How do you store/protect your clothes against moisture and mold?
In summer, you won’t be wearing your jeans for example, and during winter you won’t be wearing shorts.
I had about 3 pairs of pants with a whitish mold all over them, I had to soak them in vinegar and wash them to kill the mold. I had them folded in a draw for about 5 months or so when Taiwan is incredibly hot and there is no reason to wear them.
I have a suit which I paid about 15,000 for and it has a cover for it, but now I am incredibly paranoid about it getting moldly.
I set my dehumidifier at 60% and leave it on…always.
Also, you can get those vacuum seal bags (got some from Costco). Just use a vacuum cleaner to suck the air out. I store my comforter in one during the summer.
There’s ones that you need a vacuum for and ones that you don’t. Both work pretty well, just make sure they are airtight! If no air gets in, how can mold get in?
Now, they aren’t completely mold-proof, but it works much better than those plastic drawers they sell at Carrefour.
Some other things you can think about doing are aiming the dehumidifier straight at your closet. If you don’t have a “portable” dehumidifier, you can use the function on your AC unit. If it’s too cold for you to turn on the AC unit while you’re at home, just turn it on when you leave for work and set a timer. I usually set mine for around 2-3 hours.
As another precaution, you can buy dehumidifying bags in all different shapes and sizes at Carrefour. There’s an entire section of them. Ones that go in your drawer, ones that you can hang and so on and so forth.
I’m thinking about doing this, but afraid of the electricity bill sky rocketing, but I’m hella tired of having to come home and dehumidify the room. My clothes out on the balcony never get any sunlight too. I have to point the dehumidifier at them for another hour before they’re able to be folded.
Any problems? With some awesome reliable machines from Sharp and Panasonic, no. But more than ten years ago, I had a Whirlpool dehumidifier that, well, kept running longer than it should have. I came home to a pool of water on the floor. Other than that fiasco (after which I ditched the Whirlpool), no problems.
But yes running these machines 24/7 will use electricity. In my view, I believe it’s still cheaper than having to replace or try to rescue my shoes and clothes.
No need to do it in the summer, but I started mine up again a couple of months ago. Like @afterspivak, I also run mine 24/7. But, as mentioned, I set mine to 60% humidity. Once it senses it’s below that level, it just blows air.
I have a TECO that is about 5 years old and have had not problems with it. I like to keep my apartment nice and dry.
I figure if the electricity bill is a bit higher, that’s ok. I’ll pay it for a comfortable home that’s mold-free. Money well spent, IMO.
I asked bc my mom’s old dehumidifier smoked up and probably amost blew up. Luckily, she wasn’t far from home and we have good neighbors across the hall. Not sure what brand it was, but definitely wasn’t a better known Japanese brand.
I’m currently working with a old hand me down from the parents. It would probably take 2 hours for humidity to go down 1%. Despite the display saying it’s around 75%, I feel like the room isn’t. Also, the water bin is almost completely full, but the humidity level is only down 3%.
Tempted to look into the one that stops at a certain humidity level like you @Yang_Gui_Zi
I was wrong about the brand, but it was still a Taiwan brand. I have this Sampo. I’ll probably in vest in a larger capacity one since my apartment now is larger than when I bought this dehumidifier. But, it still works great! Pretty sure I paid around 4500 NT on sale.
Yeah, I think I also have a really really old Sampo. The handle is broken and is loud as all hell. It works (slowly), so I’m not about to get rid of it.
They have deals on PChome for a large one and a small one for around 4000-5000NT. Should’ve looked into that on Black Friday, I know some of the websites were doing deals.
I know to stick to Panasonic and Hitachi and to stay away from Taitung and most local brands.
There’s absolutely no reason to be wearing jeans in Taiwan. Personally, I took a tip from the 1970s: polyester pants. Yes, they even make them now in non-bell bottom models. Polyester golf pants–super light, super comfortable, and they’re not even shiny like they were in the disco era. I couldn’t live without them in Taiwan.
