jwj Posted December 12, 2019 Share Posted December 12, 2019 Hi All. I panicked after finding a large amount of water on top of the kitchen positioned inside the sliding door of my panel van conversion. I took the van to my normal motorhome service / repair company in Northern Ireland that I have great faith in. Their first thoughts were that water could be coming from awning brackets directly above sliding door. This was checked along with all the usual roof seals for Heiki, satellite dish etc. They then sprayed the roof with a hose for 20 minutes with no water ingress. Then the van was left out in very heavy rain. No water ingress. So they assume it must be condensation. It dawned on me that I had inadvertently left two tubular loft heaters on 24 hrs per day for a number of days. I normally put these on for 8 hours on a timer. I have owned this IH camper from new for 15 years and thankfully this is the first time this has happened. The internal roof /ceiling is designed with a 50p size opening where the water was dripping from and if this had not been there I may not have discovered this until it was too late. So. Question. How do all you out there keep vans dry during winter. What sort of heater and how long do you run it. Is an electric dehumidifier a good idea? If so should these be run simultaneously or at separate times. Look forward to your suggestions. Jim. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted December 12, 2019 Share Posted December 12, 2019 No heater or dehumidifier, a correctly designed and built van should have little or no use for them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keithl Posted December 12, 2019 Share Posted December 12, 2019 IMO a 'large amount of water' is very unlikely to be condensation and more likely a leak. Was the sliding door shut correctly or was the van parked at an angle that could have caused water to pool on the door seal? And typical household dehumidifiers do not work in low temperatures so will be ineffective in a lowly heated van. Keith. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don636 Posted December 12, 2019 Share Posted December 12, 2019 Could the tap have been opened slightly and dumped a residue of water? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spirou Posted December 12, 2019 Share Posted December 12, 2019 Dehumidifiers won't do anything inside a cold van. Heating and ventilating are your only options to get rid of excess moisture. But after it's "dry" i.e. has the same moisture content as outside air there is no point to continue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trialsrider Posted December 13, 2019 Share Posted December 13, 2019 I've always had PVC motorhomes. I always fit heko wind deflectors in the cab and leave the cab windows open about 10mm all year. I've never had a condensation issue since doing this. No rain can get in due to the deflectors but it allows a decent amount of airflow. I park my van on the drive in a quiet village but obviously this could jeopardize the vans security but I'm happy with that. My roof lights are the non vented mini hekis and I don't like leaving them on the open setting in case of high winds. Closed they have an air tight seal with the rubber seal in situ. Seal can be removed to create vented option. Apparently it's the only difference between the vented mini heki and it's non vented counterpart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted December 13, 2019 Share Posted December 13, 2019 jwj - 2019-12-12 5:36 PM......……………... I have owned this IH camper from new for 15 years and thankfully this is the first time this has happened. The internal roof /ceiling is designed with a 50p size opening where the water was dripping from ……………. Jim, can you post a photo of the roof area in question, showing the 50P sized hole and enough else to illustrate its position? My first thought was as Keith's, that the water may have entered through the top sliding door seal, but this 50P sized hole puzzles me, as well as why water might be dripping from it. As others above, I don't think this will prove to have anything to so with condensation, heaters, or humidifiers, either in terms of cause, or cure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwj Posted December 14, 2019 Author Share Posted December 14, 2019 Hi Brian. I have been unavailable last couple of days due to hospital appointment. I will attempt to post photo in next day or so. The good news is there has not been any more water getting in. I am wondering if it was caused by some of the ad normally wet stormy weather we have had recently. As a precaution I am having a new rubber door seal fitted at the sliding door. Thanks to those of you who to the trouble to reply. Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted December 14, 2019 Share Posted December 14, 2019 It may be that you had a small gap in rubber due to dirt or debris (tiny twig or similar), just the tiniest of gaps will let in a supprising amount of water after a few hours of rain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.