Wet Winter Walls

[mgb922]

I'm winter camping and like to keep the inside as warm as I can get it but I'm seeing wet walls and carpet. Any ideas on how to stop it?

Tim

[ottffss]

Stop breathing, showering, and cooking (both the propane burning and the boiling).
It's condensation of the moisture generated form all those activities. Heaven forbid, do not use a humidifier!

The cold walls/ceiling and minimal insulation and wall thickness causes the internal moisture to condense. A pretty big "problem" for winter rv use - even though the OUTside humidity is nill or less.

About the only "solution" is to increase the fresh air ventilation by opening a roof vent to exhaust the moist inside air. You will need to experiment with "solutions" to figure out how best to reduce your condensation. You could also run a DE-humidifier.

You'll get many more suggestions to follow....

[99-Am.Star]

^ times 2. A small dehumidifier will help a bunch.

[ArmyEOD]

ottffss hit the nail on the head, ventilate and use a DE-Humiddifier I use a mid size 40 pint from lowes around $160.00 it works great. If it stays wet inside you have some real issues to look at in the future. Mold, smell, buying new carpet, peeling wall paper, ect. ect. ect.

[Paw John]

Tim

What make and model of RV you have. What type of heater you have and use. I notice last year this happen to me also. When I used my gas heater. This year I will be using my newly installed Cheap Heat system and will check out this winter if this system will help on the moisture problem. I did notice that when I tried the heater out one night when the outside temperture got down to 35 degrees. I set my unit at 68 degrees and slept in the camper that night. I wore short pants and short sleeve shirt and sat next to the rear living room slide out wall. I didn't feel any cold temperture coming from the slide wall and windows. I didn't notice any moisture at that time. The next time the temperture drops I will test it out again and look for moisture. Then report back.

[ottffss]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paw John ... I notice last year this happen to me also. When I used my gas heater....

Only an "open flame" propane furnace/heater will contribute to internal moisture - from the combustion of the propane itself. That is, if you can see a flame it is making water vapor as well as heat. This includes propane catalytic type heaters - "flameless" or otherwise.

The typical RV propane forced air furnace vents the combustion chamber to the OUTside and will NOT add combustion moisture INside.

[powerboatr]

we have three eva drys one is a quart placed in the slide by the kitchen/dining table
the other two reside at the ends of the coach, these work well, although i have had to replace the fans on the small ones and they are three years old.

this year we have been trying a new approach
after showers we wipe down the walls, open a vent for a few minutes on high fan and set the rear a/c to DRY for 2hrs.
seems to help so far.
last year we tried leaving a vent open partially...but it felt COLD

but when the humidity is 90% or higher......its a challenge
so i ask the dog to breath on odd minutes and i breath on the evens
sorry i couldn't resist

[mgb922]

Good suggestions all except the breathing part; haha. I have a 32' Forester Wildcat 5thwheel. The places we're getting the moister are in closets next to the bed. In short places that are covered to an extent. We have a propain heater that has no open flame, not sure what it's called so the only time a flame is in contact with the inside air is when we use the stove which is not enough to do anything. I especially like the Eva Drys. Just looked up the mini's and they seem to be getting good reviews. Nice thing about them is that they don't need any electric untill until they need recharging. That and they're small so they'll fit in the places I mentioned. The idea about wiping down the the shower is doable too.
John. Let us know how the cheap heat work. If it quieter than my heater I may switch.
I realy like this forum.

Tim

[ridahog]

I just purchased a five pack of eva-drys on ebay for $89.00. It comes with 1 Eva 1100 (plugs in), 2 eva 500 (needs no power) and 2 Eva 333. No tax and no shipping charge. I thought I would try them all out. The smaller ones I will try using in the outside storage compartment.

[mgb922]

ridahog
That's a good deal, were did you find it
Tim

[ridahog]

Ebay and do a search for eva-dry.