rechargeable dehumidifiers for car

its that time of the year again where being a tight@rse and refusing to give in and buy a newer car means that we’ll try and make do another year with our battered old nissan note that leaks and the aircon doesnt work.

obviously this means that most mornings i have to wait in the driveway for it to de-mist for a good few minutes (on maximum setting 4 of course, cos the first 3 settings dont work anyway), so just wondered if anyone had had any success with re-cheargeable dehumidifiers such as those below.

we also have a couple of those pingi microwave bags but theyre not great.

these rechargeable jobbies seem to come as a pair so im thinking leave them in the car overnight, wake up to a lovely clear windscreen (yeah right) and then recharge through the day at work.

seem reasonable?

thanks

Could you get the Aircon fixed on the car? seems a much better solution.

Those you pictured are just gel in a plastic box – I think you’d be disappointed.

I’m not sure they are going to make a jot of difference in a car that leaks.  There will be more moisture in the car than they could absorb.

I sometimes put a fan heater in the car for 10 minutes whilst I’m getting ready, seems to be the quickest/effective way of drying out/defrosting the car without having to leave it idling for ages.

(on maximum setting 4 of course, cos the first 3 settings dont work anyway

That’ll be a £15 resistor pack and nothing more taxing than unplugging the old one and plugging the new one in to solve

Solving leaks is usually straightforward too

Its generally better to fix the problem than repeatedly deal with the symptoms – if you’re looking at having to start using those dehumidifiers now the clocks haven’t even gone back yet –  then thats a daily ritual of recharging them for the next 6 months?. I’d put an hours work into solving the leak personally.

If you have a drive then is a mains dehumidifier a possibility?

I use ours maybe once or twice over winter, gets lots of moisture out and keeps on top of any damp in the car

Very useful around the house too so money well spent – about 150 quids worth of top notch dehumidifying

all good suggestions, and i take the point about those being cr@p then.

but…… as for fixing the problems, the short answer is no.

aircon fix is probably more costly than the cars worth, and that resistor pack/rheostat (sp)  has been done before and involved a full dashboard removal following a bit of hand holding on the nissan note forum.  it then packed in again soon after, our local garage fixed it again for free as part of a service, then it went again soon after, so im just willing to accept it now.

and the leak?  again, plenty of advice on the NN forum, a common problem with them, ive removed light clusters and made waterproof, removed rear light from hatch and resealed, tried to trace the leak with no joy, so in the end again, just accepted the boot and footwells will get wet so removed the bung in the boot and drilled holes through the floorpans to prevent pooling 😀

yes, its possible i think to stick a little fan heater in there first thing in the morning actually, or plug in our dehumidifier overnight, so will mebbes try that approach.

we really need another car but it just keeps going and i keep putting it back.  140,000 miles and keeps getting us from A to B inc airport runs.  i think my wifes secretly hoping it dies 😀

thank you for the suggestions.

Yep, we use the ones that are just microwaveable sacks.   Once microwaved, put them on a hot radiator to finish evaporating off the moisture as they cool off.  Takes a few though to keep the screen clear.

Apparently you can also do it with a pillowcase filled with silica cat litter, just shake it out and dry in an oven dish at 200C.

And won’t actually dry the car out as there’s no heating to evaporate the moisture out the carpets. The only way to solve it is to park in the sun on the warmer days so the car gets hot, and leave the windows cracked open.  Same when driving, heater on max diverted to the footwells and windows cracked open.

Yep I used to have a really badly leaking car so learnt the tricks.

That’ll be a £15 resistor pack and nothing more taxing than unplugging the old one and plugging the new one in to solve

A bit like changing a fuse and expecting it not to blow again IME. They blow when overloaded, usually because the fan is on its way out.

Still worth doing though (and the fan might not be too expensive if it goes again).

If you know you need another car and your wife secretly wants one then I’d be off to WBAC and finding something that wasn’t a PITA to live with!

….. and buy a potential money pit when this one owes us nothing and keeps going? 😉

Then fix it.

Could you just put a cover over it when it rains?

The problem with trhat is that it prevents any ventilation and therefore any moisture in the car stays there.

Leave the windows open.

Then fix it.

i think we’ve already bottomed that out if you read my post above ^^^.  many hours spent on the NN forum, then taking dashboard to bits, replacing rheostat only for it to pack in again shortly after (twice), garage says aircon will be pricey to fix (compressor or something?), and also that they arent confident that theyd find a leak either, so we’ve resolved ourselves to just dealing with the consequences.  hence this post.  its not laziness, just an old car thatll cost too much in money and time to sort out.

Could you just put a cover over it when it rains?

2 aerials on roof, so no, not viable.

Leave the windows open.

hmmmmm…… i can see a flaw in this plan 😀

so…..back to the OP.  youre probably right that these re-chargeables wont do the job effectively so ill look at just using the microwaveable bags and when possible stick a fan heater inside to clear the inside a little more effectively.

thank you

garage says aircon will be pricey to fix (compressor or something?), and also that they arent confident that theyd find a leak either

Then they’re crap.

They can put a dye into the system that will show up a leak, or if it’s just the compressor you can get used ones online for £50 delivered.

I do like all the calls to “just fix it”.

Nothing to add, other than, ( and if the heater works!) next time you drive to work, put the heater on full, crack a window, and hopefully dry out the inside of the  car as much as possible, including the actual pipes leading to the vents, which are probably harbouring a lot of moisture.

Or ” just fix it, idiot!”

Stick your dehumidifier in there overnight.

Way cheaper than an electric heater and much more effective.

Fix the aircon.

Repair costs don’t depreciate in parallel with the car value. You want the work doing now and so it costs what it costs. What would you do if the brakes need new pads…fill the calipers with grass?

Just get it fixed and for this time of year you could call it a safety thing as staring through a soaked windcreen is not easy….. running it is using the car with the choke on so more petrol….

Just fix it.

OP, do you even know what’s wrong with the aircon?

It might simply need a re-gas (at which point they would add the refrigerant with the UV dye in it so if it fails again they can see where it’s coming out) as it doesn’t last forever.

People like kwikfit do a free test …. although I’m not sure how useful it is.

Having working AC on your car would make a big difference.  It failed on mine last year and I put up with it for a while before having it re-gassed – it didn’t last long but it showed the compressor was knackered so I had a new one fitted (about £350 I think) and it made the car a much nicer place to be.

You can even re-gas it yourself if you prefer, but it’s not very expensive.

I feel like I need to stick up for the OP and anyone else who just treats their car as a tool to move things from A to B, or is a keen bangernomics-er, rather than a luxury item.

Repair costs don’t depreciate in parallel with the car value. You want the work doing now and so it costs what it costs. What would you do if the brakes need new pads…fill the calipers with grass?

Ehhhh?  They don’t add any value either.  We have a similarly worn out 1.4 petrol Fiesta on 170,000. Maintenance beyond the service schedule is pretty much limited to “does this REALLLY piss me off and does it cost less than a fiver to fix”.  So it’s got new tyres, brakes cambelt and water pump, And the front seat release catch and radio ariel got fixed.  But nope, the AC hasn’t worked for a good 100,000miles.

A lot of cars (and most vans) still don’t come with aircon, they do however come with brakes, so you point us a bit daft isn’t it?  What about paint defects? Is a cracked bumper equivalent to bald tires?

Just get it fixed and for this time of year you could call it a safety thing as staring through a soaked windcreen is not easy

Flannel it dry and put the heater on.

running it is using the car with the choke on so more petrol….

Now you’ve lost me.

(and pedantically most cars since the 50/60’s didn’t have a choke, they had an enricher).

Flannel it dry and put the heater on.

Absolutely – and you may be happy with that approach – but the OP clearly isn’t which is why he’s asking for advice.

(If water is leaking in then sorting that would go a long way towards a solution.)

Flannel it dry and put the heater on.

Grim.

Damp cars also smell

And mould.

Then they’re crap.

They can put a dye into the system that will show up a leak, or if it’s just the compressor you can get used ones online for £50 delivered.

noooooo, i didnt mean they cant find a leak in the aircon, i meant where the rains getting in.  i forgot to mention as well as having all the light clusters off, i also took the rear wiper pipes off to to see if it was from there, but nope.  its a mystery.  thats the leak i was on about, the garage wont be able to find that any better than me on my NN forum.

Stick your dehumidifier in there overnight.

thatd certainly be effective i think, but its a heavy old unit, thats why i originally asked about these smaller re-chargeable jobbies.

What would you do if the brakes need new pads…fill the calipers with grass?

😀 oh dear……

OP, do you even know what’s wrong with the aircon?

few years since i asked now, but think they said compressor’s bust?

 it didn’t last long but it showed the compressor was knackered so I had a new one fitted (about £350 I think) and it made the car a much nicer place to be.

well i can ask for a quote again i suppose, but i dont want to be chucking hundreds on a car that may die next week.

I feel like I need to stick up for the OP and anyone else who just treats their car as a tool to move things from A to B, or is a keen bangernomics-er, rather than a luxury item.

THANK YOU!!  a friend at last 😀 *tongue-in-cheek emoji

aaaaaaand back to the OP…….. maybe a small dehumidifier overnight is the way to go, a bit more portable than our current ‘clothes drier’.

thanks again all, much appreciated.

Hidden leaks? Have you got a sunroof? The front and rear drain pipes on all sunroofs can get blocked at the exits then leak at the joints.

Hidden leaks? Have you got a sunroof?

no mate.

As a fellow owner of a crap old car that has eternal moisture inside it, the answer my friend is a tea towel that you keep in the car and wipe the worst of the condensation off the screen with said tea-towel so the blowers don’t have as much to do.

the answer my friend is a tea towel that you keep in the car and wipe the worst of the condensation off the screen with said tea-towel so the blowers don’t have as much to do.

Then just tie that to the rooftack to dry out for the next use

well i can ask for a quote again i suppose, but i dont want to be chucking hundreds on a car that may die next week.

Well obvs it’s up to you but I’ve already said you can get a used compressor delivered for £50.  Cars a re a money pit regardless – stuff can go wrong at any time!

thatd certainly be effective i think, but its a heavy old unit, thats why i originally asked about these smaller re-chargeable jobbies.

Are you aware the the latter is nothing like your proper mains powered dehumidifier?

 its a mystery.  thats the leak i was on about

I did realise that.  IF you could fix the leak then that would be great, because frankly even a proper main dehumidifier will struggle to remove all the water from soaked carpet due to the sound deadening below which holds a lot of water.

I have very recent personal experience of this as MrsSB’s car got water inside over a long period due to a blocked roof drain tube.  I sucked 2L of water out with a wet vac and put a mains dehumidifier in the car running constantly for 5 days – it helped but when it went to the dealers they still removed the carpets completely to dry them out.

TBH, if you’ve got a leak constantly allowing water inside then you’re never going to get on top of it.

To answer the original question, those rechargeable dehumidifiers are rubbish.  They aren’t rechargeable as such, they are just absorbent crystals in a case.  When they are fully wet you plug them in and a small heated pad dries them out – usually taking a few days.  A bag of silica put on the radiator each night will do the same thing more effectively for less money.

These things work surprisingly well, but they are disposable so aren’t great from a plastic waste point of view, otherwise if you can get power to your car a proper plug in unit will be much more effective.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/204973701264?chn=ps&_ul=GB&var=505673148589&_trkparms=ispr%3D1&amdata=enc%3A17uc5hGjaQYOixqdSMUTPhw31&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=710-134428-41853-0&mkcid=2&mkscid=101&itemid=505673148589_204973701264&targetid=2425733423477&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9222618&poi=&campaignid=21697391927&mkgroupid=162558106770&rlsatarget=pla-2425733423477&abcId=10027104&merchantid=114970307&gad_source=4&gclid=Cj0KCQjw99e4BhDiARIsAISE7P8rH_roXtgjjnethCYxrLtcBoOxEc-ActOyx47zMsZAln3QZ7P5REIaAi3REALw_wcB

I have very recent personal experience of this as MrsSB’s car got water inside over a long period due to a blocked roof drain tube.

… and on that subject – have you checked for blocked drain tubes you have on the mighty NN?

As someone who often sleeps in the back of a van the problem of VERY wet windscreens is common. Now solved with one of these on the recommendation of a fellow van sleeper.

https://www.screwfix.com/p/karcher-wv1-cordless-window-vacuum/256RA?tc=SA2&ds_rl=1243318&ds_rl=1241687&ds_rl=1245250&gad_source=1&ds_rl=1247848&ds_rl=1245250&gclsrc=ds

It will be full in a few days so by emptying the water outside the car you are effectively doing the job of a de-humidifier with little effort of cost

What sharkbait said.

I had a leak in the boot of the Berlingo.

First I knew was the smell and the cubby hole under the rear footwells had filled up

I had to strip the whole car interior out to get the water out of the sound deadening.

The dehumidifier didn’t even touch it

The leak is the thing to fix. Water tracking round the boot rubber seal – between car bodywork and the rubber seal (not the boot lid )will be one last thing to look at. When we picked up a used Aygo it leaked like a sieve from the rear. Re-sealed the rear lights, the ‘boot stoppers’, the high tail light and also the boot rubber seal. Cured the issue, no damp in car. Also fixed the air con myself – the blimmin garage tested it, then didn’t find the tiny leak where a sensor had worked slightly loose. Re-filled myself using a kit off ebay – still works perfectly 2 1/2 years later

I had a leak in the boot of the Berlingo.

First I knew was the smell and the cubby hole under the rear footwells had filled up

I had to strip the whole car interior out to get the water out of the sound deadening.

I never did get to the bottom of the leak in mine*.  The drivers footwell has about 3″ of foam under the carpet which I had to cut out trying to hide the cut as neatly as I could because the whole of the interior carpet / foam is one big piece installed at the factory.

But yea, I’d agree that by the time the carpet was wet there was probably 4 gallons of water in the car, it’d take a proper dehumidifier weeks or months to draw that out as it would have to evaporate through all that foam.

If it hadn’t been scrapped for other reasons I’d planned to make a mesh drainage grid to go under the foam and drill holes to let the water out, seemed easier than spending more time tracing the leak.

*wasn’t the sunroof, the door (main seal, rain deflector seal or window), the windscreen, the scuttle drains or the heater matrix.

Will have been the bolt through mid rails on the rear doors having come loose and/or the sealing washers disintigrated because the rails were loose.

Seats out , lower most b post trim and the carpet comes out as a oner.

Leaks are weird. I found the spare wheel well ofmy Superb had a gallon of water in it. Cause was a cracked lense in the high brake light at the top of the boot door.

I have a couple of those “rechargable” ones but they’d be useless for the car (I use em for keeping 3d printer filament dry and they’re ideal for that).

The bag-of-dessicant type works best IME, they’re convenient, they’re reusable and most of all they’re quite big so you get a decent capacity. Remember that if you dry them out on a radiator or in the microwave all that moisture goes straight into the house, which might or might not be a problem for you.

They still only do so much though. Stopping water get in is as others said much more effective than trying to get it back out. But also, potentially a complete pain in teh arse. But no matter the age of the car going around all the external seals and givign them a clean and maybe a treatment with something like gummi pflege can help and will almost never hurt. (don’t handle old seals roughly!)

Checking common leak spots for your model is almost always worth doing too. My Mazda has a comedy design failure that means if one unreliable seal fails it redirects the windscreen drains directly into the footwells instead, it’s not just a leak, it’s like they engineered the car to fill with water. A bunch of these things are very cheap or even free to fix but there’s no logic to what works and what doesn’t across different models.

My sister’s old Kia leaked from the day she got it.  A few garages looked at it & couldn’t find out where it was coming in, searches across forums came up with loads of possibilities but none were right so we took the advice of one of my clients.

An odourless leak detection smoke bomb later & we had a small amount coming through where a wiring harness entered the car from under the bonnet.  Turns out the scuttle panel would collect water & eventually there would be enough to seep through – small hole drilled & problem solved.

Might be worth a trying to smoke it out?

I have nothing to add to what’s been said, other than I had a car like this once. It was my first ever car, 13-year old 1977 plate Fiesta*, I was a povvy student so I did most of the simple jobs myself and ran it until it was basically dead (then sold it for more than I paid for it!) That started getting soggy in the footwells and it was a truly, truly miserable experience.

I get the “it’s just a tool” comments from some but I wouldn’t be putting up with that today and I certainly wouldn’t be investing anything like that many man-hours that could be spent doing something fun instead.

(* – not one of my security questions anywhere)