Discussion
Unfortunately my Chim has had a leak and now has damp carpets. I've mopped it up as best I can with kitchen paper but at this time of year I can see its going to be difficult to dry the carpets out fully.
I’m already running the dehum that normally sits in the garage, in the car. Trouble is the ambient temp is quite low as the car sits on the drive, so although the dehum does raise the temp in the cabin by a few degrees it's not enough to raise the rate of dehum to a decent level. My idea is to therefore to boost the temp and get some airflow across the carpet by using a 150watt 12v heater/blower, and then mopping up the resulting humid air with the dehum. Being a TVR this is of course likely to result in my returning home one day to find a large smoking crater marking the spot where the car/heater/dehum combination went into nuclear meltdown .........
Has anyone got any personal experiences (good or bad) of this course of action before I initiate melt down?
I’m already running the dehum that normally sits in the garage, in the car. Trouble is the ambient temp is quite low as the car sits on the drive, so although the dehum does raise the temp in the cabin by a few degrees it's not enough to raise the rate of dehum to a decent level. My idea is to therefore to boost the temp and get some airflow across the carpet by using a 150watt 12v heater/blower, and then mopping up the resulting humid air with the dehum. Being a TVR this is of course likely to result in my returning home one day to find a large smoking crater marking the spot where the car/heater/dehum combination went into nuclear meltdown .........
Has anyone got any personal experiences (good or bad) of this course of action before I initiate melt down?
KillerJim said:
Yea, made me laugh too...
The idea sounds exactly what I would do but I`d only run the heater whilst I was in the house and have a decent (loud) smoke alarm within ear shot!
J
I am in the Dog house.The idea sounds exactly what I would do but I`d only run the heater whilst I was in the house and have a decent (loud) smoke alarm within ear shot!
J
Wifey went into the garage this morning armed with this 1/4's electric bill. She was non to happy when she found 2 electric convector radiators on in the garage and a warmer ambient temp than we achieve in the house.
Getting back on track.
Lakeland plastics the home shop based in windemere but stores in the north of uk do a plastic box which is filled with granules which absorb moisture. They are good for caravans / motorhomes etc but a pair on the footwells of the TVR would also help mildew etc forming. They are only about £4 each from memory and refills can be bought for them.
N.
Andy - call Martin at Racing Green (v near to you) and get a quote for an Ozone treatment (if memory serves). This will entail your car being left indoors overnight and ozone pumped through one window/out the other which serves to really dry out the carpet well and effectively.
My Tuscan had new carpets fitted and 2 days later, it got completely soaked with atrocious May weather (cover blew off!) - footwells got very wet indeed and I was concerned about mildew and mould. Really helped out and proved a fine solution - carpets not damaged at all.
Temporary solution to dry out the air - a tub of bicarb of soda.
My Tuscan had new carpets fitted and 2 days later, it got completely soaked with atrocious May weather (cover blew off!) - footwells got very wet indeed and I was concerned about mildew and mould. Really helped out and proved a fine solution - carpets not damaged at all.
Temporary solution to dry out the air - a tub of bicarb of soda.
Mustang Baz said:
Andy - call Martin at Racing Green (v near to you) and get a quote for an Ozone treatment (if memory serves). This will entail your car being left indoors overnight and ozone pumped through one window/out the other which serves to really dry out the carpet well and effectively.
My Tuscan had new carpets fitted and 2 days later, it got completely soaked with atrocious May weather (cover blew off!) - footwells got very wet indeed and I was concerned about mildew and mould. Really helped out and proved a fine solution - carpets not damaged at all.
Temporary solution to dry out the air - a tub of bicarb of soda.
Thats a very good idea! Im going to try in the girlfriends car which gets ice on th INSIDE of the windscreen!My Tuscan had new carpets fitted and 2 days later, it got completely soaked with atrocious May weather (cover blew off!) - footwells got very wet indeed and I was concerned about mildew and mould. Really helped out and proved a fine solution - carpets not damaged at all.
Temporary solution to dry out the air - a tub of bicarb of soda.
Get a low powered electric greenhouse heater as well as the dehumidifier.
Make sure there is plenty of aie space all round the heater.
As said, if you are really worried, only run it when you are around and about, and put a battery smoke alarm in the car.
There are 2 other options that may help you.
Firstly, can you keep the car in the garage.
Secondly, can you drive it reguarly with the roof off. On this cold crispy days, that dry the inside pretty effectively.
Make sure there is plenty of aie space all round the heater.
As said, if you are really worried, only run it when you are around and about, and put a battery smoke alarm in the car.
There are 2 other options that may help you.
Firstly, can you keep the car in the garage.
Secondly, can you drive it reguarly with the roof off. On this cold crispy days, that dry the inside pretty effectively.
it might be best to fix the problem rather than dancing around it, these cars can leak, but they most definitely can be fixed. chims and griffs leaks tend to be: 1 the velcro on the hood edges, its an easy fix, super glue! 2 the stitching on the hood flaps that stick to the velcro deteriorates and splits, this can be sewn together on the car diy style, or a trim shop can do it for around fifty quid. 3 the door 'ears', i believe there are quite a few threads on these already. 4 the drains on the door seals at the front of the doors can get blocked, use a toothbrush to clean them out, whilst your there, silicone sealer them to the body. finally the obvious bits under the hood, i.e. the master cylinders....check and reseal as necessary. I hope this list helps you, there is no need for any tvr driver to have a damp smelly car! *edit* i forgot to say fabsil the hood too :-)
Edited by shake n bake on Thursday 11th December 22:17
I have exactly the same problem in my Tuscan. Stored outside and I did not put the cover on over a wet time. Now have damp in pass carpets and struggling to dry.
Dehumidifier keeps icing up and just not sensible to put a heater in the car when its outside.
Liking the idea of drying crystals - will go online now to find (assume they will work dispite the temp).
I've just printed out a "wanted" note for a garage round me!
Dehumidifier keeps icing up and just not sensible to put a heater in the car when its outside.
Liking the idea of drying crystals - will go online now to find (assume they will work dispite the temp).
I've just printed out a "wanted" note for a garage round me!
markh1 said:
Mustang Baz said:
Andy - call Martin at Racing Green (v near to you) and get a quote for an Ozone treatment (if memory serves). This will entail your car being left indoors overnight and ozone pumped through one window/out the other which serves to really dry out the carpet well and effectively.
My Tuscan had new carpets fitted and 2 days later, it got completely soaked with atrocious May weather (cover blew off!) - footwells got very wet indeed and I was concerned about mildew and mould. Really helped out and proved a fine solution - carpets not damaged at all.
Temporary solution to dry out the air - a tub of bicarb of soda.
Thats a very good idea! Im going to try in the girlfriends car which gets ice on th INSIDE of the windscreen!My Tuscan had new carpets fitted and 2 days later, it got completely soaked with atrocious May weather (cover blew off!) - footwells got very wet indeed and I was concerned about mildew and mould. Really helped out and proved a fine solution - carpets not damaged at all.
Temporary solution to dry out the air - a tub of bicarb of soda.
When a journey is ending and the car is warm - say 1/2 mile before journeys end - open the windows and turn off the heater... this lets out the warm moist air. Don't do it if it's raining.
I've used this on the SEAC and my Clio 182 and it's really helped
Just bought £30 of dry bags of flea bay (4 x 500g).
Thought it was much cheaper that the 'frost' ones but retrospectively the frost ones look better and same price.
Supposed the flea bay ones can double as boot dryiers for my snowboarding boots!
Will report if they work - my Alfa has a bad misting problem as hopefully good for that as well.
Thought it was much cheaper that the 'frost' ones but retrospectively the frost ones look better and same price.
Supposed the flea bay ones can double as boot dryiers for my snowboarding boots!
Will report if they work - my Alfa has a bad misting problem as hopefully good for that as well.
Have tried crystals and found them pretty ineffective, I suspect because a TVR cabin is not exactly airtight, so they can't deal with the air being constantly replenished, albeit at a trickle.
Did attempt to use the household hairdryer but I've been dissabused of that plan by the other half for various reasons (hmm maybe buy her another one for Xmas, thereby freeing up the existing one for car drying duties - 2 birds with one stone!).
Can't take the car out for a blast top down as I'm part way through treating the chassis so I've got bare metal outriggers at the moment, and the council have salted the local roads.
Not an option to get the car into my garage sadly, so the plan remains to try the heater/blower and once I've got the car dried out it will be kept under a cover (apart from regular trips out on dry weeekends to abuse the Road Traffic Regulations, natch) until the warmer weather next year when I will start to address the possible sources of leaks.
Did attempt to use the household hairdryer but I've been dissabused of that plan by the other half for various reasons (hmm maybe buy her another one for Xmas, thereby freeing up the existing one for car drying duties - 2 birds with one stone!).
Can't take the car out for a blast top down as I'm part way through treating the chassis so I've got bare metal outriggers at the moment, and the council have salted the local roads.
Not an option to get the car into my garage sadly, so the plan remains to try the heater/blower and once I've got the car dried out it will be kept under a cover (apart from regular trips out on dry weeekends to abuse the Road Traffic Regulations, natch) until the warmer weather next year when I will start to address the possible sources of leaks.
I would use a workshop vacuum cleaner, that can take water(Kärcher have some models), to get most of the water out of the carpets and then use the dehumifier. It would also be possible to use a carpet cleaning machine to get the water out, the kind that spray water and detergent on the carpet and then vacuums the carpet dry.
Here in Sweden You can buy special heaters from Calix and Defa to put inside the car in the winter, to get the car completely dry inside I would use one of those. I would not use a hairdryer since it can get to hot and make marks on the carpet.
Here in Sweden You can buy special heaters from Calix and Defa to put inside the car in the winter, to get the car completely dry inside I would use one of those. I would not use a hairdryer since it can get to hot and make marks on the carpet.
Edited by Peppe on Saturday 13th December 07:47
Peppe's Idea is a good one. I've done this before with an ordinary VAX vacuum/carpet cleaner. If you don't have one I'm sure you could hire one from somewhere like HSS !?!
These will remove virtually all of the water leaving the carpets only damp to the touch. Then in dry conditions (or with the help of a dehumidifier or desiccant crystals) it might take a couple of days to dry thoroughly. Depends which of your carpets are wet but in my case it was all of the driver side. It helped to park the car on a slope, front end higher than the back, (or jack up the front) and let the water migrate to one area behind the drivers seat to make it easier to remove with the vacuum.
G
These will remove virtually all of the water leaving the carpets only damp to the touch. Then in dry conditions (or with the help of a dehumidifier or desiccant crystals) it might take a couple of days to dry thoroughly. Depends which of your carpets are wet but in my case it was all of the driver side. It helped to park the car on a slope, front end higher than the back, (or jack up the front) and let the water migrate to one area behind the drivers seat to make it easier to remove with the vacuum.
G
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