Window condensation
 

It was minus 12 this morning and the windows in the bedrooms are covered in condensation. The main bedroom it worse. The other windows in the house have a very small amount of condensation.

I have looked on the internet and read all about it but am not really any more clued up, so I would appreciate any suggestions.

Here's the current set up.

We have 2yr old vinyl windows.

The main bedroom has a roller blind that is closed, and about 6in away from the window. North facing. The heating vent was closed.

The other bedroom has a venetian blind that wasn't closed. South facing. Heat was on in this room

The thermostat was set for 15 degrees. We heat the living/dining room with the log stove and have the ceiling fan on to push the air down and around.

The living room has huge floor length lined curtains. These were closed, only a tiny amount of condensation here. South facing.

I don't think we have a humidifier on the furnace.

So, what to do?? More heat?? more curtains??

Re: Window condensation
 

hi

i'll only give you advice if you promise to put down the handbag......lol:rofl: he's sooooo not worth it....:blink:

salt is what you want.......pots of salt dooted about, especially on the window cills......it draws the moisture away at night....dry it out in the day by sticking it in the oven to dry and re-use at night......short term solution but works until you get some longer plan......

Re: Window condensation
 

Try this site, gives you all the advice and the reason why you might have this problem,
http://www.universalwindows.ca/condensation

Re: Window condensation
 

Handbags down.;)

I'll try the salt maybe.

The link is interesting, it had different content to the links I reviewed before posting. I wonder if the problem isnt helped by us having a fairly low indoor temperature, maybe we should bump the heating up a little.

Shouldn't new windows have vents or somesuch to cope with condensation or is that not a Canadian climate thing?

Re: Window condensation
 

I thought such issues were indicative of an incorrect humidity setting. We have an automatic humidifier thingy builty into our furnace but I know of others that have "manual" ones that require the user to set the outside temperature on it each day.

Re: Window condensation
 

I would be a little suprised if a furnace in our bit of Ontario didnt have a humidifier... are you sure?

A bit of condensation is probably OK, but if the whole window is covered then something might be amiss.

Bedroom windows will be worse (in the morning) as you are there breathing out moisture all night, and its cold at night, and the heat is dpwn. Short of leaving the heat on higher, or getting super thick curtains to keep the moist air away from them there is not much to be done I suspect. It was colder last night than its been for a while, thats probably why it seemed worse.

Re: Window condensation
 

I've not heard of any automatic humidifiers tell me more.

We have a new flow through humidifier but we still have to set the humidity levels manually using a humidistat located on the cold air return of the furnace.

We are having hardwood floors installed soon and we've been told we'll have keep the humidity level up to 40% - 45% for the flooring. Not sure how that's going to look on the windows on those cold mornings.

Re: Window condensation
 

Automatic humidifier has an outside temp sensor and alters the humidity level to the recomended level inside to prevent condensation.

http://www.heatingandcoolingstore.co...umidifier.html

Re: Window condensation
 

I understand the concept I hadn't heard there was any such unit for home use. :sneaky:

Re: Window condensation
 

see link added on edit...

Re: Window condensation
 

Just found the same link myself. ;)

Thanks Iain.:)

Re: Window condensation
 

I'll pass on your comments to MOH and he can look at the furnace. Its in the crawl space but even if I could get to look at it I wouldnt know what to look for. He will though. Our old furnace didnt have any humidity control so I didn't think that this one would. Its maybe 15 years old.

Re: Window condensation
 

I just had the ecoenergy evaluation (home energy audit) done on my place last week. They gave me a stack of guides including this one on "Moisture Problems"..lots of interesting info in there so should be worth a scan:

http://oee.nrcan.gc.ca/residential/p...isture-eng.pdf

Re: Window condensation
 

Thanks, we are thinking of getting that audit done, do you think it was worthwhile>>

Re: Window condensation
 

Hopefully it should be, given the grants available and the work I have left to do on the house. The main reason I had it done was to open the door to the grant for a geothermal heating/cooling system (if I get one installed the rebate is $3500 for that alone). Plus I still need a couple of windows and a door ($60 rebate for each) and the basement and crawlspace walls insulating (the rebates for those might actually exceed the installation costs).

There's also a possibility of up to $450 back, if the house does well on the next blower test (which they do for free when all the work is done).

The federal grants available are listed here and, in many cases (pretty much all areas apart from heating, ventilation and cooling systems), the province matches the federal grant so the rebate is doubled (but for some reason it's not listed on that link):
http://oee.nrcan.gc.ca/residential/p...lify-grant.cfm

You can also get an interest free loan for up to $5k, for example if there's $7500 in costs for total work done, $3000 of which is a rebates they give back to you, they'll loan the remaining $4500 interest free on (I think it is) a five year term.