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 :D

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 :D

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.