Condensation on cistern ?

Paulo

With the cistern empty and dried, apply a car wax (used for polishing) to the inside of the cistern.
It should no longer form condensation on the outside.
Not tried this myself yet but found it in one of those 1001 household tips books.

mekondelta

Went down to B&Q to get one of these boxes that soak up the condensation. The guy at the till told me that they don't sell them, but, put some dishwasher salt in a box and put it behind the toilet and it'll do the same job for a fraction of the price.

Doing it today and will see if it works...!

ariba10

Either warm the water in the flush tank, cool the air in the room or try to lower the moisture content in the air with a dehumiifier or ventilation.
Most of the moist air comes from cooking, boiling water and showers.

BoltonMinx

Cheers guys Ive got an extractor fan in the shower cubicle, but it doesnt seem to help with the cistern. I'm going to try the drip tray and dishwasher salt idea and see if that helps I've also turned down the radiator in the bathroom to #2, as it's getting a tad warmer anyways, so don't need it on any higher. Will let you know how I get on :j

across

yep i know what you mean i too have an extractor fan and still full of the condensation! i like the car wax trick mignt try that!!

kenshaz

turn the radiator off and open a window,no other way will prevent cold water coming into a warm room and condensing,it is more hygienic to have a cooler bath-room germs spread in moist warm conditions

Smiley_Mum

I have the same problem too, unfortunately my bathroom has no windows, just a silly little extractor fan. Have a dehumidifier which I can run in there from time to time. I heard about the wax tip, but not sure how to empty the cistern etc. You can also get liners for the cistern as far as I am aware which are supposed to help too.

beefster

Has anyone tried the carwax trick? I would assume it insulates the ceramic from the cold water so it would need to be a thick layer? Cant see how else it would work?

996ducati

kenshaz wrote:

turn the radiator off and open a window,no other way will prevent cold water coming into a warm room and condensing,it is more hygienic to have a cooler bath-room germs spread in moist warm conditions

It may stop the germs but you may also pick up Hypothermia having a shower in this weather with the windows open :happyhear

Fruitcake

The process is caused by pulling the flush which dumps a load of cold water into a warm cistern and the ceramic suddenly cools and contracts. Moisture from warm damp air then condenses on the outside of the unit. Gradually the water and cistern warm up to room temperature and the moisture evaporates.
Then you flush and suddenly dump a load of cold water into the cistern......

Over a period of a few years the ceramic will at first appear crazed, then numerous minute cracks will appear and eventually you will have a leaking cistern that is not covered on household insurance.
I only realised mine was a leak and not dripping condensation because we used a "blue loo" product which acted as a tell tale.

As already mentioned possible solutions are to warm the water coming in or cool the room, but this really needs to be to the incoming water temperature to have any real effect.

Extending the pipe run inside the house and not lagging it will warm the incoming water. You will need nearly a cistern full of water in the pipe iside the house. Reducing the volume of water in the cistern with a brick or balloon will help, and reduce water consumption at the same time.

The only other advice I can give is, don't flush every time, (number 2s excepted.)

Come the spring, you shouldn't get this problem again until next winter, but check for leaks now by putting a proprietry coloured product in the cistern. We came back from holiday to find blue water slowly seeping through the kitchen ceiling.


Fruitcake

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