Common Causes of Home Window Condensation

If you discover water running down your windows, as well as discoloration and damage to window wood sills and trim, you’re seeing signs of a condensation problem. If it’s not corrected, condensation can contribute to mold and mildew growth that degrades indoor air quality.

What Causes Home Window Condensation?

When you notice home window condensation, you need to identify the cause, which may be one or more of these issues.

• Inadequate ventilation – If your home isn’t properly ventilated, moisture from cooking, washing dishes, doing laundry, showering, bathing and even breathing will stay trapped indoors.
• Older, single-pane windows – Condensation due to high humidity levels is more likely to form on inefficient, single pane windows.
• Oversized cooling equipment – An oversized air conditioner is more prone to short cycling, which means the A/C quickly satisfies the thermostat setting and shuts off before it’s able to remove enough moisture from your air.

How to Remedy Window Condensation

Depending on what’s causing your condensation problem, there are steps you can take to get it resolved:

• Run kitchen and bathroom fans. Many daily living activities add humidity to your air, but you can help remove the excess moisture by running exhaust fans, as long as they’re vented directly outdoors.
• Check the clothes dryer vent. Make sure the dryer vent is properly vented to the outdoors, and check that the ducting is intact and tightly attached to your dryer.
• Get your A/C inspected. Have a reputable HVAC contractor perform a complete maintenance inspection to make sure your equipment is operating properly and removing as much moisture as it can.  If it is time to replace your equipment make sure it is sized properly.  A slightly smaller unit can help to remove more moisture from the air and reduce indoor humidity levels.
• Upgrade to efficient windows. When possible, replace single panes with energy efficient windows that have a low U-factor for optimal insulating effect and a low solar heat gain coefficient (SHGC) to block the sun’s warmth effectively.

For expert help solving home window condensation issues, contact CCAC, Inc.We’ve proudly served the Coastal Bend area since 1979.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in Corpus Christi, Texas about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about condensation and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

Credit/Copyright Attribution: “Fedorov Ivan Sergeevich/Shutterstock”