Dehumidifers

[Canardly]

Which area is suffering from condensation?

[Russell]

Bedroom in my daughter's flat.  Fr'instance her boots had mould grow on them while stored in a box on the top of the wardrobe.

[Russell]

Did some googling and peltier types are generally reckoned to work but are not very efficient.  Power consumption is in the 20-70watt range for not a lot of dehumidifying.  Proper units consume lots more power but do suck a lot of water out of the air.

We are going to try the passive UniBond 360 which at under a tenner is worth a punt.

[mrcharly-YHT]

Bedroom in my daughter's flat.  Fr'instance her boots had mould grow on them while stored in a box on the top of the wardrobe.

That sounds like a circulation/cold spots problem

[Mrs Pingu]

We have a desiccant dehumidifier and it's very good (we're on our 2nd one). My googling also suggests that the peltier ones aren't very useful.
We tried those troughs with desiccant in them in the previous Pingu residence, can't say they did much.
My desiccant dehumidifier could collect a litre or 2 of water a day if i left it on long enough at full power, I doubt that the desiccant trough idea will be able to suck up water faster than it's being put into the property by breathing, cooking etc.

[ian]

I think with dehumidifiers you get what you pay for – we were cursed (conned by a fresh coat of paint, open windows on the nice summer day we viewed it) with a what turned out to a be very damp flat when we first moved to London. As we didn't have a lot in terms of funds, we tried several cheap options and they really didn't keep it at bay (we rather quickly threw in the soggy towel and moved out).

In this place, which was damp through being left empty in late autumn with a flooded kitchen, we bought a proper Ebac model and that dried everything out in a week or so. We still use it in the spare room to dry the washing, it can easily remove a couple of litres of water and dry a good load of washing overnight.

But agreed that it's better to deal with the damp problem rather than treat it.

[Poly Hive]

A lot of the "damp problem" is caused by people drying wet laundry in the house with the windows shut and then being surprised at the "damp problem" arising.

PH

[hellymedic]

A lot of the "damp problem" is caused by people drying wet laundry in the house with the windows shut and then being surprised at the "damp problem" arising.

PH

Is it?
I am surprised how little the washing adds to the humidity of our lounge. We never have open windows and a full machine load adds about 10% to the RH for a few hours.
Admittedly, we are centrally heated in the Dry South.

FWIW David bought some cheap dehumidifiers from Maplin for his observatory.

They did not last long but outdoor sheds are a different kettle of fish.

Our challenge is the reverse; we wish to maintain a highish humidity for the pianos. At times we need to push A LOT of water into the air.

[Kim]

I reckon a lot of the damp problem is caused by inadequate insulation and/or prohibitively expensive heating.  Buy-to-let landlords, basically.

[Bowedw]

I believe that the room needs to be warm so that the moisture content of the air is high. Maybe some models are heaters as well. 

[De Sisti]

I have an Ebac 2650e. It's good and compact, but it can be loud at times.

[ian]

Cold places are damp, those are where water can condense and remain, which is what mould needs to grow. Warmth is the enemy of damp, warm air will hold a lot more moisture and there's limited places in a warm house for it to condense (such as windows) and it'll evaporate when it does. Watch how quickly windows steam up on a sub-zero night when the heating goes off (having shitty Everest double glazing will help with this demonstration).

We use the Ebac 2650e to dry washing in our spare room. It's very effective but indeed a little on a noisy side for somewhere you might like to sleep. Unless you've got cats with a pneumatic drill purr, in which case you're likely nocturnally inured to anything less boisterous than a major seismic disturbance.

[Valiant]

I have several Meaco DD8Ls. Brilliant little things. Also had Ebacs in the past and they were great too.

[Mrs Pingu]

Bugger. Our Ecoair (Meaco) has died 23 months into the warranty period (which is better than it's predecessor which was 25 months and therefore out of warranty.
Anyone got better than 2 years out of theirs with daily use from October to April?

[Polar Bear]

Not daily use but our ebac has been faultless for a few years now.

[Mrs Pingu]

I see all the Ebacs are compressors rather than dessicants. Not sure the extra 10dB in noise would go down well in our flat.

[woollypigs]

We got one from following advice in another thread here and it has done wonders to our house. wow I didn't remember I started that thread

https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=78697.0

[Polar Bear]

Gosh that was an interesting thread.   

So, we got ours around 2011/12 and it's still going strong.   We use it now mainly for drying at this time of year but it occasionally gets used when mllePB decides that a room smells a bit fusty.

I am at present harvesting the water not only for the iron but also for a friend who grows exotic plants and prefers the water to tap water.

I note that ebac still make our model and it's cheaper now by a few quid.   Great value imo.

[Mrs Pingu]

Being as the last thread seems to have been deleted 

Hmm, just been reading this on the Ebac site https://www.ebac.com/dehumidifiers/which
Complaining about being marked down for dehumidifying better at 40% rh. I should cocoa. It never gets that low even in a nice dry windy week in summer here.

[ian]

I see all the Ebacs are compressors rather than dessicants. Not sure the extra 10dB in noise would go down well in our flat.

It's not noisy but it is audible (newer ones might be a bit quieter and you can turn down the fan). I wouldn't put it in a room I planned to sleep in but provided there's ambient noise (a TV etc.) it's modestly quiet. Ours has been going strong for three years. My only other gripe is that the controls are unfathomable, but you turn it on and it works. We have dry washing and a bucket of water for the jungle (I have a lot of house plants).

[The Movers]

Being as the last thread seems to have been deleted 

Hmm, just been reading this on the Ebac site https://www.ebac.com/dehumidifiers/which
Complaining about being marked down for dehumidifying better at 40% rh. I should cocoa. It never gets that low even in a nice dry windy week in summer here.

Apologies!

Merged thread ended up in Pub but has been rehomed.

Sorry!

[Mrs Pingu]

Being as the last thread seems to have been deleted 

Hmm, just been reading this on the Ebac site https://www.ebac.com/dehumidifiers/which
Complaining about being marked down for dehumidifying better at 40% rh. I should cocoa. It never gets that low even in a nice dry windy week in summer here.

Apologies!

Merged thread ended up in Pub but has been rehomed.

Sorry!

No worries!

[De Sisti]

How often do ebac users change their filters? They are quite expensive (imo). I've previously put mine on a 30deg wash and let it dry out naturally.

[ian]

Two and a half years, by mistake because I kept meaning to do it. It didn't die, just got a bit dusty.

I think it was £22 for a pack of three activated carbon ones, they say they're good for four months of use, so not much for a year.

[andyoxon]

Our De'Longhi DEM10 has been going since 2009 (£110), with regular autumn/winter/spring use for drying clothes in spare room.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/DeLonghi-DEM10-Compact-Dehumidifier-10L/dp/B000BP81DW  (Now £130-160)