Condensation on windows... Anything better than a shammy?

Stonedofmoo said:
This. You don't want a high level of moisture in the house anyhow. It leads to mould.

Modern dehumidifers are near silent and only draw 200w or so in operation. Worth doing, getting one made a massive difference to the comfort in my house during winter. Everything feels warmer and it's nice to wake up to clear windows even on wet days.
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Agreed. We have just dropped 100 quid on a decent Delonghi dehumidifier.
Our bedroom windows were a wash with condensation in the mornings last winter, and it's happening again this winter (2 bed place)
We bought it for the benefit of our son who currently has chest problems so we want to reduce the moisture in the air.

Any idea what level of cost would be involved in running it for a few hours a day? Draws 190 watt

Wiping the water away only masks the issue. Buy a dehumidifier and you will reap the benefits of a warmer, healthier home
 
xander_uk2 said:
Any idea what level of cost would be involved in running it for a few hours a day? Draws 190 watt
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Get yourself one of these. Can also use it on your fridge, computer etc when done. Is pretty addictive seeing how much power everything uses a day :)

l61aqwithplug.jpg


/edit for a rough idea it will use 1kWh after 5.3 hours of activity if pulling its rated max. It may well use less
 
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Warmer - the heating system works more efficiently - no cold damp walls/windows to heat

Healthier - cold damp environments are not very good for you
 
NeilFawcett said:
How is it warmer? Apart from you have a power supply consuming 200W heating up yuor house :)

And healthier?
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It's hard to describe, but the lower the humidity in the house the warmer and dryer everything feels. The most noticable thing is the bed, it's just so much nicer when humidity is lower. You also don't wake up with a blocked up nose as you breathe better.

Someone said 'ventiliation' and they are correct in saying that can do just as good a job, but remember if you open your windows on a wet day you will be *increasing* the humidity in the house as you'll be letting in damp air. It's very hard during the winter months to properly ventilate a house.

What I suggest you do is look on a well known auction site and pick yourself up a humidistat; I got one for £7 delivered. This will tell you the levels of humidity in your house. Ideally it should be between 40-50%

I found the levels in my house were often into the 70's, occasionally the 80's when there had been some showers. In a small house this just gets trapped and opening the window on a damp day won't really help.

Getting the dehumidifier has made all the difference for us.
 
indyskyz said:
you can get moisture absorbing gel that comes in a little box and sits in the window sill

TA DAA!! just need to empty them/replace gel or they overflow :)

http://www.lakeland.co.uk/moisture-...aning-protecting-de-humidifiers/product/21538
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We use these and they work a treat, we have one in each room on the window sill. We have an old house (circa 1820's) with single glazed windows. The condensation literally used to run down the windows and leave puddles on the window sills but now we have these little moisture traps it's totally eliminated the problem. It's a good inexpensive way to sort it. Ours lasted the whole winter and you can buy a bag of the crystals to refill them and it's then cheaper than the initial cost. All available from auction sites at reasonable costs.

Only other methods would be to buy a dehumidifer but these aren't cheap and they can be expensive to run. Apart form that, it's new window time - which is something we're looking into but won't be for a year or two when funds allow.
 
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Stonedofmoo said:
It's hard to describe, but the lower the humidity in the house the warmer and dryer everything feels. The most noticable thing is the bed, it's just so much nicer when humidity is lower. You also don't wake up with a blocked up nose as you breathe better.

Someone said 'ventiliation' and they are correct in saying that can do just as good a job, but remember if you open your windows on a wet day you will be *increasing* the humidity in the house as you'll be letting in damp air. It's very hard during the winter months to properly ventilate a house.

What I suggest you do is look on a well known auction site and pick yourself up a humidistat; I got one for £7 delivered. This will tell you the levels of humidity in your house. Ideally it should be between 40-50%

I found the levels in my house were often into the 70's, occasionally the 80's when there had been some showers. In a small house this just gets trapped and opening the window on a damp day won't really help.

Getting the dehumidifier has made all the difference for us.
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Where do you put your unit then?
 
I put the dehumidifier on the upstairs landing. It's the most central spot for air circulation being the warm air rises from downstairs carrying the moisture with it.
 
Stonedofmoo said:
I put the dehumidifier on the upstairs landing. It's the most central spot for air circulation being the warm air rises from downstairs carrying the moisture with it.
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Yeh, we don't have room on our landing, so it would have to be in a bedroom.
 
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