Condensation

[ELM]

We recently went on a 3 week trip earlier this month and when we were in Yellowstone it was 30 deg. at night and we had quite a bit of condensation on the upper walls, door trim and window trim. We had the heater on and kept it around 67 deg. at night and had the vent open a little. It was rainy and snowing while we were there. Any ideas on what we could do to reduce this problem.
Thanks

[dmdc411]

You did all you can. Keep windows cracked a little to let in fresh air. Your tear like mine isn't insulated for the cooler temps. Even running a heater its going to show condensation. Just air it out to prevent mold.

[gudmund]

Condensation is one of the side effects of all humans breathing - any/all RV's of 'any' size or shape have a condensation problem - the smaller the size, the more obvious the moisture, especially in the colder time of the year. As said in the last comment written, when getting up from sleep - air it out - leaving the doors open along with towel-ing off the moisture/condensation on the doors and obvious moisture covered areas. When sleeping - "always" keep the vent open - no matter how cold it is!! and yes, cracking side windows helps but there will always be condensation being humans are breathing here with it being twice as much with 2 sleeping than 1. I always wipe/towel down in the morning which helps accelerates the getting rid of the dampness present.

[ELM]

You did all you can. Keep windows cracked a little to let in fresh air. Your tear like mine isn't insulated for the cooler temps. Even running a heater its going to show condensation. Just air it out to prevent mold.

It's insulated. It has 2" foam under the floor, 1 1/2" in the walls and roof and 1" in the bulkhead and hatch. Thanks

[ELM]

Condensation is one of the side effects of all humans breathing - any/all RV's of 'any' size or shape have a condensation problem - the smaller the size, the more obvious the moisture, especially in the colder time of the year. As said in the last comment written, when getting up from sleep - air it out - leaving the doors open along with towel-ing off the moisture/condensation on the doors and obvious moisture covered areas. When sleeping - "always" keep the vent open - no matter how cold it is!! and yes, cracking side windows helps but there will always be condensation being humans are breathing here with it being twice as much with 2 sleeping than 1. I always wipe/towel down in the morning which helps accelerates the getting rid of the dampness present.

Yes we did have condensation even in our motor home at times. We did wipe down the condensation each morning but couldn't air it out for three days while we were in Yellowstone. It was either raining or snowing. We did buy some damp rid and that adsorbed some of the moister in the air but not all of it. Thanks

[Wolfgang92025]

Condensation can be a problem in colder weather.
What was your heat source ?
In our big camper (Lance 1575) we have a 3 burner LP stove. Also have a clock with a temperature and humidity gauge built in.
The second we use the stove, the moisture level starts to really climb. Out here in Utah the average is about 20 to 25%. After 15 minutes using the stove the level in the trailer will be around 80 to 90%.

[Cosmo]

Good point about propane adding moisture Wolfgang. I am wondering what kind of propane heater was in use?

I heated my trailer with candle. The candle raided the temp 10 degrees on a cold night in an hour. I have not tested 2 candles yet. I crack the roof vent and I have lower vents open too to get the warm wet air rising out of the top. It helps reduce but does not eliminate condensation.

-Cosmo

[ELM]

Condensation can be a problem in colder weather.
What was your heat source ?
In our big camper (Lance 1575) we have a 3 burner LP stove. Also have a clock with a temperature and humidity gauge built in.
The second we use the stove, the moisture level starts to really climb. Out here in Utah the average is about 20 to 25%. After 15 minutes using the stove the level in the trailer will be around 80 to 90%.

Thanks for responding. I have an Atwood hot water heater that is mounted in the left rear corner of the galley and it can run on LPG or 110 volt and is vented to the outside.


This is what I use to heat the cabin
http://www.jegs.com/i/JEGS+Performance+ ... 0/10002/-1
I have a circulating pump that keeps the hot water moving and it's turned on by a thermostat that turns on the heater fan and circulating pump at the temperature that we set it to. I'm very happy how it works
Thank for any input.

[Wolfgang92025]

Guess that means it mostly human moisture being added to the trailer air. In my trailer I crack the window and row vent about an inch to help with the moisture.
Any idea on how much your heater ran during the night?
On the big trailer we have a forced air unit that is real noisy right next to the bed.
Uses lots of power and is loud.
Since we have a water heater in seriously considering building something similar to your but with computer fans.

[rowerwet]

The only real fix is airflow. Aircraft, car, bus, and train designers deal with this as they know a person will sweat and breathe out a certain amount of water vapor per hour. They have standards for the number of cubic feet of air that must be exchanged and conditioned per hour.
A tear has a very small volume of air, and needs constant exchange, any cold surface will condense water out of the air.
Many people also notice moisture collected under the mattress, one way to fix that is with a vent under the middle of mattress and "duck boards" to allow airflow to carry the moisture away

[ELM]

Guess that means it mostly human moisture being added to the trailer air. In my trailer I crack the window and row vent about an inch to help with the moisture.
Any idea on how much your heater ran during the night?
On the big trailer we have a forced air unit that is real noisy right next to the bed.
Uses lots of power and is loud.
Since we have a water heater in seriously considering building something similar to your but with computer fans.

When we were in Yellowstone it was 30 deg. at night and the hot water heater cycled once or twice during the night and the heater it self ran about every 30 mins for only 10 to 15 seconds.

[ELM]

The only real fix is airflow. Aircraft, car, bus, and train designers deal with this as they know a person will sweat and breathe out a certain amount of water vapor per hour. They have standards for the number of cubic feet of air that must be exchanged and conditioned per hour.
A tear has a very small volume of air, and needs constant exchange, any cold surface will condense water out of the air.
Many people also notice moisture collected under the mattress, one way to fix that is with a vent under the middle of mattress and "duck boards" to allow airflow to carry the moisture away

Thanks I will have to check under the mattress for moisture.

[Cosmo]

Marine supply retailers market "Hypervent" for boats which is a mattress pad that allows air flow under the mattress for getting rid of mattress moisture. I have not tried it.

http://www.marineoutfitters.ca/index.cf ... =HyperVent

-Cosmo

[ELM]

I put a piece of 3/4" Thick Polyethylene Foam under the foam mattress to act as a moisture barrier between the floor and foam mattress and for a little more cushioning it's pretty dense. I've heard of guys use this stuff under the http://www.homedepot.com/p/GAF-Cobra-10 ... /100000023

[working on it]

I use two 3" twin mattresses slaying directly on the uninsulated, but with 4 coats polyurethane, 3/4" plywood floor of my trailer. I use rubber-backed floor mats as insulation.

floor mat.GIF (54.42 KiB) Viewed 1353 times

On two sub-50 degree occasions, the interior walls sweated, but I found no condensation under the flooring mats (cut to cover the entire floor). Since I never have camped in cold weather, I thought further insulation not necessary. A side note: my badly-positioned canopy dumped directly onto my not-tightly closed door, all day, during a monsoon-like trip; I returned to a trailer with 1" of standing water on the floor-worse than condensation! I sopped up whatever water I could, sealed the leak, and waited 'til I returned home to dry out. No damage done. However, I often had to sleep in the back of my old '75 Chevy pickup with aluminum topper, then later, in the back of my '09 HHR Panel, when hunting or when trapped at work by ice-storm weather, 60 miles from home (during that season, I often would only have 6-7 hours between shifts-I wasn't going to drive anywhere!). My insulation from the cold seeping up was air-filter media covered by a thin foam camping mat.

filter media.GIF (41.3 KiB) Viewed 1353 times

camp pad.GIF (36.55 KiB) Viewed 1353 times

Along with comforters, and a sleeping bag (20 degree rated), and sometimes using a Lasko my-heat, I was comfortable down to 10 degrees. I think these would serve against condensation as well. now retired, I no longer have to sleep in my vehicle, just my trailer, by choice.