Dehumidifiers

[dezertgurl]

After discovering that the bedding stored in cabinets against the outer wall was beginning to mildew, I went into panic mode and invested in a 35 pint HiSense dehumidifier. Then waited 2 weeks for delivery! But it finally arrived at 9pm last night and after running all night there was still water running down the window panes and not a drop in the bucket. Hmmm, maybe I did something wrong when assembling it? I've restarted from scratch, will give it another trial today while I'm at work.
Now I realize that all of you live in some highly diverse climates, so that's gotta affect your opinion of these gadgets. But all the same, I'd like to know what results you've gotten with a dehumidifier in fulltime RV life. . .especially in winter!

[Froggy1936]

I use my Rooftop A/C with the blower set to low and temp set to 2o below heat setting on electric heater They work against ea other for temp but the A/C pulls out the moisture . Used only during tghe daylight hrs Frank

[dezertgurl]

Hmm, that's one I wouldn't have thought of. Around here we usually cover the AC unit in winter, I always thought of it as just another hole in the roof for the heat to escape.
I'm impressed with my new purchase, it really has helped already. I still see beads of moisture on the metal doorframes and frost on some window frames (it's around 6 degrees this morning!). But at least the windowpanes are clear of moisture now!  It remains to be seen whether this gadget will keep closed cabinets moisture-free.
One bad thing is the noise, in this small space the fan running on high gets annoying very quickly. I'm going to try just running it during the day while I'm at work, then leave it off at night.

[legomybago]

Are you using the propane furnace for heat? I would use an electric only heater. You wouldn't have any moisture issues. Expensive to run though..

[Froggy1936]

Ah Yes Propane heat does cause a lot of moisture in the air inside Electric  not as much . 6o That is cold  Air conditioners usually will not function below a certain temp at the thermostate 60o i think  Frank

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Since an RV is a not so well insulated box with vastly differing temps internally versus outside ambient temperatures, condensate is a fact of life that can't be completely avoided, but some things you can do can help.

Thermal curtains help alot with the condensation problem, but don't eliminate it.  Windows will be your biggest source for condensate. 

Leaving cabinets open can help keep them drier, especially with your dehumidifier.  Just leave them open while you aren't home and the dehumidifier is running, then shut them when you are home so they don't drive you crazy...lol!

There are little tubs of dissicant you can put in cabinets and drawers...I use them where my guns are stored...to absorb moisture in the air in the cabinets and drawers, and they work great, although they add up in cost and aren't reusable.

Winters are the worst for condensate in the RV, since the cold outside and the warmth inside instantly soak the inner surface of the windows...especially if you have 3 big dogs and a cat and 2 adults all breathing in the rig...lol!  Not a lot you can do about it except run your vent fans whenever its warm enough with some windows cracked.

I did notice that when I'm running our Olympian Wave 8 catalytic heater, the condensate doesn't seem nearly as bad as when I'm running the furnace or even the ceramic heaters.

Kev

[pvoth1111]

Your A/C  removes moisture.....as moist air moves across  a cold coil it losses its ability to contain the moisture.....= condensate.....that's the water running of the roof........to dehumidify you have to remove the moisture first.....then reheat the air to the desired temp....it requires running A/C and heat together in a controlled way.....its not super easy and it costs money to control correctly.....that said you can run your A/C on highest setting (warmest) and on low fan.....and run your heater at the same time set at around 74 F. the will dehumidify the air in the coach....sweating or condensation is about dew point.....if you care about look it up on wiki....and  the type of heat does not matter...electric, gas water ever....its about the dew point........cold beer hot day...sweat

[dezertgurl]

Are you using the propane furnace for heat? I would use an electric only heater. You wouldn't have any moisture issues. Expensive to run though..

Oh, I couldn't begin to afford electric-only heating! Been there done that . . .$300 per month to run the electric forced-air furnace in my former home some Januarys (and that was with a wood stove backup no less)!  Besides I've got serious reservations about trusting my life to a couple of overworked heaters . . . I've seen house fires started by shorted-out heaters, don't wanna join that club!
In this climate it's not reasonable to expect NO condensation, even newer gas-filled double pane vinyl windows sometimes fog up when it's 70 inside and 0 outside! So I'm content to simply keep the worst of it at bay, which seems to be where I'm at now.At the risk of putting you all to sleep, here's an explanation of relative humidity which I really found easy to understand. Maybe you already know this, but I guess I wasn't paying much attention in science class! It's from a book called Serious Straw Bale: A Home Construction Guide for All Climates by Paul Lacinski and Michel Bergeron

The ability of a given volume of air to hold moisture varies with temperature. The warmer air gets, the more water vapor it can hold; the colder it gets, the less it can hold. This is why outdoor winter air is dry in cold climates - it is simply not capable of holding much moisture. "Relative humidity" then, is a term for expressing how "full" air is - how the amount of water in the air compares with the maximum amount of water that the air could hold. Let's say that a volume of air is capable of holding 100 molecules of water vapor at 75 degrees. If those 100 molecules are present, the air is said to be at 100 percent humidity. It is saturated, holding all the moisture that it possibly can.  If we remove 50 of those molecules, the air is still at 75 degrees and can still hold 100 molecules, but only 50 molecules of water vapor are now present, so the air is now at 50% relative humidity. . . .It is also possible to change relative humidity by changing the temperature of the air. That same 75 degree air, at 50% relative humidity, is holding 50 molecules of water vapor while able to hold 100 molecules. If we cool the air, we reduce its maximum capacity. If we cool it enough that its capacity is dropped to 50 molecules, it will now be at 100% relative humidity: the 50 molecules present are 100% of the new maximum. Likewise, if we warm the air, we decrease the relative humidity because warm air is capable of holding more vapor.