dehumidifier vs central heating?

mummyroysof3

Jon_Tiffany wrote: »

Lack of ventilation is a common problem these days - double glazed windows are great but many people close the trickle vents.

Things to check for are water leaks and broken gutters, but for most people its cooking, breathing and clothes drying that causes it.

ours is a condensation problem, we have 2 dehumidifiers, upstairs and downstairs so one is running most of the time

strawberrypud

I'm convinced...thank you all:beer:

I just have to persuade my OH that it will be money well spent. This month we have to get the boiler serviced and the car appears to need a new battery too!

Cardew

mummyroysof3 wrote: »

ours is a condensation problem, we have 2 dehumidifiers, upstairs and downstairs so one is running most of the time

Dampness problems includes condensation problems.

There is an underlying cause that should be traced.

As said above, often this can simply be lack of ventilation. e.g. airbricks/vents blocked up, ditto chimneys etc etc so the whole house is hermetically sealed.

Obviously it can be a more serious problem, hidden leaking pipes, dampcourse etc.

Mankysteve

Part P does have provision for allowing electrical items in bathrooms you can even have a plug socket in a bathroom as long as used in there the flex isn't long enough to end up in your bath/sink.

Unless someone was to pick up the dehumidifier and drop it in a full bath while there in said bath there no risk.

oldandhappy

Our Conservatory was built with just single breeze blocks...excellant double glazing but we had one wall that attacted mould and our Dehumidifer solves the problem...it can cause a draft on high setting though.

Emstick14

Would a dehumidifier work in a single block extension? Our kitchen and bathroom is an extension and only single block, it gets very damp and very wet!

Am sure my Dad told me a reason why it wouldn't work but can't remember??? Really need to stop all the moisture and mould!

Also, how much roughly doit hey cost to run?

Swipe

Emstick14 wrote: »

Also, how much roughly doit hey cost to run?

It depends what type you get, most domestic compressor types use 200 - 300 watts but become fairly ineffective below about 10C. The desiccant types use a bit more power 300 - 650 watts but they are very effective down to 1C. The desiccant type also put out a little heat as they require this to release the moisture absorbed, hence the higher running cost. I had a compressor type until it recently decided to leak refrigerant into the house. I replaced it with a desiccant type which I find works much faster and helps to warm my colder rooms up a little.

moonrakerz

Mankysteve wrote: »

Part P does have provision for allowing electrical items in bathrooms you can even have a plug socket in a bathroom as long as used in there the flex isn't long enough to end up in your bath/sink.

Unless someone was to pick up the dehumidifier and drop it in a full bath while there in said bath there no risk.

Perhaps you should read it in detail. The new regs apply to really large bathrooms and state quite clearly that appliances should not be taken into "hazardous zones" - which are defined exactly the same as in the old regs.

cybergibbons

Swipe wrote: »

It depends what type you get, most domestic compressor types use 200 - 300 watts but become fairly ineffective below about 10C. The desiccant types use a bit more power 300 - 650 watts but they are very effective down to 1C. The desiccant type also put out a little heat as they require this to release the moisture absorbed, hence the higher running cost. I had a compressor type until it recently decided to leak refrigerant into the house. I replaced it with a desiccant type which I find works much faster and helps to warm my colder rooms up a little.

Refrigerative dehumidifiers put every single watt into them out as heat. They also recover the heat of condensation as well, which means, as heat producing machines, they are more than 100% efficient.

Desiccant dehumidifiers don't always heat, just when cycling, which can be as little as 20% of the time when on.

You'll find that a 350W refrigerative dehumidifier will produce more heat than a 700W desiccant dehumidifier.

Personally, I would say that desiccant ones are only better if you can't tolerate the noise of a compressor, or if you will be using it at less than 15C.

Aesop

So, would you recommend, first of all checking all the drains, gutters, for blocked leaves, etc, making sure any air vents on double glazed windows are open all the time, and then getting someone to check if the damp problem is the house or just build up of condensation?

Reason I am asking, our 3 bedrooms all have damp, the 2 at the front of the house have mould growing on the walls, the back bedroom, we can see the damp patches on the walls. We rent and I can imagine my Landlord's face and tone of voice when I tell him. Saying that when we moved in, we mentioned that he had a damp problem by the front door and he said he would get it fixed, and never has, I also mentioned it to the Estate Agents. However they went bust and we have another estate agent dealing with us now.

We had damp in our last place, the Landlord there just kept coming in and washing the walls with bleach! Didn't fix the problem and eventually the whole carpet felt damp all the time and there was mould growing under the bed and on clothes, shoes, etc.

We left there, as we had our DS and were concerned about his health, I don't want to end up in the same situation here.

Do we need to get the Landlord to buy us our a dehumidifier or will he need to damp proof the house? If you look at it from the front, where the walls have been painted, they are peeling and he has had some work done to the area by the front door, before we moved in. But my Landlord, bless him, is one of those that gets cowboys in to do the work, he gets ripped off and the job is not completed properly. When we moved in, we suggested that we get quotes from builders we knew and trusted for work he needed doing, he had damp on the wall that led to the bathroom, from the bedroom. But he said no, and got cowboys in, got ripped off for the money and the job wasn't completed.

Just concerned he will do the same again! When we had mice, he wanted to come and inspect the property, I said that wasn't the point! There were mice, they were coming into the house from various sources and they were a health hazard! Especially as there seemed to be a family of them! We tried to find each hole they were coming from, and it was amazing how shoddy the work on his house has been! There are holes everywhere! We got Environmental Health in and they took care of the problem, but he wasn't happy about how much he had to pay for it. Then next door got mice too1

Why are Landlords like this? They rent out their property and when you say things need repairing,they don't want to pay for it. And I am talking about normal wear and tear, not us generating wear and tear.