Preventing damp and condensation

ThisIsWeird

Ah, the lax door-closer. I feel your pain

Isoei

Thank you for the replies so far - all very good advice I was actually curious to know how cold it was getting in the flat (my hands went blue at one point), so I got a couple of those digital indoor thermometers. The flat sits at around 9.5 degrees without heating on, with humidity at about 50%. When I use the radiators, it goes to about 13-14 degrees max. I can't seem to see any vents on the windows or balcony doors, but especially on the balcony door there's a very tiny gap between them - I wonder if draught tape would help with this?

Albermarle

Isoei said:

Thank you for the replies so far - all very good advice I was actually curious to know how cold it was getting in the flat (my hands went blue at one point), so I got a couple of those digital indoor thermometers. The flat sits at around 9.5 degrees without heating on, with humidity at about 50%. When I use the radiators, it goes to about 13-14 degrees max. I can't seem to see any vents on the windows or balcony doors, but especially on the balcony door there's a very tiny gap between them - I wonder if draught tape would help with this?

That is too cold, you may well make your self ill.

As you originally said this and so far I've only felt the need have the radiators on in one room at a time while I've been in them, for an hour or two at most
I think the problem is not a small draught, but that simple fact that you are not leaving the heaters on long enough. The weather has been pretty cold so probably they need to be on at least a few hours a day, if not more.
Even though electric heating is not very economical, a couple of heaters on say 6 hours a day, would probably cost about £5 a day at most. If the weather gets above freezing you could have just one on.

Eldi_Dos

Isoei said:

 The flat sits at around 9.5 degrees without heating on, 

Agree that is too cold.

The BBC's James Gallagher recently did a article about what happens to your body at those temperatures, well worth going on their webpage and having a read.

Thermal curtains for the balcony door would be on my shopping list.

Postik

ThisIsWeird said:

When you have a shower, have the extractor running and rad on - so you feel comfy - but turn the rad off when you finish, close the door, and leave the extractor on for a good 20+ minutes - until you know the room

...

When you dry your clothes, if it's in the sitting room, then heating off overnight, and windows nicely open. If it's in a spare room, then windows WIDE open, and shut the door!

Out of interest, why turn the radiator off?  It's a genuine question, because when I shower I tend to turn the heating on (so it's warm when I get out of the shower) and then when I leave the room I leave the radiator on and open the window as wide as possible, and also hang my towel up to dry.  But I've always felt that whilst the heat is no doubt going out the window and wasting money, it helps to dry the room quicker than turning the radiator/heating off.  Same with drying clothes.

Is the turning off of the radiator because it's wasteful to have it on with the window open, or does the room actually dry out quicker with the radiator off?

ThisIsWeird

Postik said:

Out of interest, why turn the radiator off?  It's a genuine question, because when I shower I tend to turn the heating on (so it's warm when I get out of the shower) and then when I leave the room I leave the radiator on and open the window as wide as possible, and also hang my towel up to dry.  But I've always felt that whilst the heat is no doubt going out the window and wasting money, it helps to dry the room quicker than turning the radiator/heating off.  Same with drying clothes.

Is the turning off of the radiator because it's wasteful to have it on with the window open, or does the room actually dry out quicker with the radiator off?

Good question.

No, having the rad off - as you surmise - won't dry the bathroom more quickly, and - yes - it is just so that you don't have the bathroom radiator's heat being wasted.

To be honest, since it's usually a small rad anyway, I doubt it makes much difference in energy saving, and I also doubt many folk would bother to turn the rad off each time - I certainly don't

If you have an extractor in the bathroom, I would suggest using this, rather than having the window open. The extractor will reliably draw the humid air out one way, to be replaced by a gentle flow of warm air from the rest of the house - the steam should get gently wafted out, and all the surfaces between the extractor and the door should also hopefully be wafted dry in the process. (All idealistic stuff, as you can see).

Opening a window should be done if you don't have an extractor. Yes, the air flow from a window will/should help clear the room, but the flow direction tends to be more random, and cold air is as likely to be drawn in as moist air flow out.

So not only can an open window cause unhelpful swirls of air, but the coldness will condense out the moisture in the bathroom air, which will form on more surfaces. And, it could even drive the moist air from the bathroom into the rest of the house.

And a good cold breeze coming in an open window will pretty much overwhelm anything a wee bathroom rad can chuck out.

I do leave my bathroom rad on all the time - it's basically always running when the CH is on; it's hardly powerful, but does keep the towels warm and dry. And then just leave the extractor running for a good 20+ minutes or more, door slightly ajar, until the bathroom is clearly cond-free. When I finally turn it off, I then leave the door open to continue to air the room.

koalakoala

Isoei said:

Thank you for the replies so far - all very good advice I was actually curious to know how cold it was getting in the flat (my hands went blue at one point), so I got a couple of those digital indoor thermometers. The flat sits at around 9.5 degrees without heating on, with humidity at about 50%. When I use the radiators, it goes to about 13-14 degrees max. I can't seem to see any vents on the windows or balcony doors, but especially on the balcony door there's a very tiny gap between them - I wonder if draught tape would help with this?

Wow that is COLD !

Isoei

koalakoala said:

Isoei said:

Thank you for the replies so far - all very good advice I was actually curious to know how cold it was getting in the flat (my hands went blue at one point), so I got a couple of those digital indoor thermometers. The flat sits at around 9.5 degrees without heating on, with humidity at about 50%. When I use the radiators, it goes to about 13-14 degrees max. I can't seem to see any vents on the windows or balcony doors, but especially on the balcony door there's a very tiny gap between them - I wonder if draught tape would help with this?

Wow that is COLD !

I've been trying to apply some of the advice I've gotten here and on other threads, and I've been a bit more lenient with having my heating on (last electricity bill wasn't as bad as I thought, so I reasoned I could probably turn it up a bit haha). Max temp the flat gets to is about 15 degrees, which is better, though only slightly, but that's just in one single room with all possible gaps covered/closed. I also found the trickle vents on the windows and they're very old and stiff, but I've figured them out haha - keeping things ventilated shouldn't be an issue, hopefully.

Albermarle

 (last electricity bill wasn't as bad as I thought, s

I think the very widespread publicity/news items since last year about high energy costs and taking energy saving measures, has meant that some people have got scared and overreacted. 

Yes energy costs are higher than they used to be, but it doesn't mean having the heating on a few hours a day is going to bankrupt you.

Postik

ThisIsWeird said:

Postik said:

Out of interest, why turn the radiator off?  It's a genuine question, because when I shower I tend to turn the heating on (so it's warm when I get out of the shower) and then when I leave the room I leave the radiator on and open the window as wide as possible, and also hang my towel up to dry.  But I've always felt that whilst the heat is no doubt going out the window and wasting money, it helps to dry the room quicker than turning the radiator/heating off.  Same with drying clothes.

Is the turning off of the radiator because it's wasteful to have it on with the window open, or does the room actually dry out quicker with the radiator off?

Good question.

No, having the rad off - as you surmise - won't dry the bathroom more quickly, and - yes - it is just so that you don't have the bathroom radiator's heat being wasted.

To be honest, since it's usually a small rad anyway, I doubt it makes much difference in energy saving, and I also doubt many folk would bother to turn the rad off each time - I certainly don't

If you have an extractor in the bathroom, I would suggest using this, rather than having the window open. The extractor will reliably draw the humid air out one way, to be replaced by a gentle flow of warm air from the rest of the house - the steam should get gently wafted out, and all the surfaces between the extractor and the door should also hopefully be wafted dry in the process. (All idealistic stuff, as you can see).

Opening a window should be done if you don't have an extractor. Yes, the air flow from a window will/should help clear the room, but the flow direction tends to be more random, and cold air is as likely to be drawn in as moist air flow out.

So not only can an open window cause unhelpful swirls of air, but the coldness will condense out the moisture in the bathroom air, which will form on more surfaces. And, it could even drive the moist air from the bathroom into the rest of the house.

And a good cold breeze coming in an open window will pretty much overwhelm anything a wee bathroom rad can chuck out.

I do leave my bathroom rad on all the time - it's basically always running when the CH is on; it's hardly powerful, but does keep the towels warm and dry. And then just leave the extractor running for a good 20+ minutes or more, door slightly ajar, until the bathroom is clearly cond-free. When I finally turn it off, I then leave the door open to continue to air the room.

Thanks - all makes sense.  Although I must confess I have the extractor on whilst showing (and a couple of hours after finishing) but when I leave the room I also open the window.  I feel that the extractor can sometimes struggle with the sheer amount of steam and an open window helps to clear things more quickly.  At my old house we had an extractor which we used religiously, but still suffered mould on the ceiling after a few years.  I was convinced this came about in the winter when we showered without the window open due to the cold.