21 Aug 2020

And Then An Expense..

You may remember that some time ago, this being an old property, I done did get me a dehumidifier and how it did such a good job that I had to turn up the humidifier. Say wot now? You don’t remember? Oh, come on. It was only ten years ago.

Anyhoo, over the past few weeks we noticed slight indications of mould re-appearing round the bedroom windows. Then, a few days ago the dehumidifier started making noises that, to me, indicated fan bearings were dying. I tried all the settings and it became apparent him thing was on his last dehumididodad legs and may well have been for some time despite showing green for go. 

Damn! That was expensive I thought but then did the maths and at an initial cost of two hundred dabs ten years ago equating to twenty dabs a year for freedom from damp** it isn’t bad at all. And since going smart meter I know that the bit o’ kits blurb stating minimal running costs be true.

To bring this riveting post to a close, we got a new one; one model up from the old one and with ten years of technological advances enclosed. After having it run for six hours I checked the water tank and had my suspicions regarding the old fellow confirmed as the tank was three quarters full. A week now and it’s still working to ‘normalise’ moisture in the air. Good bit o’ kit I say.

In other news, I’m sure you didn’t miss the TV news screeching, every ten minutes, about the poor sixteen year old gimmigrant who drowned trying to get a better life in England – that would be two trillion dabs in debt England. You notice how quickly this heart wrenching tale of children escaping war and famine was dropped when it was discovered the fellow was actually twenty eight and had recently had his request for asylum in France rejected? Further proof of the lack of truth seeking capabilities of the people who pass themselves off as journalists. I’m guessing the only folk surprised by this revelation were the journalists themselves. Sadly, the majority of folk who saw the TV news will not know the new facts regarding this child.

**Note to students suffering result stress and anxiety; I did that complex calculation in my head, without help and without a maths sustificate.

Quote;  Anne Moore.

“’But how do we know it's working properly?'
'The green light is on.' said Jack.”

2 comments:

Ripper said...

Mac, I've done quite a bit of research just lately into condensation control since there is a problem in my workshop over winter/spring that is not good for the bike and turns tools rusty. For that I'm going for a crossflow system controlled by a humidistat, which simply extracts the hot air near the roof, allowing cooler air in through a vent lower down on the opposite wall. The humidistat control will mean that it will operate automatically whenever the air is damp. I can get a humidistat fan for around £70.

Along the way of researching my problem I dropped on a method called Positive Input Ventilation, where a central fan in the loft draws air in (some are fitted with a heater), filters out pollen etc. and feeds the whole house via the central hallway. You set the temperature of the air and when the ambient temperature rises above that, the heater turns off to save money.

Its obviously more expensive than a dehumidifier (and overkill for my workshop) but then it does the whole house and only needs filters every 5 years. There's no water tank to tend to and running costs are around 5-10p a day. Install in about an hour then forget. Here's all the info, installation instructions and where to buy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTMeZxoH3eY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeguWaAYyeM
https://www.i-sells.co.uk/nuaire-drimaster-eco-basic-loft-control-positive-input-ventilation-unit?ref=ViewProduct

Mac said...

Ripper,
Thanks for the links.
I did quite a bit of research back in the day but settled for the simplest solution - buy, unbox, position, plug-in, switch on and forget. I have to say it works very well and does exactly what I expected. In Smart Mode, once the air and moisture content is under control the kit only auto starts/stops whenever the sensors detect a rise in moisture content and only needs emptying once a month tops so initial amount of water in the tank indicates - to us - just how much moisture gets into the air.
I have him on the landing at the top of the stairs so the whole drum is pretty much covered.