Dehumidifiers

[Accy cyclist]

I'm not going to ask if any of you have one because i know some of you will The questions are do they do the job? Are they expensive to run? Do they dry rooms out too much,resulting in wallpaper peeling off the walls etc? I have condensation on the windows on cold mornings. Yes i could easily wipe//blade it off but surely the condensation on the windows is a sign of too much water in the air.

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

Yes, Yes, no, Yes.

Next

 

[MikeG]

They're a useful way of masking the real problem: lack of ventilation and poor performing windows. In my partly-renovated house I rely on a dehumidifier to clear the moisture from the air in the en suite bathroom in winter. It does this pretty efficiently, and no, they don't dry rooms too much. There is an adjustable humidistat on the top, so just set it properly. Personally, we only have it switched on in the aftermath of showers.

 

[Cheddar George]

Buy a digital hygrometer and monitor the humidity, use it in tandem with the dehumidifier.

You will always get condensation on a single glazed window when it is cold ........... unless you stop breathing.

 

[Accy cyclist]

Personally, we only have it switched on in the aftermath of showers.

I'm thinking the shower is the main culprit for the condensation. No matter how much i heat the bathroom up,put the fan on and open the window on cold days/nights, it steams up so much It takes hours for the condensation to go from the windows,the mirror etc. Sometimes the steam sets the fire alarm off,there's so much of it.

 

[Accy cyclist]

Buy a digital hygrometer and monitor the humidity, use it in tandem with the dehumidifier.

You will always get condensation on a single glazed window when it is cold ........... unless you stop breathing.

The windows are double glazed and supposedly only 5 to 7 years old.

 

[MikeG]

Heating the room up, ironically, exacerbates the problems. Warm air can hold more moisture than cold air. That warm moist air then discharges its load on contact with the cold glass of the window.

You can buy extract fans controlled by a humidistat. Just be careful if you use talc, which seems to stuff up humidistats.

 

[Spinney]

Many bathrooms suffer from that problem.
Double glazed windows aren't magic, they still get cold overnight. We've got double glazing (admittedly quite old with a gap narrower than newer windows), and many of them have condensation inside on a cold morning.
And what MikeG said.
Try keeping the bathroom cold (well, not so cold you don't want to have a shower, but cool), and see if that makes a difference.

If you're thinking of dehumidifying the bathroom - electrics & water are not a good combination, so you shouldn't be standing the thing in the bathroom.

 

[Cheddar George]

The windows are double glazed and supposedly only 5 to 7 years old.

From your later post it seems you have the normal bathroom condensation problem not a general damp/humid house problem.

Have you tried a cold shower ?

 

[Accy cyclist]

Many bathrooms suffer from that problem.
Double glazed windows aren't magic, they still get cold overnight. We've got double glazing (admittedly quite old with a gap narrower than newer windows), and many of them have condensation inside on a cold morning.
And what MikeG said.
Try keeping the bathroom cold (well, not so cold you don't want to have a shower, but cool), and see if that makes a difference.

If you're thinking of dehumidifying the bathroom - electrics & water are not a good combination, so you shouldn't be standing the thing in the bathroom.

This is the first bathroom i've had in decades with a window. The others which obviously didn't have one didn't steam up like this one does.

 

[Accy cyclist]

From your later post it seems you have the normal bathroom condensation problem not a general damp/humid house problem.

Have you tried a cold shower ?

A cold shower?! No thanks,i'm not into self -flagellation.

 

[Cheddar George]

A bathroom will always have condensation after a shower.

We use a "Karcher window vac" to clean out the shower cubicle (very good), then open the window.

I was able to replace the extractor fan unit with a decent inline extractor fan positioned directly above the shower, amazing
how ineffective some of the fan units are.

 

[Spinney]

This is the first bathroom i've had in decades with a window. The others which obviously didn't have one didn't steam up like this one does.

It may be that having the window cools the room down more than your previous bathrooms? And it is that drop in temperature that causes the condensation to form on the window and mirror.
To be honest, if the condensation isn't causing any problems, like peeling paint, and it's limited to the bathroom, it isn't really something to worry about too much.

 

[Accy cyclist]

A bathroom will always have condensation after a shower.

We use a "Karcher window vac" to clean out the shower cubicle (very good), then open the window.

I was able to replace the extractor fan unit with a decent inline extractor fan positioned directly above the shower, amazing
how ineffective some of the fan units are.

The fans in these flats are pretty much more noise than achievement. I'd probably be better plugging in my old rotating blades fan (placed outside the bathroom,not in) and blowing the steam out the window,though the condensation will still be there.

 

[sight-pin]

A humidistat fan in the bathroom would help.