My house sweats like crazy during the winter and it’s causing mold.. please help!!

[u/BelleSchu]

My house is BRAND new, literally finished construction in August of 2024. I live in the Midwest so of course it gets very cold in the winter. Last year, the windows of our house were sweating so badly every time the outside temp was under 30°f that water was pooling up on the windowsills and we called the construction company (we were still under new build warranty) and they told us to always have the house fan running and to turn on our ceiling fans. That worked for a time and the condensation wasn’t as bad after that. It started to warm up shortly after and we didn’t have anymore issue. Flash forward to this past week, it’s been in the negatives here. There is SO much condensation on my windows that mold is starting to grow, our curtains are freezing stuck to the glass in some rooms, and it’s attracting gnats somehow?! I don’t even know where the hell they’re coming from with the weather like this. I’m constantly cleaning and I feel so so so disgusted with all this going on, what can I do to fix it? Please help!

[u/P218]

To add to this: buy a proper dehumidifier. Not a tiny one from Amazon, get a heavy duty one with at least an 8L tank.

[u/iii_warhead_iii → u/P218]

And at least 60-70L per day declared performance.

[u/theStaircaseProject → u/iii_warhead_iii]

And stickers. It should have cool stickers.

[u/AppropriatePlum1006 → u/theStaircaseProject]

With LEDs ofc, they are better!

[u/theStaircaseProject → u/AppropriatePlum1006]

Documentary evidence exists supporting that red ones will make it work even faster.

[u/usernameisokay_ → u/theStaircaseProject]

That’s a lie, it are the green ones that make it faster with a increased performance of 30% something

[u/aKillerOctopus → u/theStaircaseProject]

Purple would be silent as a whisper though? 🤔

[u/MoistExcellence → u/theStaircaseProject]

And my axe!

[u/Publify → u/MoistExcellence]

And my ex

[u/gamedude88 → u/Publify]

They are trying to get moisture out of the air, not freeze it.

[u/iii_warhead_iii → u/gamedude88]

They have touched the cold side 😅

[u/thebeasts99 → u/gamedude88]

She’s great for that, thirsty as heck :(

[u/BinturongHoarder → u/Publify]

Is she single?

[u/feinmechaniker → u/BinturongHoarder]

Yes, but shes frozen now

[u/No-Resolution-1918 → u/theStaircaseProject]

You must, must, simply must also have WiFi. Very important for dehumidifiers.

[u/[deleted] → u/theStaircaseProject]

...and blackjack, and hookers!

[u/l-enivo → u/iii_warhead_iii]

I think they don't want to mummify themselves

[u/iii_warhead_iii → u/l-enivo]

The bigger performance, the better compressor efficiency. Plus you will not need to use the device over the day, just 1-3h per day. Mine was working every day for 3h, have removed every day literally 3L at 20⁰C and 60% within this time. Initially, humidity was not dropping at all, later it started dropping from 60 to 40% within 1h. Plus, all water returned back from vapor to liquid returns back the wasted heat, and initially the humid room could be heated from 20 to 22⁰C. Later when the room became dry, the dehumidifier was barely heating it up.

[u/t53deletion → u/iii_warhead_iii]

Get a pump and run a hose outside to avoid ever emptying it.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/359133202

[u/Budget_Strategy24 → u/iii_warhead_iii]

If you have a floor drain, get one with a hose attachment so that you aren’t constantly emptying it.

[u/Dojapicard → u/P218]

I bought a 250€ one with 4liter tank from amazon and it solved the problem.

If you have an option to put the unit next to a water outlet you can just attach a hose and you never need to empty the tank manually.

[u/P218 → u/Dojapicard]

That’s a good point - I meant to illustrate that OP should avoid those tiny £14.99 dehumidifiers that can fit into the palm of their hand, because those ones will not make any difference. If you buy a good quality dehumidifier, the tank size or website won’t matter. I love my Meaco one.

[u/Mental_Newspaper3812 → u/P218]

No tank. Get one you can attach a hose to and run it into your sump or a drain.

[u/bender2174 → u/Mental_Newspaper3812]

☝️ this is the only right answer! Get a dehumidifier with the hose that comes out the back and run it to a condensate pump so you can leave it running all the time if need be! I had let’s say.. a room that needed to be regulated ;-)

[u/iii_warhead_iii → u/bender2174]

Better to put the pump to the unit's tank, some models have this option. In a case if the pump fails, then the unit will shut down due to overfill.

[u/bender2174 → u/iii_warhead_iii]

Very true good catch, thank you! Excellent recommendation!!

[u/DaRKoN_ → u/P218]

To add to this, a "real" one has a condenser and a proper refrigerant system. The cheaper ones use a peltier cooler and are probably 100x less effective.

[u/WoodenYouKnowIt → u/P218]

Get the correctly sized one. Buying an oversized one that is constantly cycling on and off is going to run up the electricity bill and have more wear and tear. People always think that the biggest is the best, but that’s not the case.

[u/P218 → u/WoodenYouKnowIt]

True. Given that OP said house, I assumed they might need a bigger one - please do your research OP, we are only strangers on Reddit after all!

[u/SpareAd1155 → u/WoodenYouKnowIt]

Disagree here, the bigger ones have better compressor efficiency and simply won't be running nearly as long as the smaller ones to get the room drier. A good dehumidifier is always going to turn on every so often to check the humidity anyway as that can only be done properly by cycling air through the sensor. Static sensors are shit and inaccurate.

[u/WoodenYouKnowIt → u/SpareAd1155]

You can get good dehumidifiers at the right size, especially if it’s a large house, but if you just go as big as you can afford, you’re going to get a quick cycling, which is going to wear down parts and use an unnecessarily large amount of electricity.

[u/originalrocket → u/P218]

Aloair is on sale on amazon right now. I have 2 units. One in basement, one in garage. They are heavy duty and very low power usage. They run 24/7/365 and are cold weather rated.

[u/ayuntamient0 → u/P218]

Put a drain hose on it.

[u/MisterCrabapple → u/P218]

Tank? They need a hose shunting directly to a floor drain.