Leaving my house empty - damp

[wesley]

Hi

I have a house up north and working in central London at the moment.

Have Hive heating system..what temperature should i set it for to prevent the damp through the cold winter?

Will constant 15oC or full heating to 20oC once a day ?

I'll be home for the Christmas and New Year.

Any advice would be great thanks

 

[a1ex2001]

Hi

I have a house up north and working in central London at the moment.

Have Hive heating system..what temperature should i set it for to prevent the damp through the cold winter?

Will constant 15oC or full heating to 20oC once a day ?

I'll be home for the Christmas and New Year.

Any advice would be great thanks

I’d set it to have a few hours a day in the morning where it heats up to 17-18, leaving it at 15 permanently is a terrible waste of energy.

 

[Dolph]

How quickly does the house lose heat? That's the key question.

The general recommendation is not to let the house drop below 14c.

If a couple of hours at 18c is enough to keep it above 14 on even the coldest of days, then do that.

Setting to 14c or 15c is much more set and forget though, and probably not likely to cost more if the house will drop significantly below in cold weather.

 

[wesley]

I've not been in my house for 3 weeks, checked the temp this morning . 14.3 oC

I'd expected it to be lower.

2 bedroom terraced old Victorian/Georgian house (1890)

 

[Dolph]

Might be worth looking into a dehumidifier if you don't already have one and find a way to plumb the drain in. Can make a huge difference in older properties, and means the heating works less hard.

 

[Rroff]

Seems quite wasteful but IIRC talking to someone who was doing maintenance on a hotel which was sitting unused due to the pandemic they were keeping a constant 17C minimum 24x7.

 

[Dolph]

Seems quite wasteful but IIRC talking to someone who was doing maintenance on a hotel which was sitting unused due to the pandemic they were keeping a constant 17C minimum 24x7.

Having to redecorate/repair is also wasteful though. It's a balancing act of different wastes and costs.

 

[delta0]

Might be worth looking into a dehumidifier if you don't already have one and find a way to plumb the drain in. Can make a huge difference in older properties, and means the heating works less hard.

Need to make sure it’s the right dehumidifier as well. Desiccant types work much better in colder weather and are generally the best ones to go for in the UK.

 

[200sols]

2 bedroom terraced old Victorian/Georgian house (1890)

Are the houses either side inhabited?

 

[a1ex2001]

How quickly does the house lose heat? That's the key question.

The general recommendation is not to let the house drop below 14c.

If a couple of hours at 18c is enough to keep it above 14 on even the coldest of days, then do that.

Setting to 14c or 15c is much more set and forget though, and probably not likely to cost more if the house will drop significantly below in cold weather.

My house regularly drops below that overnight as our heating is set back to 10 degrees same if we go away for a few days or a couple of weeks and we have no damp issues. Never really understood people he heat houses when they are in bed!

 

[PlacidCasual]

If you go down the de-humidification route you'll want a desiccant dehumidification they are most efficient in cooler temperatures and most can be hosed to drains.

 

[teenwolf]

rent it out

 

[413x]

My house regularly drops below that overnight as our heating is set back to 10 degrees same if we go away for a few days or a couple of weeks and we have no damp issues. Never really understood people he heat houses when they are in bed!

Same

 

[Bug One]

I'd suggest a dehumidifier that works on a timer / wifi via an app that you can put into a position with a continuous drain. Leave all the internal doors open so the air can circulate.

I got one after having quite a bit of damp last year - and it's been brilliant. Takes a ton of water from the air and is compatible with alexa, using the same app as most of my wifi light bulbs (Smart Life).

 

[arknor]

Seems quite wasteful but IIRC talking to someone who was doing maintenance on a hotel which was sitting unused due to the pandemic they were keeping a constant 17C minimum 24x7.

I'd imagine a constant temperature is key and blasting the heating for an hour could indeed be counter productive

In reality thought you probably just need to not have a wild temperature fluctuation that could cause moisture/condensation to build up on your walls/window.

Moisture will build up on a cold surface that is meeting warm air right? so too warm is probably bad

 

[Doobedoo]

If you go down the de-humidification route you'll want a desiccant dehumidification they are most efficient in cooler temperatures and most can be hosed to drains.

More efficient yes but much more costly to run. Compressor types don’t just stop working they just work more efficiently at higher temps, but not enough to warrant the increased cost a desiccant cost to run imo.