Windjammer Rain Forest — HELP, Please!

[nomad297]

I have never experienced this before in the few years I have owned my windjammer, or any other travel trailer for that matter.

For the last five days, we have been camping with relentless rain, The outside temperature has been fairly consistent at around 68 degrees to 73 degrees, day and night, and the outside humidity has remained at 97% humidity or higher for the entire time — my hygrometer for outside will only register a maximum of 97% and that is where it has stayed for the entire five days. To keep the humidity inside of my camper to less than 60%, I have had to run the A/C, so I keep it at about 68 degrees so it will run to bring the humidity level down. This is cooler than I like, but it is the only thing I can do to bring down the humidity to a livable level. If I use my MaxAir fan, the humidity inside shoots up, so I have quit using that unless we are showering or using the bathroom.

What I am seeing is condensation collecting and dripping from all of the A/C registers, around and on the A/C unit and on the ceiling where the ducts are carved through the styrofoam — the closer to the A/C unit the ducts are, the more I see the condensation.

What makes this happen and what can I do to combat it? I don’t think a dehumidifier is the answer because they generate so much heat, it will make the inside of the camper uncomfortably warm.

I am afraid if I let this go on much longer, I will be dealing with mold or mildew in the near future.

Any suggestions or solutions will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Bruce

[Flightmike]

Gas furnaces in the home usually dry out the air. I would think it would in a trailer also. Couldn’t hurt to try.

[nomad297]

Originally Posted by Flightmike

Gas furnaces in the home usually dry out the air. I would think it would in a trailer also. Couldn’t hurt to try.

I suppose I could try this and turn on my fireplace as well. Do you think once I cook the inside of the camper it will have a lasting result, or just temporary? Do you think the moisture is just trapped inside of the camper and once I get it dried out, it will not return?

Bruce

[SeaDog]

Your ac will remove humidity it may be that you have it set too cold causing the condensation in the vents. Try something around 72* and limit how often you open and close the door and keep the windows shut see if that helps. You cold pick up a de-humidifier and run that while running the ac to dry things out.

[youroo]

Originally Posted by Flightmike

Gas furnaces in the home usually dry out the air. I would think it would in a trailer also. Couldn’t hurt to try.

Propane heaters raise the Moister level! Run the "Dehumidifier"! Youroo!!

[Reverse_snowbird]

Consider buying a dehumidifier (recommended above) with the feature to run a hose outside or down the shower. It's a bit of an expense, but better then freezing or roasting you and your rig.

[boxman117]

Dehumidifier and/or desiccant. In my experience, sometimes there is too much moisture for the desiccant to work properly and you need the dehumidifier to get it into a range where the desiccant can suck it out of the air. I have to use both in the winter...

[Wannabretired]

The humidity is the problem. The grill is colder than the dewpoint in the rv, so like a glass of ice water sitting on your counter dew appears and collects on the object I.E. your grills. With the humidity so high anything colder than the dewpoint will collect moisture. Your AC is a dehumidifier but until the humidity level gets below whatever your dewpoint is you will have moisture collecting on colder surfaces. You might kick that fireplace on low and see if you can dry it out somewhat otherwise its a dehumidifier like has been mentioned. Objective is to dry but until the rain stops it will be a battle because everytime you open the door quess what rushes in.

[jeff64]

X2 on the dehumidifing of the air.

Have you done anything as far as optimizing your air conditioner? Lots of posts on this and BTW it works! Essentially you are going to take off the AC vent inside and isolate the hot side from the cold side including the ducts with aluminum foil tape. The A/C will probably be the most efficient dehumidifing, and getting the water outside and hot air exchanged kept out. Are your ceiling vents open or blocked off with foam. I'll vote for blocked off here with foam. Don't forget to address your skylight. I'll pass on the furnace or fireplace suggestion. Just me.
I run 3 air circulating fans, they'r about 10" dia and swivel mounted and I set them on the floor pointed up. That's going to be where the coldest air is in your TT. Inexpensive ($13) maybe and 1 per room.
I do have a dehumidifier, one of the peltier electronic ones rather than the conventional compressor types. Although nowhere near as effective as the compressor models, they shine in the difference of the amount of heat given off, weight, cost and power consumption. When the AC is cycled off, the fans and the electronic dehumidifier (Eva-Dry 2000, if you're interested) keep the situation in hand. It's been a " D" all the above solutions summer here.
DW and I are camping at present, 85 deg plus and little to no wind... I started carrying a 20" window fan so we could sit outside

[panamabear]

Living in here in Florida, we have a dehumidifier plugged in all the time when not camping. Our 2 year old trailer still smells new and no mildew.

[rsdata]

You cold pick up a de-humidifier and run that while running the ac to dry things out.

X2

[Larry-NC]

Originally Posted by Reverse_snowbird

Consider buying a dehumidifier (recommended above) with the feature to run a hose outside or down the shower. It's a bit of an expense, but better then freezing or roasting you and your rig.

The 2007 Cherokee 38P sits permanently at one site. Humidity became an issue and DW started using the DampRid bags. They weren't effective so I found a nice little 30pt. dehumidifier on Craigslist for $20. I modified it so it would run without the tank and placed it in the shower.

Since use the campground shower and never the one in the trailer, I removed the shower door for better air circulation.

It's stayed nice and dry since then. Doesn't seem to affect the electric bill.

Larry

[jtesta1]

That's why they make dehumidifiers.

[Evereddie]

Some basics:
If you have high humidity then there are only 2 devices that actually remove humidity. An air conditioner and a dehumidifier. A dehumidifier is actually an air conditioner just not in a split system configuration. It blows the heat removed from the air back into the room. The net gain is heat and lower humidity. Running an air conditioner with a dehumidifier has an added effect of more moisture removal and cooling down the room heated slightly by the dehumidifier.

Humidity is caused by humid outside air getting in, showers, cooking, people's breath. Heat (electric or propane) does not add or take away humidity. What heat does though is to raise the temperature which enables the air to hold more humidity. If you raise the temperature of a space the "relative humidity" goes down.

Said all that to point out that a dehumidifier is a huge plus in getting rid of moisture. Nothing else short of running air conditioning more will do that.