Condensation on wety roof

[TakeLifeEasy]

Just came back from a great week in Cornwell in our westy. As the temperature at nights dropped, we noticed a lot of condensation on the inside of the roof. Just wondered if anyone had any tips to reduce condensation in their vans?

 

[67panel]

not suprised if its got a WETY roof :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[ozziedog]

Condensation is warm moist air touching a cold surface. So the formula is to reduce one or increase the other parts of this conundrum. Heating,,, increase. Insulation,,, increase. Ventilation,,, possibly increase. Excessive moisture,,, stop breathing. You can`t do much about the moisture, increasing the ventilation may help but not at the expense of too much heat loss, Insulation prvides help in keeping the heat in and stops the warm moist air touching a cold surface, and increasing the heating enough will warm the cold bits that are getting the condensation on. There is no such thing as perfect but a drier warmer climate dosen`t have these issues it`s just about doing the best you can with what you have within the climate we have :mrgreen:

Ozziedog,,,,,,,,,,,, So endeth the lecture :lol: :lol:

 

[ozziedog]

Oh !!,,,, One other thing can influence the whole sheeeeebang and that`s thermal conductivity. Certain things will ..........`transmit the cold',,,,, like metal, steel or aluminium will transmit the cold as they are thermally conductive. On the other hand some things are not conductive,,,, like insulation,,,,,,, pvc,,,,, wood etc.

Ozziedog,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Back from the pub now (closed :evil: ) :lol: :lol:

 

[Trikky2]

The other thing to bear in mind with condensation - this applies to houses as well - is if you stop the condensation in any particular place with better insulation, the moisture will remain in the air and then condense on the next coldest thing. If it cannot condense on a cooler surface the air will saturate and then everything becomes damp including clothing and bedding.

Ventilation is the only answer. If that means it becomes too cold then heating is required. With a bit of heating things will stay dry at much lower levels of ventilation.

 

[ozziedog]

What Tricky said with houses is exactly right If your loft (on your house) :lol: Is very well insulated, you can get condensation form in cold weather on the underside of the roofing felt as it`s the next coldest thing, so it`s very important to have your loft well ventilated above the insulation line . :mrgreen:

Ozziedog,,,,,,,,,, Spect you all new that anyway :lol: :lol:

 

[antoine]

both right, its why so many victorian houses have mouldy walls, they were designed to 'leak' so double glazing and blocking fire places and chimeys coupled with shed loads of insulation causes massive condensation issues,



ok, not strictly van related, but transferable lol, some sort of ventilation is essential to help reduce condensation, but then more insulation and possibly heating would help keep it nice and cosy.

 

[clyde]

We used to get condensation on the roof, ive been using one of those silver thermal covers for some time which are great at keeping out light and noise and also help retain abit of heat. (also stops the canvas getting wet) Anyway i digress. Having this in place allows us to have the canvas vents open without light/cold/rain entering the van. This seems to stop the dripping condensation from the roof. Hope this helps.

 

[r73]

Mate where did you get the silver thermal thing?
Any pics? Sounds like a good idea
Ta
Rob

 

[TakeLifeEasy]

Sounds like opening a few windows is the answer, many thanks to all the replies.

clyde,
Where did you get the silver installation from?

 

[Kyrk72]

I have one of these as well, they are really good.

There is a chap that goes to most of the shows that sells them, it's the only seller I'm aware of.

Been racking my brain to think of his name, but it's blank, but he also sells 70's Choppers and stuff as well.

 

[Kyrk72]

Update,
Just had a moment of inspiration and checked the vanfest list of traders.

"Pucer Screens" is where I got mine from.

 

[clyde]

Thats the fella. They are over £100 which is abit steep to say the least. Im sure if you got the material you could make one for about £40.

 

[matty909]

My wife and I have experienced the same problem and got fed up with our daughter complaining about waking up with water dripping on her head! As a result we have made our own inner tent for the pop top, that is breathable, waterproof, retains heat and keeps sunlight out! When removed you still get the condensation on the roof as you would do normally and just wipe down. Any mositure on the inner tent can be removed with a light shake.

Our daughter was much happier as were we with a better nights kip!

 

[Matt84]

I've often considered using a danish dry bag, it's a yellow cotton bag full of granules that are supposed to absorb water, and once fully saturated you can bung it in the oven for a hour to dry it out. There are also modern alternatives that collect water in plastic tubs I believe, not sure how effective either would be against the seemingly amazing amount of water that can be created in a single night!

Any one tried these?

 

[cotswoldiver]

I've often considered using a danish dry bag, it's a yellow cotton bag full of granules that are supposed to absorb water, and once fully saturated you can bung it in the oven for a hour to dry it out. There are also modern alternatives that collect water in plastic tubs I believe, not sure how effective either would be against the seemingly amazing amount of water that can be created in a single night!

Any one tried these?

I've used the plastic tub during longer periods of storage. Does 'store' a fair bit of water, thought about experimenting with a handful of granules in a small hessian sack during an overnight park up, but for now I just slightly open a corner of the poptop canvas :lol:

 

[clyde]

I use the plastic moisture traps when the vans laid up and crack a window slightly under the cover to keep some air flow. Ive used the traps when camping as well and they collect quite abit of water over night, which has got to be better than it collecting in your clothes etc.

 

[TakeLifeEasy]

matty909 ,

We thought about this and even tried to open out popup tent up there but the tent was too big! not sure I am good enough to make my own, justwondering if I can get a small popup one man tent up there :shock:

 

[lard]

I've got an awning and keep the sliding door open at night which explains why I've never had this problem...though always wondered about the water marks on the underside of the poptop....... :idea: