Condensation

[Bookend]

I'm starting to think that mine wasn't really that bad now

A small dehumidifier sounds like a good plan.

I have also thought about fitting a small panel heater when on site with hook up as it seems daft burning gas.

[Gary W]

As has been nicely explained earlier, warm, moist air will condensate when it touches something solid and cold. If it's colder outside than in, and your camper body is poorly insulated or has 'cold bridges' (through bolts, solid window frames etc) condensation it's unavoidable. On many vans you can see clearly the frame of the camper with the condensation. The physics behind condensation are useful in many aspects of life, but not while sleeping in a van in the winter!

We've gone to extreme lengths to engineer cold bridges out of our vans, but even so we can see the physics at work if it's very cold outside. As it only happens on the door handle we can live it though. Well until we find a better one anyway

I'm afraid the little dehumidifiers aren't going to be much help. All you can do is reduce the temperature difference (thicker sleeping bags) and the humidity (ventilation). A heater on it's own (without a lot of ventilation) will just make things worse and using your gas hob or any unflued gas heater is absolutely the worst thing you can do.

For a suggestion maybe you could add insulation and ventilation to the sleeping area? If you can (or even if you can't) a heavy curtain to separate it from the living area will control the spread of the warm moist air, and as it's mostly a problem at night you might at least reduce the problem to a manageable level with the rest of the van.

Good luck and best wishes

Gary

[sabconsulting]

...A heater on it's own (without a lot of ventilation) will just make things worse and using your gas hob or any unflued gas heater is absolutely the worst thing you can do.

I actually find that heating the air in the camper does make a huge difference. Your breath expels the same amount of moisture whatever the air temperature is, but if it is 8 degrees in your camper the air won't support much of that moisture and it will be forced to condense out onto something. If the air is 21 degrees then it can carry a lot more moisture before reaching saturation point and condensing out.

BUT - as Gary points out above - running a gas hob to raise the temperature will be an own-goal. The results of the combustion process is to produce even more moisture. That is the stuff you see dripping out of your car exhaust. Plus you would be filling the camper with CO and slowly poisoning yourself if all the windows were closed.

Hence an electric heater or a gas heater WITH a flue - i.e. one where the combustion process is effectively outside the camper (and hence all the moisture and CO is vented outside) will be OK.

When we have electric hook-up I use one of these - low enough wattage to not trip campsite circuit breakers, no noisy fan, thermostat - gently trickles out enough heat to keep even our fridge of a camper warm:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/400W-Frost-Pr ... 1766785961


Steve.

[Bookend]

I did look at one of those but wondered how effective it would be.

[sabconsulting]

I did look at one of those but wondered how effective it would be.

If it works on our camper, which is as thermally efficient as a baked bean tin then it should work fairly well on yours.

No, its not going to get the camper warm quickly, but it does slowly heat it and keeps it warm overnight, even in the snow.

Steve.

[sabconsulting]

[Que]

Ours is pretty well ventilated with a rotary roof vent, side vents and triple vents on three roof lights but we did get a lot of condensation under the mattress on our three week break in September. Bed platform had a very high moisture content and needed a few days with our dehumidifier running. I'm going to install a raised slatted platform under the mattress to allow some air under it and see if that fixes it.

Without plenty of ventilation condensation is bound to occur in such a small space so it's probably a good idea to run a dehumidifier for a couple of days after each trip and each morning open everything up weather permitting for an hour or two.

[rubberrat]

As usual SKarosser seem to have thought the condensation issue through carefully.
Bed is on raised slats and in any case is under heated.
Side seats are stepped off the walls and are under and back heated.
Plus overkill insulation, underfloor heating and seven Alde radiators.
So campers with designed-in winter use can be a nice place to be.

But even with this level of kit, a plastic based storage bag on a seat had a damp feeling bottom this morning and the windows are fogged over (foggy outside so very low dewpoint)

Loving this Indian summer, we've been away in the camper (uk) for two weeks of October and still not used the heating once!

[Bookend]

The main bed is on slats in our Apollo the dinette cushions got a little damp underneath having been slept on but once turned back over the soon dried out and we left them raised when we went out.

I'm going to invest is a small dehumidifier to put in when back off a trip.

Don't think I would cart one around when camping.

[rubberrat]

No, dont take it with you, but those cheap pound shop disposable ones are reckoned to be good.
Buy a big dehumidifier, they work better, but weigh a ton.