Condensation on internal Internorm door handle

[IanofEpping]

In February I had some triple glazing installed as part of a retrofit project. Internorm patio doors and a new front door:  KF310 UPVC/ aluminium. 
 

first thing on a cold morning I notice the internal front door handle suffers from condensation all over its surface. I highlighted this to my contractor. He returned and looked at the door  and told me the installer had forgotten to install an insulation part in the handle mechanism that stops the thermal bridge. He told me he would chase this up and install the missing part. 
 

He has just got back to me to tell me the door doesn’t have a handle insulation part; unlike some other manufacturers’ doors which he thought were similar. The door he says is fine. 

 

He blames the condensation, not on the design of the door, but on high humidity in the house as I am aiming for an airtight passive house, and have yet to commission my MVHR system. However, I am running a dehumidifier and a hygrometer suggests humidity levels are fine. 
 

Has anyone experienced this with their doors? Or have a view on this?   I feel a bit let down after paying a high price for doors that I thought would perform a lot better? 

 

Thank you for any thoughts. 

[ProDave]

We get a little condensation on the Eurolocks on the inside of our Rationel doors.  Only a little and only when very cold outside.  It is a fact of metal parts that pass through the door.

 

The Rationel doors have a similar plastic / foam part that does it's best to block draughts and maintain some insulation in that area, but the fact is with the door handle you have a solid steel shaft passing through.  Unless Internorm have designed a shaft with a thermally insulating section that still maintains the strength normally provided by a metal part?

[Kelvin]

Regardless of that you shouldn’t be getting condensation on the door handle. The only time I’ve had condensation on the metal door parts was after we had plastered and when we first switched the heating on and that was with three dehumidifiers running. It is likely humidity in the house. 

[IanofEpping]

Thank you both for your replies. It seems a shame and a bit of a design oversight that a door with such (expensive) technology to  keep the home warm doesn't have a  thermally broken handle. When the MVHR is working the humidity will fall, and I presume  - as I have not had an MVHR before -  there will be less chance the door handle will be wet when I go to open it first thing to take the dog out?

 

However,  the  heat loss will remain. It's not the end of the world. I haven't removed some steel lintels over some windows - due to costs - and I suspect heat loss from them will be much greater. I see there are door handle and lock systems for passive houses*, but they are very expensive. So probably will have to compromise on what I have got. Thank you again. Ian 

 

* - 

 

[Conor]

If the house is not finished and fully dried up, many surfaces will have condensation. Don't panic until everything is heated up and dried out. We've 5 internorm doors and no issues like that at all.

[Andehh]

As ever with self builds, if it's a problem 1% of the time.....worry about it 1% of the time, until you accept and move on. Very very cold days happen several times a year, you can't win them all.

[Kelvin]

The heat loss through your door handles will be tiny. I don’t have the MVHR running yet and the house is very airtight. Zero condensation anywhere.
 

It’s 99% condensation because the house is still drying out and can take 18 months or so to fully dry out depending on how it was built and how wet it got during the build. My screed had been down for months before we switched the heating on to dry it out before tiling. I was surprised how much moisture was still in the screed. 

[SteamyTea]

21 hours ago, IanofEpping said:

hygrometer suggests humidity levels are fine. 

What are they.

You can get condensation at very low RH levels.

[IanofEpping]

Thank you both for your replies. It seems a shame and a bit of a design oversight that a door with such (expensive) technology to  keep the home warm doesn't have a  thermally broken handle. When the MVHR is working the humidity will fall, and I presume  - as I have not had an MVHR before -  there will be less chance the door handle will be wet when I go to open it first thing to take the dog out?

 

However,  the  heat loss will remain. It's not the end of the world. I haven't removed some steel lintels over some windows - due to costs - and I suspect heat loss from them will be much greater. I see there are door handle and lock systems for passive houses*, but they are very expensive. So probably will have to compromise on what I have got. Thank you again. Ian 

 

* - 

 

[IanofEpping]

The hygrometer shows humidity at 50% by the front door. I am not sure what it was back in February. We have had a lot of wet plastering, floor screed, mist coats, and a lot of contractors in the house, so it does make sense that I need to give the house time to dry out. Thank you for all your comments. 

 

[Conor]

Keep your windows open

 

[Kelvin]

22 minutes ago, Conor said:

Keep your windows open

 

Exactly. During the day I had all the windows open and had the three dehumidifiers running at night. They held 16 litres each and were generally full/nearly full by the time I got back on-site the next morning. 

[SteamyTea]

2 hours ago, Kelvin said:

They held 16 litres each and were generally full/nearly full by the time I got back on-site the next morning. 

That is about half a bath 

[Kelvin]

Yeah I had them piped into a few buckets as the built in container only held a few litres.  The heating was in floor drying mode at the same time as plastering as we had the tiler booked a few weeks later. It got up to 32°C at one point.