When it comes to saving energy and heating costs, people can become really creative. Some of them only heat those rooms which they use most. Others get one of those fancy dog draught excluders, or they close all shutters to improve the insulation of their windows. And because for every degree you turn down your heating you save a good 6 % off your next energy bill, they wear a second sweater or a third pair of socks. That is certainly one way of dealing with the problem…

But what most people tend to forget: The apparent air temperature strongly depends on the humidity levels in the room you are in!

This phenomenon can easily be illustrated when you think of the summer holidays. Have you ever been to the tropics? Exactly – the high humidity levels in such areas make the heat almost unbearable. However, when you are in the desert, temperatures seem far more moderate, although they are usually a lot higher.

How you can use this information to save on heating costs at home?

It’s quite simple really: Just make sure that the relative humidity in your home lies somewhere between the recommended limits. The comfort diagram according to Leysen and Treymark shows the combination of indoor temperature and relative humidity that is ideal to feel comfortable in your home. Whereas you need to turn up the thermostat to 20°C when the relative humidity is 40% in order to feel really comfortable, you only need to set it to 18°C when the humidity is 60% for it to feel warm and cosy.

A thermohygrometer soon pays off when it comes to ensuring that the climate in the rooms you work and live in is within the ideal limits. The Indoor Thermohygrometer BZ05 from Trotec indicates both temperature and humidity on a large, easy to read display, along with the comfort indicator that lets you know at a glance whether the indoor climate is within the perfect comfort zone.

And what happens when the humidity levels are not ideal? Well, then you know who you can turn to find a first-class humidifier or a dehumidifier at very fair prices. Don’t you?

Trotec. Taking care of your indoor climate.

A good book is more than just a good read (If you find that the book you’re reading is a bad book, then put it down – no, better still toss it aside, because that’s the treatment it deserves. Like a telenovela or a corked wine which do not get any better the longer you watch it or the more you drink of it a bad book does not improve with reading).

A good book is a door to another world. A world sometimes so magical, so enthralling and so different to our own that we cannot wait to pick it up again and eagerly read on, plunging deeper and deeper, losing ourselves in its pages or picking our way meticulously through the weaving narrative or plot. A book can mesmerise and charm you, or it can captivate and revolt you. It can change your life forever or become a warm memory and an old friend. Books can be beautifully written, beautifully bound and beautifully illustrated. They can be inspiring or disheartening; they can be so funny and so sad that they make you cry. Books are mirrors of society and mirrors of souls. And they are proof of the power of the written word.

Which raises the question: “Where’s the best place to keep your books?”

Different people have different approaches. Some people simply like to be surrounded by their books and pile them high on shelves or stack them on the floor. Others prefer to line their walls with them and parade their collection, which they sort according to authors, the alphabet, topics or the size and colour of their treasured works. Whatever you do with your books is your own affair. But if you love your books as much as I do and value them much more highly than their material worth, then here are one or two things you need to know about them if you want to be able to continue to cherish your private collection or library.

Your most valuable books need to be kept in a controlled environment. The climate in the room is extremely important and should not be left to chance. Ideally the temperature should not be higher than 18C and no lower than 14C. The relative humidity is another major factor. It should be somewhere between 35 and 50%. Any moister and the pages of your books could start to become wavy or even mildewy. By the way, books should be kept in an upright position – that much we know. But books that are taller than 40cm should, ideally, be laid on their side.

If you wish to retire to the room you like to keep your books in order to lazily turn the pages of a beautifully illustrated book or simply to enjoy a good read, then you also need to keep an eye on the indoor climate. High carbon dioxide levels, for example, which occur when rooms are poorly aired or occupied by larger numbers of people can quickly bring on drowsiness and fatigue and prevent you from focusing on what you are doing. They can also lead to dips in performance and cause headaches and other distressing symptoms. There are recommended thresholds: a concentration of less than 800ppm (parts per million) is considered to be good, whereas values between 800 and 1400ppm are at the most acceptable but not desirable.

A monitoring device like the BZ 25 CO² air quality monitor can help you to check your indoor climate data and see if the temperature, relative humidity and the carbon dioxide levels in the room you occupy or keep your books in is ideal or not. The device is equipped with a large easy-to-read backlit display, which apart from the climate information mentioned above, also tells you the time and date. You can even set an alarm to warn you when the CO² concentration is higher than the recommended values.

So now that you have wisely decided to invest in a BZ 25 CO² and have therefore taken the first step to ensuring that you and your books are treated to the right indoor climate you can lean back comfortably or sink deeper into your armchair and immerse yourself in the world you have chosen to read more about. Call it escapism if you will – but what a beautiful form of escapism it is.

If you want to change the climate in your home or office, just visit our online shop to find out more about our wide and competitively-priced range of dehumidifiers, humidifiers and air conditioners. Or call us – we would be only too glad to help.

Trotec. The indoor climate specialists.

We all look forward to the summer. To the long, warm evenings sitting outside street side cafes or stretching out on patios; to bright, sunny, carefree days lounging in the sun or relaxing in the shade; to the vibrant, captivating colours and the sweet scents and evocative smells that are the mark of every much-loved and well-tendered garden.

And being a nation renowned for its green fingers – unlike the Germans who according to a saying they have pride themselves on their green thumbs – we enjoy spending endless hours shaping and styling shrubs and hedgerows, trimming bushes and manicuring lawns and generally spending just about every spare minute we have pottering around in our own little refuge.

There’s always something to do in a well-kept garden. Especially, of course, at this time of the year. In fact sometimes the days just can’t be long enough depending on the size of the garden that you are lucky enough to call your own. If you are already into self-sufficiency – or simply love the taste of home-grown produce – and are fortunate to have your own vegetable patch, then now is generally the time to harvest some of the early plants like carrots, cabbages, cauliflower, courgettes and kale and time to sow or replant others like Chinese cabbage, kohlrabi, chicory and – peas.

You may want to give your lawn a treat and sprinkle it with fertiliser – also home-grown if you prefer. The grass clippings that many people are only too glad to get rid of when they have mowed their lawn are full of nutrients which put back the goodness into the soil. But as is the case with most gardening tips, and indeed many other areas in life, moderation is the key.

And what about every gardener’s pride and joy? Flowers. Glorious, full-bloomed, delicate, luscious, beautifully cultivated flowers. Flowers in every possible shade, colour, size and form.

What do they need to flourish? How do you know what the best possible place for your prized flowers and plants is?

There are a number of things that you have to consider when it comes to finding the right location for the plants and flowers in your garden. Soil composition is a major factor: some plants and flowers like acidic soil while others thrive on alkaline soil.

Exposure to sunlight is at least as important: some flowers need more sun and others more shade. The BF 05 lux meter from Trotec can help you to determine just what the light conditions in any part of your garden, greenhouse or conservatory are and tell you if the place you have chosen is right for your flowers or plants. The lux meter measures light exposure in lux (lx) or foot candles (fc) and provides you with reliable and accurate information regarding the amount of light that your plants will get or are already getting.

And because the temperature and the relative humidity are also important we have a further reliable and accurate measuring device that can help you to keep a vigilant eye on climate conditions both indoors and out.

The BC 05 thermohygrometer is designed to determine climate conditions and measure the air temperature between -20°C and 60°C and the relative humidity from between 0 and 100%. This makes it ideal for climate monitoring in the floristry industry and in greenhouses.

Go here to find out more about these two easy-to-use measuring devices as well as the other measuring devices in the MutiMeasure series. And lean back and make a cool saving into the bargain …

Orchids are most commonly found in the tropics of South and Central America and also in Asia. For the Aztecs they were holy, which is why they grew them in their splendid antique gardens, and for Confucius, the wise Chinese thinker and philosopher, they embodied grace, purity, beauty and elegance.

But there are several hardened species which can flourish as far north as the Arctic Circle and as far south as Antarctica. Of the 30,000 or so different species of orchid known to man there is a small number which are deemed especially collectable. Rothschild’s Slipper, an orchid that takes as long as 15 years to grow, can fetch prices upwards of 5000 US dollars per stem.

Most hobby gardeners would not be willing to pay such a considerable price for a single example, but they are prepared to invest quite substantial sums in order to be able to nurture their passion.Because of the fluctuating weather and the extreme cold that can hit the parts of the world we live in, many enthusiasts have greenhouses which protect their prized possessions against sudden prolonged dips in the temperature or the baking heat when the sun beats down from the summer sky. This does not mean, however, that the orchids can be left to their own devices. The temperature has to be checked constantly and so does the relative humidity. If  both are not monitored properly, then the orchids can suffer notably or even wither and die.

That’s why you need a multifunctional device like the BC15 to check the climate conditions in your greenhouse. The BC15 thermohygrometer from Trotec is practically two devices rolled into one. It can measure the temperature in both ° Celsius and Fahrenheit and it can measure the relative humidity before displaying these values in large, easy-to-read digital figures that provide you with all the indoor climate information you need.

And what’s more you don’t need green fingers to be able to use one.

By the way, you may be interested to find out more about further heating, ventilation, dehumidification and climate solutions not only for your greenhouse but also for your home, office or workplace in our Online Shop. There are literally hundreds of special offers and bargain-priced machine and appliances to choose from. Happy hunting!

What many people do not realise, however, is that you can actually save yourself a tidy sum and more importantly perhaps protect yourself, your family and your property if you are prepared to say goodbye to one or two popular myths which are commonly associated with heating and ventilation:

Myth Number 1:

Remember to turn off the heating before you go to work or if you’re gone for the day – that way you can make substantial savings on your energy bill

Wrong. And as is the case with most myths, one which might prove hard to shake off because it has been around for so long. If you’ve been away all day and return to a cold home or flat, you will require a substantial amount of energy, and end up paying an equally substantial amount of hard-earned money, to heat up the rooms to a comfortable level. This revelation might take some getting used to, but you really should turn the heating up a little while you’re away from home in order to prevent the walls, and subsequently the room, from cooling down. Not only are you saving a nice sum in the long run, you also have the added benefit of no longer wanting to put off coming home in the evening because you simply can’t bear the thought of a coming home to a cold, dark, empty house.

Myth Number 2:

Turn the thermostat all the way up when it’s cold – that way it only takes half as long to heat up the room

Wrong again. A thermostat doesn’t work like a kitchen tap. You can’t heat up a room faster by turning up the thermostat. You are just producing more heat and wasting precious energy. A thermostat is designed to maintain a constant temperature level. Each notch on your thermostat equates to a temperature difference of about 4C. So by turning your thermostat all the way up you are not heating your room faster, you are heating it up until it has reached a temperature of roughly 28C! Now depending on what you’re planning on doing this is normally going to be way too hot!

Myth Number 3:

There’ s no need to open the window all the way when you want to ventilate your room. Just open it a crack to stop too much heat from escaping through the window.

Yes, you’ve guessed it. Wrong again. Rooms have to be ventilated properly. And the only way to get rid of the stale air in the room is to replace it with fresh air from the outside. Open the window wide for a few minutes and if possible open a door to create a draught so that the cold winter air which can hold more moisture than the previously warm air enters the room thereby effectively reducing the air humidity. The cold air does not take long to heat up again and the walls do not have enough time to cool down. You only use up a lot of energy when you need to heat up a room with cold walls – which is exactly what happens when you open the window a crack instead of airing properly. And because the cold air from outside heats up again quickly it condenses on the cold walls and provides the ideal breeding grounds for mould and mildew.

Myth Number 4:

There is no need for you to heat your bedroom – just leave the door open

You couldn’t be more wrong. And this is a myth which could cost you dearly. When the warm and therefore moister air from the rooms which have been heated makes its way into the cold bedroom it ends up condensing on the cold bedroom walls. And wet walls mean mould. Mould that can first fester unnoticed and then develop into a health hazard and a real threat to your possessions. What’s more you are not actually saving at all, because by turning off the heating in the bedroom the radiator in the other room has the task of heating both rooms. So the only real choice that you have is toeither keep the doors closed or all the radiators turned on.

So as we said before – time to say goodbye to a few myths and time to start saving on your next energy bill.

And if you have now decided that these warnings are to be taken seriously you may wish to take a closer look at the T250 thermohygrometer, a highly sophisticated measuring device which can provide you with exact information on the temperature, the surface temperature and the relative humidity thereby giving you the chance to nip mould in the bud and stop it from wrecking your life.

A piano – be it an upright piano or a grand piano, a Steinway or a Yamaha – is often the most prized possession and most highly-valued musical instrument in hundreds of thousands if not millions of homes and households. Pianos, and piano music, are extremely popular all over the world. Which other instrument, apart from perhaps an exquisitely-tuned violin, is able to capture the hearts of those listening and strike the chords that touch the soul and move and uplift the listener to higher spheres, or drag them down – deep, deep, down – into the darker realms of despondency, grief and gloom?

So why then do so many people who own such a beautiful instrument not look after their valuable possessions the way they ought to?

Wood is full of life. It has a history, a story to tell and it still lives on long after the wood that has been hand-picked by experienced and dedicated piano makers has been crafted into a fine musical instrument. Wood, as we all know, reacts very strongly to its surrounding conditions. It can contract and expand – and even crack and tear apart – depending on how moist or dry the air that surrounds it is. That’s why it is so important that you spend enough time selecting the right place for such a skillfully mastered instrument. And it’s not just the acoustics you should be focusing on – on the contrary, the right place for your piano is the room, chamber or parlour where the relative humidity and the temperature are evenly balanced and within certain limits. Strongly fluctuating temperatures or humidity levels that are too high or too low can not only put your piano out of tune, they can literally ruin your masterpiece making costly repairs necessary or even rendering it worthless.

So what can be done to ensure that the relative humidity remains within certain limits and the temperature does not drop below or exceed certain thresholds?

Dehumidifiers are highly sophisticated and highly effective pieces of equipment which are designed to monitor and regulate the relative humidity in your home, workplace or office so as to provide you with just the right amount of humidity that you need. Depending on their size and the application which they have been built for, dehumidifiers can extract up to 20 litres of moisture from the surrounding air in just one single day. This means that they are easily able to reduce high moisture levels that could otherwise cause the wood of your piano to swell up or split and maintain a desired indoor climate with a relative humidity that lies ideally between 50 and 65%.

If, on the other hand, the air in the room is not too moist but far too dry, then you need to be able to rely on a humidifier to prevent you the wood of you piano from cracking to the point that it is beyond repair. A humidifier increases the moisture in the air, but only as much as you would like and enough to create a pleasant indoor climate and an overall sense of well-being.

The right temperature also plays a vital role regarding the position of your piano. Make sure that it is not too close to any heat sources like a radiator for example, and that your room thermostat is set to between 15 C and 24 C. You will also need to provide for some form of insulation if you have underfloor heating and be careful to keep it away from cold spots and draughts.

There are some people who say that a piano is as sensitive as a human being. They think that you should never keep your piano in a climate which you yourself would not feel comfortable in. You may of course not wish to leave anything to chance and therefore decide to use a piece of professional measuring equipment to check that the temperature and the relative humidity are at the right levels. A thermohygrometer is such a professional, high-precision device. It is practically two devices rolled into one. And it is robust, reliable and very reasonably priced.

Perhaps not quite as valuable as your average piano, but it does do its job just as well.

For many home-owners and tenants living in apartments or flats there is one sight which causes them great discomfort and fills them with utter disgust – mould. Yet mould is not only unsightly, it can quickly become dangerous and trigger allergic reactions or make a house’s or flat’s occupants very ill. All the more reason then to prevent mould from occurring in the first place and to find out more about what causes mould and what can be done to combat it.

One of the biggest causes of mould is the difference in temperature between the cold outside walls of a building and the heated rooms inside. That’s why the best form of insulation is insulation which is applied to the outside of the building. As a home-owner you can do something about it: you can carry out modernisation work and fix exterior cladding to the outside walls – as a tenant you can’t. This is why we have compiled a list with 5 golden rules designed to help those who in such cases cannot help themselves simply because they are living in rented accommodation and therefore unable to take the necessary steps that would make mould less of an issue and more a thing of the past.

Oh, and by the way… If you are having an earnest problem with mould in your flat, then you are generally entitled to hold back some of the rent. This is, however, a sword which can cut both ways: landlords often try to turn the tables on tenants by claiming that the mould is a result of gross negligence on the part of the tenant who has not been airing the flat adequately.

Do you have or have you had problems with mould in your apartment or flat? Write to us and tell us about it. Or let us in on your secret if you have any other useful tips or golden rules which you would like to share with your fellow readers. We would love to hear from you.

TROTEC. For a better world.

Problems with moisture for home builders in summer?
You must be joking!

We’re not, actually. And as anybody who has had the misfortune of having to deal with damage caused by dampness and excess moisture after their house had not been given enough time to dry out will tell you – mould is not a laughing matter.

It is still popular belief among many home builders that summertime is the best time of the year to carry out their building projects because it is warmer – and because it is warmer walls and screed will therefore dry more quickly. Wrong. What they fail to realize is that it is not the temperature which is the deciding factor when it comes to drying out new buildings – it is the relative humidity. And in summertime the relative humidity is still surprisingly high.

Measurements carried out by the met office in Friedberg show that the average relative humidity in June alone was 56% (!) compared to an average relative humidity of 68% throughout 2010.

But help is at hand! Building dryers are used throughout the building trade to dry buildings at all times of the year and not just in the winter months which is what most people would expect. Which building dryer you need depends on the size of your building, the prevailing temperature and, of course, the relative humidity. The best and perhaps most reliable way to determine the size of the building is to use a laser distance meter. Laser distance meters from Leica, for example, can measure room sizes accurately down to four hundredths of an inch (1mm). There’s German precision again for you.

The next step is to determine the temperature and the relative humidity. A thermohygrometer is practically two devices rolled into one. It can measure the temperature in either degrees Centigrade or Fahrenheit and it provides you with accurate information on relative humidity. It’s a bit like killing two birds with one – er – thermohygrometer.

The third and final step is to enter the information you have gathered into our totally-free-of-charge, no-strings-attached calculator which then determines the dehumidification performance you need before telling you which building dryer will transform your building from a wet one into a dry one.

Oh, yes. And by the way… a single building dryer is all you need to dry out any number of rooms in a building if you follow the steps mentioned above. These steps ensure that you pick the right-sized building dryer for your own individual application. One mustn’t forget, however, that this is only possible if the air can be circulated between the rooms sufficiently. A fan is often the most efficient means of making sure that this is guaranteed.

A combination comprising the right building dryer and the right fan can cut drying times in buildings not only in half but by as much as 75%! This means that you can move into your new home on time and save £’s on heating costs, which can soar up to 200% of what you would normally have to pay simply because dry walls keep out the cold better than wet ones.

You can rest assured that you and your family are moving into a dry house with a healthy indoor climate and that you are saving money in the long run, because there is no need to call in the builders to remove the damage caused by mould and moisture. Not a bad deal really when you come to think of it.

Did you know that…? You don’t have to buy our building dryers and fans if you don’t want to. You can also hire them out from our service divison TKL.

Purchase now: the TDS 50 electric heater with 9 kW

Have a look at the handheld BC15 thermohygrometer

This offer is valid only on December 19th.

The B200 eco is a humidifier suited for rooms of up to approx. 600 m³. The appliance has an integrated hygrostat and a water tank of 19 litres.

The BC15 is an easy-to-use handheld measuring device of the Trotec MultiMeasure Basic-Series. It has a backlit display and an operating range of -20 °C to +60 °C.

Go to the Trotec Online-Shop and buy a B200 eco humidifier with a free BC15 …

This offer is valid only on December 8th.