you boil a lot of stuff an extractor is useful. Note that many over-cooker hoods are installed so as to filter fats and odours only. They don’t extract air to the outside, even though they are designed to be able to do so with the necessary additional steps during installation.

Third, yes the temperature of your house does make a difference and if you’re living in a space but not heating it adequately then the relative humidity of the air in that space will rise. Air’s ability to absorb moisture is relative to its temperature. See if you have room in your budget to turn the heating up a bit. If the house is poorly insulated then running the heating for longer but not hotter might make for a better outcome.

Finally … we have persistent issues in our master bedroom because it’s downstairs, north facing, and has a party wall with a neighbour who doesn’t use the equivalent space, so doesn’t heat it. That all means the solid brick wall tends to get cold and there’s an ever present risk of moisture on the wall that can lead to mould - especially in the summer months when the house isn’t heated. Our solution is to run a dehumidifier in the bedroom. It’s not the cheapest option but it’s extremely effective. Provided you have the money to buy a sufficiently powerful one at the outset, you can bring the humidity level down below 50% in under a week or two and then keep it there easily using the machine’s humidistat. If you have a general problem rather than just confined to one room, a decent sized dehumidifier, placed centrally in your house, can deal with it.

Re: Getting rid of condensation
 

Our main problem is having a ceramic cistern which when it fills up with cold water in a warm bathroom we get a lot of condensation from it which tends to drip a lot onto the floor. So have to use a few plastic tubs to catch it.

Re: Getting rid of condensation
 

If you have a tumble dryer, make sure the vent pipe hasn't come disconnected.

Definitely don't heat more. A dehumidifier will solve it but prevention is better that cure.

Re: Getting rid of condensation
 

We do have double glazed windows which is good but it seems to happen in the bedrooms still.
I make sure that whenever the shower or bath is used we always open the window otherwise it really does steam up...but yeah the windows are always open and also when boiling a pan in the kitchen I put a lid on too.


Temperature at night used to be 14 degrees celcius but I will have a go bumping it up a degree or two to see if that helps.


Thankyou.

Re: Getting rid of condensation
 

If you have the larger pane windows, those Karcher window vacs are really handy to clean up / dry the condensation which can make it a bit less of a hassle.

Re: Getting rid of condensation
 

Totally agree re Karcher.

Re: Getting rid of condensation
 

I use the Unibond Aero 360's to reduce the moisture, I do have windows open and heating on, new double glazing the other year but still get a bit but nothing major. The Unibonds take it out the rooms that are not used all the time. I'm in a 50's ex council house and its no different to a 70's build and at the time less heating.

Re: Getting rid of condensation
 

I would agree don’t heat more if the house is adequately heated in the first place but an overnight temperature of 14c isn’t enough. Ideally in winter the house shouldn’t go much below 18, which is the minimum comfortable daytime temperature - and as even heating is more effective than letting it veer up and down it’s best kept nearer to that anyway.

As neither kitchen nor bathroom have active extraction, prevention would start with installing some, which would be a fair bit more expensive than even a fairly hefty dehumidifier. We spent a little over £200 on ours but it really did get results very quickly.

Re: Getting rid of condensation
 

A damp house can take an awfully long time to dry out, weeks or even months, depending on many factors. And cooking, bathing and just breathing adds to the humidity in walls, furniture and even stored clothing.

I air the bedrooms every morning, with the central heating switched off during that time. A kitchen window is open when cooking is going on, ditto the bathroom window during, and after bathing.

You have to be wary of dead air, especially behind cupboards, as that is where a lot of damp can stay and mould will grow.

I our last home, condensation always appeared on the windows (coldest surface) so I bought a Scoopy. It's easy to use, just hold the rubber edge to the glass, and then slide it upwards. The condensation runs into the scoop part.

Re: Getting rid of condensation
 

Some great suggestions there, thankyou. I will look into them.

Re: Getting rid of condensation
 

I use a dehumidifier in the kitchen-diner but it only goes on when the humidity guage shws more than 70%. Cooking and a lot of house plants are resposible for this rooms higher value.

I generally only need it wintertime when ventillation is limited and there's an incidental advantage in that condensing the water actually releases quite a bit of heat. (Latent heat of vapourisation) Several times the energy used by the compressor and fan in the unit.

1 Kg of water condensed will release approximately 2.2 KJoules (1 hour at 2.2 KW)

Re: Getting rid of condensation
 

Also