What does your hygrometer read right now? (Humidity in your house)

[astoundedgoat]

I got a new indoor thermometer and it has a hygrometer function. It said 60% the other day, and then I dried a bit of laundry on the heated airer two days ago, and it has said 68% since! I have a dehumidifier running in the room now, and we're down to 64%. My weather app says the outdoor humidity is 74% today.

Of course I have nothing to compare it to, so I have no idea if this is awful?

Our house is so small that there isn't anywhere to dry laundry besides down here, really. I hate laundry drying in our bedroom. The dryer costs a fortune but if laundry drying on the heated airer causes that much humidity, maybe it's better home maintenance to suck it up and use the drier for clothes? (I can dry sheets pretty quickly on the bannisters on the landing when it's not nice enough to do outside).

Obv. I'm on high alert for energy usage this year.

If you have a hygrometer, what's the reading today?

@teaandtoastwithmarmite

Mine has been really good and also got rid of the ‘damp smell’ as well as mould on walls when I moved in. (I bleached and painted and its not come through and no longer smells of damp) I came from a new build with tumble drier but this house is too small for a tumble drier so found if you pop it in a room and close the door it dries the laundry quickly too on a foldable airer.

The water it takes out of the air is incredible
You can run an extension and put it in bathroom but make sure you close toilet lid and bathroom door.
No kids here so its safe but dont run it obviously if taking a shower/bath
I bought mine on Screwfix

@teaandtoastwithmarmite

I think it's definitely worth the investment. If there's mould on the walls that's really bad for your breathing and your belongings, as mould stains really badly - as well as being unsightly.

It really is shocking how much it extracts - even yesterday when I was worried about my living/dining room & kitchen being 68% and ran the dehumidifier for a few hours, it filled up the whole tank. This morning it's 57%.

I know they're a lot of money, but there seems to be a few on Amazon with great reviews for more around the £60 mark.

www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/lifestyle/can-damp-and-mould-affect-my-health

I'm going to start running it in the bathroom on cold mornings now after everyone has had their shower because during the summer it dries pretty fast, but in the winter the walls stay damp to the touch for hours, even with the window open, and unsurprisingly we get mould on the ceiling.

What is optimum indoor humidity supposed to be?

Trying not to dry indoors more than necessary and spinning clothes to remove as much moisture as possible but also haven't had the heating on yet.

Just jumping on this thread as I was googling hygrometers and here we are.

We’ve had a real issue with damp in our home, mainly with things going mouldy (although haven’t found any on the walls yet).

So just over a year ago I got a 2 year old Meaco 20L low energy dehumidifier for an absolute steal on Facebook… I actually felt guilty as even secondhand usually they sell for two or three times what I paid. Big Dave, we call him.

We’ve been delaying deploying Big Dave so far this autumn as like everyone we’re treading that tightrope between not wanting a damp home whilst also not wanting insanely high energy bills. But we don’t have a dryer and we’re getting to the point of not being able to dry laundry outside anymore and it being too cold to have the windows open for very long so, out he comes.

We’ve only got a tiny flat so Big Dave is overkill really as he’s meant for larger spaces but still, when I put him on this evening he settled somewhere in the high 70’s so he’s got his work cut out for him.

This page has some really useful info on dampness and humidity in the home, for example to answer your question @Hilarymantelspencilsharpener -

“A good range of indoor humidity for comfort and health is between 30-60% during cooler months of the year. Mould is likely to occur if the relative humidity indoors is 70% or more for long periods of time. Keeping humidity levels under 50% also helps to minimise or control dust mites. But it is also possible to live in a house that is too dry! Humidity levels below about 30% lead to dry skin and nasal passages, increasing the potential for respiratory illnesses.”

So I’ve set Big Dave’s target as 45, so if he reaches that level (unlikely tonight as the starting level is so high) he’ll turn himself off.

I have a particularly troublesome bedroom for damp and mould. Personally I think there's something wrong with the house. I set the machine off and it'll read 89. Takes a couple of hours and litre of water collected to get it under 50. They're decent machines to have in.

Could you have a leak in your roof around there? Have you been into the attic to check? We had a leaking gutter and water was running down the side of the house, which I didn't know was a Bad Thing, until one day it made its way inside and I could hear it dripping into the cupboard in the alcove by the chimneybreast, and there was a huge water/mould stain on the ceiling in that corner that I hadn't noticed! Fixed the gutter for £30, ran Small Dave (jealous of Big Dave above!) for a day or two to dry it out and the water I got out of it was insane.

If your room is consistently wet I would look into that, because it could be rotting your timbers behind the scenes and making things even more expensive for you.

39%. I'm in NZ. Nothing goes mouldy here.

We did have a leaking gutter but all the guttering got replaced this year. There's no hole in the roof and we've had a PIV unit fitted upstairs. The issue seems to be coming from a fitted wardrobe which can't be used and it's an end house where that bedroom is, so no next door to keep it warm.

The machine has been a huge help though, I'd recommend one to anyone. Best 180 quid I've ever spent.

Echoing @AngeloMysterioso - houses should be between 30 and 60% humidity. Anything above that and it doesn’t matter how much you heat, because you’re just warming the moist air and encouraging mould even more.

The best bet is dehumidifiers in closed-windowed rooms, and open windows and/or good extractor fans in places like kitchens and bathrooms with a lot of steam and moisture that will spread and condense around your home. Don’t worry about outdoors being more damp - that’s to do with the outside air being cooler, so it won’t encourage mould in your own place.

I just bought a dehumidifier because some walls felt damp. I plugged it in an hour and a half ago: 90%! It’s down to 85%, any idea how long to reach an acceptable level?

It's 24 hours the first time running one the one I got. After that it usually takes a couple of hours to get it to around 45.

Eighty fucking two % in the bedroom which went up after opening the windows.

Need to get the dehumidifier in there tomorrow I think.

Mine’s been on all day and it’s still on 70 something.

55% is the ideal level, sorry not read whole thread. Mines currently hovering around 70 but drying laundry.during the rainy period we have just had it was impossible to get below 80%
this is the reading from the dehumidifier

@Howmanysleepsnow
does your unit have a level you can set it to? Mines got a level that you can set and it does not stop until it reaches that set level, but always needs emptying overnight and during day before it reaches the level set

81 here! 😱

Dehumidifier running every day but every morning it's back up to 81. No heating at the moment and very old house, lots of damp, uurgh

I’ve got cotton bedding drying hung it on airer at one pm. It was 87 % have had the heating on for a bit washing 75% dry I’d say emptied tank (2 litres once) and it’s still only on 69% humidity but it has not stopped raining here all day so much damp in the air