Just thought I would share an experience with you so you can all avoid damage to your vans!! As most of you are now tucking your campers into bed for the winter months and probably planning on using the fantastic moisture catcher boxes to help protect your van, then a word of caution !! These boxes are fantastic for collecting moisture, not so fantastic for holding the water in the base if there is a crack in it - I found this out the hard way after I removed one of these from my 97 lunar Ariva 4 caravan earlier in the year! Unfortunately the liquid had been seeping out all over the winter months onto the caravan table and caused damage . So this year, I will still use these boxes for both our caravan and camper but I will make sure I place them in another strong plastic box so if another has a leak then it will stay in the outer box and not damage my furniture. If you plan on using these I highly recommend you do the same . My damaged caravan dinette table looks fine on the surface but it is all bumpy and lumpy under the veneer . Can anyone recommend anyone who may be able to fix this as it’s really bothering me now!! Thanks
Dont fill your bus with corrosive chemicals . Yes the chemical "dehumidifiers" trap some water but not a lot. . Use a mains powered dehumidifier.. You will be amazed at how fast a system that actively moves air around manages to extract water from the air.. much more than the chemical 'toys' ever manage. Put a hose in the back of the dehumidifier and drain it outside... Plus they blow slightly warm dry air.. For the table - its knackered. If you can peel the veneer carefully with a hairdrier and a big wide scraper.. and glue it to another bit of ply you will succeed
Yes, get a 7 litre desiccant dehumidifier, they work much better in a cold garage than the older type of compressor dehumidifier. The last one I got was under £100 and very quiet. Check that it has a drain facility as not all do.
Desiccant dehumidifier in my garage. Same relative humidity as California 50%, where it survived for 40 years. £120 vs £K10 for a restoration. It costs £5 on electricity for a winter month and almost zero for the other months of the year.
I wouldn’t bother there are so many gaps that you are effectively trying to dehumidifier the planet. Air flow is better I would leave the windows open a bit and open it up on nice days.
But only if all the planet's air went through your bus. As the amount of inflow and outflow in a stationary bus with the windows closed is minimal, a dehumidifier will easily keep the humidity lower than the ambient outside.
I sit in my bus with the windows closed, and somehow enough air gets in to breathe. But really I think I would rather spend electrical energy on putting a computer-type fan somewhere in the pipework, so that it kept air moving inside the bus. Basically, the electrical dehumidifiers use a lot of energy because if you are effectively removing the water from the air it costs a lot of energy. Chemical dehumidifiers "store" energy in the drying process where you bake the water out of the chemical salt, and that energy is the same as the electrical energy in a compressor dehumidifier. If it uses less energy then it isnt removing water as effectively, or in such large quantities. Yes you can boil off the water from the slurry in those chemical dehumidifers, bake the crystals and use them again..
These are the two that live in my van through the winter. If I’m going anywhere other than the shops I leave them in the garage. I tip the residue out whenever I think of it, maybe once a month or two. . I have one in the cab on the buddy box and one in the back in the rear on the bed. The one on the buddy box reminds me to take them out if I’m off on an adventure. Ozziedog,,,,,,,,,they seem to collect a lot too.
Someone else was asking about these over on the Earlies, I also said they’re on offer at Asda at the moment for the large ones like those ^^^ for twelve quid each and six quid for a couple of refills for these unibond ones. One refill lasts pretty much all through the winter. Ozziedog',,,,,,,,,, not advertising or anything
