dehumidifier in a car?

so what with the weather, a couple of wet bikes and wet dogs and generally wet people in my car, the condensation inside is pretty bad.
fairly sure my AC doesnt actually AC much anymore

Has anyone dried their car out by running an extension lead and putting a dehumidifier in the car?

(i realise there might be a seal gone somewhere, but surely easier to identify if i start with a dry car?)

Chances are you’ve got a leak.

Go on a long journey with lots of heat on, and/or get your AC fixed would be my advice. Of course a dehumidifier will work, but I don’t think you’ll learn much.

Or you could just leave the windows open now the forecast is drying up.

I’ve tried a dehumidifier in a car once – it was a big industrial dehumifidier (we’d had a leak in the house) – but it did very little. I think the outside atmosphere gets in too easily in any car.
My cars are always damp and it winds me up no end but i don’t think you can do anything about it. Apart from buy a van to keep all the wet clobber seperate.

rats.

rather reluctant to throw money to trace and fix an AC issue on a 10 yr old car but at the same time scraping the ice from both sides of the windscreen is not how i wanted to start the day.

ferrals, would you mind writing to mrsalias to explain the van purchase

dryjanuary my arse.

I put a dehumidifier in the van every two weeks or so. The windows are less condensationy since. Two wet bikes twice a week and wet kit and wet dog made it damp feeling.

Get your AC re-gassed?

ferrals, would you mind writing to mrsalias to explain the van purchase

I’ll put her onto my mrs. She’s got so f-ed off with my uncanny ability to destroy any form of car with wet biking/surfing/fishing stuff that last sunday she pronounced i should just give up trying and buy a van 😀 I think a 4hr journey back to wales in a small car with liberal deposits of wet mud inside and out after i’d raced round one of the soggy bottom series did the trick!

Sadly she hasn’t offered to pay for said van 😥

My old Ibiza is sitting on the drive until I get around to selling it, so I am driving it once a fortnight or so to keep it running.

I had the same problem this morning with ice on the outside and inside of the windows, so probably need to do something about it.
I meant to buy some big bags of reusable silica gel from Halfords last year and forgot…..but might no have to order these now and leave them on the dash…..

http://www.amazon.co.uk/DEHUMIDIFIER-REUSABLE-MOISTURE-ABSORBER/dp/B00AZZB5UY

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pingi-LV-A300-Reusable-Car-Dehumidifier/dp/B00I3VKBJS

You might have a leak, or a blocked drainage hole somewhere, or if you don’t use it much except when you have wet stuff inside it will get condensation inside, particularly if the AC isn’t working and you’re getting lots of changeable weather as we are this winter.

Opening the windows if it’s dry for the last couple of hundred metres will get rid of any water vapour in the car when you park up…

I had water coming down the back of my speakers in the front doors in my last car, tricky one to find that, I was on the verge of ordering new door seals but a bit of flexible plastic and some silicone sealant was all it took.

Car AC systems usually won’t work if the outside temperature is below about four or five degrees to prevent the evaporator icing up.

I drive along with the fan on full and the heater at max and get the car up to a good swelter, then I lower all the windows and purge the hot humid air. Then its windows up, and re-heat, then purge and repeat.

I do put a dehumidifier in the motorhome to dry it up after we’ve been away in the wet.

My old car used to suffer badly with condensation on the insides. As above, scraping ice from both outside and inside isn’t fun. The issue was deterioration of the seals on the interior of the doors. Fixed it once with sealant but after a year or so the problem came back. Tried large silica gel bags to no real effect.

Earlier this week (Van of course) noticed baby seat was going mouldy, damp smell in car not helped by me leaving wetsuits, surfing equipment and large wet dog in there. (large dog not permanently).

Put electric dehumidifier in twice this week and probably had a pints worth of water in the collector. Not sure if this was just sucked through the airvents though.

This morning bought a rechargeable dehumidifier off amazon (18 quid). See how that goes.

Have heard recommendations for cat litter as well.

Yup, I’ve used the crystal cat litter as a moisture absorber to good effect in an old 1980s Polo that had a leak somewhere. Need to sort some out for the current Jeep as wet dogs tent to drip everywhere and the condensation inside gets pretty bad.

Heat pump dehumidifiers work poorly in low temperatures – you need a desiccating one.

My car’s always a bit damp because it’s always full of muddy bikes and riders…

I used a mains dehumidifier when I flooded the car a while back, it was ace buuuut, it didn’t work at all when it was cold- it only sooked up vapour. I ended up putting a fan heater in the car too but I wouldn’t want to do that long term. I’ve got a smaller dehumidifier which has a 12V socket but it’s too much drain for the battery and flattens it in a day or so.

Thomar do a good reusable chemical dehumidifier if you don’t want to mess around with kitty litter- costs a bit more to do the same thing but looks better, less hassle.

not helped by me leaving wetsuits, surfing equipment and large wet dog in there.

Don’t leave wet gear and dogs in there?

When I had a leak in the Passat a fan heater with the windows just open was quite effective.

used a mains dehumidifier when I flooded the car a while back, it was ace

+1, very effective. Mine is a dessicating one, so no issues at lower temps.

For those scraping both sided of the windscreen, try a tip I picked up from a STWer’s grandparents:

When you boil the kettle for cup of tea/coffee in the morning, boil a bit more and fill a hot water bottle and stick it on the dashboard, lock the car up again, shit, shower and shave, when you come to leave, you’ll be clearing the inside with a cloth rather than a scraper, and the outside with the wipers.

Not tried it myself, but I might get the oppportunity when Freezemageddon hits in a couple of weeks’ time.

njee20 – Member

+1, very effective. Mine is a dessicating one, so no issues at lower temps.

Mine is too… But it could still only take water out of the air so once it’s cold it all condenses and freezes onto surfaces and dries the air out.

Ah fair enough. Being daaaan saaaaaf freezing wasn’t an issue, compressor ones don’t work as well below c10 degrees, so not great for winter generally.

Yeah, fair point that. (once it’s too cold for a dessicating dehumidifier it’s time to towel liquid water off the glass, or scrape ice off the inside and take it out)

My old Golf mkiv used to get the drain holes blocked at the bottom underside of the doors, leaking water into the rear footwells. Could be a possibility? Just waggle a screwdriver in the holes to clear them.

The tip with the hot water bottle works well in my van for defrosting the screen.

As the inside of the screen is often thick with condensation on a morning, I’ve taken to using a Karcher window-vac thing for getting rid of the condensation. It works a treat!

I have this problem because: a) the roof bars on the door seal line and cause a leak. b) I had to have the seats cleaned (dogs) in November and its never dried properly.

Its not bad just a layer of condensation on the inside of the window, so just this afternoon I’ve bought one of those moisture traps. It’ll live on the dash overnight and under the seat when the cars being used.

Not sure if it’ll work or not.

Sock full of silica cat litter left on the dash overnight apparently does the trick.

(Was only recommended this early today by someone who swore by it’s effectiveness but yet to try it myself)

EDIT – just noticed that someone already suggested that. Doh!

To answer your original question, yes and its very effective. Drive around and run the car heater at max with windiws closed to really get the car temperature up. Put dehumid in and crank it to max, run it where you can keep an eye on it. I would suggest you don’t run it overnight. FWIW we used to run dehumids on boats inc overnight and leave them onnfor months on end on low over the winter where we had a drain out of the boat. They are wonderful things

My old Golf mkiv used to get the drain holes blocked at the bottom underside of the doors, leaking water into the rear footwells. Could be a possibility? Just waggle a screwdriver in the holes to clear them.

Ditto my old Mk 2!