ᐅ Is the electricity consumption and procedure for screed drying typical?

Created on: 21 May 2025 11:59
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medow1982
Hi everyone,

I’m building with solid construction, and according to the site manager, a construction dryer is needed for the screed drying. So, for the past week, a 15 kW (kilowatt) heater has been running continuously, heating about 270 sqm (2,900 sq ft) at a supply temperature of 35°C (95°F). According to the protocol, you should start at 25°C (77°F), but nobody seems to care.

There is dripping from the walls, and the windows are always wet, like in a sauna.
Will this get better? At some point, all the moisture has to come out, right?
I ventilate twice a day, sometimes even three times, and always remove visible drops.
At 35°C (95°F), the energy consumption is 200 kWh per day. I calculated that over the planned 3 weeks, this will be over 4,000 kWh.
Does this sound about right, or could there be something wrong with the heater?

Moisture is also coming down from above through the precast ceilings—is this normal?
Unfortunately, my site manager is not very proactive, so I’m looking for advice here.

Best regards,
Felix
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Häuschenbauer4
22 May 2025 12:39
An idea of mine that I recently implemented.
While the screed program was running, we wiped the concrete ceilings with a wet mop, wrung it out, and took it out of the house.

In my opinion, this helped a lot, as there were some corners where larger water droplets had collected.
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Aloha_Lars
22 May 2025 15:44
medow1982 schrieb:

I thought the heating engineer would come daily, but no, he probably only comes when the temperature is increased.

Why would he come? In my case, he just set up the system and then he was done.

By the way: When airing out, wipe the damp spots on the window with an old towel and then hang it outside. This helps absorb some moisture in the most difficult areas.
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Zubi123
23 May 2025 08:44
And even more ventilation, or for a longer time! The moisture needs to get outside…
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hanghaus2023
23 May 2025 09:05
For me, nothing was dripping wet. I left the windows tilted open. The heat and moisture need to escape.

15 kW? My heat pump only has 3 kW.
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Aloha_Lars
23 May 2025 09:10
Tilt position for windows is definitely not recommended :-) (Insufficient air exchange, delayed drying, risk of drafts)
Tolentino23 May 2025 09:14
An alternative is to wait 8-12 weeks without heating. However, usually time is more pressing.
Why is he doing this with a space heater instead of the planned heating system? Has it not been installed yet? Why?