Condensation alert?

[LotusOmega375D]

Just a heads-up for those of us with cars tucked away in unheated garages or similar outbuildings. After the prolonged very cold spell, the jet stream is due to pass back over the UK and both temperature and humidity will rise quickly from Sunday morning through to Monday. In my experience, this often results in a layer of condensation forming on garaged cars, particularly if under a cover, which can get damp. No great problem for your daily driver, but not great on a classic that isn’t likely to be driven anywhere for quite a while.

My advice would be to remove any dust sheet on Saturday for a couple of days and probably open up the garage door(s) for a good few hours on Sunday morning to allow the cold air to escape and the car to warm up gradually. Obviously if your car is in a rigid airchamber, make sure you have the ventilator fans switched on and you should be OK whatever happens.

[lowdrag]

I have a dehumidifier and the worst I get to in the double garage is 60% humidity. It isn't heated but is exceptionally well insulated. The cars remain completely dry. and have done for some years

[Turbobanana]

LotusOmega375D said:

Just a heads-up for those of us with cars tucked away in unheated garages or similar outbuildings. After the prolonged very cold spell, the jet stream is due to pass back over the UK and both temperature and humidity will rise quickly from Sunday morning through to Monday. In my experience, this often results in a layer of condensation forming on garaged cars, particularly if under a cover, which can get damp. No great problem for your daily driver, but not great on a classic that isn’t likely to be driven anywhere for quite a while.

My advice would be to remove any dust sheet on Saturday for a couple of days and probably open up the garage door(s) for a good few hours on Sunday morning to allow the cold air to escape and the car to warm up gradually. Obviously if your car is in a rigid airchamber, make sure you have the ventilator fans switched on and you should be OK whatever happens.

Thanks for the heads-up, LO. We're away for a few days before Christmas but I'll nip out now and put the heater on.

[Unweder]

Dont open the garage doors/s because this will let in the rapid temp fluctation IME temp changes outside are slow to react indoors/closed unit/garage , once the doors are opened BOOM damp sweaty car

[Riley Blue]

Unweder said:

Dont open the garage doors/s because this will let in the rapid temp fluctation IME temp changes outside are slow to react indoors/closed unit/garage , once the doors are opened BOOM damp sweaty car

I've never kept a car in a hermetically sealed garage, all those I've owned or rented have been been draughty and cold enough for washer bottle contents to freeze at times; 'sweaty' they are not. I place a couple of Pingi de-humidifier bags in my Riley, they seem to help: https://pingi.com/shop/car-dehumidifiers/car-dehum...

[nismo48]

Riley Blue said:

Unweder said:

Dont open the garage doors/s because this will let in the rapid temp fluctation IME temp changes outside are slow to react indoors/closed unit/garage , once the doors are opened BOOM damp sweaty car

I've never kept a car in a hermetically sealed garage, all those I've owned or rented have been been draughty and cold enough for washer bottle contents to freeze at times; 'sweaty' they are not. I place a couple of Pingi de-humidifier bags in my Riley, they seem to help: https://pingi.com/shop/car-dehumidifiers/car-dehum...

+1

[adamInca]

My garage is not sealed by any means (1970s build) but went in this morning and everything is covered in condensation. Happened overnight as yesterday it was fine. First time I've seen thiis amount of condensation - on the car and toolchests especially as they're metal, but it was even on plastic bottles of oil.
Just shows how big a shift in temperature we had.

[LotusOmega375D]

Yep, despite my warning and best intentions, I couldn’t prevent the seemingly inevitable. Thank goodness I took the dust sheet off on Saturday.



I have managed to pretty much get rid of it all by opening all of the garage doors, start the car, get it up to operating temperature, put the heater on full and back it out of the garage, where I switched it off and left it for half an hour. It’s back in the garage now, but with the door still open. Just the lower bodywork to go. The brake disks must have still been wet, because it didn’t stop quite as quickly as I expected it to, so I did a few brake tests on the driveway to dry them off. The other car in the ventilated airchamber is smugly wondering what all the fuss is about!

[Roboticarm]

adamInca said:

My garage is not sealed by any means (1970s build) but went in this morning and everything is covered in condensation. Happened overnight as yesterday it was fine. First time I've seen thiis amount of condensation - on the car and toolchests especially as they're metal, but it was even on plastic bottles of oil.
Just shows how big a shift in temperature we had.

Same experience for me in my 70s garage

[caley64]

This was in my garage at the weekend.
Single skin concrete block.
There is a bike and car in sealed bags with moisture absorbing chambers and they're currently around 60% RH.

[Getragdogleg]

I too was expecting this and it arrived and did what I expected.

Cars were running with water this morning and the other big cold metal things were too.

I'll open the door tomorrow and dry it all out. Flipping weather.

[vpr]

It’s mad.
I’ve been away skiing. Came back late Sunday, went into the garage yesterday (Monday) and the 3 cars and floor were wringing wet. Amazed.

I contacted my boys having a wobble at them as I was sure they’d all washed their cars with the jet wash and garage door open.

But no, So moved done dehumidifiers in and turned the heating on.


My other garage (oak) is all good thankfully

[Rolls-canardley]

LotusOmega375D said:

Yep, despite my warning and best intentions, I couldn’t prevent the seemingly inevitable. Thank goodness I took the dust sheet off on Saturday.



I have managed to pretty much get rid of it all by opening all of the garage doors, start the car, get it up to operating temperature, put the heater on full and back it out of the garage, where I switched it off and left it for half an hour. It’s back in the garage now, but with the door still open. Just the lower bodywork to go. The brake disks must have still been wet, because it didn’t stop quite as quickly as I expected it to, so I did a few brake tests on the driveway to dry them off. The other car in the ventilated airchamber is smugly wondering what all the fuss is about!

I always in a locked garage leave the car windows open an inch or two to allow ventilation and air movement.

[Mercky]

I’ve never understood the difference between ventilation and air movement?

[lowdrag]

surely ventilation is the changing of the air in the garage whereas air movement is just the same air turning? I decided to have a peek at my garage since it is a month or two since I have done so. Like vpr, it is oak but well insulated (although not heated) and hasa dehumidifier, so the cars are very dry. One tip I found very helpful was to use a can of WD40 contact cleaner. I spray all the fuse holders before putting the cars away for the winter.