Morris Minor Owners Club

My Morris minor lives on my drive at tiimes and I get damp/condernsation inside the vehicle at this time of year and wonder if anybody has tried a dehumidifier or any other gadget to help the overnight damp please?
Im happy that I dont have water leaks into the car or any other source.

Living in Manchester I have a small mains powered one on the back seat , for when it's really damp , great to see the water being extracted...ideal for the battery/kettle etc.

John ;-)

This is what I use in our Mazda MX5 soft top which is also parked outside - one in the boot and one in the cabin:

https://www.halfords.com/motoring/car-a ... 70096.html

I have to regenerate them in the oven at about 60 degrees every 2-3 weeks if it has been very wet, but they do the job.

The Morris has the luxury of a garage with its own electric dehumidifier.

Thank you Keith, I will give those a try.I have a similar car to your Mx5 as in an Mgf, which is awful in the winter months for the damp and this will be a good test.

This is the type of dehumidifier I use. It is left in the car all year round. Needs to be refreshed every now and again but certainly collects the moisture.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Kontrol-Mois ... SwrhBZDM~a

I always place it in a non draining seed tray as the water tray can soon fill up and overflow the dehumidifier.

Are these trays very effective Phill?
Ive used the smaller ones with not alot of success so It maybe needing the larger trays.

I find them very effective.
So much so that you have to check them for water catchment at least every two/three weeks.

Thank you Phil,Im going shopping

Is your car kept in the garage Phil?

An old sock full of cat litter, under the seat, absorbs amazing amounts of moisture. Then you can dry it out in the airing cupboard, or on a radiator, and reuse it.
Cheap as chips and it works

I would not want calcium chloride anywhere near my car. Any spillage of liquid or solid would start (and continue) corrosion. Calcium chloride is deliquescent (like one of Les’s friends?) and the solution is acidic.

Buy a couple of the silica gel driers and dry one out, while using the other, would be the better choice of the two, IMO.

Both those two options are slow in operation - OK for keeping things dry but not so good for drying them quickly - they require moving air to work at a decent rate.

The electric dehumidifier is a good idea, but expensive to buy. I use a desiccant dehumidifier to keep my workshop dry - and warm enough to prevent condensation on machine tools. The only waste product is water. Compressor type dehumidifiers do not work well at low temperatures and hardly at all at near freezing point.

The main problem is that of vehicles having moisture taken into them (damp clothes) and as things cool down cold air from outside is drawn in via any gap it can find - often drawing in more water in the process.

Another alternative might be to fit an engine preheater. Warmed engine, possible warmed interior (or at least fast demisting), along with fuel savings and wear, by running a cold engine.

That is why I place the dehumidifier in a non drain seed tray.
Never had a problem over many years but you must be careful.
A well ventilated building is a must.

If you can run a power supply then these would be very good inside a car

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/800ML-ELECTR ... SwDxBfAu98

Needs emptying approximately weekly and needs to be on a flat surface. We've got one similar in a previously damp corner of the living room and it sure sucks the moisture out of the air. Small, cheap to run as it only has a computer type cooling fan inside.

Cat litter is also good for soaking up spilt oil.

panky wrote: ↑Thu Dec 10, 2020 7:20 pm If you can run a power supply then these would be very good inside a car

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/800ML-ELECTR ... SwDxBfAu98

Needs emptying approximately weekly and needs to be on a flat surface. We've got one similar in a previously damp corner of the living room and it sure sucks the moisture out of the air. Small, cheap to run as it only has a computer type cooling fan inside.

That's mine ( except for the branding )...

John ;-)

Don’t know what steve clem is on about. I most certainly didn’t mention cat litter!

That little electric dehumidifier is a natty little job. I was thinking of something rather more substantial and not a Peltier device. And, presumably, it slowly passes air from the car through the machine, so good from that point of view. Question: Does it keep the windows clear if the glass is frosted on the outside? If it does, it most certainly gets my vote!

My workshop (~30 m^3) is kept warm(ish) and dry with a machine capable of collecting 8l a day. Running costs are about 8p/day as it only needs to be run for a couple of hours each night.

Thanks for the link Phil, not had too much trouble with condensation but might try that option, or cat litter.
It’s easy to overthink the issue !

" Question: Does it keep the windows clear if the glass is frosted on the outside? If it does, it most certainly gets my vote! "

No,not that I've noticed , just dehumidifies the interior...but..it most produce a little heat , so , maybe ??

John ;-)

I don’t think 10W is going to make much temperature difference, in what is basically a large metal box.. If it doesn’t stop condensation on the inside of the windows it is not that effective - which appears to be the requirement of the OP?

What relative humidity reduction does it manage in a given time? Difficult to assess as humidity is very temperature dependent, of course.

Seems like the OP needs two methods - one for longer term dehumidifying and an engine or cabin heater to dissipate early morning condensation on the windows.

Certainly needs some degree of thought to solve the OP’s problem. Under-thinking a problem does not generally give rise to alternative strategies which may be more relevant to the OP than attracting felines towards a cat toilet. Don’t leave your vehicle doors open, while unattended, if you use cat litter.