condensation in van

[penfold]

Hi Everyone,
ive recently been getting a lot of condensation in the cab of my van. the inside of the windscreen and the door windows are soaked and the seats feel damp.
There appears to be no leaks anywhere so assume its condensation.
How do i get rid of this please?

 

[dave1]

Heaters and ventilation

 

[Iron Giant]

A dehumidifier will get rid of your current issue, but it's best to minimize water drips in the back and damp cloths also insulating your van roof with foil bubble wrap and the side panels etc in the load area will help to prevent condensation from forming on the roof,

You must have a lot of moisture built up in your van to have the issue you have!!

 

[ched999uk]

One thing that I find reduces cab windscreen condensation is a windscreen cover - the ones that are insulated are ideal. The cover seems to stop the cold air hitting the windscreen which causes the condensation to form as it stops the glass temp falling below the due point. Plus it stops the ice on the windscreen.

 

[Scrubsy]

Hi Everyone,
ive recently been getting a lot of condensation in the cab of my van. the inside of the windscreen and the door windows are soaked and the seats feel damp.
There appears to be no leaks anywhere so assume its condensation.
How do i get rid of this please?

Hi mate. I use a sort of cushion/pad that looks like this (although I got mine from home bargains and it is bigger). It has an indicator area that changes colour and you put it in the microwave when you need to dry it out. I leave it right in the middle of the top of the dashboard. Yours does sound like alot though. Are you filling your tank over night or using a heater? If it's dry and you are able to park securely then you might be able to leave your window open just a tiny bit to help the air circulate. @ched999uk suggestion of the insulated windscreen cover sounds like a good bet.

 

[dazmond]

Hi Everyone,
ive recently been getting a lot of condensation in the cab of my van. the inside of the windscreen and the door windows are soaked and the seats feel damp.
There appears to be no leaks anywhere so assume its condensation.
How do i get rid of this please?

It's normal in the cold winter months....

Why are you bothered?

I just start my van,turn heaters on full blast,turn on my heated drivers seat(and heated windscreen), and heated door mirrors if they're fogged up,fire up my diesel heater and 5 mins later I'm ready to go.

If the condensation is particularly bad on my inside windscreen I'll use my squeegee to blade it off(it's the only time it gets used these days!).Job done....

I have a bulkhead too but it doesn't stop the condensation from getting in the cab.

 

[THL4KEL]

Fit a diesel heater in van, dry heat gets rid of the condensation..

 

[PC]

One thing that I find reduces cab windscreen condensation is a windscreen cover - the ones that are insulated are ideal. The cover seems to stop the cold air hitting the windscreen which causes the condensation to form as it stops the glass temp falling below the due point. Plus it stops the ice on the windscreen.

Spot on. Starting using a screen cover and no condensation on windscreen or ice for me either.

 

[Iron Giant]

One thing that I find reduces cab windscreen condensation is a windscreen cover - the ones that are insulated are ideal. The cover seems to stop the cold air hitting the windscreen which causes the condensation to form as it stops the glass temp falling below the due point. Plus it stops the ice on the windscreen.

They definitely works to a point, but I remember in my last van before I insulated the load area roof in had moisture getting above the head lining in the cab and coming out of the interior light.

As the old saying goes "Prevention is better than the cure"

 

[ched999uk]

They definitely works to a point, but I remember in my last van before I insulated the load area roof in had moisture getting above the head lining in the cab and coming out of the interior light.

As the old saying goes "Prevention is better than the cure"

Yes I keep meaning to get round to taking the headlining down and insulating above it as I do get the odd drip through the grab handle.
By using insulated screen cover you are actually preventing the windscreen dropping below the dew point and stopping the moisture in the air condensing on the cold surface. Same as they work well with camper vans!

 

[M Clean]

I used to have the same problem in my old Berlingo.
I got some fine knitted large socks and filled them with cat litter, the granules work best.
One bag go's along way.
Shake them occasionally.
They made a huge difference.
I remember having what looked like 3 fat pillows on my dash board.
It worked for me.

 

[spruce]

Hi Everyone,
ive recently been getting a lot of condensation in the cab of my van. the inside of the windscreen and the door windows are soaked and the seats feel damp.
There appears to be no leaks anywhere so assume its condensation.
How do i get rid of this please?

We give each pole we use a good shake before putting it into the van. Doing this means excess water in the bristles is removed.
We coil the hose up when putting the poles away. We drain the pole hose while doing this, so all we get is the odd drip.

We connect the hose reels up to the under bumper van ports, and the hose reels are outside the van when we work.
When we put the hose reels back of the van, we push a hose connector on the male connector to stop any drips. These hose connectors are fill with UPVC silicone adhesive.

Damp towels are removed every day and washed. They aren't left lying around in the van.

When the weather is dry, I do leave the back doors open to ventilate the back. Occasionally, I do have to wipe the van's roof down to get rid of any minor condensation with a towel. I noticed the other week that there was a lot of condensation on the water tank. This means that the air inside the van is damp and the water inside the tank is cold. I wiped it off with a towel and left the van doors open to air.

I also never recommend anyone to leave their van's heating controls on internal circulation. All you are doing is recirculating damp air. Mine is always set to draw air in from outside.

You have to be ruthless when dealing with any water drips inside the van.

I keep a supply of Hozelok rubber o rings, which get a thin smear of silicone grease from time to time. When I see one starting to wear out and drip, it gets replaced immediately. A couple of weeks ago I noticed a water leak on the hose reel. I pulled all the hose off the reel and found it coming from the connector that connects the hose to the manifold. The o clips just needed another squeeze. Sorted.

When we did our window cleaning NVQ, the company that did it supplied 2 training vans. Both vans had hose reels fixed inside, and they both leaked water into the vans. The roof of both vans just poured condensation rain drops. I vowed then to never let my equipment get into that state.

The problem is probably worse with a car derived van. Any water leaks are inclined to drain into what were the rear passenger footwells and wet the carpets. That's a whole new problem.

 

[ched999uk]

While stopping leaks and minimising damp stuff in the back of our vans is a good way at reducing moisture in our vans it won't completely cure condensation.

My understanding of condensation:
The air outside the van today has a Relative Humidity of 90%, so at the current temp of 6 deg C it is holding 90% of the water that it could possible hold. All it takes is a surface to fall below 4deg C (dew point today) and some of the 90% of the water in the air will condense onto the cold surface.
The only way to stop condensation is to limit the airs ability to touch a cold surface. You can do this a number of ways like insulating between the air and cold surfaces or warming the cold surfaces up so nothing is below the dew temp.

 

[Iron Giant]

Yes I keep meaning to get round to taking the headlining down and insulating above it as I do get the odd drip through the grab handle.
By using insulated screen cover you are actually preventing the windscreen dropping below the dew point and stopping the moisture in the air condensing on the cold surface. Same as they work well with camper vans!

Now I'm thinking back on this I got more of an issue when I'd put a few inches from the load area into the headline but wasn't able to tape it with silver tape and remembering how you did the back of your van I did say at the time I wonder if you'd get moisture going through into the headlining of the cab,

You're braver than me tackling taking down the headlining I'd never try taking mine down.

 

[ched999uk]

remembering how you did the back of your van I did say at the time I wonder if you'd get moisture going through into the headlining of the cab,

You're braver than me tackling taking down the headlining I'd never try taking mine down.

I did tape a seam between the insulation and the bulkhead but I am wondering if it's the air above the insulation in the load area coming over the bulkhead.

As for taking the headlining out, I did say I keep meaning too I haven't done yet . Maybe in the summer .
I am guessing that I have to remove the grab handles, the shelf and the door seals but I haven't done so just guessing.

 

[dazmond]

My car is the same in cold weather(inside windscreen wet through)and there's no water tank in there...

Why are any of you bothered? It's normal and takes 2 mins to blade the window and be on your way.

 

[Iron Giant]

I did tape a seam between the insulation and the bulkhead but I am wondering if it's the air above the insulation in the load area coming over the bulkhead.

As for taking the headlining out, I did say I keep meaning too I haven't done yet . Maybe in the summer .
I am guessing that I have to remove the grab handles, the shelf and the door seals but I haven't done so just guessing.

I'd have thought there must be a gap somewhere causing the issue, I fully taped mine off just before the bulkhead and haven't had the issues I previously had with my previous van I do put an oil rad in the van some nights even when it's not forecast to freeze.

I'd keep putting off removing the head lining

 

[THL4KEL]

We've all got 350+ water tanks that aren't sealed. Were always going to suffer with condensation. Even if the cap was sealed, the tank will sweat.

 

[Iron Giant]

My car is the same in cold weather(inside windscreen wet through)and there's no water tank in there...

Why are any of you bothered? It's normal and takes 2 mins to blade the window and be on your way.

Your car might be a water tank before long

 

[Pjj]

We've all got 350+ water tanks that aren't sealed. Were always going to suffer with condensation. Even if the cap was sealed, the tank will sweat.

I don’t get any in our vans at worst the front screen gets a tiny bit but that’s gone after driving a few hundred yards . The back of the vans never gets any at all .

 

[spruce]

I have a full steel Ducato/Boxer/Relay factory bulkhead. I don't have an issue with condensation on the inside of the front windscreen.

I didn't have an issue with my previous 04 plate Citroen Relay van with a factory bulkhead either.