Moisture control in damp climate for storage

[Thenoob]

Hello everyone

   Looking for options, just got my 73 d18 brave home. All cleaned up.  Need options as I now have it all tarped up.

   I don't have power where I store it, I know a dehumidifier would do the trick.  It will be there for the winter as I work on it. 

   I'm in Vancouver bc so it's rains all winter long 

[Missy-Mae]

Hi I live in the UK and yeah you guessed it ! It rains all year long here we use bowls of salt  or dehumidifying crystals in sealed boxes that  get very wet after a  few months cheers Les

[Thenoob]

Is that enough for
Your whole rv??  I'm super worried about it.

[TerryH]

Desiccant containers are very common on boats. Steveston Marine carries various ones, but buying marine means paying a premium.
Very likely WalMart and Canadian Tire carry them as well. Most RV parts places would also have them.
Conversely, Google "Desiccant" and you'll likely find instructions to make your own.
Assume you allowed for venting/circulation in your tarping?

[pvoth1111]

http://www.damprid.com/

available everywhere.....in the US anyhow.....we use um in our closets

[Thenoob]

Ya I've seen the damprid
Seems like it's the go to for non powered moisture control

[Thenoob]

To answer your question, yes ventilation has been made for the unit
to breathe/ventilate

[Lefty]

Best home made remedy I seen was a 12v fan hooked up to a small solar panel in a roof vent.. left the vent cracked open and the fan on.

That, and a 50lb bag of driveway oil absorbent spread out on a large metal driveway drip pan... The stuff is basically a cheap non scented version of cat litter, which is just freshly scented absorbent clay. And it will absorb moisture from the air. 50lbs would last several months before it couldn't absorb any more moisture.
The metal trays are about 3' wide and 4' long, and maybe 1/2" deep... they are made to slide under cars to keep drips off your garage floor.

[legomybago]

Get yourself one or even two of these....and just refill with crystals when they are gone...work great.

http://www.amazon.com/Dri-Z-Air-DZA-U-Dri-Z-Air/dp/B000PDUV60

[TripleJ]

I get these things from the dollar store. They cost... one dollar
I put them in closets and other closed spaces. You can see they are doing their job


Altho, if youre going to ventilate its kind of pointless to dehumidify. EITHER ventilate OR seal and dehumidify

Any moisture you remove with a desiccant will just be replaced by the ventilation.  Your desiccant will saturate and you will be right back at ambient humidity

Unless you can run a powered dehumidifier your only option is probably to ventilate the large open living space, then put desiccant in the small closed spaces, cabinets, etc

[Thenoob]

Awesome

I'm going to pick a bunch of these up today.

Much appreciated!!

[Rickf1985]

I can tell you what I have done on boats but you may not believe it. Did you ever leave a bag of calcium for deicing your sidewalk open and see what happens? It fills with water. It is VERY Hygroscopic. I half fill a bucket with the calcium and poke a hole in the bottom side of the bucket and stick a hose in it and seal it in with RTV sealant. Run the hose to a shower drain, in a boat I run it directly to the bilge drain plug which is out for the winter. The calcium will absorb the moisture from the air and the water formed will drain from the bucket down the drain. Be SURE to take the trap off of that drain so the water does not accumulate and freeze, breaking the pipe. That also keeps the water out of the holding tank preventing that from freezing also. If your trap is not accessible from outside then you will have to get creative with the drain tube. You could just drain the bucket once in a while but you will be surprised how much water and how fast it builds up. If you aRE LEARY ABOUT THE CALCIUM BEING IN THE BOTTOM OF THE BUCKET WITH THE WATER YOU CAN PUT THE CALCIUM in a colander on a couple bricks to keep it out of the water. Sorry about the caps, I ain't going back over the whole thing!

[TripleJ]

Rick I decided to read a little bit about calcium chloride. I always thought it was because I was letting rain and snow into the buckets of deicer.  That's really interesting to me.  The 5 gallon bucket full of calcium chloride with the drain tube I think is a really great idea. 

Calcium chloride also being deicer, i doubt that a puddle or drain trap full of water would freeze if it was saturated.  It makes me wonder if calcium chloride was the chemical that they used in those little one dollar moisture eliminators.

Though it still stands to reason that if you use a desiccant and ventilate at the same time it would be like pulling on both ends of the same rope.

[Lefty]

Your correct,
You can either ventilate to reduce condensation and/or mold... or you can seal the rig as air tight as possible and use some way of drying the air out. (dehumidifiers, dessicants, etc...). But there is no practical way to do both at the same time. If you are ventilating, any fresh air drawn in will contain moisture... defeating any attempt to dehumidify the air inside the rig.
Just like Triple J said earlier.

[Thenoob]

I've decided to tarp it
I went out and bought a dozen of those dollar store things
Layed out 3 pans of moisture cat litter stuff in the rig

And will do as much as I possibly can to keep on it!!

[TerryH]

Awhile ago in this post I asked

Assume you allowed for venting/circulation in your tarping?

Does not relate to your interior, rather between the tarps and exterior.

Hope you realize the difference and importance.

Terry