Dehumidifiers

[Lurker]

The annual “battle of the thermostats” has begun in Lurker Manor.
She’s particularly complaining about the temperature in the spare bedroom and says it’s damp because I have the stat at the lowest temperature.
To be fair when it’s down to freezing outside the windows are heavily condensated and I wipe this away with paper towels first thing in the morning.
I try to explain that even if the room is at the same temperature as the warm rooms the moisture is still there.
I m wondering about a dehumidifier.
Any thoughts or experience?

 

[Pete Maddex]

It’s got to help, you breathe out a lot of water so some way to remove it must help.

Pete

 

[Lurker]

Me wiping the condensation off the windows is dehumidifying
Interested in the costs.
I sort of assume that the energy put in is pretty much heat output?
My argument (that I’ll never win!) is that she is going from a relatively warm part of the house (say 20 degrees) to a cooler part (say 15 degree) and that is a noticeable change in temperature.

 

[MattS]

We have a dehumidifier which sits in our spare room. It clicks on and off during the day and is off at night because of the noise. It drastically improves the amount of condensation on the windows across the whole upstairs and doesn't really use a lot of electricity. Not calculated it exactly.

We also use the spare room for washing in the winter (no tumble drier here!). We manage moisture by closing the door when there's wet washing, sometimes dehumidier and fan heater if particualrly cold. It's amazing how often you have to empty the tank and how much moisture it collects!

 

[duke]

I use one in our cellar and its keeps the area dry.

 

[Doug]

We have two dehumidifiers one in the workshop & one in the house, the running costs are negligible as not only is air with less water content cheaper & quicker to heat but the water the house one collects is saved & used for ironing.

 

[AndyP]

We used a dehumidifier (Ebac) with a drying tent for drying clothes years back. Never had to use it here but still do not have a tumble dryer. They do give out a little heat. Is there any ventilation in that bedroom? If there is then the dehumidifier may will draw in moisture from outside.

 

[Windows]

You could consider a window vac to suck the water off the windows. Noisier than paper towels though. Karcher are not the only brand, but that’s what we have. Karcher is not great at working upside down (or sideways when quite full), so if you have small panes that force you to use a different orientation, I’d do some research on other makes to see if they’re better.

There are different kinds of dehumidifier. Dessicant dehumidifiers like Meaco Zambezi produce quite a lot of heat, but are certainly effective. Heat is usually a useful side effect. They’re quite loud - wouldn’t really want them on in a room you’re going to be in - and the fan stays on for a few minutes after you tell them to switch off so that they don’t overheat.

I consider both dehumidifier and window vac essential equipment. We mostly air out, but sometimes you just want to run the dehumidifiers. Dehumidifier doesn’t usually prevent us needing to clear water off the windows because we don’t run them continuously because of the noise and we have more rooms than dehumidifiers.

When looking into this, you will want to consider the realities of your own environment vs advice that you may see. For example, you may see advice like aim for 55% humidity or less. This is hilariously impractical in our environment. We can get a room down to 55%, but it would require the dehumidifier to be on constantly day and night. It’s not worth it. 60 % is more reasonable for us.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I bought one of these to dry my new block built shed out then to use indoors, it's so efficient at drying laundry we bought a second one. They've crept up in price but the running costs especially if you have e7 are so low compared to a tumble dryer it won't take forever to justify.

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[Cabinetman]

You should perhaps use the argument with your wife that having a cooler room means it is collecting all the excess moisture from the rest of the house in one room for easy of collection?
Yes to a dehumidifier I’ve had a few over the years and wouldn’t be without one.
And as @Windows says a karcher type vacuum is a much more effective way to mop up the mess.

 

[HdV]

We have been using a couple of Trotec machines to get the humidity in the souterrain (70m2) and basement (15m2) in both our houses down to the generally accepted comfort level. It really makes those places much nicer to be in. You really feel and smell the difference. We use one room in the souterrain as a guest room, so we need the atmosphere in there to be as good as in the rest of the house above ground. The machines do this perfectly. And, as others stated, the electricity consumed was surprisingly low. I reckoned it would be much more due to the large wattage on the label, but it proved to be quite acceptable.

 

[Lurker]

Thanks chaps
Will investigate which one will suit our needs best.

 

[HdV]

I use Trotec myself, but that brand might not be available where you are. One of my employees had a large Bloomfold dehumidifier that he was really happy with. Maybe those are available in your region.