Condensation in My Shed....

[Adrian Rees MW1LCR]

Hi all

I have a 20 x 10 foot shed, that I use as an office and for the odd bit of DIY.

Being winter, I have a mobile gas heater in the shed, to take the chill off the place. However, I have terrible condensation build up, so much so that its starting to be a problem.

I am touying with the idea of fitting two air vents at one end of the shed, and an extractor fan at the other, to help improve circulation of air in the shed.

Any other ideas ?

(I do have Carbon Monoxide detectors in the shed as well, and they havn't triggered, so there must be some ventilation in there !)

Thanks

Adrian Rees

[Martin Pentreath]

It won't help directly with the condensation, but what about some insulation underneath the shed roof so you don't have to burn so much gas? Or a fixed gas fire running off bottled gas with a flue going out through the wall?

[Brian G]

What's the shed made of?

If its of corrugated material, then you're fighting a loosing battle whatever you do.

If it's of concrete, brick or wood, then try insulating the walls and roof with some sort of condensate absorbing material.

If you have a corrugated material roof i.e steel or cement based sheet, the you will have to insulate that too.

Calor gas naturally gives off a large amount of water when burning. If possible, can you use another form of heater such as an electric oil heater or a simple electric fire?

Combined with the fan, it may then may cause you some discomfort with a cross-draught and also NOT cure the problem.

If you don't or cannot use the other suggestions, you could try using a dehumidifier in the shed for the time you're in there and leave it on for a while after you leave.

Not necessarily, their effective operation depends on their location - the same as smoke detectors.

Also, if you have a modern gas heater that's regularly serviced, then then the flame failure device on the heater will cut the gas supply off when high levels of CO are detected.

Brian G

[Andrew Gabriel]

Well, you burn the gas, and it turns into carbon dioxide and water vapour, which generates the condensation.

As the other poster said, insulate, and use some type of heating which doesn't release the combustion products into the room.

Check the gas heater's instructions regarding amount of ventilation and minumum room size. Carbon Monoxide detectors are not that reliable, particularly after a year or two, and are easily poisened themselves by exposure to other chemicals.

[mail]

Dont use hydrocarbon fuel Get radiant electric at 10 or 20 =A3 a snip Chris If you have to then raise the dew point by insulating and provide sufficient ventilation but what a waste of heat and money that would be