When we moved into our current property, we had an inkling that it may have had an issue with damp because although the walls and ceilings were fairly newly painted, there was a wallpapered feature wall in the main bedroom and it was bubbling quite badly in one corner. However, we loved so many things about the house and the location that we decided we’d just deal with the damp as and when it became a problem for us…which was basically six months after moving in!
We spent the best part of two winters bleaching the walls and ceilings when the mould grew through and did our best to keep the rooms well aired; we didn’t dry washing on the radiators and kept the windows on vent all year round but it was starting to feel like a bit of a battle. The landlady did her best to help as well, paying to have an extractor vent installed in the bathroom and eventually having a whole new roof on the house! Husband and I also spent a week treating the walls and ceilings with a special mould-resistant paint and a paint which contained volcanic ash to stop cold spots, but none of this would be any good if we didn’t tackle the condensation problem. 
In stepped the EcoAir DD3 dehumidifier. EcoAir sent it to us to try out and I cannot begin to tell you how happy I am that they did. The main time that we experience condensation on the walls and windows is in the morning and leaving it to soak into the walls throughout the day was obviously causing the mould to grow. Now, we put the EcoAir on as soon as we get up and leave it on a 2 hour cycle (or sometimes a 4 hour cycle when the condensation looks particularly bad) and we’ve been measuring how much water we collect each time. The results are genuinely mindblowing.
On a 2 hour cycle, we collect 500ml of water and on a 4 hour cycle, we colect around 850ml of water. That’s half a litre to almost a litre of water PER DAY which isn’t soaking into our walls.
When I first emptied the collection tray out, I was properly astounded by just how much water was in there and I won’t lie, I’m just as impressed every single day. So far, between the treatments we’ve given the walls and the dehumidifier working so hard, we’ve had almost three months of being completely mould-free, which is a HUGE deal for us. We were starting to worry about the effects that it may be having on our health and were really considering our options in terms of whether continuing to live in this house was viable, but this has much such a huge difference that it no longer even feels like an issue.
One thing we loved about the EcoAir DD3 is that it’s so easy to use. The collection tray just slots in and out and it even has an emptying spout on the bottom to make it even easier to empty. It also comes with a hose which you could run into a plughole and leave on constant if you had a massive damp problem to deal with. Also, and I’m sure this isn’t a feature that EcoAir promote, the air it blows out is slightly warm, so if you were to run it for an hour before you got in bed on a winter night, you’d make the room feel warmer, too!
I know it seems like bloggers are often effusive in their praise when they’ve been sent something for a review, but I’m being totally honest about the fact that it’s made such a big difference to our lives, and I would honestly recommend it to anyone who was battling against damp. It’s small enough not to feel like it takes up too much space, it’s easy to use, easy to empty, and works BRILLIANTLY. If I had one minor criticism, it would be that it’s ever so slightly noisy, but given the fact that I never run it when I’m in the room, that really is a minor issue.
Do let me know if you have any questions about the EcoAir DD3, do leave me a comment below or hit me up on social media.
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When you live in, or have recently bought, an old house it’s really tempting to completely modernise it so that none of the original features remain. This is usually the cheapest approach to renovating and gives you a clean, up-to-date feel, but removing original features and taking away the character of a property can actually decrease it’s value in the long run, so it may well be worth staying true to the original style of the house and renovating it using architectural antiques rather than modern fittings. Here’s a list of areas that you should consider “backdating”.