What temperature to make fitted wardrobe interior to combat mould ?

[Bob Charles]

Hi, Despite central heating, I have discovered a creamy coloured mould in fitte d wardrobes against north facing uninsulated interior cavity wall. Already has polystyrene sheet with wallpaper over it, have now fitted caged thermos tat heaters each is 55w in the units and need to know what temperature to h ave these maintain to be stopping the mould but not putting out more heat t han necessary and thus using up my limited finances., or drying up leather and rubber items etc and hobby paint. I dont want to be causing different d amage to such things by too high a temperature.

Also fitted 8inch diameter (2 x 4") vents either end of unit and vents betw een the units within.

There has to be a minimum temperature one should aim for, what is it ?

Everything I read is about what temperature to make the room, thats no use to me, the room was already 21deg C 8am till 2am. I need to know what tempe rature will offset condensation inside a rarely opened wardrobe /storage un it. Its a wardrobe used for garment and object storage not an everyday ward robe as such. I am in the room breathing out and sweating out moisture for the best part of the day as well.

I dont want to be told move it away from the wall either, its a fitted ward robe and it stays where it is.

I have by the way THOROUGHLY cleaned out the surfaces, removed all items, n othing goes back in without being cleansed, garment bags replaced etc etc.

Just want to set the thermostats on the devices correctly.

I have max min thermostats in the units to establish the thermostat setting s.

so are we talking 3 deg C . or 5 or 7 or 10 or what ????

Bob.

[tabbypurr]

ted wardrobes against north facing uninsulated interior cavity wall. Alread y has polystyrene sheet with wallpaper over it, have now fitted caged therm ostat heaters each is 55w in the units and need to know what temperature to have these maintain to be stopping the mould but not putting out more heat than necessary and thus using up my limited finances., or drying up leathe r and rubber items etc and hobby paint. I dont want to be causing different damage to such things by too high a temperature.

tween the units within.

e to me, the room was already 21deg C 8am till 2am. I need to know what tem perature will offset condensation inside a rarely opened wardrobe /storage unit. Its a wardrobe used for garment and object storage not an everyday wa rdrobe as such. I am in the room breathing out and sweating out moisture fo r the best part of the day as well.

rdrobe and it stays where it is.

nothing goes back in without being cleansed, garment bags replaced etc etc .

The temp you need depends on the vapour content of the air - no-one can tel l you. 55w isn't much but it might just be enough. Setting the stat to turn it off when it's warm enough to have the windows open in summer should suf fice. So about 22C.

NT

[The Natural Philosopher]

Expanded polystyrene sheet? How thick?

Frankly that should be all you need - 3mm of EPS. Or cork tiles on the unit's back

Or the wall.

The temperature that counts is the temperaturere of the surface that suffer from condensation

I'd be inclined to have that above 10C

There is no way to do that.

The thermostats will neither measure te room RH nor teh surface tempoeratire,

[Jeff Layman]

Have you thought of using a small dehumidifier inside the wardrobe? Something like this:

Or even cheaper but it will need emptying more frequently.

Lots of similar types available.

They should cost around 10p a day to run if left on continuously.

[Tim Watts]

The ventilation will actually do a lot of good here.

You might be best getting a humidity/termperature meter (with min/max on both) and popping it in where the mould grew. What you want is to prevent condensation. You may not need very much heat in a confined space to achieve this.

Are your heaters safe for the environment? If they get covered by something dropping onto them?

[Bob Charles]

2mm thin polystyrene sheet on wall. Did a lot of reading into this, first thoughts were dehumidifier, non elect rical crystals variety microwave it every so often, forget to and I have mo uld, then electrical types, one per unit, still need emptying, and the frid ge door being opened effect in winter when I open the door needs resolving, so then new plan of tackling the cause not treating the effect, a small he ater which costs £4 a month is the correct approach.

22C though is too high, the room itself is target 21 with honeywell evo hom e. The thermostat on the unit you turn to max, then when the temperature in there is what you require, turn it until click, from then on it will maint ain that temperature.

These are 55w hylite ecoheater with apparently a new more clever thermostat I was told patents applied for or something like that.

All I want to establish is, given my room usage, what to aim for 5C or 10C or ?? . Yes it all depended on the humidity of the room, I presume 80% humidity wou ld condense out at 8 whilst 40% would condense out at 5C, fictional figs bu t this is the tricky bit, working out just what I could aim it at, 5 or 8 o r 10 or ??

Bob

[Bob Charles]

no edit option in this forum, damn ! yes they have guards over them designed for the actual units with access to the thermostats.

Bob

[tabbypurr]

ctrical crystals variety microwave it every so often, forget to and I have mould, then electrical types, one per unit, still need emptying,

of course

eds resolving,

?

eater which costs £4 a month is the correct approach.

that of course doesn't tackle the cause. Nor is it in any way more correct than other methods

22 is perfect then

there is what you require, turn it until click, from then on it will mainta in that temperature.

If it clicks it's most likely an uncompensated bimetal stat, so I doubt it' s that accurate

at I was told patents applied for or something like that.

ould condense out at 8 whilst 40% would condense out at 5C, fictional figs but this is the tricky bit, working out just what I could aim it at, 5 or 8 or 10 or ??

I don't think you've understood my reply. Anyway you won't get enough temp rise from 55w for it to be worth worrying about.

NT

[Bob Charles]

Anyway you won't get enough temp rise from 55w for it to be worth worrying about.

the heat rods sold for wardrobes such as wardrobeheaters.co.uk or cupboard- heaters.co.uk are far less than 55w, goldenrod another said to be enough. T hat which I read said those 50w and higher are overkill, just need to raise the temperature a few degrees, no mention of having it hotter than the roo m.

18 wont cause condensation, neither will 15. electricity is the most unecon omical way of heating, if it had to be 22C then I would get three radiators plumbed in, and re-route the existing plumbing. No one I have read has sai d 22C. if the room gets to 21C and there is no mould in the room, why shoul d I aim for 22C ?

It will dry out and ruin the items stored in there.

I am told the thermostat is a different design to those existing,

One thing to consider is when the wardrobe is stuffed full of its contents again, there is not much actual airspace to heat compared to the current em pty space, 55W should be enough. Friend said in Hong Kong a 60W bulb was en ough to tackle mould from the 100% humidity out there.

I still wish to know what temperature will avoid 80% humidity from allowing mould to grow.

Bob

[tabbypurr]

d-heaters.co.uk are far less than 55w, goldenrod another said to be enough. That which I read said those 50w and higher are overkill, just need to rai se the temperature a few degrees, no mention of having it hotter than the r oom.

onomical way of heating, if it had to be 22C then I would get three radiato rs plumbed in, and re-route the existing plumbing. No one I have read has s aid 22C. if the room gets to 21C and there is no mould in the room, why sho uld I aim for 22C ?

s again, there is not much actual airspace to heat compared to the current empty space, 55W should be enough. Friend said in Hong Kong a 60W bulb was enough to tackle mould from the 100% humidity out there.

ng mould to grow.

It's hard to know what to say if you're not learning from what's been said already.

NT

[Thomas Prufer]

80% measured at a temp of 21 °C condenses out at 15 °C. So the coldest point in the wardrobe must be warmer than that.

Look up "dew point": the temperature at which the vapor condenses.

Thomas Prufer

[Chris Hogg]

As others have said, there's no simple answer without knowing the relative humidity in the wardrobe and the temperature of the wall.

If it were mine, I'd temporarily put a table lamp fitting on an extension lead in there, fitted with say a 60W incandescent bulb, permanently on, and see if it solves the problem. If not, up the wattage; if it's OK then drop the wattage, until you find the minimum wattage needed, then rig up something more permanent.

[Thomas Prufer]

... or get a "humidistat", with a plug, and run a slightly oversized heater from that. Set it to, say, 50%, and this will heat the wardrobe to a temp where the air has a relative humidity of 50%.

Note that the measurement of relative humidity will be off by +-5% or more on an inexpensive unit.

Thomas Prufer

[Chris Bartram]

I have a boxed in area to one side of a chimney breast in my Victorian solid-walled house, it has a gas meter in it. It always sufferred with condensation until i put my Raspberry Pi music player (with 2 1TB disks in an enclosure) into it. There can't be more than a few watts there, but it seems to work.

[Tim Watts]

It's not a forum.

It's USENET.

OK.

[Brian Gaff]

Well where is the damp coming from? The wall is the key, it starts with condensation which will surely be worse the warmer the inside is nod as cold air holds less moisture, you get condensation. So really, I would want to know where the damp is from. If its not in the heated air then its in the wall. Also of course when you get mould, you find it hard to get rid of it as the spores are always in the air. I'm sure somebody well versed in diagnosing the source of this and how to remove it for good will be along, but in my case the polystyrene on the outside wall was part of the issue in that it kept itself damp and was a growing medium once it got damp. Brian

[harry]

ted wardrobes against north facing uninsulated interior cavity wall. Alread y has polystyrene sheet with wallpaper over it, have now fitted caged therm ostat heaters each is 55w in the units and need to know what temperature to have these maintain to be stopping the mould but not putting out more heat than necessary and thus using up my limited finances., or drying up leathe r and rubber items etc and hobby paint. I dont want to be causing different damage to such things by too high a temperature.

tween the units within.

e to me, the room was already 21deg C 8am till 2am. I need to know what tem perature will offset condensation inside a rarely opened wardrobe /storage unit. Its a wardrobe used for garment and object storage not an everyday wa rdrobe as such. I am in the room breathing out and sweating out moisture fo r the best part of the day as well.

rdrobe and it stays where it is.

nothing goes back in without being cleansed, garment bags replaced etc etc .

What you need in there is a dehumidifier. (One of the chemical ones)

[The Natural Philosopher]

solid or EPS?

[harry]

ted wardrobes against north facing uninsulated interior cavity wall. Alread y has polystyrene sheet with wallpaper over it, have now fitted caged therm ostat heaters each is 55w in the units and need to know what temperature to have these maintain to be stopping the mould but not putting out more heat than necessary and thus using up my limited finances., or drying up leathe r and rubber items etc and hobby paint. I dont want to be causing different damage to such things by too high a temperature.

tween the units within.

e to me, the room was already 21deg C 8am till 2am. I need to know what tem perature will offset condensation inside a rarely opened wardrobe /storage unit. Its a wardrobe used for garment and object storage not an everyday wa rdrobe as such. I am in the room breathing out and sweating out moisture fo r the best part of the day as well.

rdrobe and it stays where it is.

nothing goes back in without being cleansed, garment bags replaced etc etc .

Excess humidity needs to be tackled at source. Eg Cooker hood Extracting to outside. Extractor fan in shower.

[The Natural Philosopher]

A few watts in a confined space makes all the difference.

As any passif haus person will tell you.

IF teh wradrope has good inside to room insulation, then its not gonna lose much heat.

And thats an issue. It stops the wardrobe getting warm from the room. Thats where ventilation is key.

I have single glazing. The rooms with open fires and thwacking great chimneys and underfloor vents do not get condensation.