Dehumidifier ?

[Striker57]

Hey Guys

First off Hello!!! Hoping to gain some useful solid info on here. My wife and I bought a Forrest River Wolf Pup, really enjoying it so far. This past week we were out and running the A/C pretty constant. We notice a dampness in the air.., not horrible but noticeable. We were thing about picking up a small dehumidifier. The camper box is only 18 feet... Any suggestions?

[AutomationIsCom]

GordonThree wrote:
Yes I have the same problem with my camper.

The factory spec is a 8000 btu side wall AC for my small cabin size. But my unit has an upgraded 13500 btu unit. So unless it's VERY HOT outside, it quickly cools the cabin before it can dehumidify it.

Two fixes I've found.

1. Compressor dehumidifier, I bought a 90 pint Frigidaire unit. Works great and fast.

OR

2. Small space heater set on medium. Keeps the air warm a bit longer so the AC can draw off the moisture.

If I'm on generator I'll run the dehumidifier it works better and faster, and takes less power.

If camping with included electric, I'll run the heater.

If your fighting your AC with heaters you should consider down-sizing your AC unit lol

[Boomerweps]

Thanks

[ktmrfs]

Boomerweps wrote:

ktmrfs wrote:
a compressor dehumidifer suitable for a RV will draw about 1-2 amps max, no where near what an AC uses. Ours draws less than 2 amps and will pull 5 gallons of water/day out of the trailer during humid fall/spring days at the coast. They are basically a VERY small unvented AC unit. room air passes over the cooling side to extract water, the heat side is just vented into the room.

The electronic dehumidifiers typically use a peltier device (semiconductor) , not very efficient, nor will they remove enough moisture if you are in a situation where the humidity feels high.

Cool (pun intended)
I sit corrected. Could you give me a link towards a "compressor dehumidifier suitable for a RV"? I'd love to have one myself that relatively sips power.
I would then relegate my peltier version to my upstairs closet.

haier makes almost all of the portable dehumidifiers available, some under their name, most under "house brands" or sold brand name of major appliance companies.

common sizes are from about 30 pints (sounds a lot bigger than 3.75 gallons!) up to about 90 pints. Unless your trailer is quite large with lots of room a 30 pint will probably do you well. That's what we have and the first day we fire it up on a trip with humidity I'll empty it twice, then maybe once/day.

Take a trip to Lowes, Home Depot, Wallmart, etc and take a look and buy what seems to best suite your fancy and you have room for. the bigger the less times you will need to empty, the smaller the easier it is to store and be out of the way when running.

Almost all have an outlet port to drain directly into a drain rather than the bucket if you want. Haven't used that feature.

We have the haier 30 pint. It has a manual humidity dial, I looked for it online, since it is a few years old, it looks like it has been replaced with something different. the old "new model year". same basic functions.

It draws about 15 amps on average from the battery bank when running on the inverter, so we've used during part of the daytime when boondocking relying on the roof and portable solar to run it along with other stuff and still keep the batteries charged.

[Boomerweps]

ktmrfs wrote:
a compressor dehumidifer suitable for a RV will draw about 1-2 amps max, no where near what an AC uses. Ours draws less than 2 amps and will pull 5 gallons of water/day out of the trailer during humid fall/spring days at the coast. They are basically a VERY small unvented AC unit. room air passes over the cooling side to extract water, the heat side is just vented into the room.

The electronic dehumidifiers typically use a peltier device (semiconductor) , not very efficient, nor will they remove enough moisture if you are in a situation where the humidity feels high.

Cool (pun intended)
I sit corrected. Could you give me a link towards a "compressor dehumidifier suitable for a RV"? I'd love to have one myself that relatively sips power.
I would then relegate my peltier version to my upstairs closet.
Edit: just used my Kil-a-watt on my newer, smaller D/H (I run two in my basement). 3 amps with the compressor running!

[ktmrfs]

Boomerweps wrote:
My only concern with using the electric heater and AirCon together is the amperage draw if both kick on at the same time. That can easily exceed your 30amp system.
I had to be too cold with the Air to keep the humidity down and not sweat in bed in my Wolf Pup last year. If possible temperature wise, a cracked window and a vent fan on works better. I did buy and use one off those electronic dehumidifiers. It helped some, not near as effective as a compressor type, but uses much less power. A compressor type D/H uses power similar to an AC unit. It will eat up most of your available power.

a compressor dehumidifer suitable for a RV will draw about 1-2 amps max, no where near what an AC uses. Ours draws less than 2 amps and will pull 5 gallons of water/day out of the trailer during humid fall/spring days at the coast. They are basically a VERY small unvented AC unit. room air passes over the cooling side to extract water, the heat side is just vented into the room.

The electronic dehumidifiers typically use a peltier device (semiconductor) , not very efficient, nor will they remove enough moisture if you are in a situation where the humidity feels high.

[GrandpaKip]

What size AC do you have?
We have a 13.5 BTU, camp a lot in high temp, high humidity. I have a monitor that shows i/s temp and humidity as well as o/s. Usually ~10 degrees and 10-15% lower inside.
Before spending $ that might not be necessary, get some numbers to see if you’re not about where you should be.
You’ll like having the thermometer/hygrometer anyway. About $20.

[GordonThree]

Boomerweps wrote:
My only concern with using the electric heater and AirCon together is the amperage draw if both kick on at the same time. That can easily exceed your 30amp system.

This isn't a big concern on 30 amp, or even 20 amp service.

My 90 pint Frigidaire uses around 300 watts with the compressor running. When I use the space heater method, I set the heater to low, and the usage is about 600 watts.

If you were overloading your 30 amp running A/C and a compressor D/H, maybe there was something wrong with one or both units. Also could be a supply issue, maybe low shore power voltage?

[Boomerweps]

My only concern with using the electric heater and AirCon together is the amperage draw if both kick on at the same time. That can easily exceed your 30amp system.
I had to be too cold with the Air to keep the humidity down and not sweat in bed in my Wolf Pup last year. If possible temperature wise, a cracked window and a vent fan on works better. I did buy and use one off those electronic dehumidifiers. It helped some, not near as effective as a compressor type, but uses much less power. A compressor type D/H uses power similar to an AC unit. It will eat up most of your available power.

[GordonThree]

pianotuna wrote:
Most of us carry an electric heater. The OP, so long as voltage is monitored, can try the heater. I suspect it will work wonderfully.

x2 easiest solution.

For the folks that think something is wrong or have never seen this, you're either camping in a bigger rig, or a hotter / drier climate.

[pianotuna]

Most of us carry an electric heater. The OP, so long as voltage is monitored, can try the heater. I suspect it will work wonderfully.

[ktmrfs]

valhalla360 wrote:

pianotuna wrote:
It depends on the ambient humidity and outside temperature. It is entirely possible to have a situation where the air in the rv is uncomfortably wet. The solution is to add some heat which basically turns the roof air into a huge dehumidifier.

If you have an oversized air/con, there is some truth to your idea as it will force the air/con to run longer to remove the heat you are adding which by default will provide more moisture removal.

But the OP said the air/con runs "pretty constant" which to me suggests it shouldn't need the heater trick to get the dehumidifying effect as it's already running enough to pull the humidity out of the air.

Which leads to the question...what is really happening?

given the size of the trailer the OP mentioned, I wonder if the AC fan is running but the AC compressor is cycling, which can be the case depending on how the thermostat and AC are set up.

If that is the case, a compressor driven dehumidifier may be the solution.

[valhalla360]

pianotuna wrote:
It depends on the ambient humidity and outside temperature. It is entirely possible to have a situation where the air in the rv is uncomfortably wet. The solution is to add some heat which basically turns the roof air into a huge dehumidifier.

If you have an oversized air/con, there is some truth to your idea as it will force the air/con to run longer to remove the heat you are adding which by default will provide more moisture removal.

But the OP said the air/con runs "pretty constant" which to me suggests it shouldn't need the heater trick to get the dehumidifying effect as it's already running enough to pull the humidity out of the air.

Which leads to the question...what is really happening?

[pianotuna]

It depends on the ambient humidity and outside temperature. It is entirely possible to have a situation where the air in the rv is uncomfortably wet. The solution is to add some heat which basically turns the roof air into a huge dehumidifier.

[fitznj]

Something is not right here; An aircon is supposed to pull the humidity
out of the air. Dry air at the same temp feels a lot more comfortable.

To the OP, when your AC is on, does water drip out of the unit? It should as
the AC is pulling water out of the air. If not then you may have a problem -
plugged?

I think, Installing a dehumidifier is only masking the real problem.

All the AC in our campers have dried out the air.