condensation resulting in mould growth in rental property

marmitemayhem

Hi


I blogged about a Drimaster PIV system on my travel blog, and so many people talked about it on my blog (most poplar page lol) I set up a quick site over xmas - http://www.drimaster-piv-condensation-system.co.uk/ - which gives my personal view and to get it off my site (oh - if you think I'm doing it to make money see the about me page lol!)


Anyway, like the OP, I don't believe they work (!) - but they do. Don't understand why, but it works a treat and since installing and doing a few other bits my condensation and mould issues have vanished.


The site linked has all the details so I don't want to repeat myself but hope it is useful.


But:-
- Drying washing on radiator = bad; if needed, maybe get a spin dryer to get more moisture out first, and vent room where drying. But this is really bad (edit: We actually do over winter, but have made a utility area with vents open for this - and quite obviously the glass mists up in here when drying on big radiator. Our washing machine is 1400 spin, a spin dryer is 2800....)
- Gas fires give out moisture, not what you want (e.g. look at boiler flues - how much steam comes off?)
- Dehumidifiers do dehumidify, but won't fix root cause.
- GOOD extractors for bathroom/kitchen essential (venting externally). Our bathroom went from water condensing and running down walls to the mirror not even steaming up (installed a 550m3/h unit).


YES - PIV costs money to run. YES extractor fans cost to run and suck heat out. But far cheaper to do that than fix the issues.....


As its rented, I'd really not want gas fires on dodgy gas running.... CO death springs to mind...


Good luck


(edit: PS - Thanks Richard for previously linking posts. PIVs are snake-oil products that DO work in a lot of cases - even as a happy owner for 2 years I am a sceptic lol!)

marmitemayhem

Hmmm
Rereadng thread again - get new tenants Get PIV installed. Get new contract with tenants.


Portable gas heaters really do cause me concern.
From: http://www.calor.co.uk/help-and-advice/customer-services/emergencies/carbon-monoxide-safety


The warning signs include:

• Yellow or brown staining on or around the appliance
• Pilot lights that frequently blow out
• Increased condensation inside windows
• Yellow rather than blue flame (apart from flueless fires)
• Frequent headaches, nausea or dizziness when an appliance is in use

and
Make sure your living space has adequate ventilation




Good luck

dampdaveski

The Cyfan works continuously, you switch the fan on as normal (or with the light switch) and it will boost, then when you turn it off it will go onto trickle mode whch can be as low as 8 litres per second (barely audible).
the clever part of this fan is that if you have an older property that has had the bathroom put upstairs into a bedroom you merely adjust the settings so that the trickle and boost speeds are a bit higher.
If you don't want continuous duty then you can adjust it to work as a humidistat controlled fan.
To be objective there are other manufacturers out there that have fans with similar functions, I just don't have experience of them and consequently won't recommend what I don't know about

pd001

dirty_magic wrote: »

You have to dry washing indoors in the winter! Not everything can be tumble dried!

I'd genuinely like to know where everyone saying to stop drying washing indoors dry their woolly jumpers etc in winter. If you tumble dry them they will fit a 3 year old!

We bought a dehumidifier to dry washing and it works well so I'd leave it with the tenants and tell them to use it. I have sympathy with them because it really is a pain living somewhere with a mould problem.

Agreed,
But, if they actually used the dehumidifier, in the same room as the condensation problem, then the problem that the tenant is complaining about would likely not exist.
They are not using the dehumidifier. They can't be!

pd001

marmitemayhem wrote: »

Hmmm
Rereadng thread again - get new tenants Get PIV installed. Get new contract with tenants.


Portable gas heaters really do cause me concern.
From: http://www.calor.co.uk/help-and-advice/customer-services/emergencies/carbon-monoxide-safety


The warning signs include

• Yellow or brown staining on or around the appliance
• Pilot lights that frequently blow out
• Increased condensation inside windows
• Yellow rather than blue flame (apart from flueless fires)
• Frequent headaches, nausea or dizziness when an appliance is in use

and
Make sure your living space has adequate ventilati

Good luck

The current tenant is, by far, the best tenant that my daughter has had! The rent us there, month after month no excuses.

However, as I have mentioned many times in this thread, they do need to play their part in keeping the house properly heated and ventilated.
This is where they are letting things slide.

As for the portable gas fire, my daughter has only just found out, thanks to a contribitor on this thread, that the use of such device is strictly forbidden in the terms and conditions of the house insurance

dirty_magic

pd001 wrote: »

Agreed,
But, if they actually used the dehumidifier, in the same room as the condensation problem, then the problem that the tenant is complaining about would likely not exist.
They are not using the dehumidifier. They can't be!

We used ours a lot and we did still get mould in our bedroom and the bathroom. It did stop the mould in the room we dried washing in though. I've found that the bedroom is the hardest room to stop the mould in because the dehumidifier is too noisy to leave on overnight, and with two people sleeping in there the windows were always dripping in the morning. This is despite opening windows during the day and running the dehumidifier often.

I agree with the others, try the extractor fans in bathroom and kitchen first. I'm just saying that I don't think a condensation problem is as easy to fix as some people are saying just by changing lifestyle.

blackshirtuk

sniggings wrote: »

I think they were saying it's evidence the LL has acted on the issue, if they were ever reported to the council, or likewise a deposit issue when the tenant leaves, rather than suggesting to leave it in place because of it's usefulness.

If you make the measure you say, that would be plenty evidence imo, no need to have a dehumidifier there too.

I do believe they have their use, so unless you plan on making use of it yourselves then you might as well leave it put, they could use it, might as well take space up in their place than yours.

Thanks .. that's what i meant!! Put more eloquently than i could!

richardc1983

dampdaveski wrote: »

The Cyfan works continuously, you switch the fan on as normal (or with the light switch) and it will boost, then when you turn it off it will go onto trickle mode whch can be as low as 8 litres per second (barely audible).
the clever part of this fan is that if you have an older property that has had the bathroom put upstairs into a bedroom you merely adjust the settings so that the trickle and boost speeds are a bit higher.
If you don't want continuous duty then you can adjust it to work as a humidistat controlled fan.
To be objective there are other manufacturers out there that have fans with similar functions, I just don't have experience of them and consequently won't recommend what I don't know about

You don't have to use it on trickle you can turn that off as well as the humidistat and just use it as a normal extractor fan but there is no point in this you might as well use these features. The trickle works very well mine is set to 6 l/s you cannot hear it at all.

Snakey

The best way to prove yourself right on the subject of "lifestyle" and "doing [one's] part" would be for you or your daughter to swap houses with the tenants for the rest of the winter and see whether the problem follows the tenants or stays with the property.

Not keen?

richardc1983

Snakey wrote: »

The best way to prove yourself right on the subject of "lifestyle" and "doing [one's] part" would be for you or your daughter to swap houses with the tenants for the rest of the winter and see whether the problem follows the tenants or stays with the property.

Not keen?

No one here is saying a bad word against the tenant. In correct terms were referring to the issue as the humidity produced by the tennant. This damp issue is not caused by external factors such as a water leak or damaged roof wall cavity etc.