Condensation Issues.

Last week my DW noticed that the sheets were damp where they touch the walls. We had a bit of Mildew starting on the walls too (I scrubbed it all off).

We thought it could have been a leak from outside, but we have more water inside today and it has not rained since I last dried everything. I figure that it must be condensation collecting on running down the walls.

We have a large dehumidifier set at 50%rh in the bathroom and the doors are almost always open, but if we close the shade over the bedroom windows(yes they are dual pane) they will still "sweat" a LOT. I get drips of water on my night shelf.

I do not remember this happening last winter or ever before, so I am reaching out to all my Heartland friends to help curtail this issue before we get anymore mold or mildew.

When you shower do you run the exhaust fan

I can not be much help but for my own curiosity, do you keep a roof vent slightly open? We both live in a very very moist climate! The only time I had a big condensation issue with our previous rig was when we used it in cold weather and to save heat, didn't have a vent open. Once I opened the vents, the condensation was much less.

We'll give the open vent a try in the morning and see if there is any difference, and report back

I always run the fan when showering and when I cook

We have no condensation in our unit and been living in it all summer and winter. We are in florida and the nights are in the 30's most of the time.
I have been finding the air to dry. When the furnace runs a lot the air realy dries out and I can feel it when I get up in the morning.
Most of the humidity is caused by fresh air in on warm days or internal water vaporization. Most of the ventilation has to be done during cold outside air time...
I found that this unit with the furnace located in the basement and drawing the return air from the coldest part has been great. My friends SOB is like our previous trailer with lots off moisture problem.

Alan, are you running any auxilliary heat other than the furnace? I discovered years ago, that when we heated with any auxiliiary heat source we would get this issue when we had no ventilation...that is why now we use only the furnace, and occasionally the electric fireplace, but keep the temps to 70 or under...solved our condensation issues.

Is it a foam mattress Alan? I have read that moisture is a bigger problem with foam mattresses due to the lack of air circulation through the solid foam. Some drill holes in the board under the mattress to increase air flow.

You will get condensation from any non-vented gas appliance or heater ie: stove, oven, as moisture is a byproduct of burning gas. Your furnace is vented outside and has a burner that is sealed to the inside of the trailer using outside air for combustion. Electric heating devices can safely be used as they do not create any byproducts and will in fact, dry the air somewhat. Some of the condensation is simply warm air hitting a cold surface. Take whatever steps are necessary to eliminate a build up of moisture in the trailer, use your roof vents and exhaust fans to get the moisture out, move the dehumidifier to a more central location, turn it to run all the time when it's colder out and possibly try running a small fan or two in in the rooms you're having problems with to keep the air moving. You could get a humidistat and monitor the humidity inside. Even in our house this can be a problem on the windows as the temps drop way down...Don

2010augusta said:

We'll give the open vent a try in the morning and see if there is any difference, and report back

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Showered with vent cracked open a few inches last night(mine) and this morning(DW) and bedroom stayed drier.

kakampers said:

Alan, are you running any auxilliary heat other than the furnace? I discovered years ago, that when we heated with any auxiliiary heat source we would get this issue when we had no ventilation...that is why now we use only the furnace, and occasionally the electric fireplace, but keep the temps to 70 or under...solved our condensation issues.

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We use our electric heater quite a bit, but the furnace still runs a few times a day. We like to keep the trailer temps ~62* during the day and ~54* at night, thought some mornings the inside thermometer will say 49* in the living room if we turn off the Electric heat at night.

kkamshop said:

Is it a foam mattress Alan? I have read that moisture is a bigger problem with foam mattresses due to the lack of air circulation through the solid foam. Some drill holes in the board under the mattress to increase air flow.

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It is not a foam mattress, but we did have a thick foam topper on it. The mattress is a Sterns and Fosters,but the bottom seems to be rubbery, so I might try drilling some holes if any issues continue.

Thanks for the ideas folks, I guess we did keep the vent cracked last year and just forgot to start that again as the temps dropped this year.

Getting old is hard on the brain... Turning the big Three-O this year.

I wonder if it may have anything to do with the difference in insulation in the side walls. We get a little condensation on the bedroom slide windows and we also get it in the corners of the same slide. Could it be our bodies raise the temperatures in that slide just enough overnight to make a difference and cause that condensation???

He's a quick fix until you find the source. I have used it at home. Go to H*me Dep*t a get a bucket Of Damprid or some other dessicant.
These collect moisture from the room at a great rate. I couldn't believe how well it worked. I had a moisture problem under the vanity in one bathroom and the container was full of water in a couple of weeks. Dried the area well.

It's the same stuff that's in the little packets that accompany every piece of electronic equipment you buy.

Ray LeTourneau said:

I wonder if it may have anything to do with the difference in insulation in the side walls. We get a little condensation on the bedroom slide windows and we also get it in the corners of the same slide. Could it be our bodies raise the temperatures in that slide just enough overnight to make a difference and cause that condensation???

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That is exactly where our issues are.

2010augusta said:

That is exactly where our issues are.

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We haven't been in any really cold situations lately so it hasn't been a problem. I'm betting though that our bodies raise that temp and humidity just enough in that slide to cause the problem.

Reduce the dehumidifier setting to 30%. Stop breathing. Breathing puts moisture into the air increasing the relative humidity. We noticed that in our hard-sided popup camper that the sidewalls of the sleeping rooms got wet and made the bedclothes wet where they touched the walls. Increase inside/outside air exchange by opening the vents.

Here is a chart that relates temperature, relative humidity and dew point. The highlighted example shows that at a temperature of 75F and relative humidity the dew point is 45F. Which means if that air contacts a surface with a temperature of 45F moisture will condense because that is the dew point, the temp at which dew appears. Reduce the indoor RH to lower the dew point temp to prevent condensation. http://www.eaglecoatings.net/content/dewpoint.htm