Dehumidifiers Against Damp – Insights from a Damp Removal Specialist on the Power of Dehumidifiers
We know that no one reading this wants to have to put up with damp and find ways to live with it — all you want to do is be able to enjoy your home from the moment you walk through the door.
The problem is that, without proper treatment and an expert plan in place, damp can quickly run wild, causing all manner of costly problems in the process.
So, what can we do about it? For starters, the team here at Advanced Damp want to introduce you to the simple explanations and hacks that only a damp removal expert can share with you.
But before we pin all our hopes solely on the wizardry of dehumidifiers, let’s get the basics right first.
What should you do to beat damp before you turn on your dehumidifier?
We’re not saying dehumidifiers aren’t up to the task here folks. All we’re saying is why not give them a helping hand so that you can make the process look effortless from beginning to end.
The key to understanding the causes of damp and reclaiming your home is to know what you’re dealing with down at the most fundamental level.
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Damp is nothing more than excess water in the air which then damages your home. Simple as that and there’s really nothing to be gained by overcomplicating things.
Common causes of excess water in the air include boiling water on the stove, a humid day outside coming inside, and running a warm, steamy bath upstairs.
All of these are perfectly normal and natural things, and with the right setup, your home should be able to deal with them easily. The problems occur when your home isn’t properly ventilated, and that’s when damp kicks into life.
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Why does ventilation matter in beating damp?
Think of ventilation as having air flowing in and out of your home. You might think that this sounds like just the sort of costly, uncomfortable draft you try your hardest to avoid in the winter, but there really is more to it than that.
The first thing to say is that we have to accept that for the excess water to leave your home, it has to drift out alongside some air. There’s simply no getting away from this one.
What we then have to remember is that there are many ways to do this: opening a window, turning on an extractor fan and of, of course, the dehumidifier magic we’ll be coming to shortly.
Making sure there’s enough airflow — adequate ventilation, in other words, is the single most important thing you can do to combat damp and the issues it causes.
Also read; Does Softwood Cladding Cause Damp?
Keep this simple idea in mind as you read the rest of the article and everything our damp expertise tells you will slot instantly into place.
What does a dehumidifier do?
Dehumidifiers work by quite literally sucking the water out of the air.
They’re great ways to cool down and stay comfortable and relaxed during a humid heat wave in the summer, and you can also use them to try and put your damp issue in its place.
They work in a similar way to air purifiers that suck air in, pass it through a filter to catch dust and debris, and then blow clean, purified air out the other side. The key difference between the two devices is the nature of the filter that sits at the heart of things.
Rather than trapping dust in a maze that air molecules can easily bounce through, dehumidifiers do the same for the water vapour in the air.
Once caught, it condenses and lands in a drip tray as a mini source of rainwater. Making sure to empty the drip tray as per the manufacturer’s instructions will ensure you get the full range of benefits from your dehumidifier.
While using a dehumidifier to combat damp will work in a lot of cases, it’s important to note that you’re not addressing the root cause of the problem.
If the ventilation is inadequate, the final solution should not be to suck the water vapour out of the air — it should ultimately be your aim to improve airflow.
But if you’re on a budget, or things are getting worse, a dehumidifier is certainly a very capable stopgap solution. They do, however, come at a price…
Also read; Will A Dehumidifier Remove Damp? Are They Effective?
Are dehumidifiers expensive to run?
This depends on your current household budget and whether your electricity tariff has changed recently. Clearly the more powerful your dehumidifier, and the longer you use it for each day, the more it will cost to run.
The simplest way to gauge how much it will cost is with a quick sum that anyone can do with an online calculator.
Take a look at the technical specifications of the dehumidifier you’re considering purchasing and look for the power. It will be a number followed by a ‘W’, meaning Watts.
This tells you how much energy your new dehumidifier will use and it’s not the same as the Voltage rating you’ll see on the box. Find the power rating and you’ll be one step closer to figuring out how expensive your dehumidifier will be to run to beat your damp problem.
The next thing you want to do is look up your electricity tariff and look for your pence per kWh. A kWh (kilowatt hour) is how many thousand watts of power you use in one hour.
If the conversion is confusing, a quick google will take you to dozens of easy-to-use online calculators that will do the conversion for you.
If you then use one of them to enter the power rating of the dehumidifier, your electricity tariff and your daily usage you’ll have a reliable estimate.
In general, the longer you leave it on for, the more water you’ll suck out of the air and the harder you’ll be able to fight back against that nasty damp!
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How do dehumidifiers work?
The air is full of water vapour — tiny droplets of water that drift around kind of like mini clouds. This is always the case, but the amount of these mini clouds in the air can vary over time.
When the air is humid and you have that sticky hot feeling that follows you around, there is an excess of water vapour in the air. These water droplets then stick to surfaces, primarily cold ones, and condense into water.
This is why you will see condensation on the inside of your windows in the winter long before you’ll see water running down the walls.
Dehumidifiers work to suck the excess water vapour out of the air by exploiting the condensation of water.
By forcing air through a filter that cools it, the dehumidifier causes the water vapour to condense and trickle down into a trip try below. The air is then forced out of the other side of the device, minus much of the water it entered with.
The only possible downside of doing this in your home is that it can sometimes exacerbate chronic conditions like asthma.
If the air becomes too dry, asthma sufferers can find their lungs are more irritable as they dry out at a greater rate during the breathing cycle. Just something to be aware of if you want to make sure you get everything exactly the way it should be.
What size of dehumidifier do I need?
Good question! If in doubt, go for the largest your budget allows, with the power rating being the best measure of how much air the system can treat within a given period of time.
It’s always better to have more than enough power with the option of throttling it back, as opposed to not enough and not having anything you can do about it.
Many manufacturers will also give estimates on the volume of air (size of room) their system is suited for while still maintaining optimal performance. Simply multiply the width, length and height of your room in metres together to get an accurate estimate of the volume.
You will also want to really focus on the simple trick of opening windows for 15 minutes a day in unaffected rooms.
Add in much longer periods in the rooms directly affected — overnight is preferable if practically possible — so you can give your home all the help it needs to get that troublesome water vapour out of there sooner rather than later.
Final thoughts
Now that you’ve heard everything our damp experts have to say about using a dehumidifier to treat your damp and ventilate your home, why not get in touch.
From the moment you connect we’ll guide you through everything you need to know from beginning to end, giving you the peace of mind that only comes from knowing you’re heading in the right direction.
We’re always ready and waiting to help here at Advanced Damp, so reach out and connect today and we’ll get to work before you know it. Why settle for anything less?
