Humidity/dampness in games room

[big10p]

My games room is an uninsulated, single skinned extension, so can get pretty cold and feel/smell slightly damp in bad weather. I have a low heat on in there 24/7 just to keep the edge off the cold, and got one of these a while back, to try and tackle dampness:

So, far it seems to be working well. The slight smell of dampness seems to have gone, too. I may get a humidity meter to test this isn't just a placebo effect, though.

They don't use any power and the tablets are supposed to last about 3 months.

Just wondered if anyone else uses these, or if not, give a heads up to folk who have a problem with dampness where their cabs are, and may want to give these a try, too.

 

[Fuzzy]

Our conservatory gets fairly humid (the rest of the house is fine, and I don't have and cabs in there), and last year I bought a small dehumidifier to put in there and I'm amazed at just how much moisture this thing draws out of the air.

If you're unsure of the humidity levels in your games room, a humidity monitor is definitely a good idea, you can pick up decent ones from eBay and Amazon for just a few quid.

 

[big10p]

Yes, I was surprised how much moisture this Aero thing pulls out of the air. Been looking at meters on ebay. Think I will get one. Cheers.

 

[Danscu]

I've got an electric dehumidifier in my gamesroom but might get one of these for the shed.

Out of interest do people with electric dehumidifiers keep them on all year round or just the winter?

 

[Bensonrad]

I think I might get one of these, after Danscu's recent post about insulation I was looking at some of my roofing yesterday, along the edge I had originally shoved as much in to the roof cavity as I could, I got up on a ladder and found that it was wet to touch as the heat was building, I pulled it all out and found things to be rather moist all through, luckily it was just the outer overhang, not the whole roof as I've not yet sealed/boarded it all over. Rest of the room is bone dry, but being seaside based, I'd rather go overkill with dehumidity.

 

[_Matt_]

We've got some of those aero 360 things, seem to work well. They were £15 but seem to be around the £8 mark now. We've also use a proper dehumidifier occasionally though and they take as much water in a few hours as those little ones do in a week. Possibly take out to much moisture though?

 

[big10p]

Yeah, I guess these are never going to be as good as a proper, powered dehumidifier, but I figure as long as they help, it's all good.

 

[Fuzzy]

You should be able to adjust the amount of water the dehumidifier takes from the air.

Also, remember that good ventilation is important for keeping condensation/humidity down.

 

[_Matt_]

Yeah they defo help. We use them in the kids bedrooms were we had a mould problem they work well and are cheap. Can always use more than 1 as well.
_Matt_2016-03-14 17:33:29

 

[muddymusic]

I've had my dehumidifier running constantly up until this week.
It pulls about 3 litres a day during winter, and keeps the humidity at around 65%, without it in 12 hours it will go over 80% and when you get in the high 80's stuff will start to feel damp to the touch.

It's currently 63% in there now so no need for it any more.

Deffo get a meter so you can see what's going on.

 

[big10p]

3 litres a day?! Wow!

I've ordered a meter. What would you say is an acceptable humidity range to keep cabs in?

 

[muddymusic]

Yeah it's amazing what it takes in during the damp season. I'm near the coast so it's very humid outside most of the time in winter - and do bare in mind my gamesroom is in a detached garage with an uninsulated workshop on the side, if it was attached to my house I'd expect it to be much lower humidity in there.

I've made sure it's always under 75% before powering stuff up and not had any problems.
muddymusic2016-03-14 17:53:06

 

[big10p]

OK, cheers Olly.

 

[northwest]

Soz to ask on your thread topic. Does a dehumidifier have to work when room warm ? Or can they still remove moisture when cold/heat off in winter ? Seen some state ltrs removed at 30 deg. ? Quite efficient some at under 70 watts, even under 50 albeit small tanks.

 

[muddymusic]

Depends on the type you get, compressor ones don't work at low temps, but desiccant ones will still function down to freezing. They are usually the more expensive ones.

 

[Brettster]

I've got 2 of those aero things and a desiccant dehumidifier and still manage to pull in 2+ litres of water out of thin air
Also got 2 cheap humidity sensors for each end of the shed and I've been keeping my un insulated shed at around 55-60% and like Olly I've been running it all winter 24/7 !!

 

[Purity]

I looked into this a bit when I was looking for my own dehumidifier. You really want to aim for less than 70% because at the point mould starts to grow

You need to weigh this up with keeping things in a good state and cost

I set mine at around 60-65% and usually my garage is around 61-63% humid, even with decent insulation.

If the tank fills and it doesn't come on then I think I've seen it max at about 72-75%, but this is only for a short time whilst I empty the tank

Takes my 10 litre tank to fill over a period of about 2 weeks, and that's in the winter

As Olly says the compressor types have a working level of about 5 degrees, so if you have one like this, it's a good idea to have some heat to ensure the temperature remains above 5 degrees. I have a thermostat plugged into the wall and a radiator connected.
Purity2016-03-14 20:02:05

 

[John Bennett]

My games room has been damp since we moved in. 'Expert' advised on having it tanked during the survey. You can also see previous efforts to dry it involving injecting gluey sh*t into the bricks and some copper earthing strip witchcraft

I found 2 issues.
1. Drain pipe from roof dumped the water onto the ground next to the wall, rather than being ducted to the drain.
2. Someone put in underfloor fibre insulation and took it right up to the bricks. It wicked up so much moisture the skirting boards rotted away and bent off the walls.

I still think there's some other source of water ( blocked chimney or old water pipes under concrete floor next door), but it's much better. Still have an electric dehumidifier on, but it fills up a lot slower now.

 

[bbz149]

Just moved another 2 Games into the heated Games Room. Thank F I built this insulated Room!! These came out of 3 Cabs

They looked like this when I put them in! now full of Water

Cabs nice and safe at a constant 16 deg and no pulling Boards out to store indoors in the Winter, and no more forked Monitors due to Damp!!

 

[big10p]

Your line up looks great, BTW.