Broken thermostat and condensation

[onceinablue]

I had my boiler serviced last week as |I wanted to be ready for the cold weather. Everything fine. I went to turn it on yesterday for the first time since about April only to find that the thermostat in the hallway is broken. This morning when I woke up the windows in every room were absolutely streaming with condensation.

I have always opened my windows daily often for up to 10 hours a day although I have not been using any heating so now that it's turned really cold is there anything else I can do to avoid a repeat of the condensation tomorrow morning? Will leaving all windows open just a crack overnight help? I can't leave them open any wider because my property is a bungalow and it would be too much of a security risk. I've also had the dehumidifier running since last night to warm the place up a little. I'll switch it off if I leave the windows open tonight.

I have called a heating engineer but he can't come until Wednesday. Hopefully this situation is only for another couple of days.

A crack should help.

Have you checked your thermostat control/dial for a hidden battery compartment? We were surprised ours had one and two died within a week of each other.

You can put bowls of salt on the windowsills to absorb the excess liquid as well. We found that very effective when we had a place with dodgy central heating. If you want to make them decorative for longer term use, rock salt looks pretty, but for tonight, ordinary table salt will work. Just fill a normal food bowl about halfway with salt and leave on the windowsill.