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Child Item

Condensation

hoanymole

Hi we are having a problem with condensation in our upstairs bedrooms. The house is only five years old so I didn’t expect it. A few possible causes:

1. Shower room extractor fan may need replacing (but doubt this would have all the windows dripping each morning)

2. Six of us in the house so there is a lot of washing drying all the time. Although yesterday morning no washing out and still lots of condensation.

3. We don’t put the heat on upstairs as much.

Any suggestions that could help would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

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branners69

hoanymole wrote: »

Thanks everyone. Yes vents are open on the windows. I’ll open the windows each morning as suggested too. I think it’s the amount of laundry we do.

Would you recommend a dehumidifier?

A dehumidifier will 100% sort out your problem. I got one in Aldi 5 years ago and havent had the problem since. Opening windows etc is great unfortunate this time of the year is shag all use.

My dehumidifer has a clothes drying function so you point it at the clothes horse and it dries the clothes throughout the day and then at night I change it to dehumidifier mode and have nice and dry windows!

I use my dehumidifer 2 to 3 months of the year. I dont care how much it costs to run, as no way is the amount of moisture in the air good for the 6 of us to be inhaling during our sleep!

I also bought a condensing dryer for €300, is pretty useless. Takes 2-3 hours to dry the clothes.

So get a dehumdifier asap, €120 to €150 and look forward to dry windows!

miezekatze

We had this issue too and noticed a big difference after we started heating the upstairs rooms more. We open all the windows for a few hours in the morning and then close them and put the heating on for a bit, and turn it on again when we feel it getting a bit chilly. We also dry clothes indoors, don't have a dryer. Don't think there's much point having the windows open all day if it's cold and damp outside.

simongurnick

hoanymole wrote: »

Thanks everyone. Yes vents are open on the windows. I’ll open the windows each morning as suggested too. I think it’s the amount of laundry we do.

Would you recommend a dehumidifier?

you shouldnt need a dehumidifier due to laundry. Is your dryer securely vented out of the house?

GreeBo

mosii wrote: »

,,
Tried all above,still get condensation on windows in the morning.

We had a similar issue and it took leaving the upstairs subdued open for 3-4 hours one day to catch up, now we just open them s crack in the morning or open s window beside any drying clothes

[Deleted User]

Lumen wrote: »

I measured the power draw using a smart plug.

You might want to recheck your numbers then, because the laws of physics say its not possible to get to the cost you indicated at the power consumption rate of that equipment. Its literally not possible

Vieira82

hoanymole wrote: »

Thanks everyone. Yes vents are open on the windows. I’ll open the windows each morning as suggested too. I think it’s the amount of laundry we do.

Would you recommend a dehumidifier?

To be honest never had a good experience with them. If you use them too much you risk having no humidity which will lead to dry cough, dry throats and dry nostrils which can be annoying.

if it's related to laundry then just opening a small bit the window on the room the clothes are drying should do the trick.

But for ex, due to this cold snap I had no other solution but to block all vents in the house as they're just massive holes in the house and one could feel drafts everywhere and the building loosing heat. So when we're cooking, open the kitchen window, then close it afterward; shower, open the bathroom window, close it when it's done; sleeping, either leave a tiny bit the window open or open the window in the morning.

And thankfully very little condensation and no of the resulting mold.

Lumen

Deleted User wrote: »

You might want to recheck your numbers then, because the laws of physics say its not possible to get to the cost you indicated at the power consumption rate of that equipment. Its literally not possible

Thanks for the push. I rechecked the power consumption and it's 560-565W. I must have been mixing the data up with that from my heater.

CoBo55

This is the dehumidifier I have https://www.meaco-dehumidifiers.ie/meaco-25l-ultra-low-energy-dehumidifier-new-2020-model/ any of those cheap on/off ones are useless. I had the older model https://www.meaco-dehumidifiers.ie/meaco-20l-low-energy-dehumidifier-with-hepa-filter/ in an unoccupied house and it was brilliant it literally extracted gallons of water over a few months made it so much easier to heat. Admittedly they are pricey but in my experience worth every penny.

Outkast_IRE

The window vents arent worth even considering , a useless contraption for the most part.

On my own windows you can lock them open about an inch and we have a dedicated wall vent. The window is left on the air vent almost year round and opened wider in the summer.

If you have an option like that on the windows i suggest using it.

blackbox

What method are you using to dry your clothes?

If you are simply hanging them on a clothes horse then every drop of water that comes off them is going into your house. It is also going to take heat from your house through evaporative cooling.

You would be better off using a dryer vented externally or else a condenser type or, if you can afford it, a heat pump type.

Calahonda52

blackbox wrote: »

What method are you using to dry your clothes?

If you are simply hanging them on a clothes horse then every drop of water that comes off them is going into your house. It is also going to take heat from your house through evaporative cooling.

You would be better off using a dryer vented externally or else a condenser type or, if you can afford it, a heat pump type.

The volume of water can be easily got by weighing the clothes when dry and wet from machine, 1 kg = 1 litre

curiousinvestor

Do they , dehumidifiers, much noise.
I've a problem with vents, windows open. I live on a hill near the Atlantic. The draughts and wind howling in through the house is a major issue if a window is left cracked open. ( I've triple glazing to reduce the noise)
I was looking into mhrv but 2 friends have them and at night you can hear the humm off them.
I had thought to put a dehumidifier in the hallway at night time and run for a few hours when all in bed.

CoBo55

curiousinvestor wrote: »

Do they , dehumidifiers, much noise.
I've a problem with vents, windows open. I live on a hill near the Atlantic. The draughts and wind howling in through the house is a major issue if a window is left cracked open. ( I've triple glazing to reduce the noise)
I was looking into mhrv but 2 friends have them and at night you can hear the humm off them.
I had thought to put a dehumidifier in the hallway at night time and run for a few hours when all in bed.

This one I have now https://www.meaco-dehumidifiers.ie/meaco-25l-ultra-low-energy-dehumidifier-new-2020-model/ has a quiet setting for night time. Mine is set to 55% and at this time of year is left on continuously (it doesn't run continuously). At night it's switched to quiet mode you'd never hear it. It's in the hall.

Outkast_IRE

curiousinvestor wrote: »

Do they , dehumidifiers, much noise.
I've a problem with vents, windows open. I live on a hill near the Atlantic. The draughts and wind howling in through the house is a major issue if a window is left cracked open. ( I've triple glazing to reduce the noise)
I was looking into mhrv but 2 friends have them and at night you can hear the humm off them.
I had thought to put a dehumidifier in the hallway at night time and run for a few hours when all in bed.

Hearing the humm can be tackled by correct duct sizing , unit placement and sound attenuation in the ducts , all fairly easy things to plan for .

ted1

We get condensation on the window in my daughter room. It’s ( the window) only a year old.
What’s happening is that she has the blind snd curtains closed. Which is stopping the windiest from heating up, thus keeping it cold and hence the condensation. So condensation on a window isn’t just a sign of bad gas in a window

roper1664

I've been using a dehumidifier for years. Great and doesn't cost that much to run for a few hours each day in the winter. Get one for under 200e. Leave in hallway, landing or kitchen (with door open) and it will reduce humidity throughout the house. I also use mine to dry the clothes on a clothes horse/drier. Takes longer than a tumble drier, but it doesn't damage the clothes, as the tumble drier does.

I think try it, and then if you're not satisfied, go down a different route next autumn.

I've ecoair dd1 classic mk5. Thoroughly recommended.
I've mine set up in kitchen with kitchen door open. I get no condensation on windows at all while I cook. If it wasn't running I would get condensation.

thehamo

If you have an attic, look in to the nuaire drimaster

Spanishpoint

CoBo55 wrote: »

This one I have now https://www.meaco-dehumidifiers.ie/meaco-25l-ultra-low-energy-dehumidifier-new-2020-model/ has a quiet setting for night time. Mine is set to 55% and at this time of year is left on continuously (it doesn't run continuously). At night it's switched to quiet mode you'd never hear it. It's in the hall.

I use it as well, good recommendation.

hoanymole

So I ordered the dehumidifier...

And now on this milder morning there’s not much condensation!

I am guessing there’s still too much moisture in the house though? It’s just not showing on the windows which aren’t as cold now?

CoBo55

hoanymole wrote: »

So I ordered the dehumidifier...

And now on this milder morning there’s not much condensation!

I am guessing there’s still too much moisture in the house though? It’s just not showing on the windows which aren’t as cold now?

Which dehumidifier did you go for?

naughtysmurf

So here is my experience, last winter we really noticed an increase in condensation on upstairs bedroom windows & had two spots of mould in two bedrooms, house is well insulated, we have a stove which we regularly use to dry clothes, all rooms have wall vents, we have gfch.

We bough a dehumidifier, which helped to an extent but by far the best solution was leaving a window in all rooms upstairs open but locked if you know what I mean 24/7, I was a bit dubious about this as I thought the house would be cold but the reality is the house is warm & we have had zero condensation this winter including the last week

We also decided to use the dryer for everything that it’s useable for, items that aren’t suitable for the dryer we put in front of the stove so for us the solution was to increase the amount of ventilation & cut down the amount of clothes drying in front of the stove

Calahonda52

naughtysmurf wrote: »

So here is my experience, last winter we really noticed an increase in condensation on upstairs bedroom windows & had two spots of mould in two bedrooms, house is well insulated, we have a stove which we regularly use to dry clothes, all rooms have wall vents, we have gfch.

We bough a dehumidifier, which helped to an extent but by far the best solution was leaving a window in all rooms upstairs open but locked if you know what I mean 24/7, I was a bit dubious about this as I thought the house would be cold but the reality is the house is warm & we have had zero condensation this winter including the last week

We also decided to use the dryer for everything that it’s useable for, items that aren’t suitable for the dryer we put in front of the stove so for us the solution was to increase the amount of ventilation & cut down the amount of clothes drying in front of the stove

So increased ventilation and reduced vapour load.. simple

10-10-20

naughtysmurf wrote: »

We bough a dehumidifier, which helped to an extent but by far the best solution was leaving a window in all rooms upstairs open but locked if you know what I mean 24/7, I was a bit dubious about this as I thought the house would be cold but the reality is the house is warm & we have had zero condensation this winter including the last week

But isn't that what a wall-vent is for. So do you have wall vents and are they also fully open?

naughtysmurf wrote: »

We also decided to use the dryer for everything that it’s usable for, items that aren’t suitable for the dryer we put in front of the stove so for us the solution was to increase the amount of ventilation & cut down the amount of clothes drying in front of the stove

I did a test on a bathtowel once. Weighted it dry and then "washing-machine wet". It had about 400g of water, which is ~400ml. So you could easily have two or three liters of water in a standard wash, depending on how they are spun. If you dry indoors, that water clearly has no path to the outside so has to hang around in the air to condense on the coldest surface.

steamsey

Older house here with 5 people. 15 year old double glazing. No insulation in or on walls. We don't dry clothes inside, use extractor fan in bathroom with door shut etc. Each bedroom has a working standard wall vent.

First year here and we had terrible condensation for weeks this winter. Mold was starting, window sills were becoming discoloured - it was bad. Couldn't figure out how we were creating so much humidity. I used to air the whole house for at least 1hr every day and that helped, but only for a short while. We do have a stove downstairs and don't heat upstairs too much - so I suspect warm, moisture laden air is going upstairs and condensing on the cold bedroom windows and walls. Not going to run heating up there all the time to sort it out.

Was about to install a PIV in the attic but first, i tried a dehumidifier. Bought a Pro Breeze 20L. It has solved the problem literally overnight. I leave it in the upstairs landing. I get that there is still excess humidity, but for now, the dehumidifier has been a great solution. We leave it on at night (have nightmeter). It sucks up to 5l from the air each night.

Great to be able to see out of the upstairs windows again!

naughtysmurf

@ Registered user Yes we have wall vents that are fully open too

um7y1h83ge06nx

Condensation is a pain. I had a slightly different condensation issue on a 12 year old house we bought 5 years ago. Went up into the attic on Saturday morning to put away Christmas stuff. Now it was a cold morning but there was a huge amount of condensation forming as droplets on the inside roof felt.

Insulation in the attic is wool insulation but I think the issue was probably lack of ventilation. Yesterday morning I had a crawl around and there was very poor access between the soffit vents and the attic, insulation was pushed right to the point were the roof and blockwork meet. Pulled back the insulation back just enough to still cover the ceiling while allowing an air gap to the vents.

I hope this will sort it as rafters and the floored part of the attic were wet, mainly on the cold northern side.

10-10-20

Keanu Jolly Semiconductor wrote: »

Condensation is a pain. I had a slightly different condensation issue on a 12 year old house we bought 5 years ago. Went up into the attic on Saturday morning to put away Christmas stuff. Now it was a cold morning but there was a huge amount of condensation forming as droplets on the inside roof felt.

Funny you should mention this, exactly the same here. It's on the North facing section of the roof which is immediately behind a chimney stack on the side of the house. The chimney prevents any soffit ventilation for about 2 meters, and it's just at this spot, directly over a shower, that I have dripping sarking. Coincidence? I think not. :mad:

The shower isn't venting into the attic, but it vents from the wall just under the soffit over to the eastern side of the chimney stack. I suspect that this may be re-entering the attic and causing this localised dampness. I'm going to have to install lap vents in the sarking to increase the ventilation in that one area as I can't move the fan.

micks_address

hi folks,

Didn't want to open a new thread as similar topic. In our main bedroom upstairs where both my wife and myself sleep we get condensation on the inside of the windows in the morning. We typically close the door for darkness but its not completely air tight as there's a good half inch gap at the bottom of the door. We sleep with the windows closed this time of year. Double glazed - glass itself is only about 5 years old but the windows are older. We replaced the glass in all the windows few years ago as we had condensation inside the panes.

Over a year or two this has led to flaky paint and some mold on the window reveals at the window/wall joints. Last weekend we completely washed this down and repainted.

I also checked the vent yesterday and it wasn't open properly. I did a test during the week where we left the windows open a crack and yes the room felt colder but the windows were completely dry in the morning. Last night with the windows closed and vent properly open was hoping for no condensation but this morning was there.

We mostly use a condenser drier for clothes so not doing a huge amount of clothes drying to add to the moisture. Is it simply a case of the two of us breathing out warm air all night and its gravitating toward the windows?

I could feel slight dampness on the window reveal/wall in the morning to. This isn't there when there's no condensation.

I don't mind the condensation so much apart from it causing flaking pain and cosmetically marking blinds etc over time. Its ages since we cleaned / painted it so maybe more careful cleaning might help. We have the blinds down at the moment. as the curtains are blackout material anyway. Will probably need new ones as they are a bit manky.

On our nest thermostat its measuring humidity at around 40% its just outside our bedroom.

Cheers,
Mick

loyatemu

need to measure the humidity in the bedroom overnight and the temperature, but ultimately it will tell you what you already know, that the humidity is too high and that window and wall are too cold. Is the bed close to the window? Moisture from your breath could be drifting towards the window and condensing.

micks_address

loyatemu wrote: »

need to measure the humidity in the bedroom overnight and the temperature, but ultimately it will tell you what you already know, that the humidity is too high and that window and wall are too cold. Is the bed close to the window? Moisture from your breath could be drifting towards the window and condensing.

bed is sort of centered in only place it can be.. im probably about 3 feet from window... wife 5 etc.. it must be breathing as when we left the windows open that night and it was cold.. the windows were clear in the morning