Damp and dehumidifiers

stockhausen

stockhausen

stockhausen

Capodecina
Soldato
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My niece rents a basement flat; she has major problems with damp which causes mould on the skirting board on an outside wall, around the windows and sills and generally in the bathroom and kitchen. This damp and mould is ruining her clothes and shoes.

I have offered to buy her a domestic dehumidifier but would be interested in hearing anyone else's practical, personal experience with a dehumidifier. Specifically:
  • how effective it is?
  • for how long do you have it on every day?
  • how much does it cost to run?
  • how noisy is it (particularly at night)?
  • do you leave it on when you are out at work?
  • what make and model do you use / have you used?

TVM
 
Surely the problem needs to be addressed by the landlord? Mould can be very harmful to your health.
 
What is causing the mould?

Landlord can be responsible if there is some structural issue like leaky pipes, poor damp proofing etc...

Tenant can be responsible if it is due to lack of heating and ventilation (like opening the windows etc..).

If she's drying clothes inside the flat etc... then it is probably worthwhile getting one regardless of the mould, it generally isn't too healthy otherwise.
 
They can be very effective. You get two kinds active and passive ones.

Passive ones absorb moisture from there air and have no running costs but are no where near as effective. This sort are perfect for leaving in the car overnight during winter months to prevent fairly well insulated areas from not getting too damp due to a lack of air flow and heating. Once saturated you need to remove the water by leaving them in a heat source, some allow for microwaving.

Mechanical or active ones need to be powered but are miles better. They regularly require emptying but are much more effective in larger spaces. You would keep it on as much as you need to keep humidity down, so i guess you would get a suitably small one that suits your need. They will stop extracting humidity below a certain level. If running costs are a main concern, using one at night during the cheapest hours is an option.


Whoever's fault it is Landlord or hers, worth getting on for the sake of health until it is all sorted.
 
PiKe said:
Surely the problem needs to be addressed by the landlord? Mould can be very harmful to your health.
Click to expand...
In theory, yes. However, persuading any landlord to do something to correct problems takes time, this issue will NOT be resolved easily and kicking up a fuss will likely result in a Section 21 Notice to vacate so that the landlord can move in some other unfortunate for a year.

She loves the flat and doesn't want to leave it - she just wants dry clothes and to be rid of the mould.

To be honest, I am only really interested in the dehumidifier question.
 
Yep, have a friend with huge mould issues at their house. It's a small one bedroom so as you can imagine, the steam from the shower goes straight into the bedroom causing all kind of problems.

Whilst not sorted, a combination of a dehumidifier, aloe plant and a unibond 360 have helped.

Unsure of running costs, but I can ask.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/EcoAir-DC1...qid=1547464784&sr=1-12&keywords=dehumidifiers

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Unibond-Aero-360º-moisture-absorber-x/dp/B00F1DNYPE/ref=sr_1_4?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1547464877&sr=1-4&keywords=unibond+aero+360

Question from Amazon


IS IT VERY COSTLY TO RUN

Answer:
Very hard question to answer, When the unit is dehumidifying it will use 220 watts but when it has reached your desired humidity setting it will power down 3 to 5 watts just to sensor the humidity and then come back on when your humidity rises about your set humidity. Hope this helps
 
dowie said:
What is causing the mould?

Landlord can be responsible if there is some structural issue like leaky pipes, poor damp proofing etc...

Tenant can be responsible if it is due to lack of heating and ventilation (like opening the windows etc..).

If she's drying clothes inside the flat etc... then it is probably worthwhile getting one regardless of the mould, it generally isn't too healthy otherwise.
Click to expand...
Damp is causing the problem. The bedroom window is ALWAYS covered in condensation, there is no extractor fan in the kitchen and the bathroom extractor fan switches off as soon as the light is switched off! She uses a washing machine and hangs clothes on a drier in the flat.

The landlord may well be responsibel but I suspect that the problem cannot easily be resolved in her basement flat.

I am not entirely convinced about the heating / ventilation issue; the damp is in the air, you can heat it up and it will still condense on a cold surface, you can swap the warm hot air with cold wet air from outside but you still have a "damp" problem. I do however accept that "ventilation" may reduce the development of mould.
 
Definitely worth getting a dehumidifier. We got one for drying our clothes in the conservatory during the winter months, clothes dry within a night usually and when it's not in use it goes into the bathroom, as having the window wide open when it's below zero outside isn't very nice when showering. We had big mould problems before we got one.

I have this one.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/EcoAir-DC1...qid=1547465743&sr=1-12&keywords=dehumidifiers

Generally while showering the bathroom walls/ceiling can be damp all over due to the steam. The room is usually completely dry in 2-3 hours leaving it running constantly. After that we keep it set to keep the humidity below 50% so it'll kick on and off when needed.

There is a setting on our model that allows it to turn off after 2 or 4 hours which we use during the week as I don't like leaving it on during the day for long periods, possibly paranoid but some cheaper dehumidifies have been known to go up in smoke (though haven't heard of this model doing so).
 
Thanks, I will have a look at the UniBond Aero 360° E-Connect moisture absorber. £12 sounds like a bargain. I wonder how long the £3.17 refill tabs last in the real world?

Ventilation is always an issue; she lives in a basement flat and goes out to work every weekday for a long working day - leaving windows open is not entirely practical. One is always fighting a battle between warmth and ventilation in the UK.
 
You could hire a dehumidifier if it's that bad to kick start drying things out and then use some Aero 360º type devices to see how well they keep it at bay, if the damp/mould comes back and/or she gets fed up with constantly having to replace the disposable desiccant dehumidifier (Aero 360º type device) then you could buy a proper dehumidifier but they're not cheap (£150+) and depending on the type of dehumidifier they can be expensive to run.

Personally I'd recommend the Meaco DD8L Junior for a small flat (at least based on what i bought a couple of years ago) but if you need something larger this review site does a fairly good independent review.
 
stockhausen said:
Damp is causing the problem. The bedroom window is ALWAYS covered in condensation, there is no extractor fan in the kitchen and the bathroom extractor fan switches off as soon as the light is switched off! She uses a washing machine and hangs clothes on a drier in the flat.

The landlord may well be responsibel but I suspect that the problem cannot easily be resolved in her basement flat.

I am not entirely convinced about the heating / ventilation issue; the damp is in the air, you can heat it up and it will still condense on a cold surface, you can swap the warm hot air with cold wet air from outside but you still have a "damp" problem. I do however accept that "ventilation" may reduce the development of mould.
Click to expand...

I know damp is causing the (mould) problem, they go hand in hand, I'm asking about the underlying problem - what is causing the damp (and in turn the mould)?

namely is there a structural issue as mentioned in the previous post - it isn't necessarily the Landlord's probably otherwise

stockhausen said:
Thanks, I will have a look at the UniBond Aero 360° E-Connect moisture absorber. £12 sounds like a bargain. I wonder how long the £3.17 refill tabs last in the real world?

Ventilation is always an issue; she lives in a basement flat and goes out to work every weekday for a long working day - leaving windows open is not entirely practical. One is always fighting a battle between warmth and ventilation in the UK.
Click to expand...

I'd get a proper dehumidifier tbh...
 
We used to have one in our old bungalow, it was just a cheap one from Argos i think around £70 and holds around 5 litres but that was over 10 years ago.

They do work really well, our house never had mould but clothes did feel slightly damp and you could never get warm, we tended to leave it running all day and just turn it off at night as it does make a bit of background noise. It probably filled up and needed emptying every other day, i've also used it to dry out cars and when the window has been left open and i was amazed how quickly it did it.
 
I think if you have the spare cash then its worth the investment in an active dehumidifier as they will always come in useful.
I managed to pick up the Ebac Powerdri 18Ltr on offer and it's been a good unit so far. It's always surprising just how much water it can pull out.
 
OK, I am currently looking at the MeacoDry ‘ABC’ Range 12L Compressor Dehumidifier which costs £159.99 - for which I will pay (as a late or early Christmas present) although she is going to have to pay the running costs.
I may also try the UniBond Aero 360s for "selective" placement.
 
dowie said:
I know damp is causing the (mould) problem, they go hand in hand, I'm asking about the underlying problem - what is causing the damp (and in turn the mould)?

Namely is there a structural issue as mentioned in the previous post - it isn't necessarily the Landlord's problem otherwise.
Click to expand...
I don't think that there is an underlying structural issue, other than the design and location of the basement flat and the fact that she breathes, washes and cooks.

I am not aware of any leaking pipes, drains, taps, etc. The absence of an extractor fan in the kitchen and the bathroom extractor fan switching off as soon as the light is switched off doesn't seem particularly clever but I have my doubts that either issue is going to be resolved any time soon by the landlord.

To be honest, she is not particularly "after" the landlord, just looking for a solution.
 
I got one a couple of years ago when my rented place was always a bit damp (I had a couple of things go mouldy, with no other cause). I believe the main issue was the bathroom, as there was no window (no external wall), and the extractor was not only a bit rubbish, but also turned off when the light was turned off.

I ran the dehumidifier 3-4 days a week overnight, during E7 period to save money, and it did help, extracting at least a litre a night.

If it's as bad as you say, I would say the passive things are going to make little difference, you need a powered dehumidifier on daily. I would probably say you want to hire an extra powerful one for a week or so to give you a good head start. Remember though, even if you keep the humidity down, you need to make sure you clean/dispose of all the mould, or it will still spread.
 
i have a meaco 12L low energy one - its pretty good but not as quiet as i would like.
But thats probably just wishful thinking really as anything with a compressor is going to make a reasonable amount of noise.
It has started to make a clicking fan noise which is irritating though - its maybe 3 years old.

i'm not sure how much i can recommend my particular model.
 
You said niece, in my experience women like the heating on so the flat is normally warm? In which case get a compressor type dehumidifier probably about £120 delivered for one with a 3 litre reservoir. They are very effective at removing airborne moisture above 20°C and for a flat should have no problem bringing the moisture down. I would recommend first you get a small electronic humidity meter just so you know what humidity levels you're getting, in my experience high 60's and up will lead to surface mould anywhere that air isn't circulating.

We have big humidity problem in the summer in our house because South Wales is so damp. I have a compressor type for the house and a desiccant type for the workshop which works much better at low temperatures. I find the house dehumidifier keeps our large home at about 60% when we need it.

We have the EcoAir DC18 Compact Portable Dehumidifier (compressor type) and EcoAir DD1 CLASSIC MK5 Desiccant Dehumidifier with Ioniser and Silver Filter (desiccant type). Both pretty good as far as I'm concerned but I have don't extensive testing or anything.
 
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