Ice/Moisture Inside Slide Outs

[Terri Hedden]

2015 Solitude 366 Den. In cold winter conditions this year I had moisture and ice develop INSIDE on all three back slides where the floor meets the wall of each slide.
Seems to be poorly insulated in this area on all three. Has anyone else experienced this and how did you address it?

[Jkwilson]

Dehumidifier.

[Cate&Rob]

Terri Hedden

Welcome to our owners technical forum. When you have a chance, have a look at our welcome post. https://gdrvowners.com/forum/main-fo...to-new-members . This will help you set up your signature and navigate the forum.

Cold weather condensation inside an RV (particularly in a closet) is a very common occurrence. Despite the "Arctic Package" claims . . . the walls are only about 1 1/2" thick and even though there is foam insulation in the wall space, in the corners this is all aluminum framing which transfers the outside cold to the inside space. Air movement and a dehumidifier will help. This means keeping closet doors cracked open and leaving room for air circulation within the closet.

Rob

[Terri Hedden]

Hello and thank you for your reply! The three areas are behind the sofa in the den, behind/beside the bed platform in the main bedroom and in the pantry closet, behind the stove and behind the fridge on the third slide. I have small dehumidifiers on either side of the bed platform and "Driz-Air" moisture absorbers in various locations throughout the trailer. At one point I pulled the sofa out from the wall in the den and placed a small ceramic heater back there that solved that slide. I am unable to do this with the other 2 slides. I am managing the main bedroom slide as much as I can. My biggest worry is the large slide in the living area where I cannot access most of the area where the moisture is building up. How does one create air movement without sucking all the heat out of the vents!?

[Country Campers]

A small fan on the floor in a few areas will help move the air around when the furnace is not running. I realize that you are camping in the cold and heat is at a premium but if you open one of the ceiling vents just a small crack to allow outside air in to the coach this will help remove some of the humidity, cold air is usually dry and the warm moist air inside the coach is causing the humidity and ice. I do not envy you camping in this cold of weather and it an RV it is much worse to contend with. It is best to have everything sealed up to keep the cold out but the RV also needs to breathe.

Brian

[Jlawles2]

A dehumidifier willl actually pump heat into the camper. I would not pick a large one or a small one. Think of how much water you drink in a day, divide that by 4 or 5 and pick a dehumidifier in that range.

Moving air can be a challenge, especially in a camper. You may want to look into a couple of the small heaters that have a fan option. This will give you the ability to apply local heat if needed to some areas. I have a smaller one thats about 8 inches wide by 10 inches tall and I think they still are about $20 each. I think the heat options are 500 watts, 1,000 watts, and 1,500 watts. I use that plus the electric fireplace to heat the camper.

[Terri Hedden]

Thank you everyone for your replies and suggestions. One final question. I have been doing some of the things suggested already.
If I lined the lower inside of the slides in question with some form of insulating material (Reflectix?) would that help solve my problem
or make it worse? It would be great if it worked but could also just be a moisture holder and cause mold. Thoughts?
Once again thank you for all your suggestions!

[JBill9694]

Can you put board insulation on the outside bottom of the slides? I haven't tried this, we were successful using dehumidifiers and fans, including one in the closet. Country Campers is correct about the ventilation to the outside particularly when cooking or showering. Let the fans run for a while after the cooking or showering is complete.

[Terri Hedden]

Hi John,
I tried a rigid foam insulation panel on the bottom of the bedroom slide to see if it made a difference before doing all of them.
Sadly it did not :(

[Country Campers]

I would wonder if you would place a heavy blanket at the spots where the frost is and see if the frost will gather on the blanket and not the wall/floor corner. What I am not liking is the frost at the wall/floor connection and if we could get it away from there it would be much better. The frost is forming there because the cold is traveling further into the wall structure at that point, kind of like frost forming on the inside of a single pane window. If the frost would appear on the blanket then that would mean that the moisture is not condensing on the wall structure, worth a shot maybe.

Brian