Wet and mold

luvmydogs wrote:
Kudos to those of you who are full timers and can handle it, but then maybe if our rig was house size I'd feel different.

You would. A large rig with dual pane windows and plenty of heat would be very comfortable! Much fewer condensation issues. (not to make you feel bad!)

Yes it is westend. We have just about every square inch packed.First, we never thought we'd still be in the rv. Secondly, when we are parked, i'd LOVE to have one of those big gorgeous rigs I see every day. BUT, when we drive in between, I want as small a rig as possible. Cant have it both ways I guess. :) Right now all we want is a home. A real one, but we ran out of time weatherwise to find one. Camping in the snow doesnt work, so now we are stuck til late winter early spring. It's not been a fun time for us at all. NOt like last year when we toured around in BC , Washington and the Oregon coast. But we had a home base to go back to, right now we dont. Makes everything very stressfull. Kudos to those of you who are full timers and can handle it, but then maybe if our rig was house size I'd feel different. There just seem to be to many problems to solve when there is no home base. Okay, enough complaining. The whole thing with the moisture is new to us and I dont want to hurt the rv.

Yup, if you can move South until you hit an area where little furnace use is in the cards, it's an easy and beneficial solution.

It sounds like you might enjoy a larger trailer. That may or may not fit your plans. There are always ways to increase storage or alternative ways of storing things. Right now, I have a 15" spare tire in my shower enclosure. I don't plan on any Winter trips and I do plan to install the spare in different exterior location.
Is the storage area under the seats being used, right now?

2oldman wrote:

smthbros wrote:
While increasing the indoor air temp will increase the surface temp of the outside walls, the main reason for increasing indoor air temp is to reduce the relative humidity..

I want to increase the temperature of the inside walls -and be comfortable at the same time. Warm air holds more moisture than cold.

I see your point. I contend that outside walls have an inside surface and outside surface and inside walls have only inside surfaces.

smthbros wrote:
While increasing the indoor air temp will increase the surface temp of the outside walls, the main reason for increasing indoor air temp is to reduce the relative humidity..

I want to increase the temperature of the inside walls -and be comfortable at the same time. Warm air holds more moisture than cold.

2oldman wrote:

myredracer wrote:
Turning up the furnace does not help and besides, the higher the air temp. the more moisture it will hold.

The point of heat is to keep the interior surfaces warm so moisture will not condense as easily.

While increasing the indoor air temp will increase the surface temp of the outside walls, the main reason for increasing indoor air temp is to reduce the relative humidity. For example, if the indoor air temp is 50° with 60% rh and you increase the indoor air temp to 70°, then the rh drops to ~29%. This figures may be verified with any online psychrometric calculator.

myredracer wrote:
Turning up the furnace does not help and besides, the higher the air temp. the more moisture it will hold.

The point of heat is to keep the interior surfaces warm so moisture will not condense as easily.

Our rv is packed to the gills. Shower is not used for showering,but for dog food storage. Unless you were similar size to a midget, our shower is useless. There is no room anywhere in the rv. No offense, but our animals NEVER get tied outside,nor would I ever consider tieing them anywhere. They are family memebers, all of them. We got an Rv with 2 bunks and each bunk acts as a kennel for each of the cats, unless we are in for the evening watching tv, then they have free roam on the rv til bedtime.The cats never leave the rv exept in crates to go into the suv when we are on the road. The dogs are 50 lbs each, so no where to lock them away, and I'd no sooner do that than any one would lock away a human child. They are family members, and domestic animals, not wild dogs. You give my rv way to much credit. The storage area under the seats in the dinette wouldnt even fit a dog. It's way to small an area. I'm trying to leave the rv vented and see if that cures the moisture problem. If it doesnt I'll just have to go further south.

An alternative to pet management may be to keep them in their own enclosed spaces. That could be as simple as a carrier with a blanket over it or a section of the dinette with cushions used for walls. That would allow you to turn the heat down and less condensation inside.

FWIW, I've built a number of pet houses and a cat or dog (the more hardy ones) can endure very low temperatures as long as they are enclosed, away from wind, and can use their body heat to maintain/raise the temp of the enclosure. Your storage area with no doors sounds like a good area for pet housing. Cut some holes and cover with what you like. I have all my cabinet doors and accessory spaces covered with a durable outdoor woven nylon. It allows a small amount of air transfer.

In any event, using a furnace in a small box means that you will need to provide ventilation. I have a trailer similar in size and I built it with vapor barrier and thermal breaks to any outside surface. I have Low-E, multi pane windows. I still get a small bit of condensation on the glass so I keep a vent and/or a window cracked if camping for any length of time in the Winter.

Are the large dogs ill and or elderly? No reason for them to be in the camper that much. Large dog give off more heat than a human and more moisture too. Animals survived long time before Central heat, they'll be alright outside long as it's not chained to a tree 24x7. Need walks to lubricate joints and circulate blood to cold paws.

Put the dehumidifier in the shower or on top of the toilet or under the dinette. My trailer is smaller than yours, one side of the bed is the dehumidifier, the other side the oil filled heater.