Condensation on windows - advice on stopping/clearing

[Isthisblocked]

Moved 18 months ago into average 60’s three bed semi in good structural order. But the windows have a lot of condensation on winter mornings. The cold weather last night brought the first wet windows of the season. Last winter I mopped with kitchen towel every morning, but it’s time-consuming and expensive. Advice please on how I may avoid this and then how I may clear it. I am thinking of a dehumidifier - would I need one in every room? Is it easy to clear if I buy a Karcher window Vac? I don’t really want to buy a window vac, partly unexpected expense and partly finding somewhere to store it in a small house. Please help me with advice on dehumidifiers and tell me if you clear with a window Vac.

Use rags. No expense but effective

Do you keep windows open?

Dehumidifier, put it in the hallway, ours clears the whole house, no more damp. Just need to empty the water tank, ours seems to collect a lot of water.

Ventilation is the key, do you do this? Sealing the house up is going to cause condensation and if you keep it sealed the only option is to use a dehumidifier.
Ventilation should help considerably but if you are doing this don't use a dehumidifier at the same time as you will be doing nothing more than trying to dry the air you are bringing into the building.

Honestly can’t recommend a karcher enough. There are other brands that are cheaper, but I can’t comment on their efficiency. They really don’t take up much space. You could store it under the kitchen sink. They aren’t much bigger than a jug. It makes short work of all the wet windows and I use mine every morning to completely dry my bathroom after a shower.

I tried using towels/ kitchen roll for a short while but unless you are drying them outside, you’re only putting the water straight back into the house. And it took ages to go round all the windows!

Are there trickle vents in your windows? Retrofitting those can be quite inexpensive and make a big difference, it allows for the flow of air and helps prevent condensation. Also, sort out your kitchen and bathroom ventilation - make sure you've got decent extractors in both, windows are open in rooms you've got laundry drying in and try to keep the kitchen window open if you're boiling lots of things.

Once you've sorted out the passive airflow, if it's still an issue you have two options - a Karcher if you're prepared to go around vacuuming your windows each morning, and a dehumidifier if not!

@SquashPenguin so do you have to go round every window with a Karcher?

Can you recommend one please? Do you leave it in the hallway with all the doors open and then that's it?

As well as all of the above excellent advice, if you need to wipe the windows, use a microfibre cloth. Make sure you wring it out so the water goes down a drain or sink, otherwise the water will evaporate into the air as the cloth dries giving you more condensation again the next day.

Mines an ebac, yes I just leave it in the hall doors mainly open. It has quite a few fancy options, but I just leave it in it's normal mode and it sorts out when to turn on and off. It's meant to be quite economical on power. I think mine's the 4000 series with smart control. They seemed to get good reviews and works well for me, so far anyway.

https://www.ebac.com/dehumidifiers/4250-dehumidifier

As others have said ventilation is the key. And keeping curtains / blinds open.

Do you have double glazing @Isthisblocked ?

Little Karcher window vac. Life-changing. Read about them on here.

@determinedtomakethiswork yes, but it takes seconds per window, definitely quicker than wiping them and catching all the dribbles!

We have a dehumidifier for drying washing in the winter which I couldn’t live without, but that Karcher has been a god send during cold weather and stopping the mold!

If the room is being slept in, the window needs to be left slightly open overnight - that's a fixed rule in this house and has made a huge difference.
I then wipe any excess moisture off each morning with something out of the laundry pile.

Could you please put a link for the karcher or what the model is thanks

@AmyJohnsonsplane yes, I do have the window open but only in my bedroom at night. But my bedroom window seems to get this much condensation as, say, the sitting room where the windows are closed.

@LBOCS2 no, I do not have trickle vents, although the windows are double glazed. I had trickle vents in my previous home which must explain why this is the first time I have encountered this problem. I can see from the very helpful posts that I could have trickle vents retrofitted, and I will be looking into this immediately

@SquashPenguin @plumtreebroke thank you very much for your help as well as everybody else on this thread, I’m going to get a dehumidifier, and a small Karcher window vac over the next week or two, and then get started on retrofitting trickle vents. As previously said, I’ve never encountered this problem before and as I’ve just renovated the whole house (obviously not new windows) I really need to avoid the dreaded damp and mould. I have got extractor fans in the two newly fitted bathrooms and the utility room but I wouldn’t say they were hugely effective, and the utility room, and one bathroom have no external window. So there is a red flag for potential damp there. I like the sound of a dehumidifier where I can see the water extracted and a window Vac to just clean up as much as possible.

I recently bought a window vacuum from the middle aisle at Aldi. It was £19.99 and is the best nearly twenty quid I have spent in years!!! It sucks up all the condensation brilliantly and then I just stick it on charge ready for the next morning. I live in a very (very) old house with single glazed sash windows and every winter fight a losing battle with excess moisture and mould. As long as I can find an extra ten mins every morning to whip round the windows before work then I think I might possibly stay on top of it this year 🤞

Window vac and dehumidifier. We open windows daily but still get condensation,

I’d like to thank all of you for the very sensible and helpful advice given on this thread. I’ve got a good idea how to tackle this now …… which is a dehumidifier and a window vac. With this plan I can keep the condensation in check until I sort out trickle vents. It’s been a real game changer to find out I can have them retrofitted because I don’t want to have the windows renewed here, I’ve spent quite enough on the house already and the windows are double glazed and attractive. I don’t want to have to renew them, but it looks as if trickle vents are going to be the answer in the long term. thank you all again for taking the time to give me the benefit of your experience.

Are you opening the window when the extractor fan is on? There needs to be a source of incoming air to replace the extracted air. Otherwise the extractor won't be anywhere near as effective as it should be.

I have a Meaco 12L dehumidifier. I’ve left it on 24/7 for three weeks and it’s just hit the target of 55% (from 77%). It’s now just switching itself on and off if it goes over 55%. Make sure you keep the vent at the back defluffed and I found it more effective on low fan speed as it was cooler. House feels warmer already with no heating on yet so I have high hopes for winter!

@Isthisblocked

In the short-term, pop one of these on each windowsill, they collect up the moisture and hold it in the box.

LIVIVO Pack of 10x 500ml Interior Dehumidifiers- Helps Stop Damp, Mildew, Mould Condensation Moisture Absorber Remover in Home Kitchen Wardrobe Bedroom Caravan Office Garage Bathroom, Basement
https://amzn.eu/d/acxIHU7

@HappiestSleeping i wasn’t opening the window when the extractor fan was on… I thought that was counter-productive and you use the fan or you open the window. I will try using the fan and the open window in tandem. That’s a revelation to me because I thought you used one or the other.
@Got2getout i’m going to get a couple of the dehumidifiers you suggest to sort me out in the short term. I’m happy now that I have a long-term plan thanks to the advice here. Very appreciative!