<p>My daughter’s new rental condo is a basement level, although about 1/4 of it is above ground. Each bedroom as well as the living room, dining room and the bathroom all have windows; the problem is the bathroom. When the girls shower, the entire bathroom is soaking wet. The have tried opening the window while showering and leaving the door to the hallway cracked, but my daughter says even the items in the medicine cabinet are wet. The bathroom is small-toilet, sink, and tub shower, with not floor room to speak of. </p>
<p>I assume a dehumidifier would help them out, but which one? I have looked at a few online, but it seems like many are noisy and require an outlet to plug it into. they have one outlet, but it is next to the sink, making plugging in a hair dryer a bit difficult. It also seems that it would be best for the dehumidifier to run 24/7; if they really are noisy, the girls might night like that. They both shower in the evening, so at the very least it would need to run overnight.</p>
<p>Any suggestions for the tiny bathroom that is reasonable to get for a rental unit? I never understand why building are built and the bathroom have no exhaust fan.</p>
<p>Running it at night would make a huge difference. Wetness will mean mold in short order. Better to have a little hassle with a dehumidifier than that. They are fairly cheap too. Just have to empty it every morning or run to a drain.</p>
<p>Have they tried leaving a simple fan run in the bathroom doorway at night? It’d be less expensive than a dehumidifier and something that would be more likely to be used later on.</p>
<p>When a building gets water damaged, the water restortation people always bring in fans because they can dehumidify a room much faster than a dehumidifier.</p>
<p>Of course they’d have to take the fan out some of the time but it’s a rental unit and they are young.</p>
<p>I thought about them getting just a box fan or an oscillating fan on a stand; the oscillating fan would cover more area. My daughter has 2 oscillating fans here in the basement from college, but it would probably cost me more to ship it to her than for her to go out and buy a new one!</p>
<p>How about putting in a window fan in the bathroom window with air venting from the bathroom to the outside? Is it a sliding window or a tilting window? If sliding, then a window fan should work. It would probably have to be removed during storms if the window is exposed to the elements.</p>
<p>What part of the country is this in? Will this problem go away with the colder weather when they start heating the place?</p>
<p>Fans are generally more electricity efficient than dehumidifiers and you have to empty out the water from time to time.</p>
<p>Unfortunately the window is a very narrow tilt window, opening from left to right; a window fan is not an option. The condo is an old dorm that was converted several year ago to a condo complex. While there is what looks like a radiator in the bathroom, I am not sure it is functioning. Each bedroom and the living room have their own thermostats, so I don’t know what would run the one in the bathroom; I didn’t look very closely. </p>
<p>Because this is a below ground unit, I am not sure the dampness will go away even in the winter, especially if there is no direct heat in the room. On the plus side, my daughter did say her towels did dry in the room and she did not notice a musty odor to them. </p>
<p>I think I will suggest to the girls that they try a fan and see how that works and then go from there.</p>
<p>Some other suggestions: an electric space heater which would heat up the room promoting evaporation - the bathroom door or window would have to be left open so that the more moist air would have someplace to go.</p>
<p>If you have someone in the family handy with tools, they might be able to rig up an exhaust fan to the tilt-window if there’s enough space to get a hose through the opening. If the window opens, say three inches, then a hose could be connected to a fan in the bathroom that exhausts to the hose with an intake in the room.</p>
<p>The handy person, my husband, was just there last weekend; we will not be back for awhile. I don’t think a exhaust fan can be installed; I just wish the developer would have though about this when designing the units.</p>
<p>I have a very similar problem in my dorm bathroom. I live in NY on the 9th floor but the bathroom is trapped with heat after we shower! I dont have room for a fan or anything. There is what looks like an antient air conditioner/radiator or SOMETHING in the wall that looks broken. I am from the South so I am not used to wall unit Air conditioners and whatnot. I hope others can give some ideas as to how to fix this problem!</p>
<p>We’ve had way too much experience with dehumidifiers living in the humid south, plus dealing with window & roof leaks. Mid-summer isn’t a problem since the A/C dehumidifies, but in spring and fall when the temps are mild and rain is frequent, excess humidity can be a problem. </p>
<p>Two reasonably priced, quiet and effective units I’ve bought are the Sunpentown 46 pint dehu and the Soleus 40 pint dehu. Both can be found online for <$200. Soleus used to (& may still) make a 25 pint dehu, but I would not suggest buying it as it may not draw moisture rapidly enough to solve this problem. I don’t recall if the Sunpentown can be used with a drain hose instead of its tank, but I know that’s an option for the Soleus 40. </p>
<p>It might be a good idea to move the hairdryer from the bathroom sink outlet & use it in the bedroom at a desk or dressing table (as much to free up the bathroom as to be able to use that outlet for a dehu.) The other option would be to buy an extension cord so that the dehu could be plugged into an outlet outside the bathroom and then moved in and out as needed. I’d also suggest a small, battery operated hygrometer to monitor the RH. I have several (they’re inexpensive) on all floors, and try to keep our readings <45%.</p>
<p>Warmrails towel warmer bars have also been helpful in our home. Towels seem to dry much faster on them and don’t get musty odors. They come in both wall-hung and free standing versions, and some can be hardwired instead of plugged into an outlet.</p>
<p>SallyNYU, have you looked at tower fans? Some have a footprint of <6", while the larger ones are about 10 - 12". That’s far less space than a traditional box fan or oscillating fan. Another option is a wall hung fan. They look like standard 12" round oscillating fans but are made to be wall-mounted. </p>
<p>First, though, have you called building management (or maint., the RA, or housing office) about that broken device in your bathroom wall? Surely there’s someone whose job it is to repair or replace it. Be the squeaky wheel!</p>