Sweaty window frames

ktmrfs wrote:
But you need a REAL dehumidifier, one that has a real compressor and refrigerant, not a bucket of the white stuff..

LOL.. I have the white stuff. It does ok, I guess I dump a 1/4 cup every few days or so. But I'm not regularly in humid or cold places.

TucsonJim wrote:
Get a dehumidifier and use it inside to keep the humidity down. Once the air is dry, your window frames will be too.

Jim

Yup. even with single pane windows our dehumidifer in our 35' trailer will keep the windows and frames dry in outside pouring rain, and temps outside in the 30's. Even at night when the inside temp goes into the 40's, in the AM windows are dry. We turn it on as soon as we have the trailer set up. It's the only way to go camping at the oregon coast in the rainy season (Jan-Dec)

Before the dehumidifier, we had problems with fogged windows and wet frames. We often pull 5 gallons or more of water out of the air each day.

But you need a REAL dehumidifier, one that has a real compressor and refrigerant, not a bucket of the white stuff.

Also ALWAYS have the fan on when taking a shower, or when cooking when boiling or heating water.

When running the stove or oven you will dump about 3 QUARTS of water into the air for each gallon of propane used. Don't worry about the Water heater or furnace, they dump NO water into the interior of the trailer, it gets exhausted outside.

Oh, and the stand alone propane heaters, they are the same as running the stove.

Just living in the RV puts an enormous amount of moisture in the air, and that will go right to a cold surface like the frames. Someone mentioned de-humidifiers and if your rig allows for it's size, it's the way to go. Not everyone's does tho, so then open two windows/vents..one each end of the RV to allow for the moisture laden air to flow out. I know..it is counter-intuitive, but it is correct. The moisture will will wick right into soft material like curtains, bedding and clothing. Once you are at that level, you just can't get warm.


Gary Haupt

I haven't found that dry air will eliminate the sweating on the frames. It can be only 38% humidity or lower and if it gets below 40 outside and we keep it 68 inside, the frames will sweat. We do have a small dehumidifier that we run. The windshield and window frames are the worst and we have not been able to totally eliminate the problem, just improve the situation.

Get a dehumidifier and use it inside to keep the humidity down. Once the air is dry, your window frames will be too.

Jim

myredracer wrote:
Before insulating window frames, I would consider the possibility that you may have too much moisture in the air.

Yep. Cooking is a culprit.. and showering.

Before insulating window frames, I would consider the possibility that you may have too much moisture in the air. The human body on average releases 5 cups of moisture into the air per day and cooking and showering releases even more moisture into the air. You need to crack open vents, windows and/or if you have one, run a Fantastic fan on low to get a bit of air drawn out. In cold weather you should't seal up an RV and make it airtight in an effort to retain as much heat as possible. Another way of reducing moisture is to use a dehumidifier and then you can open a window/vent just enough to exhaust odors & stale air (CO2). Having a hygrometer might be a good idea so you tell exactly what the humidity level is.

Moisture can also condense on other surfaces like aluminum framing & roof trusses and at the worst, on underside of the roof deck and exterior wall skin. RVs don't have a vapor barrier on the warm side of walls and ceilings like in a house and moisture will migrate through insulation to cold surfaces. This possibly shouldn't be ignored because it can eventually lead to serious damage.

pianotuna wrote:
Insulate the outside part of the frame.

With something permanent.
Like nice thick vinyl molding strips.
If they don't seal quite good enough, you might need to put something on the inside too.

Insulate the outside part of the frame.

my previous house had aluminum framed sliders for the windows. I bought screen door molding IIRC which covered the metal perfectly and stopped the sweating.
bumpy