Condensation problems, Can anyone help??

Hi dandy campers,

We have recently taken our 'Candy' dandy to Dawlish Warren, Devon for 4 nights. We live only an hour away but it was great to do the 4nights!.

We had an amazing time however we were miffed when every morning we woke, our inside roof and roof bars were dripping with condensation!!, we have small air vents in our Designer above the cooker and in the door.

Does anyone have any tips or ideas on reducing the condensation as wipping the inside roof and bars in the morning was getting annoying.

The weather was pretty warm outside and telling the wife and two children not to breath as much didn't work!!

Look forward to your help in ideas.

Many Thanks

Leave a small heater on overnight. I don't think ventilation does a lot but warmth does.

Hi yes a small heater does the job also a roof canopy liner helps may sound funny but the more you use the Dandy in the season the less it gets why i don't no

That's odd Graham. I wonder if the seats etc take on moisture which dries out when it's used meaning less moisture in the air inside so less condensation.

could well be as its got to get a bit damp inside when not in use over the out of season

 I don't have the problem only because I have the windows open as did notice that when I had the heater on in the awning I was nice and warm but then decided to put the skirt around to save the heat (now sealed ) I got cold drips down my neck in the morning so doors open ventilation was needed the only other thing apart from windows open is to place t-Towels on the roof bars to absorb the wet hope that helps

Ime not a great believer in ventilation being the answer,is your dandy insulated if so close everything and keep the inside warm,condensation can only form if there is a cold surface,if its insulated and you keep it warm inside but still get condensation on the roof and roof bars check where the roof goes over the walls and see if you can pull it down any tighter to stop cold air coming in.
Mine is uninsulated now but i made my own self fit insulation and i just keep it warm inside and dont have a problem,when it had no insulation i still kept it warm inside and got a bit on the single skin bed ends but a piece of ply at each end keeps it off the bedding.

mike

I also doubt that more ventilation will provide a cure.

I put a temporary corrugated plastic roof on my garage, higher than the original roof. It has a gap on three sides, 4" at the front, widening to 18" at the rear and condensation still forms on the underside of the roofing. I thought that it must be leaking at one point.

Outside our back door we have a large awning roofed with GRP sheeting and, despite being open on three sides, that also suffers from condensation on the underside of the roofing.

there is a thought there is a moisture content in gas some are worse than the others it could be the gas you are using  

Weight for weight, butane produces more moisture than propane when burnt.

Retro wrote:Weight for weight, butane produces more moisture than propane when burnt.

and butane has a higher heat value so needs to burn less for the same effect so overall difference in moisture output is two fifths of bugger all ... probably?

I recall the occasional cold drip on the forehead in the Designer but never a noticeable problem.

To be honest, based on experience of using unvented gas heaters (propane and butane) in houses, caravans and other places, I would have thought that they would actually make the condensation problem worse. They do give off a fair bit of water vapour.

I used one in my workshop briefly but stopped as it was making all my tools go rusty.

The underfloor gas heater is balanced flue so none of the flue gas goes inside. It's only open gas flames inside which cause moisture such as the cooker or free standing gas fire or tilley lamp etc.

Cooking and boiling water increases it as well.

I was confused reading the posts.  For some reason I thought the problem was condensation in the awning but reading the OP again I can see that obviously isn't the case.

We have just got back from a week away in our 6 "Dylan". We were using an electric convector heater during the night and occasionally during the day if Mrs P and the dogs were feeling a bit nippy. It is an uninsulated Dandy, we suffered very little if no condensation in the Dandy itself. When we were packing up today we felt the underside of the mattresses they were cold and possibly a little damp, but not wringing wet. The first morning the awning roof was very wet but to be honest the rest of the week it hasn't been noticeable at all. We do have the window from the Dandy to the awning open a bit all of the time and the back window open quite a bit of the time too. We didn't have any form of ground sheet down in the awning. We do have a skirt around the hitch end, we don't the other as he didn't come with one.

I've noticed that condensation is a lot worse in the awning on the odd occasion we haven't used a groundsheet. Incidentally, our groundsheet and skirt are all one piece.

Hi All,

Many thanks for your replies, they gave me some idea's of what may be happening.

It was happening in August when the weather was mild out. It was the inside of the dandy itself, with the whole roof and bars inside soaking wet on waking up in the morning. It was definately condensation and not the roof leaking as we had no rain. I didn't know if one of those small dehumidifiers would work, we tried with one of the windows open, however in the middle of the night the temp dropped outside.

As soon as i work it out i'll upload some recent photo's..

Happy camping!!

Dave & Family