Battling condensation when snow camping

[BernieMac13]

Having dealt with the moisture of the Seattle area, it wasn't until I got down south that I realized the resolution for us: small wood stove. We have plans to order and install this come fall and I can't believe it took us so long. The heat produced is enormous compared to the size of the unit, it's an easy install, and though they're not cheap (by any means!) it will be free to run. When you've run out of propane and haven't been able to recharge your batteries due to the cold weather or lack of sunny days, you can always walk out, grab a few sticks and bits of wood lying about, and off you go with heat. I also happen to think they're a cozy little addition, and I'm quite excited. I see this being a tremendous help for us this winter. Reviews claim you can get 7 hours of heat out of a good fire, and that's certainly enough to get you through the night and keep pipes from freezing.

I thought I'd leave this here in case it comes in handy for anyone else!

https://cubicminiwoodstoves.com/prod...ini-wood-stove

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3bBPCvoaf4&t=979s

[Ray Eklund]

There is no 'secret' about interior moisture in a sealed Airstream.

You are creating condensation by not ventilating the interior with exterior air. One must REMOVE the moisture to prevent condensation on cool or cold surfaces. A man made invisible cloud within an aluminum can. People and pets exhale... hot, humid air. Lots of it.

If the exterior air is 90% humidity and 90 degrees... you cannot do anything. Running the Air Conditioning cools the air, increasing the... humidity as well. Oh sure, you see the moisture dripping from the AC unit... but you will pay sooner than later in a small air volume trailer.

Cold air heated will decrease the humidity, but will absorb more moisture once within your trailer. When the interior air cools... you get wet, anyways. Probably watching the Weather Channel will be a great education of temperature and humidity.

Tent camping. No different. I like ventilation. Wife does not as it brings cold air into the tent. In the morning the air below the outside fly is wet. The inner tent between the tent and fly is damp.

You have to vent the interior OR increase the heat so the water remains as a vapor. This is how clouds form and rain develops.

Put a temperature & humidity unit/station into your trailer and a unit outside under your awning, for example. Experiment. When the temperature goes down, humidity goes UP. If the temperature goes down more, you get condensation. 100% humidity... probably does not exist as even when it is raining the air is less than 100%.

There is no magic cure. The air must be heated, or when cool the moisture must be removed from inside your 'can'.

Maybe someone that spent time in the US Navy in a submarine can explain how moisture was removed when... under water. This would be very interesting.

[Gsmblue]

Dehumidifiers.

Warm the air up. Warm air holds more moisture. A dehumidifier will then be able to extract that moisture. There are a number if techniques, i have one that uses a thermo electric cooler that condenses the moisture out the air into a container. It does pretty well. Actually i have 2.

The smaller the space the harder it is to deal with.

Ventilation is important.

The ac unit will pull moisture out of the air. The way they work is by extracting heat in tje form of moisture and pumping dry cold air back in. Done this many times in warmer times though.

[Ray Eklund]

Spring camp in the Gila National Forest of New Mexico (7,600 feet elevation)...

[Airwave503]

GSMBlue, you might have missed the part about boondocking with no shore power. But if there's a good 12V dehumidifier out there please let me know. I have 2 units that I put in the trailer as soon as we get back home to dry things out.

In my experience this last season, it's as others have said. No substitute for ventilation...helps if the weather is dry too. And I line plenty of towels around the base of the walls to catch what does drip down.

The damp rid product did collect a lot of water but I can't say it helped that much.