Technical interior condensation

I was sitting in the hot rod today and I noticed the bare metal on the interior ceiling of the car was wet as of right now, it sits outside under a tarp. What is a good way to keep moisture from building up in that area?

 

Hello,

Your situation will not stop unless you bring your hot rod inside a garage. Even then, it might still bring moisture inside of the roof or other bare metal surfaces. In So Cal, we can leave a car outside, but still gets moisture inside. That is a fact of life. But, where you live, the winters are harsh to say the least. So, bring that hot rod inside.

Our experiences with moisture inside of cars and boats is taken care of with this device:

https://www.amazon.com/Davis-Instruments-Air-Dryr-1000-Dryer/dp/B0014TMXVA

We have always used this device sitting on a piece of extra floor tile (felt protected) off of the car/boat/home surfaces. Most homes have carpet and most boats have wooden floors. This device creates dry heat and it may damage the surface below the device.

In our other, older home, we had a corner of a closet that would not stop getting moisture. The outside weep holes somehow got plugged up and thus created a moisture haven inside the dark closet. Once discovered, this Davis Instrument dry heat device worked better than any pellets or other devices we used. The pellets just loaded up the moisture and had to be emptied always. This device kept the floor and walls dry and had no moisture. One added advantage is that it gives off dry heat and creates a warm closet or area.

Jnaki

Inside of three of our fiberglass sailboats, we noticed the moisture building up inside after we stayed overnight in the cabins. It was just the cold moisture outside and the warm bodies breathing during the night shift. So, the Davis Air Dryers came on and there was no moisture anywhere. Our last racing/cruising sail boat had double wall fiberglass construction and the moisture did not show up inside of any cabin or sleeping areas.

In your car that is outside, placing this device inside will get rid of your moisture, but it is not stopping the reason why it gets daily moisture. Our sedan delivery walls were uncovered & always had moisture inside when we were in the back sleeping near the beaches. Even in the later VW vans with insulated ceilings and wood paneling, there was moisture on the exposed metal, but the covered inner roof was free and clear of water.

The Ford Sedan Delivery was bare metal in high school. It had tons of moisture always hanging around. I had to leave the sedan delivery outside as we had a two car garage and I was the third car. But, in the later version another 1940 Ford Sedan Delivery , it was fully upholstered in the back walls, door, and roof, so there was no moisture anytime. It was always garaged or sitting inside of a three-wall car port.

If you bring your hot rod inside, you will probably solve the moisture problem. But, living where you do, the weather is a killer, so the Davis Instrument device is necessary. During mild weather, the device could be inside of your car using an extension cord. But, when the weather turns bad, that cord connection has to be completely weather sealed, so you don't get a short and burn your car down. YRMV

 

Desiccants.

 

wrapping a car in a plastic tarp is the same effect as dropping it off in the amazon jungle.

 

Any drop cord /drop light left on in side//placed in away that light will not burn anything=lights put out heat an that is the point,is what keeps it dry. I did that for years,to keep my boat from mildo an wet in side.

 

I had the same problem when I ran out of covered space; I went with one of these...
https://www.harborfreight.com/10-ft-x-17-ft-portable-garage-62860.html?_br_psugg_q=carport
Watch the customer videos, a guy did a wooden floor that prevents moisture from coming out of the ground and gives you something to attach the carport to rather than trying to stake it down.

 

Has to be an incandescent bulb. We did that for years when I was growing up, put a 100 watt bulb in the pump house to keep the well pump from freezing. Worked surprisingly well.

 

Don’t tarp it

I get my dad old ac driers and he drops them around the tractor and implements up at the cottage in the winter
Seems to help with things getting surface rust over the winter.

take that tarp off!!!!

 

Wood Floor. Yes, 1st 8x10 plastic shed I made 2x4 ground frame then covered with plastic and then well soaked with preservative 1/2" plywood, 17 years and still doing fine. Stunk for years, shed plastic is well weathered but never a condensation issue. 2nd Plastic shed is 12x20. I got some 2x4 PT for ground frame, used PT scraps [2x4, 2x6, whatever the builder was discarding] as paving blocks and covered with HF plastic canvas. No condensation issues ether. I am in the center of CT so weather can be anything at anytime!! Both sheds were put on lawn areas.

 

Step one. Move to Arizona. Step two. Put the car in a garage.

 

In the winter I cover my lathes with a blue tarp and leave a 25 watt bulb on under the tarp during the night, been working fine for a lot of years like that

 

I've been thinking about something like that....I'll have to get the cities blessing first lol

 

I offered the wife step one 20 years ago; I said it had to be a lateral move. No down sizing or increase mortgage. Don't expect me to work [I had enough other income to handle my share of bills] as at 52 I wasn't going to start over, I would do light machining at home with machines I already have [thus the lateral move]. No step two cause step one never happened!

 

Any steel item will rust under a plastic tarp if you don't have air flow under the tarp.
I'd agree that having a moisture barrier under The car would be a big help.

 

Technically those are 'temporary structures', would you really need a permit?

 

I used one of those harbor freight garages for a while. I parked the car on 2x8 's that sat on top of the lower frame rails. Never worried about it blowing away...

 

Listen to the voice of experience from Humidity Central. It is all about keeping the temperature inside the car above the dew point temperature.
We know all about dew point here in the South.

 

Depends on the town. My town doesn't seem to mind mine but they are not on the front lawn or drive way in plain sight. Next town over can only have for 6 months, next town can't be closer to road than the house.

 

It has nothing to do with being under plastic. Yes, condensation will hang on the plastic the same as the metal. It has to do with the heating and cooling cycles. This time of year any glass t-top car I ever had will rain on you in the morning. Cargo vans as well. Vehicles with upholstery are insulated by it. That either stops it or hides it. Take an empty tin can put it in the freezer over night, put it on the counter in the morning. It will sweat just like your car. Same thing happens with your can of beer.

 

What does his ancestors have to do with it?

 

Naw, just have to knockem down faster

 

They make bags for gun safes to keep moisture under control. Most of the time they have a color changing dot on them to let you know when they're bad, and you can throw em in the oven to dry them back out. Id try 4 or 5 of those in a car, as long as its reasonably sealed from the weather.

Sent from my SM-G975U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

.................Only if his descendants absorb moisture.

 

So take the cover off for a day every week to help air it out. Then it might help you get motivated to work on it. I know it gets cold up there. With lots of snow.

 

I've been doing that after it rains and whatnot, and we're supposed to get hit hard this year.

 

Came in mt garage today and everything was wet, cat, toolbox, tools.. Weather has warmed up today and yesterday. As I understand it, the warm air holds more moisture, which condenses on the cold surfaces. Only seems to happen when the weather warms up before the stuff can, is that right? So the idea is to heat the garage in anticipation of warmer weather?

 

Even the cat was wet? That's humid!

 

My car came across the water in a container and the shipper used a number of large desiccant bags. I also stored some collector guitars for a friend and he provided similar containers of desiccant from the local hardware store; I was amazed to see how much actual moisture was removed from the air by the desiccant. The only thing is that they need to replaced, once a month was his time frame.

 

Correct. The old newspaper The Atlanta Constitution had a byline at the top of each page: Covers Dixie Like the Dew.
All air holds water vapor but can only hold it in vapor state above a certain temperature: this is the dew point temperature. When the air or a material surface falls below the dew point, the vapor condenses to liquid. Pull a can of beer from the fridge and it is wet because the air in the room is above dew point but the can is below.
Dew Point 101 that every Southerner knows.

 

T & R are next to each other on the keyboard.

Cold, wet and sunny here now. OT daily driver parked outside gets condensation on the inside of the slanted windscreen. Not so much on the vertical glass. Anyhow first wipe of and then just lay a pile of old newspapers in there overnight and next day all is dry. Then ofcourse windows down 1 inch to air out. btw, not doing much driving now . Nowhere to go .