Condensation on toiltet cistern

loulou41

Just had dynorod engineer in, had problem with droplets of water forming at the base of my cistern. He could not find anything wrong with the toilet and said the only explanation is condensation. He flushed the toilet many times, and there was no leak, but could feel some dampness at the back of the cistern. Is he telling me porkies or is this possible? Never had any problem with condensation on toilet before. I would be grateful for some advice, he said it will be worst in winter. What can I do to reduce it, I do not want to leave a bowl underneath the toilet to collect the drops? Any tips welcome!! Thanks

wallbash

Simple test :rolleyes:

Wipe cistern dry, open all doors and windows , try not to run hot water!

Leave for a few hours .
If still dry , its condensation, if its wet its a problem :eek:

My guess the guys right and its condensation.

shazrobo

not much help, but we get condensation on the toilet cistern, worse on the downstairs which is unheated than the upstairs which is

andrew-b

We get the same prob with condensation.

Is the supply to the toilet cistern, mains water or fed from cold water tank? Mains supply is colder and so more likely to have condensation probs on outside of cistern.

Having looked into a solution myself, there's several ways to reduce the prob.

1) Change to gravity fed cold water tank supply
2) Line the inside of the cistern with an insulation material so that the outside of the cistern is closer to room temperature. I've seen ideas of using something like a cut up exercise mat, or camping mat.
3) Mix in some hot water into the cistern water supply..either from your normal hot water supply or some other heating element.
4) Make/buy a small tray to catch the condensation and regularly empty or maybe even plumb into bathroom waste. I know they are available somewhere as my Mum tells me she has seen them at a place where they go on holiday regularly.

I've not tried any of these myself yet though.

loulou41

Thanks, what do you do to cope with the condensation. Fortunately, the carpet has been replaced by tileloc. It is more of a nuisance as I can either leave a foil tray to catch the drips or leave it as it is as the drips tend to fall into one of the trap that connect the toilet, not sure whether this is the right word to use. Thanks for all your help and advice.

m_13

I know you can buy spray to stop misting up from condensation on mirrors. Bob Heath do a spray for cars and visors that stops condensation building up. I thought Lakeland did one for mirrors too.

Perhaps they would work on your cistern?

wallbash

Lets get back to basics :j

condensation is caused on the outsde of the cistern, because the warm air in the room , condenses on the coldest item in the room. Get rid of the warm damp air , no leaks on the cold'cistern'
Improve the ventilation.



Ps wish I could practice wot I preach, bedroom window needs the occasional wipe:D

andrew-b

With ours we've just left it to drip and now and again we clean the carpet below when it starts going mouldy. As we are about to put a new bathroom in i'm going to get the water supply to our cistern changed from mains to cold water tank supply. If we still have a problem i'll probably try the cut-up camping mat idea so that the outside of the cistern is a warmer surface. £5 from Argos. I'd be interested if you had any success with this.

woodbutcher_2

I think you can now buy cisterns with built in insulation to stop this problem.

ozskin

yes insulatedcisterns have been available for some time now

Greenr

andrew-b wrote: »

With ours we've just left it to drip and now and again we clean the carpet below when it starts going mouldy. As we are about to put a new bathroom in i'm going to get the water supply to our cistern changed from mains to cold water tank supply. If we still have a problem i'll probably try the cut-up camping mat idea so that the outside of the cistern is a warmer surface. £5 from Argos. I'd be interested if you had any success with this.

I bought a black sandwich tray (long thin tray) and sit this under the cistern to catch the dripping water in the colder months...