What's the minimum temperature I should keep my house at to prevent damp?

[Belephant]

I've tried google, perhaps I'm typing in the wrong things but I can't find an answer.

As the title states really - I'm anticipating needing to keep the central heating use to an absolute minimum this winter. But I don't want to cause any damp issues in our house - it's an Edwardian end of terrace. It's all recently been renovated, so I don't fancy causing any issues right now!

So does anyone know what minimum temperature I need to keep my thermostat at to avoid damp issues please?

I'd look at where you are losing heat. Some energy companies lend or rent thermal cameras so you can see where the heats escaping.

We keep ours at about 16, and never have any problems with damp as I'm religious about airing out the house. That's more important in my experience.

Another vote for dehumidifier. Yes it uses electricity but much less than say a tumble dryer. We don't have ours on for 12 hours. Generally run it in the evening when cooking, showers/baths and everyone at home 4/5 hours a day on average in autumn/winter. Airing the house in the morning by opening the windows.

My Nest thermostat has 9.5 degrees as its Eco setting; I assumed that is its default temperature to avoid damp problems but it looks like I’m wrong!

We were away in January and used the Eco setting but the house didn’t get below 12 degrees. It wasn’t damp but we had only been away two weeks. I need to look into this more I think

I lived in a basement flat that was very prone to damp and a dehumidifier was absolutely necessary otherwise you could see water sitting on the walls. But it only took around 20 minutes a day with the machine on to keep the place ok. The times I inadvertently left it on much longer I'd end up with a sore throat as it would dry the air so much!

When you're calculating the running costs of a dehumidifier I don't think it needs calculating to be on all day. I'd do something like 10 minutes in the bathroom after you've had a shower, 10 minutes in the kitchen after cooking on the hob, plus a general 20 minutes upstairs and downstairs. You might want to buy two units so that you don't have to carry it about too much.

Our house now isn't prone to damp even though there's no extractor in the kitchen or bathroom and I dry washing indoors in winter. Last winter I had the thermostat set on 18 during the day and 15 at night but I'll be pushing a degree lower at least this winter.

Well most the mid range, standard sized ones seem to be 300-350W (though there are some eco ones that are half that).

So, round figures for easy counting :) , approx 1kwh for 3 hrs run time. So 8kwh for 24hrs. At the moment, about £2. So maybe £3 come winter? But you'd not need to run all the time.

And the idea (other than the stopping mould thing) is that drier air warms more efficiently than damp air, so you need to run your central heating for less time and/or at a lower flow temperature to maintain a comfortable room temperature.

4 quietist dehumidifers.

18 is the temperature I use when I’m deliberately putting my heating on for warmth so I’m amazed at that suggestion as a temperature it needs to be all the time. Our house is Edwardian end of terrace and generally drops to about 14/15 overnight. No damp problems. But I am quite vigilant about opening windows daily, have a v strong extractor fan in the bathroom etc.

Damp is caused by moisture. All you are doing by having the heating on is drying the air - But costing your self a lot of money on gas. The easiest and cheapest option is

1. Dehumidifiers (You can get a pack of 2 from poundland) Place one next to windows, tumble dryers, bathroom etc (anywhere damp air is caused).


2. Open the windows each morning


3. Dont dry washing inside, wet towels should be placed outside or at least near an open window


4. Wet coats and umbrellas - same as towels. Do not put them on a coat hook next to a wall. Put them somewhere to air.

My friend brought a plastic greenhouse for all her wet items to go in the winter. She just placed it in her garden, leaves the zip door open. Oddly works well!

Removing any causes of damp air will solve the problem.

If you open the windows for half and hour each day and air the house then it won't matter how much heating you use, there won't be any issues with dmap or mould.

We have all the vents on our windows open all year round to be honest. Hate the idea of breathing in hot stuff air that has no fresh rotation. Bedroom small windows are also opened all year round (about an inch).. We have done this for 2 years now and none of us have caught the horrid winter common cold since (Touch wood)

Placemaking this.

I'm not sure what to do regarding this. We live in a flat and the bathrooms aren't ventilated, but luckily our flat is fairly warm, but still is prone to dampness and bad condensation on windows in the winter.

We do a lot of cooking, so have invested in a pressure cooker this year to cut energy. Luckily I can take it outside to let off the steam so will be doing that. I have a dehumidifier, but they do rinse through the electric if you are not careful.

Usually try to dry laundry outside whatever the weather, but it is the bane of my life! I bloody hate laundry in the winter.

This is the first year in a long time I have been glad I live in a flat even if space is tight. I look at the big houses in my area and for once am glad I'm not the owner of one and have to find 1,000's to heat it. That's pretty strange!

I have a nest, I think the Eco setting is more to prevent freezing of pipes etc.

As for the damp issue, heat and damp are related, insofar as the moisture carrying capacity of the air is related to its temperature, and the heat capacity related to the humidity. Hence why cooling warm humid air (like breath) causes condensation on a cold window or wall.....

Ventilation is the most important bit, breathing, cooking, showers and baths will all load the air up, and that moisture has to go somewhere - extractor on the oven, vent in the bathroom as a cheap ways to reduce the moisture + a dehumidifer to tidy up the rest.

As others suggest, if you've got a really damp basement for example with no barrier between that and the rest of the house, it may not be an easy issue to fix.