Tips For Beating Winter RV Condensation

Tips For Beating Winter RV Condensation

Winter RV condensation can be a problem no matter where you live. Fact is cooking, taking showers, and even our breathing all contributes to the likelihood of excessive condensation in an RV during certain times of the year. It’s all about water vapor, and we’re going to talk about where it comes from, how to manage it, and how to get rid of it, especially during winter months.

Humidity and the temperature both indoors and out affect how your RV moisture level will be visible or invisible at times. As temperatures drop, even lower levels of humidity can cause condensation. Don’t worry, we’re going to explain how this happens, and what you can do about it.

When moisture is present in the form of vapor in the air there’s not much to worry about, but as this vapor turns liquid, condensation can cause damage to RV walls, furniture, your cabinetry, and floors. If left unchecked, it can also lead to health problems down the road.

What Causes Winter RV Condensation?

There is moisture present in all air, all the time, both inside your RV and outside. But when warm air inside, especially air heavy in moisture vapor, meets a cooler surface like a window frame, window surface, or even the exterior walls, this water vapor cools quickly and turns into water droplets. The term for the point when this happens is called the dew point.

Here’s where the science comes in. The dew point can be constantly changing. You see, as the moisture level in your RV increases, the temperature difference required to condense this vapor gets smaller. Also, as the outside temperature falls, the surface temperature of window and wall surfaces gets colder too. This brings the air inside closer to the dew point and closer to vapor turning into water.

Sources of condensation in an RV include:

It’s all about the warm moist air when dealing with, condensation in your RV. So, let’s talk about some of the most common sources of adding moisture into your RV.

Every breath that everyone in your RV takes puts a little moisture into the air. Every person gives off as much as two quarts of water vapor in a 24-hour period just by breathing. Pets aren’t as bad, but they contribute too. Think about that, 2 people closed in the RV for seven days can put up to seven gallons of water vapor in the air during that time. The more people and pets, the more that number can increase.

Showers come in next, depending on how long, how often, and how hot you take them. That’s why the mirror fogs up every time you shower.

Next is cooking, and how you typically cook meals. Boiling pots contribute to moisture in the air, but so does the simple LP gas flame on a burner or oven.

Do you like plants, did you know the water you give your plants, they give back to you in water vapor they release back into the air. Place your plant near a window and watch the water droplets form faster.

Lastly, running your gas furnace puts moisture into the air as a by-product of the burning process, just like the gas stove.

Now that you know a little more about where the moisture comes from, let’s explore ways to cut down on excess, eliminate, or at least control how moisture affects the condensation we find in our RV during winter months.

How to Reduce RV Condensation In Winter

Keeping moisture out of your RV involves eliminating its cause. This requires you to do two things:

In order to reduce or eliminate condensation in your RV during the winter you need to focus on reducing the moisture level in your RV and reduce the number of cold surfaces at the same time.

Our advice is to test a few of the Pro Tips we’re about to share until you find the best balance for your RV. Start by eliminating the guessing game. We encourage you to invest in an indoor hygrometer (Amazon link) or humidity gauge. You need to know where your humidity levels are so you can find the most effective ways to reduce them. If your humidity climbs to over 50% you will definitely have issues.

Once you’ve put a few of the options below into practice, you should be able to check your hygrometer to see what is helping. Learning how these changes affects the humidity level in your RV will help you avoid future problems.

Here are a few Pro Tips for keeping moisture out of your RV in the winter months.

Run A Dehumidifier

Dehumidifiers remove moisture from the air by drawing warm air currents into their refrigerator coils. They come in a wide range of sizes, so be sure to get one that’s designed to fit in the confined space of your RV.

A dehumidifier removes moisture vapor out of the air by passing warm air over a small, refrigerated coil. As the air contacts the coil, condensation forms and drips into a holding pan instead of on your window. These dehumidifiers (Amazon link) come in a variety of sizes for larger and smaller area and we recommend buying one that has a drain hose, so you can set it and it drains and runs constantly, draining into your sink. The link I’ve provided shows you the latest in compact units, most designed to be able to drain right into your RV sink.

Use Your Vent and Ceiling Fans

In colder weather, we all hate to lose heat by running the exhaust fan in the kitchen or bathroom, but these are the best way to remove new moisture as you are creating it. If you have a ceiling fan, you can help reduce condensation around windows and other surfaces by running it. The moving air doesn’t let moisture sit against the surface long enough for condensation to form. If you don’t have a ceiling fan, consider getting a small tabletop fan that will move the air next to your biggest windows.

Avoid Hanging Things to Dry Indoors

Hanging clothes to dry inside your RV will raise humidity levels. This affects common things like drying towels as well as drying outdoor weather gear if they get wet or snow covered. If you must dry them inside, try going to an onsite laundromat to use their dryers.

Open A Door or Window

If your humidity level gets too high, consider opening a door or window for a few minutes at a time even just once a day. When it gets very cold, we tend to want to keep things closed up. Opening a door for a few minutes will let the high humidity in the room escape to dryer air outside. Opening the door can be better than running a ceiling vent, because the air at the door is already a little cooler, why give up your warmest air next to the ceiling vent.

Skip The Gas Furnace

Typically, propane heaters have a bad reputation for emitting lots of moisture as they run. Consider using an electric heater or your electric fireplace if you have one to keep your RV nice and warm without the added moisture.

Important: If you own an RV that heats the underbelly tanks and water lines by your furnace, then you are encouraged to keep using the furnace to take care of your total unit.

Change The Way You Cook

It’s best to avoid using your gas stovetop during winter months. Consider buying an induction or electric hotplate to cook with. These do not give off any added moisture. You should also try and cook with covered pots and pans, when possible, to avoid vapor escaping into the air while cooking.

Other effective options include:

Cook outdoors, if possible, this eliminates the steam issue inside your RV completely.

Consider using an Instant Pot (Amazon link) in place of most stovetop cooking. This will significantly reduce the amount of water vapor released into your RV. Just remember to release the pressure outdoors.

Your RV oven is a good cooking alternative, especially if it’s a convection oven. Keep in mind that while the gas oven will put off less moisture than the stovetop, it still puts off moisture while burning the gas.

Raise The Temperature

Since the combination of warm moist air meeting a colder surface is where condensation comes from, raising the indoor temp will help reduce condensation in your RV. Higher room temperatures will raise surface temps and this will help slow down the condensation process.

Whenever possible, use dry heat sources to help raise the indoor temperature. A good example would be, if your RV is equipped with a heat pump then you can use that electric heat source or use the electric space heaters mentioned earlier. These heat sources don’t add any moisture to the air while helping warm the air.

Insulate RV Slide-Outs

Where possible try adding some extra insulation around or under the slide seals to help seal drafts. If you’re set up for an extended time, investigate taping some foam board to the bottom of your slides. That will significantly reduce the temperature of the air near the floor and help keep everything feeling warmer.

Open The Cabinet Doors

If it gets really cold, consider opening the cabinet doors. Humidity tends to settle where air does not move. By opening the cabinet doors, it’s more likely to circulate the air and keep condensation and the possibility of mold or mildew from forming.

Insulate The Floor

If possible, consider insulating the entire floor area from below. This can help raise the inside temperature by not letting heat escape through the floor. Combining this with better air circulation will help reduce the likelihood of condensation forming.

Here are a couple of effective ways to keep your floor warmer:

Skirting your RV

Install RV skirting (Amazon link)

Installing foam board insulation underneath your flooring

Installing automotive insulation underneath your flooring

Cover The Windows with a product like Double Bubble RV Insulation (Amazon link)

You are most likely to see winter RV condensation form on your camper windows because these are the coldest surfaces on the interior of your RV. By covering them with a product like double bubble insulation you will keep the moist air away from direct contact with them, and the surface the air does contact much warmer.

Placing double bubble in the windows overnight will help reduce condensation. Then you can remove as desired during the day to let light in for a while.

Use The Campground’s Facilities

Let’s face it, a hot shower in your own unit is great, but several a week add up to moisture problems. So, consider using the campground showers when humidity problems arise so you can keep the moisture there and not in your RV.

How To Get Rid Of Condensation In Your RV When It’s In Storage

It’s much easier to control moisture issues when your RV is in storage because you’re not adding to the humidity level every day.

You’re also not running the heat in your RV during storage, so the temperature differential between inside and out is much less. This also helps minimize the possibility of condensation.

Nonetheless, there’s no harm in taking extra precautionary steps to protect your RV from excess moisture.

It’s still a good idea to consider placing a passive humidity control product in your RV during storage periods. This will insure you don’t get surprised with a mold or mildew issue when you open the RV back up.

DampRid (Amazon link) controls humidity levels by trapping any excess moisture that forms in your RV.

Pro Tip: Hang the DampRid moisture bags inside cabinets, closets, and other enclosed spaces. Replace once the crystals have been completely dissolved.

How Do I Avoid Mold or Mildew in My RV?

We’ve already touched on how mold and mildew can form if humidity levels are not kept in check. But what can you do to help avoid mold and mildew forming besides the humidity control?

Mold and mildew typically form on hard surfaces. So, it's important to inspect high moisture areas around your RV, especially places like the kitchen and bathroom. Mold grows on the dust or dirt surface when the right conditions are in place. So, it’s a good idea to keep these surfaces clean with a bleach-based household cleaner.

The most obvious sign that you might have a mold problem in your RV would be a strange smell. If you smell musty air somewhere it’s a good idea to check all the areas we’ve discussed. Mold doesn’t only form on solid surfaces, so be sure and check the walls, shower curtain, carpet, and other flooring areas of your RV. You’re looking for discoloration, this could be black, green, blue, or even white on a surface where it shouldn’t be.

If you find any of these signs of mold or mildew, it's important that you get them cleaned up immediately, as this can spread and even cause permanent damage or health concerns.

In Conclusion:

Moisture is always present on the air in the form of vapor. We’ve covered several ways you can limit the amount of moisture accumulating in your RV and ways you can reduce the moisture level.

We also covered ways to impact the dew point inside your RV so you can raise the point where water vapor becomes water droplets or condensation in your RV. Lastly, we discussed ways to look for, avoid, and eliminate mold and mildew if it appears in your RV.

If you found this information helpful, we’d appreciate two favors. Pleas like the post and consider sharing it with your RV friends so others can avoid the pitfalls of Beating Winter RV Condensation.