Forum Discussion

alexey75's avatar
alexey75
Explorer
Jun 15, 2021

Dehumidifier?

Hello guys,

We’re pretty big family, every morning all windows covered with moisture.

I saw on Amazon there are a lot of small dehumidifiers, something like that:
Dehumidifiers

Does anyone have good experience with these small dehumidifiers?

This specific model probably not big enough for 28 ft trailer…
  • mobeewan's avatar
    mobeewan
    Explorer
    Jun 15, 2021
    The dehumidifier that you linked is only rated for 18 ounces per day. You'll need something more along the lines of 25 pints per day and that may only put a dent in it with a large family. An individual adult can exhale three pints of water while they sleep, part of the reason why you are thirsty when you wake up. Then there's showering and cooking which releases moisture into the air. I lived alone in my 28ft travel trailer for a while, using a 25 pint per day unit that I had to run continuously throughout winter. I showered once a day while running the ceiling vent and only used the microwave. The dehumidifier was barely adequate.

    You might want to start looking at these dehumidifiers.
  • Huntindog's avatar
    Huntindog
    Explorer
    Jun 15, 2021
    pianotuna wrote:
    turn on some electric heat and open a roof vent.
    He can use the furnace without adding any moisture to the inside air. No need for electric heat, unless he just wants it for other reasons
  • ktmrfs's avatar
    ktmrfs
    Explorer II
    Jun 15, 2021
    alexey75 wrote:
    Hello guys,

    We’re pretty big family, every morning all windows covered with moisture.

    I saw on Amazon there are a lot of small dehumidifiers, something like that:
    Dehumidifiers

    Does anyone have good experience with these small dehumidifiers?

    This specific model probably not big enough for 28 ft trailer…


    don't waist your money on those small units. You need one that can remove 5+ GALLONS of water/day. Get a smaller compressor based unit at a big box store, you will find it will fill up in a few hours, empty it and then it may go 12 hours or even a day.

    next what introduces water into the air
    1) people breathing..... more water than you think
    2) stove/oven. they will dump about 1 gallon of water into the air for every gallon of propane burned
    3) damp clothes
    4) NON VENTED heaters, (not a furnace) same as stove or oven. A vented heater (propane furnace) introduces ZERO, NADA, not one drop of moisture into the air, all the combustion air goes outside. Same with the water heater

    So once you have a dehumidifier running, when you shower or cook crack a roof vent. try to keep wet stuff out of the trailer.

    We often camp on rainy days in oregon, even with 5 of us in the trailer with the dehumidifier running and reasonable use of oven, stove, showers etc. we can keep the RH down enough that windows stay clear.
  • pianotuna's avatar
    pianotuna
    Nomad III
    Jun 15, 2021
    They rate dehumidifiers at 77 F. (25 c). When it is colder than that the collection of moisture is quite poor.

    The reason for electric heat is to warm air coming into the rv from a window. We need to get the surfaces (temperature on surface above) the dew point.

    fixed a typo. Thanks for pointing it out.
  • ktmrfs's avatar
    ktmrfs
    Explorer II
    Jun 15, 2021
    pianotuna wrote:
    They rate dehumidifiers at 77 F. (25 c). When it is colder than that the collection of moisture is quite poor.

    The reason for electric heat is to warm air coming into the rv from a window. We need to get the surfaces below the dew point.


    Ours seems to do well even down to about 60F. below that it drops off pretty quick.

    and yes, you want surfaces below the dew point, which in a trailer with single pane windows can be quite difficult!
  • bgum's avatar
    bgum
    Explorer
    Jun 16, 2021
    Nothing beats a compressor dehumidifier. Having said that we run a small dehumidifier like the one you linked to. We use it in our 16 foot when stored. In this high temperature and humidity area it will fill in about 4 days. It is better than nothing and we have never been bothered by mold or mildew. With your load you will need a larger compressor style.
  • alexey75's avatar
    alexey75
    Explorer
    Jun 16, 2021
    Thanks guys. We open the vents when we take a shower or cooking, but still, every morning all windows covered with water.
    About dew point, does it mean the windows inside should be about 46-50F, right? Usually we keep the temperature inside about 70F.

    I see in general the compressor dehumidifier are more louder than desiccant, no?
  • valhalla360's avatar
    valhalla360
    Navigator
    Jun 16, 2021
    alexey75 wrote:
    Thanks guys. We open the vents when we take a shower or cooking, but still, every morning all windows covered with water.
    About dew point, does it mean the windows inside should be about 46-50F, right? Usually we keep the temperature inside about 70F.

    I see in general the compressor dehumidifier are more louder than desiccant, no?


    For most practical purposes, keeping the windows at or below the dew point is not very practical. We like it cold at night for sleeping and no it does work.

    About the only way to do it would be to add an interior layer to mimic dual pained windows (kind of an interior storm window). But even there the frames will still tend build up moisture.

    Drying out the air is really the solution for cold weather camping.
  • pianotuna's avatar
    pianotuna
    Nomad III
    Jun 16, 2021
    alexey75 wrote:

    About dew point, does it mean the windows inside should be about 46-50F, right? Usually we keep the temperature inside about 70F.

    I see in general the compressor dehumidifier are more louder than desiccant, no?


    No. Dew point is the temperature at which water vapor will condense on a surface. Check with one of the many weather websites until you find one that lists dew point.

    Desiccant is quiet, but without a fan.....and really they don't work well where I live.

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