I have a major moisture problem!

[FullTime5thWheelLife]

I've tried everything i can think of to keep the moisture levels down but nothing is keeping me out of the wet air feeling. My moisture inside is at 60 on a good day and at 80 on a bad day. I have a large dehumidifier running and removing a lot of water from the air 24/7 (it's killing me on the power bill) and I have the dehumidifier beads in every nook and cranny. I open the Hatches every time we shower, cook, clean, etc. I bubble wrapped tge windows to better insulate them. And yet with all this I still watch the water running down my walls. I can't seem to win. Any suggestions?

 

[rvlifer]

Where are you and what are the temps outside? What rv are you in? Is it a 4 season rv?

 

[IBTripping]

Welcome to the Forum. As rvlifer noted, we need more information to help you deal with the moisture problem.

 

[John From Detroit]

You bubble wrapped the windows to better insulate.. and the three ways to get rid of moisture.

If the air outside is dryer than inside.> Ventelate (Bubble wrapped stops that)

HEAT (The furnace produces DRY air Bubble wrap reduces that

And dehumidify You are doing that.

 

[Rene T]

Welcome. Many range hoods have a door outside that can be latched shut so it doesn’t flop open to shut all the time while traveling. Check yours. It may have a door catch on each end of the door. If it is latched shut, then all the moisture created while cooking would not be going to the outside

 

[Onyrlef]

I've tried everything i can think of to keep the moisture levels down but nothing is keeping me out of the wet air feeling. My moisture inside is at 60 on a good day and at 80 on a bad day. I have a large dehumidifier running and removing a lot of water from the air 24/7 (it's killing me on the power bill) and I have the dehumidifier beads in every nook and cranny. I open the Hatches every time we shower, cook, clean, etc. I bubble wrapped tge windows to better insulate them. And yet with all this I still watch the water running down my walls. I can't seem to win. Any suggestions?

If the humidity inside is higher than outside then you're making it. Gas furnaces raise humidity. You produce humidity, so do pets. You're either going to have to vent it out, or add another or larger dehumidifier. If your bath vent is passive you may need to look at a fan, if it has a fan leave it running longer. Try leaving the stove vent fun running periodically.

 

[Kirk]

Humans add humidity to the air just by breathing. Covering the windows does nothing to help with humidity, but it might help to stay warm. It sounds like you are adding to the humidity somehow and you may also have a poorly insulated trailer. What RV do you have and where are you located?

 

[Mark_K5LXP]

Despite what mitigation you think you're achieving, at the end of the day you're putting more water into the air than you're expelling. Just opening a hatch or vent may not be enough - might need some active air exchange using a fan. Using a dehumidifier does takes energy but it's not lost - it's some number of watts that contribute to the heat sources you already have. The less water you put into the air the less you need to remove, or send via heated air outside. You're going to have to find that balance by identifying different habits and processes than you're currently following.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM

 

[Bobtop46]

Not sure if it will work for you but, try getting 2 electric space heaters. Electric space heaters create dry heat unlike the furnace. Use the furnace at a lower temp when the space heaters can't keep up. Set the electric space heaters at something like 68 degrees, and the furnace at 63. You may be able to not use the dehumidifier. The only place we get condensation when we do this is the big front window on our Class A.

 

[FullTime5thWheelLife]

Where are you and what are the temps outside? What rv are you in? Is it a 4 season rv?

I have a 98 coachman catalina. I'm in Truckee ca. Temps are dropping into the single digets at night but usually in the 40s during the day. No it's not a 4 seasons

 

[FullTime5thWheelLife]

Not sure if it will work for you but, try getting 2 electric space heaters. Electric space heaters create dry heat unlike the furnace. Use the furnace at a lower temp when the space heaters can't keep up. Set the electric space heaters at something like 68 degrees, and the furnace at 63. You may be able to not use the dehumidifier. The only place we get condensation when we do this is the big front window on our Class A.

I have 2 of them but the rv park is stay at charges for power. My power bill is through the roof

 

[Onyrlef]

I have 2 of them but the rv park is stay at charges for power. My power bill is through the roof

Then you're going to have to provide some ventilation. A fan exhausting saturated air and a separate vent allowing drier air in. You're likely sealed up tight. Those are the trade offs. You might try it only during the day at first.

 

[TheBar]

Gas furnaces raise humidity.

An unvented gas stove will raise humidity but would a gas furnace vented outside?

 

[TheBar]

You have the same condition as an iced drink sweating on a warm summer day. It may be too cold to have a fan blowing air outside or in but a fan blowing the air around the RV will help.

Are you sure your 1998 RV doesn't have any water leaks? In the roof, walls, floor? The real problem is an RV is not a mobile home as most people assume. It is only insulated for camping weather between 40-90, not for extreme temperatures.

 

[rvlifer]

Lots of good suggestions. I dont know if this is an option for you but i would be tempted to try to isolate whare the moisture is coming from the most. Turn off everything you can that may be adding moisture then open a lot of windows to get the moisture down. Then turn on only the furnace and see what happens then cook, then shower, etc to see what affects it the most. Measure the humidity at each step.

Be careful to not let the rv get too close to freezing so you dont damage anything. One concern i would have would be holding tanks and stuff in the undercarriage unless you have installed skirting and taken other steps to protect that stuff. Be very cautious if you try that. Single digits is a tough time to figure something like that out.

if you can figure out what is adding the most moisture you can then prioritize how to address it the most effectively you can.

 

[Onyrlef]

An unvented gas stove will raise humidity but would a gas furnace vented outside?

There's moisture content in the combusted air, the blower disburses it into the rv's interior. A furnace doesn't condense the moist air from the rv interior like an a/c. It can only recirculate what's already there, the more it runs the more moisture content it's adding to the existing air. If the air isn't being exchanged via ventilation or dehumidifier the problem only compounds.
We were having this problem in the 80's with units in the field. We worked with Nordyne in the field to try and figure something out. Come to find out we were sealing them up too well. Take a close look at Tyvek. It has tiny perferations to allow the walls to breathe. We were wrapping them with plastic. After that we'd wrap the walls then go along with a razor knife and cut slits.

 

[SuwanneeDave1]

An unvented gas stove will raise humidity but would a gas furnace vented outside?

I would say no. the furnace combustion is all outside, and the heat to the indoor area is through a heat exchanger.

 

[Mark_K5LXP]

There's moisture content in the combusted air, the blower disburses it into the rv's interior.

It'd better not, or you're a statistic. RV furnaces are fully vented, meaning all combustion air and exhaust are outside. The only thing circulating inside is inside air. It nether adds, nor subtracts humidity. Operating a 3 season RV in single digit temps has attendant problems, the cost to heat and shedding humidity being among them.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM

 

[Onyrlef]

I would say no. the furnace combustion is all outside, and the heat to the indoor area is through a heat exchanger.

There's no heat exchanger in an rv furnace. The blower directs air through the combustion chamber and out the supply vent(s) . It's a simple closed system with a return air.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

An unvented gas stove will raise humidity but would a gas furnace vented outside?

A furnace that has it's exhaust vented outside does not add humidity to the interior.

There's no heat exchanger in an rv furnace. The blower directs air through the combustion chamber and out the supply vent(s) . It's a simple closed system with a return air.

That's not quite accurate. The circulation air blows across the top of the combustion chamber, not through it. That is a crude heat exchanger. The moisture from combustion never touches the air circulating inside the RV.