Equipped To Survive Equipped To Survive® Presents
The Survival Forum
Where do you want to go on ETS?

Topic Options
#194889 - 02/02/10 01:01 AM OT: Living in COLD weather
KTOA Offline
Journeyman

Registered: 02/08/04
Posts: 86
Loc: SoCal
I ask this question out of ignorance due to having never lived any length of time in COLD country, like below -10 for weeks at a time.

When people in the house routinely take long, hot, humid showers how do you keep the bathroom from becoming moldy?

Is the answer a big a** bathroom fart fan complete with seatbelts on the toilet? Or keep the window open and risk bad things from the really COLD air (I would presume.)

Top
#194896 - 02/02/10 01:50 AM Re: OT: Living in COLD weather [Re: KTOA]
clearwater Offline
Old Hand

Registered: 03/19/05
Posts: 1181
Loc: Channeled Scablands
The air is so dry in cold country, you WANT to humidify the air.
Many install humidifiers on their furnaces. It helps avoid
nose bleeds.

Top
#194915 - 02/02/10 03:04 AM Re: OT: Living in COLD weather [Re: clearwater]
Art_in_FL Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 09/01/07
Posts: 2432
Ventilation, a fan or partially open window, will work but some people like their showers steamy. The way around that is to take your shower and then to leave the fan on, or window cracked, for some time to clear the moisture out. A timer type switch helps control a fan.

Top
#194916 - 02/02/10 03:06 AM Re: OT: Living in COLD weather [Re: clearwater]
scafool Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 12/18/08
Posts: 1534
Loc: Muskoka
Bathrooms need ventilation to dry out.
If you don't have a bathroom exhaust fan then leaving the bathroom door open when nobody is in it will help a lot.

Opening the bathroom window for a short while to remove the moist air helps but I think the risk of somebody forgetting to close it is a bit too much worry.
_________________________
May set off to explore without any sense of direction or how to return.

Top
#194924 - 02/02/10 04:19 AM Re: OT: Living in COLD weather [Re: scafool]
Todd W Offline
Product Tester
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 11/14/04
Posts: 1928
Loc: Mountains of CA
We crack the window, and the bathroom door. Our bathroom is the definition of TINY, and the water will drop from the ceiling if we do not keep it vented.

_________________________
Self Sufficient Home - Our journey to self sufficiency.

Top
#194934 - 02/02/10 06:18 AM Re: OT: Living in COLD weather [Re: Todd W]
Alex Offline
Old Hand

Registered: 03/01/07
Posts: 1034
Loc: -
Also the mold is actually quite a rare beast in the cold countries (in Russian Siberia at least).

Top
#194942 - 02/02/10 07:28 AM Re: OT: Living in COLD weather [Re: Alex]
epirider Offline
Enthusiast

Registered: 12/03/05
Posts: 232
Loc: Wyoming, USA
I agree with Alex and Clearwater. I live in WY where the relative humitiy ranges from 5% - 70% but not in the same season. In the winter here, there may be 2 feet of snow on the ground but it is dry enough to sneeze and get a nose bleed. That or you walk across the room and you are able to arc weld with the static electricity that you generate (ok a bit of a stretch, but...).

Seriously the climate is dry enough out here when it is cold, I have to humidify my house. Mold could be a problem in the spring / summer but not usually.
_________________________
A government big enough to give you everything you want,
is strong enough to take everything you have.
Thomas Jefferson

Top
#195015 - 02/03/10 01:03 AM Re: OT: Living in COLD weather [Re: epirider]
sodak Offline
Addict

Registered: 03/20/05
Posts: 410
I have a central humidifier built into my furnace - it's dry here too (Colorado). I have to run it several hours a day to get it up to 25 - 30%. We just open the bathroom door after the showers, and enjoy.

The only place I see mold is on old food in the fridge.


Edited by sodak (02/03/10 01:05 AM)

Top
#195018 - 02/03/10 03:04 AM Re: OT: Living in COLD weather [Re: sodak]
MDinana Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 03/08/07
Posts: 2208
Loc: Beer&Cheese country
Another thing, is you don't routinely take long hot showers. Costs too much to do that. I mean, you can take a hot shower, but usually dont' lounge for 20 minutes.

That being said, you really shouldn't do that in SoCal either cuz of the perpetual drought!

Top
#195019 - 02/03/10 03:04 AM Re: OT: Living in COLD weather [Re: KTOA]
CANOEDOGS Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 02/03/07
Posts: 1853
Loc: MINNESOTA

long cold winter here,we have a glass block window in the bathroom that has a small vent.we crack that a bit if needed.we also have lots --lots--of house plants and a couple fig trees in pots and watering those seems to kept the house just right,no mold problems but not to dry.

Top



Moderator:  Alan_Romania, Blast, chaosmagnet, cliff 
April
Su M Tu W Th F Sa
1 2 3 4 5 6
7 8 9 10 11 12 13
14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27
28 29 30
Who's Online
1 registered (chaosmagnet), 468 Guests and 68 Spiders online.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Newest Members
Explorer9, GallenR, Jeebo, NicholasMarshall, Yadav
5368 Registered Users
Newest Posts
Corny Jokes
by wildman800
Yesterday at 10:40 AM
People Are Not Paying Attention
by Jeanette_Isabelle
04/19/24 07:49 PM
USCG rescue fishermen frm deserted island
by brandtb
04/17/24 11:35 PM
Silver
by brandtb
04/16/24 10:32 PM
EDC Reduction
by Jeanette_Isabelle
04/16/24 03:13 PM
New York Earthquake
by chaosmagnet
04/09/24 12:27 PM
Bad review of a great backpack..
by Herman30
04/08/24 08:16 AM
Our adorable little earthquake
by Phaedrus
04/06/24 02:42 AM
Newest Images
Tiny knife / wrench
Handmade knives
2"x2" Glass Signal Mirror, Retroreflective Mesh
Trade School Tool Kit
My Pocket Kit
Glossary
Test

WARNING & DISCLAIMER: SELECT AND USE OUTDOORS AND SURVIVAL EQUIPMENT, SUPPLIES AND TECHNIQUES AT YOUR OWN RISK. Information posted on this forum is not reviewed for accuracy and may not be reliable, use at your own risk. Please review the full WARNING & DISCLAIMER about information on this site.