home Fix label D.I.Y label_important Toilets

toilet dripping codensation on wood floor?

Hi can any one help on this one .In my bathroom we have orginal wooden floorboard,but the toilet cistern is getting condensation on the outside and dripping on the wooden floor,and in doing this is making the floor wet and is now going black as far as i recall this has only happenend since the weather has got cold any help much appreciated jo please e mail at martin.joanne@hotmail.co.uk

j mussett, November 2008

home Fix label D.I.Y label_important Toiletsdone

it sounds like your cistern is fed from the cold mains,
to stop the condensation forming it needs to be fed from the cold water tank in the loft where the temperature isn't so cold,where as the cold main comes out of the ground it is very cold then enters your house which is very warm and of course it condenses.

chrisd, November 2008

Find a way to keep the water warm, either hook it to the hot water or install a heater of some sort, maybe an aquarium heater in the tank. 70 or 75 degrees should do the trick. As long as the tank stays warmer than the dew point.

joseppie, November 2008

The moisture laden warm air in the bathroom (you will always have moisture laden warm air in a bathroom) is condensing on the cold cistern - you knew this.

Provide more ventilation if you can - open a window a bit especially after bathing. Let the damp air out. Consider a vent fan in a wall or window.

Drape a towel over the cistern to keep the moist air away from it. Or find a way of warming the cistern up - even a little bit. Crank up the radiator.

Check the overflow pipe - if cold air is blowing directly up the pipe the large body of water in the cistern can become very cold - I had a tank in the loft freeze up because of cold air up the overflow. Get an angled bend on the pipe to stop the direct blow.

Clean the staining on the floor and put down bath mats to catch any condensation that might drip off.

On a personal note: Cover up the wooden floorboards and put down modern vinyl - the boards were never intended to be left exposed and look quite ugly with their gaps, dents and nail holes - splinters too.

Peccavi, November 2008