Condensate Issues Inside

[wintford]

Has anyone else had a problem with condensate water inside your RV ? We have a 2006 Grand Surveyor and the inside condensate is bad . Any help would be a[ppreciated.

[NWJeeper]

Usually more of a problem in winter time and especially with single pane windows. Since we bought our Georgetown with dual pane windows we only get it on the front windshield.

The other factor is if you have a radiant propane heater in your rig such as a Guardian or other such wall mounted heater. The byproduct of propane flame is water vapor. Radiant propane heaters (not forced air types) have the ability to dump lots of water into your rig. To a lesser extent so does your stove and oven. For that reason you should have a roof vent open when cooking but it is still going to be a fact of life if it is cold outside.

I had borrowed my dads motorhome some years ago and he had one of the radiant propane heaters installed. We used it to heat the rig thinking it was saving on battery power but ended up with everything in the rig drenched in water! I didn't know they would put out so much water. The manufacturer says to open a window and a vent. To which I remarked, what the &*&^% is the point of a heater that has to have a vent open when it's 20 degrees outside. Seems stupid to me and for that reason I will never have one in my rig. I know some people swear by them but they just don't make sense to me.

Hope this helps...

[Bama Rambler]

Our Grand Surveyors seem to be built tighter than some and they do condensate a bit. NW is right about radiant heaters putting off lots of water vapor. Even breathing produces a good bit moisture . You can either open a vent a small amount or even run the A/C a few minutes or buy a dehumidifier.

[jamesp]

We used to have lots of trouble with condensate at night when we slept in our Roo. Vapor would gather on the underside of the canvas ends. We learned to open the end a tad and then open the crank up vent or bathroom vent fan on low speed. Air movement seemed to cure most of our problems. We have vent covers on our current TT and I open each vent a little and we don't have any troubles. When I return home, we open a crank open window a small amount and leave the vents open. No problems with condensate with my current practices.

[KyDan]

Obviously we need a little more information from you.
Are you talking about condensation inside while your unit is in storage
or when you are sleeping in there???
Is it cold outside or not?
Are you using a heater? What type?

As a general rule, when we are camping in cool/cold weather
we leave a window slightly open and often have a roof vent
open as well.
It sounds silly to have windows open in cold weather but in an
enclosed space as small as a travel trailer just 2 bodies breathing
all night can put out a lot of moisture.

[wintford]

The problem is not on the windows but on the ceiling. The unit itself produces condensate on the vent on the bottem of the unit itself. It also makes a condensate trails to the other vents in the our trailor. Above the ceiling is a layer of strofoam and in the foam are channels that go to each of the other vent opennings it is clear to see the path because of the condensate built up on the ceiling. We have a 2006 Grand Survayor and were wondering if anyone else was having this problem. Oh yea it seams to be more of an issue in the summertime with the heat.

[LadyWindrider]

Condensate is made when an object is cooled below the dew point, an example is your water glass in a restaurant. Here in North Carolina, that is 60 degrees about now with the outside air at 90 degrees. Are you sure it is condensed water, and not water from the air conditioner? With everything off. and the doors and windows open do you still get water? Sounds more like a leak in the vent. Water the roof and check inside for a leak. hope this helps.

[KyDan]

This typically happens when an AC unit is way over sized to do the
job. It blasts out super cold air for a while and then shuts off because
it has reached the set point on the thermostat.
It doesn't run long enough to do a decent job of removing the humidity due to the short run times.
You can help a little by setting your fan to run all the time rather
than on "auto" mode.
There isn't much else you can do but live with it.

Personally, I wish my trailer AC unit was about half the BTUs that it actually is. It would be quieter, run longer and do a better job
of de-humidifying and it would draw less amps so I could use
a smaller generator to run it.

At home your house AC is most efficient if it runs about 80 to 90%
of the time. I'm sure the compressor in your RV is running more
like 50%.

I'm sorry I can't really offer you much help on how to prevent
the condensation except to run the fan all the time when you
are using the roof AC.

Good luck!

[rockwood06]

Originally Posted by wintford

The problem is not on the windows but on the ceiling. The unit itself produces condensate on the vent on the bottem of the unit itself. It also makes a condensate trails to the other vents in the our trailor. Above the ceiling is a layer of strofoam and in the foam are channels that go to each of the other vent opennings it is clear to see the path because of the condensate built up on the ceiling. We have a 2006 Grand Survayor and were wondering if anyone else was having this problem. Oh yea it seams to be more of an issue in the summertime with the heat.

.................................................. .................................................. ....
I had the same problem with my camper, moisture was forming on the return grill and on the interior ceiling. With mine there was not enough insulation around the supply and the return duct of the a/c unit. Once more insulation was added the problem went away.

[wintford]

Thanks for all the feed back I will try leaving the fan on on .