Anyone know anything about dehumidifiers?

We’ve noticed that our ’20s semi has spots of mould on the landing, in amongst the patterns of the old anaglypta wall paper. The landing/stairs/entrance hall are one open space – do we think a dehumidifier might stop mould from forming? We keep windows open quite a bit, not so much when we’re not here or in the winter – it’s not like we’re shut up all year round. Does anyone have any recommendations?

Could you hire a big one and test? Could be more going on there ie a leaking pipe etc.

We have the Meaco DD8l. A Which best buy. Seems OK.

Worth also getting a cheap humidity monitor to keep an eye on levels.  Under £10.

Rather than dehumidifier, try a positive pressure ventilation system (if it would work in your house) much better outcomes for the house and your health

https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/positive-input-ventilation/

Its an odd time of year to be getting mould though. Are you not opening windows etc?

Posted on here many times.

A Meaco Dessicant type Dehumidifier is one of the best, most useful, all round ‘good’ things I’ve bought.

Doesnt use much power. Dessicant type doesnt need you to leave the heating on. Keeps house/garage/workshop/whatver lovely and dry, dries my car out when it gets parked in the garage, keeps my tools from rusting, dries the tent out when we have to strike camp in the rain, dries clothes, bed sheets, freshly painted walls, plumbing disasters….

Brilliant.

It sounds like a PIV system in the loft would be a better option in this scenario.
Worth looking at, anyway.

We use dehumidifiers heavily in our house. We used to get mild mold forming behind furniture and dehumidifiers stopped it completely .  In winter we have one downstairs as a general house dehumidifier and a second in a spare room for drying clothes.  We almost continuously keep the windows shut to preserve heat and that keeps heating bills down, as the excess energy from the dehumidifiers is heating the house and we don’t loose any heat due to needing ventilate.

The house smells much better too, as there is no mold or moisture anywhere.  Without a dehumidifier in winter, even with windows open, humidity sits at around 70-80% (as outside air is moist!).  With the dehumidifier and windows shut, it stays 55-65%.

We have a big ebac 21l and a more modest sized Meaco 12L, the Meaco seems more effective/value for money.

Another side benefit of drying clothes with a dehumidifier verses a tumble dryer, is your waste heat energy is pumped back into the house rather than vented outside.

Posted on here many times.

A Meaco Dessicant type Dehumidifier is one of the best, most useful, all round ‘good’ things I’ve bought.

+1

Very versatile and satisfying appliance.

Search for the origins of damp first and ensure ventilation.

We used an Ebac 15 for years in our utility / drying room, easily dries a wash load or two on airers overnight, I’ve now got the Ebac Powerdri 18 which has some extra oomph.

Tend to just use it in one room to dry laundry but current house is half set into the hillside so may leave it running on the landing in the winter.

The minute its cold overnight we’ll get wet windows and mould around the windows, nothing behind furniture.

We picked up the Electric CD12LE-v1 12 litre de-humidifier, its a nice unit, can run be constantly on, on for a set number of hours, or turn on in set number of hours. It hasnt removed the issues with wet windows, but has definitely helped.

We use one for drying clothing on an airer in the kitchen. Added benefit it keeps moisture down in there from cooking. I have an old one with dodgy controls in the garage to reduce moisture during winter – makes a big difference.  Both compressor types.

We moved to a new house a couple of years ago and experienced pretty much the same as you @pondo. 1920s house too. We bought one of these…

https://www.sealey.co.uk/product/5637198333/dehumidifier-20l

…and it’s made a massive difference. All we have to do now is pop it on for an hour after a shower or bath to keep on top of things. It sits on the landing just doing it’s thing.

We have the Meaco DD8l

Same and highly recommend; we’ve two and they are both still working well and are both probably 10 years old now getting used almost daily in the winter months

I’ve had both and found the dehumidifier more effective, flexible and, unlike the PIV, produces heat.

I’ve had both and found the dehumidifier more effective, flexible and, unlike the PIV, produces heat.

Then you cant have had it setup right. Never mind the cost to the environment

Nah, I’m quite an expert at putting a plug in. Ever thought about the increased cost of trying to heat a damp house, repairing crumbling plaster and ill-health from breathing in mold?

Then you cant have had it setup right. Never mind the cost to the environment

Dehumidifiers arguably reduce the impact on the environment, it enables more efficient house heating, clothes drying and fewer damp repairs.

Dehumidifiers arguably reduce the impact on the environment, it enables more efficient house heating, clothes drying and fewer damp repairs.

So do PIVs and cost pennies a year to run where as dehumidifiers are very very expensive.

…mine isn’t!

Nor mine. Dessicant type is very efficient, and there is also no ‘lost’ heat as your not pumping anything out through the window.

Got a delonghi here and believe it to not be desiccant version and must hold a gallon though so remember not to place adjustments on max dry setting if just painted as can cause issues

Also remember to clean the filter regularly

They do cost a fair bit to run each month if needing a dessicant to use daily.

Though ime worth their weight in gold

Meaco junior here. Very good bit of kit, very useful. Highly recommended

We have an ebac one. It dries the clothes when it’s too wet outside and stops condensation on our windows. We’d prefer MVHR or similar but that’s a bit of a project. Haven’t done the maths on energy cost as the signal/noise is too messy on our bills but I do know that dry air takes less energy to heat than damp air and the house is more comfortable with the dehumidifier runing.

Another meaco “fan” here 12litre low energy dries the washing on a rainy day, much cheaper than a tumble drier, more efficient too and warms the house just a little

Nor mine. Dessicant type is very efficient,

I was doing some research recently and the received wisdom out there is the opposite of this, so really interested to hear.  As you mentioned earlier, dessicant is effective at dehumidifying even when the room temperature is low (unlike compressor types).  That’s always seemed like a really good capability to me.

I have a MeacoDry Arete 20 – we have a bit of a weird layout so our bedroom is always a bit moist. We’ve got that set up in it set to 65% which stops any mould.

It was sold as very quiet – it’s not really. It’s not super loud but in a bedroom it is a bit noisy (that said we both sleep through it no probs). It broke after a year but Meaco were pretty good about fixing / sending me a new one once we’d returned it. They were a bit moody about having to send me a box first as they thought I should have kept the (enormous) box for instances like this. But they did send me a new one. When it’s working it’s good and doesn’t use that much electricity.

Longer term I’m intending to fit a PIV system.

@pondo if you go down the PIV route I have a completely as new PIV system with the heating element. Bought about 18 months ago but never installed as we moved house instead 🙂

If you’re interested PM me.

Clearly people DO have recommendations! Thanks all, much food for thought – had never even heard of PIV, so will need to find out what that is! It’s not a huge amount of mould, just black spots in the wallpaper – it’s an outside wall that gets the sun in the morning, no pipework in or above it – it’s been there since winter (according to Mrs Pondo – I never even spotted it… ) so not a recent arrival. 🙂

 where as dehumidifiers are very very expensive.

Do share your source for this.