Dealing with Water Vapor in an RVs

Dealing with Water Vapor in an RV

Water Vapor in an RV:

From time to time RV'ers will find themselves combating a severe problem of condensation inside the RV. Solutions are varied but an understanding of what is causing the problem will lead to the solution most suitable for you and your circumstance. The first thing to understand is that a propane flame will create moisture when burning. Moisture is a byproduct of combustion. Breathing also creates moisture in the air.

Most of the time that moisture in the air will not be a problem but when it gets cold enough outside it will become a problem that you will have to deal with.

Almost always exchanging the warm, moist air in the RV for cold, dry air will help. Some people are successful in controlling moisture/condensation in their RV by keeping their ceiling vents open. By doing this they are allowing warm, moist air to exit through the vent. The replacement air will be cold, dry air. Opening a kitchen window and the overhead vent nearest the kitchen, especially during cooking, will help.

Keeping an overhead vent or if necessary overhead vents open at night will go a long way toward controlling indoor condensation.

If those things do not control it you also may have to resort to running your air conditioners or a humidifier.

When we headed out of West Yellowstone, Montana in mid-September 2004, it was snowing outside and we had a horrendous condensation problem in the motorhome. Snow was hitting our windshield and condensation was literally flowing off. I dried them off with towels but immediately more collected. We finally got the condensation under control after I turned both house air conditioners on high plus cranking the diesel and turning on the dash defroster which is a combination of heater and air conditioning. The windshield finally warmed up a bit with the defroster on plus two 12-volt dash fans circulating air across it. We drove for over an hour in the snow with both roof air conditioners running. That combination worked for us on that occasion.

Looking back I could have handled that situation differently. I would have handled it better by turning on all available heaters while opening a small window in the front of the motorhome and turning on both exhaust fans. By doing this I would have quickly exhausted the moist air in the motorhome and replaced with the the much dryer and colder outside air. At the time I was overly concerned with heat. I shouldn't have. The first thing to do is exhaust the moist air. It is fairly easy to heat the cold dry air that replaces that hot moist air that you eliminate with those exhaust fans. As soon as the condensation evaporates from your windows (and walls) you can turn off those exhaust fans while leaving one or more of the vents open.

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