Good morning!
Since this is my first post, I hope it’s in the right subforum...
I haven’t built myself, but I’m hoping to find some ideas here about the cause of my problem. It’s really stressful...
Now to the problem: Especially during the cold season, my windows get completely covered in condensation (see pictures/video below). Overnight, they become extremely wet, and you need 1-2 large towels to dry them off.
In addition, the water collects along the bottom edge, creating the perfect conditions for mold to develop.
There is frequent and prolonged ventilation during the day and morning, but this doesn’t help. The windows don’t feel very airtight either; you can especially feel drafts at the edges on windy days.
What causes this? Is it an insulation issue? Are the windows to blame? Or the walls? Unfortunately, I’m no expert...
Thank you very much in advance for your answers!
Since this is my first post, I hope it’s in the right subforum...
I haven’t built myself, but I’m hoping to find some ideas here about the cause of my problem. It’s really stressful...
Now to the problem: Especially during the cold season, my windows get completely covered in condensation (see pictures/video below). Overnight, they become extremely wet, and you need 1-2 large towels to dry them off.
In addition, the water collects along the bottom edge, creating the perfect conditions for mold to develop.
There is frequent and prolonged ventilation during the day and morning, but this doesn’t help. The windows don’t feel very airtight either; you can especially feel drafts at the edges on windy days.
What causes this? Is it an insulation issue? Are the windows to blame? Or the walls? Unfortunately, I’m no expert...
Thank you very much in advance for your answers!
Well, even though the information is quite limited, you can piece together a few things.
An electric storage heater points to a really old building, and the tenant is male (Ms. Hermann, but male - huh?).
Then he says that the heating doesn’t warm the place properly because it fails early, and heating with electricity is generally not great anyway. Since there is still condensation on the windows, it clearly indicates that the windows are still the coldest spots and therefore very old as well.
In fact, there is only one solution: move out.
Alternatively, you could run the poorly functioning heating system around the clock, which will surely please the electricity provider.
Maybe take a look at how much moisture you bring into the house. Wet laundry and not ventilating after a shower are both really bad for cold, unheated old buildings.
If the moisture isn’t caused by you (breath moisture doesn’t count as your fault^^), the place simply can’t be saved anymore.
Better move to something newer. Make sure the heating system actually works well. With central heating in large apartment buildings, this is usually more common than in small individual apartments. Otherwise, check the heating system. The best and most cost-effective option is still having your own gas boiler in the apartment. That way, you contract directly with the gas supplier, can take advantage of new customer bonuses, and don’t have to cover costs for others like it’s often the case with oil heating.
PS: What did you study in education?
An electric storage heater points to a really old building, and the tenant is male (Ms. Hermann, but male - huh?).
Then he says that the heating doesn’t warm the place properly because it fails early, and heating with electricity is generally not great anyway. Since there is still condensation on the windows, it clearly indicates that the windows are still the coldest spots and therefore very old as well.
In fact, there is only one solution: move out.
Alternatively, you could run the poorly functioning heating system around the clock, which will surely please the electricity provider.
Maybe take a look at how much moisture you bring into the house. Wet laundry and not ventilating after a shower are both really bad for cold, unheated old buildings.
If the moisture isn’t caused by you (breath moisture doesn’t count as your fault^^), the place simply can’t be saved anymore.
Better move to something newer. Make sure the heating system actually works well. With central heating in large apartment buildings, this is usually more common than in small individual apartments. Otherwise, check the heating system. The best and most cost-effective option is still having your own gas boiler in the apartment. That way, you contract directly with the gas supplier, can take advantage of new customer bonuses, and don’t have to cover costs for others like it’s often the case with oil heating.
PS: What did you study in education?
Hello Frauhermann,
I don’t see the situation as negatively as many before me!
1. I lived with an electric storage heater for over 10 years, and it all depends on how you control it! I never had excessively high heating costs, even though it was always warm. Costs were no higher than in comparable apartments with oil heating. It was the same throughout our entire building.
The trick is not to control it with the room thermostat, but at the radiators, since the fan uses the most electricity. So, in the coldest winter, I set the radiators to about 3/4 power so that the storage units heated up well and were fully charged. Then only the cheaper night electricity was used. If the radiators became too cool during the day, they naturally switched to more expensive daytime electricity to compensate! These hot parts then kept the room comfortably warm.
I didn’t set much on the room thermostat, to avoid the fan turning on. Warm air circulates well in the room through movements. Doors opening and closing create air movement.
2. Ventilation is really important! The house I lived in (built in 1974) already had relatively new windows, but over time they were replaced again, and this made a noticeable difference! I ventilated twice a day for about 15 minutes each time (while working full time), using cross-ventilation, and normally that was enough. In the coldest winters with very low temperatures, I had slight moisture on the older windows (about 1cm (0.4 inches) along the bottom edge of the panes), which I always wiped away with a towel in the morning and that was fine. The key is really the cross-ventilation—open all windows fully at the same time! (and very important: keep the doors open too to avoid slamming!).
If you’re not introducing significant moisture at a particular spot (like boiling water in an open pot without ventilation, showering, etc.), you shouldn’t have problems. Otherwise, it could really be due to the old windows simply getting too cold.
Best regards,
Tanita
I don’t see the situation as negatively as many before me!
1. I lived with an electric storage heater for over 10 years, and it all depends on how you control it! I never had excessively high heating costs, even though it was always warm. Costs were no higher than in comparable apartments with oil heating. It was the same throughout our entire building.
The trick is not to control it with the room thermostat, but at the radiators, since the fan uses the most electricity. So, in the coldest winter, I set the radiators to about 3/4 power so that the storage units heated up well and were fully charged. Then only the cheaper night electricity was used. If the radiators became too cool during the day, they naturally switched to more expensive daytime electricity to compensate! These hot parts then kept the room comfortably warm.
I didn’t set much on the room thermostat, to avoid the fan turning on. Warm air circulates well in the room through movements. Doors opening and closing create air movement.
2. Ventilation is really important! The house I lived in (built in 1974) already had relatively new windows, but over time they were replaced again, and this made a noticeable difference! I ventilated twice a day for about 15 minutes each time (while working full time), using cross-ventilation, and normally that was enough. In the coldest winters with very low temperatures, I had slight moisture on the older windows (about 1cm (0.4 inches) along the bottom edge of the panes), which I always wiped away with a towel in the morning and that was fine. The key is really the cross-ventilation—open all windows fully at the same time! (and very important: keep the doors open too to avoid slamming!).
If you’re not introducing significant moisture at a particular spot (like boiling water in an open pot without ventilation, showering, etc.), you shouldn’t have problems. Otherwise, it could really be due to the old windows simply getting too cold.
Best regards,
Tanita
halmi schrieb:
The original poster mentioned 60-80%, which is simply way too high.Yes, that is too high. However, he said it was a "guess," not a "measured value." You can guess a lot. A simple measuring device costing about 5 euros is definitely a good investment, then you know for sure.
But the dew point can simply be an unavoidable problem. At 20°C (68°F) room temperature, which can be considered reasonable heating in winter, and 50% humidity, which is optimal for health (such as preventing dry mucous membranes), the dew point at cold window panes is already just under 9°C (48°F). This can easily happen with old windows. In the past, we used to have frost flowers on the inside of the panes (by "in the past" I mean about 35 years ago when I was still a child 😀).
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