Wet and mold

stickdog wrote:
Ventilation, ventilation, ventilation. Seven years fulltime never had a problem with moisture. We always had the bathroom ceiling vent open an inch. Ceiling fan in living room on for seven years.

We have dual pane windows. We've spent a few winters in Denver, and never had any condensation problems at all, and didn't open vents or windows, even while showering or cooking. The air there is extremely dry.

But we're in the Seattle area now, and it's a different story. The north-facing windshield gets condensation, and windows will get it if I forget to take out the bubble thing that blocks light at night. And I noticed that behind the drawers in the slide, the inside of the outside wall had some condensation.

One thing I do is in cabinets whose interiors are the inside of an outside wall, I try to make sure nothing is actually touching the wall, like blankets and boxes, and I leave those doors open to help air circulate unless they're bothering me being open. I originally thought having something against that wall would act like insulation, and maybe it does, but if condensation forms anyway, it'll get the object wet and that's no good. If it's going to form, I prefer that it just form on the wall and not make other things wet.

There are a couple of small campers near me, with what I presume are single-pane windows, and their windows on the non-sunny side always have condensation. And RVs up here grow moss on their shaded sides.

One word, DEHUMIDIFIER. Windows open help, but a large dehumidifier is what you need. Run it 24/7. You will be amazed how much water is removed. Also leave closet doors open when you can.

Ventilation, ventilation, ventilation. Seven years fulltime never had a problem with moisture. We always had the bathroom ceiling vent open an inch. Ceiling fan in living room on for seven years. We have a thermonmeter on the inside of the slide wall in cold weather it's always about 5 degrees cooler than the thermometer on the inside one on the thermostat.

Single pane windows?

luvmydogs wrote:
It's hard not to use the heat overnight when its down below 40.

You should be using all the heat you can afford in these conditions. If you're cooking, ventilate well. After showering too.

luvmydogs wrote:
Having a problem with windows, closets and compartments getting wet and then of course mold sets in. Is this normal or do I have a lousy cheapy rv? How do I fix this? It's hard not to use the heat overnight when its down below 40. Any ideas?

Since most of the moisture is generated by you and anyone else in the camper there is a simple solution - don't breathe. :W

Realistically though that doesn't work for most people so what you want to do is always ventilate the camper regardless of how cold it may be outside - crack a window or two along with the vent(s), run a fan on low to circulate whatever warm dry air the furnace generates, don't cook any more than you have to inside, and when you do run the above stove vent fan to suck that moist air out. This is just one of many issues you'll run into when using a 3-season camper throughout all 4 seasons. ;)

Here’s a thread from earlier in the year that had some good suggestions.
Condensation on windows - What do you do?

Open it up when using the heat and it's cold out. The walls are cold and are condensing water vapor, vapor you are giving off and from the heat itself. I've camped many times in the winter and I always leave a window slightly open and roof vents open as well.

I know it sounds counterproductive but your house breaths ( exchanges air) your RV don't.