Condensation

[Jon R]

Here’s where you get Hypervent

https://www.hyperventonline.com/

 

[Jon R]

I have a question about using Hypervent in the over the cab area: On my camper, the mattress and cushions fit very tight to the walls and slider end board. I can see Hypervent maintaining an air space, but there will be no way for air to flow and carry away moisture because the edges are all closed tight. Does Hypervent still prevent condensation in this type of installation, or does it just hold the mattress above the water until you wipe it up?

 

[longhorn1]

I have a question about using Hypervent in the over the cab area: On my camper, the mattress and cushions fit very tight to the walls and slider end board. I can see Hypervent maintaining an air space, but there will be no way for air to flow and carry away moisture because the edges are all closed tight. Does Hypervent still prevent condensation in this type of installation, or does it just hold the mattress above the water until you wipe it up?

There were gaps at the corners of the factory mattress in our Grandby and you will get airflow. Cut to fit the HyperVent after pulling out the bed slide so the HyperVent butts up against the 1/2 plywood of the slide. Lift the HyperVent and mattress and push the slide in. Do you have the factory mattress? I was able slide my fingers between the sides and also had a gap along the front. You don't need much as it acts like a Chimney and will pull air
through.

 

[Jon R]

I have the factory mattress and the king bed option in my 2021 Grandby. The mattress and cushions fit very tightly on mine with no open gaps anywhere. I could be wrong, but I don’t see how much airflow could occur.

 

[longhorn1]

I have the factory mattress and the king bed option in my 2021 Grandby. The mattress and cushions fit very tightly on mine with no open gaps anywhere. I could be wrong, but I don’t see how much airflow could occur.

You will have problems without HyperVent if you camp in cold temperatures. You will get airflow. The alternatives are wet bedding and mold. We had gaps in our 2014 Grandby. It doesn't take much. Better safe then sorry. The area for the HyperVent is over the overhang only, not the pull-out portion. I can't believe that you don't have some space. If you can slide your fingers down between the wall and mattress you will be fine. You can take scraps that are left over and install then on the sides if you have a concern.

 

[Jon R]

Oh yes, I‘ve experienced the condensation. I also get condensation under the front dinette cushions if someone sleeps there. Thanks for your experienced advice. I plan to follow it. I’m planning to do both hypervent on the overhang and a moisture barrier and mattress pad on top of the mattresses for both beds to significantly reduce the moisture that gets into the mattress in the first place.

Thanks for your advice.

 

[Vic Harder]

I find that condensation still forms puddles under the mattress, but the mattress stays dry.

 

[ckent323]

I have also checked under our mattress and froli spring setup and have found small puddles of condensation yet the mattress remains dry even though it fits snugly all the way around the overcab area.

I like being able to customize the placement of the softer and firmer spring portions of the Froli system but it did take me a couple of attempts to get the best spring configuration for the two of us.

 

[rando]

I have the froli spring setup as well, not so much for condensation management but for comfort. We regularly camp in cold, albeit dry, conditions and have condensation on the ceiling and behind the arctic pack, but not under the mattress. I wonder if this is due to the flatbed having storage under the bed which we fill with clothes, effectively insulating the platform the mattress sits on.

Maybe an insulating layer of ensolite foam on the bed platform to keep the surface a little warmer and above the dew point, followed by hypervent or froli springs would work to prevent condensation all together?

On the ceiling anyway we only get condensation where the aluminium framing members are, which are cold. Where the ceiling is insulated with foam there is no condensation.

 

[rubberlegs]

Our FWC mattress bottom is vinyl. I’ve never noticed any moisture, but it seems many others do. Wonder if there is moisture inside the mattress?

 

[JaSAn]

Maybe an insulating layer of ensolite foam on the bed platform to keep the surface a little warmer and above the dew point, followed by hypervent or froli springs would work to prevent condensation all together?

Our FWC mattress bottom is vinyl. I’ve never noticed any moisture, but it seems many others do. Wonder if there is moisture inside the mattress?

From reports of people who's mattress is tight against the overhang bottom would indicate that moisture is being driven through the mattress. So yes, the mattress has moisture trapped in it.

Even at home I leave the bed unmade for a couple of hours to let the mattress air out.

 

[rando]

Even at home I leave the bed unmade for a couple of hours to let the mattress air out.

Me too, but I want to be on the safe side, so I leave it unmade to air out for about 16 hours per day.

 

[craig333]

So Admiral Mcraven is wrong and we should not be making our beds? I'm starting to wonder if maybe I do have moisture and just don't notice it.

 

[rubberlegs]

From reports of people who's mattress is tight against the overhang bottom would indicate that moisture is being driven through the mattress. So yes, the mattress has moisture trapped in it.

Even at home I leave the bed unmade for a couple of hours to let the mattress air out.

We've wondered why we haven't found moisture, and the reason is because we didn't look in enough places. Today I unzipped the foam inside the mattress. The cover is vinyl on the bottom. Yup, plenty of mold in the foam.

Reading online, there's advice on hydrogen peroxide, vinegar, baking soda... has anyone dealt with this before? We looked into a new (softer) pad a couple months ago, and the cost was a bit of a shock to this cheapskate.

Speaking of moisture, we had a lot of it on a recent trip, and one of the ceiling light strips got pretty wet. It wouldn't turn off. Good thing it was easy to unplug.

 

[ckent323]

Sanni Shine "Mold Blaster" was the best stuff I ever found. It was a concentrate that needed to be diluted. However it has been discontinued.

Ingredients:
n-alkyl Dimethyl Benzyl Ammonium Chloride 5.0%
n-alkyl Dimethyl EthylBenzyl Ammonium Chloride 5.0%
other inert ingredients 90%

There are other products with the same ingredients but at much lower percentages (so just dilute them less).

RMR-141
n-Alkyl Dimethyl Benzyl Ammonium Chloride 0.07%
n-alkyl Dimethyl EthylBenzyl Ammonium Chloride 0.07%
other inert ingredients 99.86%

Biocide 100
n-Alkyl (60% C14, 30% C16, 5% C12, 5% C18) dimethyl benzyl ammonium chlorides ............................................ 0.105% n-Alkyl (68% C12, 32% C14) dimethyl ethylbenzyl ammonium chlorides................................................... 0.105% INERT INGREDIENTS................................................................ 99.790%


Follow the direction carefully!!!

See also my previous comments #18 and #28 to this thread.

I hope this is helpful

Craig

 

[Vic Harder]

We've wondered why we haven't found moisture, and the reason is because we didn't look in enough places. Today I unzipped the foam inside the mattress. The cover is vinyl on the bottom. Yup, plenty of mold in the foam.

Reading online, there's advice on hydrogen peroxide, vinegar, baking soda... has anyone dealt with this before? We looked into a new (softer) pad a couple months ago, and the cost was a bit of a shock to this cheapskate.

Speaking of moisture, we had a lot of it on a recent trip, and one of the ceiling light strips got pretty wet. It wouldn't turn off. Good thing it was easy to unplug.

yup, mattresses can be super expensive. After we got our new ones for megabux, I had no problem springing for the also expensive hypervent to put under it. We were recently camped out in sub freezing temps for 10 days and the cabover surface under the hypervent was SOAKED, but the mattress stayed dry.

I noticed that the carpeting that wraps around the front of the camper, next to the mattress, under the lifter board mechanism, was also soaking wet. I wonder if it wicked moisture up from below the hypervent, or if it was partially the source of the condensation. It literally is the only thing between the aluminum structure of the camper and the mattress at that point.

 

[ckent323]

Somehow I posted the following comment to the wrong thread (not sure how I accomplished that!). Anyway I deleted it there and am reposting here (this expands upon what I have previously posted about this idea).



As has been mentioned before, campers are prone to condensation issues in cold damp weather conditions.

The best place for vapor barriers and insulation is on the cold side of a wall to minimize condensation inside. Unfortunately the insulation blankets typically added to our campers is on the inside.

I have fabricated but not yet tested a green canvas "tarp" that snaps onto the exterior side of the roof and extends down to the Aluminum sides (which we all know have minimal insulation). It has a pocket all around on the camper side of the "tarp" to accept bubble wrap,or similar insulating materials (solid foam will fit but it is bulky and a hassle). I replaced a few screws around the sides of the camper roof with screw-in snaps and put the appropriate mating snap on the tarp in the appropriate locations.

This puts the insulation (in the pocket of the tarp) on the exterior side of the pop up material (on the cold side) between the outside surface of the tarp and the pop-up side material and should help minimize condensation on the interior surfaces of the pop-up material. Further, it does not 'hide' or trap condensation on the interior surfaces and makes wiping them if there is condensation easier.

The downside is that is has to be installed and removed when raising or before lowering the camper roof and then be stored inside the camper. The snaps make the installation and removal easy. SInce the insulating bubble wrap material does not compress the rolled up tarp with insulation does consume a lot of space when stored.

I suppose some kind of inflatable/deflatable bag (similar to an air mattress but with thinner material) could be used instead of bubble wrap and that would allow compressing the tarp and insulation (after the bag is deflated) to a smaller size for storage.

 

[CPT Davenport]

Somehow I posted the following comment to the wrong thread (not sure how I accomplished that!). Anyway I deleted it there and am reposting here (this expands upon what I have previously posted about this idea).



As has been mentioned before, campers are prone to condensation issues in cold damp weather conditions.

The best place for vapor barriers and insulation is on the cold side of a wall to minimize condensation inside. Unfortunately the insulation blankets typically added to our campers is on the inside.

I have fabricated but not yet tested a green canvas "tarp" that snaps onto the exterior side of the roof and extends down to the Aluminum sides (which we all know have minimal insulation). It has a pocket all around on the camper side of the "tarp" to accept bubble wrap,or similar insulating materials (solid foam will fit but it is bulky and a hassle). I replaced a few screws around the sides of the camper roof with screw-in snaps and put the appropriate mating snap on the tarp in the appropriate locations.

This puts the insulation (in the pocket of the tarp) on the exterior side of the pop up material (on the cold side) between the outside surface of the tarp and the pop-up side material and should help minimize condensation on the interior surfaces of the pop-up material. Further, it does not 'hide' or trap condensation on the interior surfaces and makes wiping them if there is condensation easier.

The downside is that is has to be installed and removed when raising or before lowering the camper roof and then be stored inside the camper. The snaps make the installation and removal easy. SInce the insulating bubble wrap material does not compress the rolled up tarp with insulation does consume a lot of space when stored.

I suppose some kind of inflatable/deflatable bag (similar to an air mattress but with thinner material) could be used instead of bubble wrap and that would allow compressing the tarp and insulation (after the bag is deflated) to a smaller size for storage.

I love this and would have no problem with putting it up and taking it down. Great idea! Please update once this is field tested.

 

[rubberlegs]

Vic, does your mattress have a vinyl bottom cover? I'm thinking not, since it would block the moisture flow into the hypervent.

ckent, Perhaps an inflatable bag with down inside, like what might be in some of the new insulated backpacking mattresses, would provide insulation.

We also get condensation behind the lift panels. We can reach partway inside, but not all the way. That crunch of ice in there didn't sound too good when we had to latch the roof on our last trip! Ugh. It was below freezing most of ten days. Usually we have some periods of heat, but this trip had extended cold conditions, and for the desert, quite a bit of humidity. (But I think the mattress mildew is from the last five years).

Thanks for all the advice. I'll try cleaning the mildew soon using those techniques.

 

[craig333]

I'd love to see just how much ventilation everyone is running. I suspect its just a crack and or not using lower and upper ventilation. Or maybe I'm just genetically disposed to exhale little moisture