Now that the temperature outside has dropped, the windows start to accumulate water vapor. I am assuming that it might also lead to that black stuff forming. Is there a more efficient way of dealing with the condensate than wiping it dry every day?
this post was submitted on 01 Dec 2023
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Thank you for the suggestion. My hygrometer shows 65% at about 20C. But the humidity outside right now is like 90% with all the snow and rain. So I guess part of the problem might be that the room is too cold.
See the thing is, humidity is always given relative to the Dew Point in percent. If I assume 0°C for outside with 90% humidity thats 4.6 g/m3 of water. In your room with 20°C and 65% humidity its 11.2347 g/m3
So if you open your windows your humidity will decrease. Warmer air can store more water.
Under ideal conditions you could get to 27% at 20°C which you will never reach, but opening the windows for 5 minutes (ideally two windows on opposing sides of the house to get a good draft) should get you below 55% already. Repeat it three time a day and you will stay below 50% humidity.
Also, thanks for the detailed calculations. I never realized how that actually worked
Glad to help :)
I forgot to mention: Thats also why you get condensation on windows. The window is cold and cools the air near it. The air than can hold less humidity and it condensates on the window.
If you measure the temperature of the coldest spots on your windows you could even calculate how much humidity you can have in you flat at 20°C before water condensates there.
I'm kind of shuddering at the thought of opening my windows in this cold, but ok, I'll try that)
Thank you for the tip! Our windows do have two "ventilation things" on each side that move air in and out. I am assuming they kind of do what the picture shows.
Ah, ok. The ones we have are embedded into the walls. I had a feeling they were just a gimmick)
Just checked the windows temperatures. Interestingly, the temperature varies quite a bit along the surface of the window. The middle of the window is about 18C but the bottom measures at about 13C, which is exactly the dew point for my 20C / 65% (thanks for the calculator, btw).
Thanks so much for a detailed answer, I will try to follow your advice.