Dehumidifier

I'm kind of surprised this actually worked, but it seems to.

During the winter, with two adults and two dogs the windows in the pilothouse would fog up pretty significantly. I bought the dehumidifier below, and darn if it didn't eliminate about 90%, picking up maybe a cup or two of moisture over night. If anyone else has a similar problem, this might be worth the $.

Amazon.com: Sunpentown Mini Dehumidifier with TiO2 and UV light: Home & Kitchen

I went with this one and couldn't be happier.....

Amazon.com: NewAir AD-250 25 Pint Room Dehumidifier: Home & Kitchen

I've been using this for years, but I'm not living aboard with others. This might not be able to keep up with all that humidity.

DRI-Z-AIR® DEHUMIDIFIER - MOISTURE ABSORBER - MADE IN THE USA - OUR PRODUCTS

During the winter months, I place one of these in the head sink and the other in the galley sink. No power, no need to regularly empty the tank (if it overflows, it drains from the sink drain). One or two refills throughout the season is all that's required. We have never had a mold or mildew problem.

If fogging is the problem, I think your solution would be best.

Thanks for the tip!

De-humidifier

I've used these (2) for 8 years. So far...so good. One in the salon and one in the cabin.

It's my understanding that dwhatty uses one of these as there is no power in the north woods of Maine for anything electric.

SeaHorse II said:

I've used these (2) for 8 years. So far...so good. One in the salon and one in the cabin.

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Oh ya, I forgot. I have one of those for the fwd stateroom, too. It's so quiet, I forgot it was there.

I use two of a similar small dehumidifier, one set in my galley sink, one in the head sink. i set them up with a timer to run about 6 hrs total per day.
I added a drain tube to the tank so they self drain into the sinks. They work well and have done so for the, now, third season.
They have made a big difference to the humidity in the boat.

In addition there are numerous fans, 3" muffin type, to force air circulation and small heaters on thermostats for truly freezing weather.

Great ideas guys and timely too. The Admiral and I where discussing dehumidifier options last night. The silly little desicant thing we tried failed miserably.

All you damn Californians talking about humidity????!!!!!!!....hahaha. Not only is it humid in Texas, but it will be 80 degrees one day and then 40 the next and that cycle can repeat itself numerous times in one week!!!! You best have a "real" dehumidifier....

Talking to my son in Lackland last year he said about the weather in Texas. "If ya don't like it give it ten minutes, it's bound to cycle around to something ya will like any minute'.

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I'm a great fan of having a dehumidifier on the boat. We used to live aboard here in the PNW and found that having a dehumidifier made a huge difference in livability. Before the dehumidifier, every morning was spent drying the condensation off the glass. After getting the dehumidifier that chore was gone and the boat felt warmer in the cold and rainy NW winters.

There are 2 kinds of dehumidifiers, one for normal household use and the basement dehumidifier, which is what I recommend for a boat. The difference is that the basement dehumidifier will still work down to a temperature of 41 degrees while the normal and cheaper household dehumidifier will lose its effectiveness below about 65 degrees. If you live on the boat and always keep the temperature around 70 degrees than maybe the household type will work OK but I would still go for the basement dehumidifier.

Even through we no longer live abroad I still keep the dehumidifier going 24 hours a day on my new boat where the temperature can go down into the low forties or lower when the outside temp drops into the twenties. When it is really cold I turn the dehumidifier off as humidity isn't a problem then. One time when I came to check out the boat during one of these cold spells, I found ice had formed on the outside of the dehumidifier around the compressor area. Since then, I make it a point to turn it off during these cold times.

Google "basement dehumidifier" for more information.

Ron

Baker said:

All you damn Californians talking about humidity????!!!!!!!....hahaha. Not only is it humid in Texas, but it will be 80 degrees one day and then 40 the next and that cycle can repeat itself numerous times in one week!!!! You best have a "real" dehumidifier....

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John,

In California, it's either humidity or wind that's ruining our days. We don't get to complain about snow storms or hurricanes. But when our lips get chapped, we don't stop talking about it. Moisture on our windows? It's a terrible problem! Wind messed up the Admiral's hair? Cancel the day's activities and make an emergency pit stop into the hair salon!

Please don't fault us for complaining about our seemingly insignificant weather problems. It's all we have to complain about!

We live and workaboard 24/7. Two adults, one child, and a cat. Cooking, showers, and breathing just added too much moisture in the air. We were doing the condensation wipe down every morning, too. Not to mention the mold and mildew Lisa found in some of the clothes lockers. So we bought and use two household dehumidifiers. One aft, and one forward (the two areas are fully separated belowdecks by a full beam, stand up engine room). We run each about 4 hours during the day and we no longer have condensation on the windows in the morning, and our clothes are mold-free. BIG difference!

We dont use those fancy electric dehumidifiers up here, instead these non electric (highway salt) style ones are getting more popular among fellow boaters. Others use them only during the winter storage but I have them in the boat all year round. They are pretty effective in confined spaces where air circulation is an issue.

If my memory serves me right, my boat has seven of them at the moment. Overkill? Yes, but it's winter now.

Hi TIKU, that is a real nice classic cruiser, seeing it in front of the diesel pump makes me wonder what the price of diesel is at your dock in Finland? So as not to divert this thread maybe you could make a post with that information on the "Fuel Check" section of the forum.
thanks

I don't have room on my little boat for a full sized dehumidifier so I tried one of those minis and it does work. It solved a mildew problem that was driving me crazy. I did like C lectric and drilled a hole in the tank, stuck in a length of aquarium air hose and let it drain in the sink. It would fill the tank daily without the drain. I put a cheap hygrometer in the cabin and the humidity dropped about 25%.

I bought a DeLonghi unit with a pump so all I have to do is stick the hose into the sink drain..

Haven't seen the need, yet. Nevertheless, wouldn't the Coot's shower be the best location for a dehumidifier? 110-volt outlet is nearby. (Here, shower entrance is at the bottom of the photo.)



Here's a better picture. Just above the sink is the AC outlet, and to the right is the shower.

Where does the shower drain go is the question.
If overboard directly then yes , the shower drain may be suitable.
Other wise I would say no, the shower drain is not the way to go.
You do not want to fill and overflow a tank.
You want the collected water out of the boat.
Also if the air surrounding the dehumidifier can stagnate the dehumidifier will be less effective. The air some distance away could still hold quite a bit of moisture.

Shower drain (bathroom floor is below waterline) goes to a pump in the upper bilge where the water is pumped overboard. "Brown" water from sinks and shower goes overboard and is not stored. Toilet waste is directed to a holding tank for later disposal.

If your shower doesn't have a drain, how do you dispose of the water?

Here's something to consider...


We boat in an area that is extremely humid. People are constantly drying their windshields especially in the morning.

I am happy to say that we NEVER have to do that.

After years of trying different heating systems we installed hot air furnaces on this boat. These units mix outside air into the heated air stream ventilating the boat.

The key to a fog free boat is and always has been ventilation.

How about installing power ventilation and solving the fogging problem once and for all??!

Your shower drain will work but I was trying to get across that you do not want, or at least I don't, to have the collected water to go to a sump. Mine goes directly overboard via the SINK DRAINS, no sump or pump beyond the dehumidifier itself are involved in the drainage.

You choice of setup of course.