two months away and mold problems.
 

I'm working as expatriate here and next month, here comes vacation, so I'm gonna be back home and then travel with my cricket team since college. But it also means I will leave my house unattended in 2 months without any support of mold and dust prevention.

I'm thinking about buying an air purifier and let it flow 24/7. Then I need to think about the bill.

Resolution?

What is your usual "support of mold and dust prevention"? And where are we talking about? I've lived in tropical climates and gone away for a couple of months, nothing out of the ordinary when I returned. You might want to explain more why you're concerned.

I mean if I leave things as they are, so dust will pile up on books and electronic appliances and stuffs and in upcoming humid winter, things are likely getting molded if you don't clean regularly. What's more should I explain?

I don't understand your concern. We routinely travel anywhere from a few weeks to 6 months at a time and have never had a problem with dust or mold build-up. We just leave our HVAC system on either in the heat or a/c mode (albeit at "higher" or "lower" temperature settings) while we are away. We install new filters before we leave and change them when we get back.

Your situation could be different depending on where "here" is!

This is god's way of telling you, you don't have enough to think about.

I understand your problem mononoke but others will not since they do not live in places where mould can become an issue in a very short period of time.

https://www.google.ca/?gfe_rd=cr&ei=...+humid+climate

To me, the key is good air circulation. Closing up a house tighly pretty much guarantees mould will develop. I once left a bedroom closet closed (rather than leaving the door partially open) for a few weeks and when I returned an expensive leather jacket in the closet was covered in mould and had to be thrown out. It can happen quite quickly.

While living in that high humidity (97%) climate I had to keep windows open 24/7 to allow for constant air circulation. Most people leaving their home aren't willing to do that given the security risks.

Unfortunately, there is no simple answer to your problem. You can leave heat or air conditioning on at a lower setting and use a dehumidifier (but it must go to a drain, not fill a bucket since you won't be there to empty it obviously) but there will still be no guarantee that you won't return home to some mould.

I understand the problem, such as it is, perfectly well. I lived in Puerto Rico and on occasion leather items would mold. There is a simple answer - just carry on and don't worry about it. Put your favorite leather items in the refrigerator and lock the door behind you.

I live in NC where we have plenty of humidity and mold has never been a problem. My house actually acquires less dust when I'm gone, because much dust is dead skin cells.

I bet you've never been to Malaysia and if you have several huge bookshelves to take care you will see what's really going on...

I bet I have. Probably best to stay home.

You have AC, don't you? Naturally, you leave that on, only with the thermostat turned up.

I think you are picked on mononoke :)) If you want to buy an air purifier then go for it.

http://hellboundbloggers.com/2014/11...althier-62663/ <-- this one they said it's only charge not up to $1/month so it's kinda solve your problem, no?

I have no idea if this works for your situation, but you can buy large packs of silica gel and hang them all over the place.

http://www.amazon.com/DampRid-FG50T-.../dp/B0029EGUNG
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DYJ2BC4

Drape plastic over your bookshelves and put these under the plastic? (I know I'd be in sad shape if my mountaineering book collection ever mildewed).

Might provide some peace of mind if nothing else.

When my wife and I spent a couple weeks in Trinidad some years ago we stayed in a guest house where they were using some kind of anti-mold chemical. They that had a few scattered around the house in small tubs. I can't remember what they called that stuff, but they had no mold in their damp and humid home.

Do what you can and have a good trip.

An 'air purifier' is NOT a dehumidifier and will have little effect on mould prevention.
http://matt.might.net/articles/how-t...s-and-vacuums/

If books are your problem mononoke read here:
http://www.biblio.com/book-collectin...ve-mold-mildew

Again, controlling humidity and good airflow are the only real way to deal with the problem.

I am from Alaska and recently moved to Korea on a work assignment. I can understand your problem . The mold problem is plaguing me ever since I moved to my new apartment room which is on the ground floor of a small alley with high risers overlooking it and hardly gets any sunshine . Here the norm is to use air purifiers for mold and everything else . Its been 2 months since I've been using this Korean brand http://go-clair.com/ I think they have shipping to the states as well . Its quite effective in handling the mold problem as well as I can notice my apartment room being a less dusty.

As an Alaskan you may be used to keeping doors and windows closed wanderingsoul. Leaving a window open 24/7 to allow air to circulate may help you.

Ok, so after arguing back and forth, I feel that I must dig in it myself and here they are:

A dehumidifier's primary function is to eliminate excessive moisture from the air and bring down a room's humidity levels. While this device does not clear or filter air, it does help remove allergens, like mold and dust mites, which thrive in a moist or humid environment. With a humidity level less than 50%, these sources of allergies and asthma wither and die. However, maintaining dehumidifiers requires cleaning all its coils and buckets periodically, and also checking these coils for frost, to improve efficiency. If they have plates, they should be washed once a week.

An air purifier circulates air through a filter which removes air borne pollutants, like dust or smoke particles, and even pollen, which a dehumidifier cannot. An purifier may prevent mold build-up as it removes the spores from the air. Air purifiers can be maintained by replacing the filter every 6 months. However, because it cannot control humidity levels in a house, excessive moisture can cause mold to return.

So it means while dehumidifier requires regular clean-up, air purifier does not control the in-house humidity even though it prevents mold build-up.

Now to the bill. A basic small dehumidifier using 250W per hour and if we run it 12 hours/day (which means I have to buy the switcher when I'm away), it will costs around 20 bucks per month. Meanwhile, the air purifier (thanks to wanderingsoul's recommended link), an air purifier that I take example from Clair, is taking only 4W per hour, so even I leave it on for 24/7, it costs only around $1 monthly. Very economically.

I guess an air purifier would be my ultimate choice at the moment. And now we are having new tech like Clair, plus it's not expensive (I find $160 is very reasonable price), why not?

I have no experience with air purifiers but do have with dehumidifiers. I can tell you that I have run a dehumidifier year round and not had to clean a filter more than annually. I suppose that depends on the environment but I can't imagine it needing weekly maintenance.

As for the condensate, if it is routed directly to a drain as I said earlier, there is no buckets to be emptied. Nor are there any coils that frost up. I'm not sure where that idea came from mononoke. I do note in the following article that they confuse some things and do talk about buckets, frost, etc. so I suspect it may be an article you read. If so, I have to say that it has some rather dubious information in it that makes no sense to me and even confuses humidifiers with dehumidifiers when talking about cool mist and warm mist.
http://www.diffen.com/difference/Air...s_Dehumidifier
I would give little credence to this article.

In another article the writer quotes a cost based on actual use of $35 for a year. That conflicts with your $20 per month figure.
http://matt.might.net/articles/how-t...s-and-vacuums/

In my opinion, humidifiers are better for mould control and air purifiers are better for allergens and dust. I think this article gives a clear and simple answer.
http://www.bestdehumidifierreviews.c...-air-purifier/


Dehumidifiers I am familiar with don't require a 'switcher' they can be set to either maintain a certain level of humidity in which case they cycle on/off as required or set to run for specific periods of time. ie. 4 hours on/4 hours off etc. If they are set to maintain a humidity level they may or may not be on 12 hours per day, again it depends on the envirnoment.

To me the question is which will do a better job of controlling mould. Since mould needs a humid environment to grow, then controlling humidity is to me what matters. I would want to see data on the efficiency of both methods being considered before deciding. Cost is irrelevant if the mould is not controlled.