Dehumidifier questions

[Iseeall]

I often read about drying clothes in a closed room with a dehumidifier running. Posters say they are great and economical, so...I have a few questions for dehumidifier users.

Can I use a dehumidifier in a wooden conservatory, with double glazing, that has no heating. It gets VERY mouldy each autumn/winter. The windows run with condensation and black mould starts growing on the wooden base and ceiling joists.

Do you just switch the dehumidifier on until there is no more moisture in the air, then turn it off or do you run it all the time.

We inherited the conservatory and it is really only usable in late spring/summer/early autumn after that every thing starts to get damp.
It is too cold to leave the doors open from the house to let heat into the conservatory during the autumn/winter months, so any ideas are welcome(cheap ideas).

Ps I don't dry clothes in the conservatory.(it's just that I get the impression that is what a lot of them are used for)

Mine runs all the time. It has three levels of setting, and it automatically switches itself off when the moisture level in the air gets to a certain level....the level depends which setting you use.

It will also switch itself off automatically when the water tray is full.

If I'm not drying clothes inside the tray takes a couple of days to fill. If m drying clothes it can fill in a few hours.

I think it would be really good for what you describe.

Can you also put an oil filled radiator in there on low to heat it a bit as that might help?

like this

I use dehumidifier for drying clothes. It's adjustable as to what level of humidity means it stays on or stops. It obviously stops when the tray is full which takes a few hours when drying clothes, but believe you can attach a hose and leave running permanently e.g. to remove long term damp from something like a cellar.

Thanks for the replies.

I didn't realise you set them to a set air level. So when it gets colder you set it higher or to run constantly.

I think heating the conservatory always feels like heating 'outside' iyswim.
I will go ahead and get a dehumidifier and see how well that does, then think about heating it.

We have a Mitsubishi dehumidifier, originally bought to deal with the damp in our old house. I was horrified at the price at the time, but its now been used heavily for 8 years, and is still going strong. You can set the humidity level, and it will turn itself on and off - it also makes the room a bit warmer

And there's something very satisfying about dumping a tank full of water every now and then.

Is it just with drying clothes in mind? You could look at the heated surer of a dri buddy

We have 2 dehumidifies and the desiccant based one in our bedroom has the wonderful side effect of warming the air. One like that would probably make the conservatory mdre usable for more of the year.

Heated airer - sorry should have checked

I love my dehumidifier. I also have a hygrometer (humidity meter) from Amazon which tells you when the humidity is at a reasonable level, because you don't need it to be totally dry to stop the mould growing.