Dry out Motorhome Ceiling

[Calamaster]

Hi All,
3 Weeks ago we were out and about in a storm and water started to come in the roof. The Screws that held the Solar panel had rusted through and mastic compromised. I have repaired and re-masticated the lot and all is well.
However, my Damp tester show 30% where water has come in.
What is best way to dry cieling out - dehumidifier?
Any advice Welcome!

 

[TheBig1]

warm air circulating will dry it naturally, a dehumidifier will help

 

[Figaro]

Ventilation is your saviour

 

[Terry]

Unless your van is sealed the dehumidifier will simply pull moisture from outside. Your best bet is heat and ventilation

 

[Calamaster]

warm air circulating will dry it naturally, a dehumidifier will help

Thanks for the advice. I think I'll try this first before Dehumidifier option.

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[Calamaster]

Unless your van is sealed the dehumidifier will simply pull moisture from outside. Your best bet is heat and ventilation

Yes, I know this and the tought out masking up all the windows and doors to dehumidify sounds daunting!!

 

[tonyidle]

Yes, I know this and the tought out masking up all the windows and doors to dehumidify sounds daunting!!

Your van doesn't need to be totally sealed to use a dehumidifier successfully. As long as there's little airflow through the van a dehumidifier can bring damp levels down dramatically. All you're trying to do is make the air in the van no more humid than the atmosphere outside. A small amount of heat will make it more effecfive too. What you cannot do is ventilate at the same time as using a dehumidifier.

 

[HandyAndy]

de-humidifier, some low wattage heat source and a blower, then just leave it for a week, remove some panelling if you can.. and don't forget to empty the de-humidifier tank regularly.
That should be enough.

 

[Lenny HB]

Only problem is that without striping out the ceiling panel you won't know what other damage has been done. If could have been leaking for a long time and there may be rotten timbers up there.

 

[PeteH]

When we had a flooded kitchen last year, the company that did the drying out used air blowers and a dehumidifier. Thus moving huge amounts of air and reducing the moisture content of said air at the same time We only left the heating on low largely because it was Autumn / Winter period and to avoid frosting.

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[RogerThat]

I used mountains of clingfilm to hermetically seal my old van as best I could whilst drying out the roof from a similar leak.

I also put an old oil-filled rad in there on a low setting.

The dehumidifier that I used had a drain pipe rather than a tank, so I covered the sink in the kitchen area with clingfilm and then poked the drain hose through the clingfilm. Didn't want it trying to suck water back of the the drains through the air

It took a while, but it worked.

 

[DaveandJen]

Yes, I know this and the tought out masking up all the windows and doors to dehumidify sounds daunting!!

Normally no need to musk up all doors and windows on a motorhome to use a dehumidifier, the airflow produced by even some of the smallest domestic dehumidifiers will overcome leakages from things like windows, doors, and gas vents in the floor. Back in the old days the fire service once used heaters to dry the wet fireman's uniforms after attending a fire - but nowadays its the norm to use dehumidifiers because the energy saving is considerable. If using heat to dry out good ventilation is required to remove the wet air - so the heat goes out of the confined space.