The Germans are definitely on to something!
Every day come rain, shine, Summer or Winter, in Europe the people of Germany ventilate their homes & I don't mean popping the window open an inch!
They throw open all the windows wide for 5 to 10 minutes to rapidly purge the inside air with fresh air from outside. And, there's a name for it in Germany......It’s called Stoßlüften. It translates as 'Shock Ventilation' or 'Shock Airing' Even Office & Schools will take part in this exercise during break times to refresh the air.
When done first thing in the morning, this widely used method allows the overnight stale & damp air to be quickly evacuated from the home & replaced with clean fresh air from outside. This method is understood to be a very efficient process and limits the loss of energy from the home rather than a window left ajar for a long period to trickle ventilate.
A quick bit of science.
Overnight while sleeping a human adult can create around a pint & a half of moisture per night!
Plants carry out photosynthesis turning carbon dioxide into H2O (water), so a lot of plants in a home can mean a higher moisture level being created. Approximately 97% of the water taken in via the roots can be expelled into the room. This in turn can increase the moisture content in a room by 15%-17% depending on many plants are in the room.
When the air temperature within your home rises, it is able to suspend more water molecules (think the tropics), so when the heating goes off & the temperature drops overnight into the early hours, the colder air can no longer suspend the heavy water molecules, this is then known as the dew point & suddenly all the excess moisture is released onto the coldest surface, which is usually the glass in your windows.
To see condensation in action, take out a chilled glass bottle or can from the fridge & stand it on the side for 2 minutes. Within a short space of time it will become soaking wet! This is the moist air being condensed back into water droplets on the cold surface. And remember, the bottle or can didn't 'create' the moiste air, it was already in your home.
Even trapping cold air behind a thick curtain overnight, then allowing the warmer saturated air to hit it when you open them in the morning can have an immediate effect of condensation on the windows as you may well have experienced.
Good Double Glazing or even Secondary Glazing can reduce your condensation issue, but it generally won't solve it, the root cause of the moisture content needs to also be addressed.
We recommend giving this a go & by all means let us know your findings.
Happy fresh air!
The L+L Team
Avoid this....
- Not opening windows to ventilate moist air.
- Mould growth encouraged by stale damp air on a cold
surface.
- Creating lots of moisture & not allowing it to escape from the
home.
- Don't ignore the issue.
Do this....
+ Throw open your windows to let the fresh air in!
+ Moderate & control the amount of moisture you create
within the home as best as you can.
+ Try to keep an ambient temperature within your home.
+ Use a dehumidifier to aid control of moisture.
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