moisture inside tent ends

Lurker · 09-30-2013, 10:46 AM

For he second weekend in a row, we went camping and it is cooler in the midwest but not cold (lower 50's). And both times the tent ends were soaked with moisture on the inside. Is there w way to prevent this? Or what am I doing wrong?

Thanks in advance, Mark

John LLRV · 09-30-2013, 11:04 AM

Hi,

From what know, this happened when I had my Pop-up camper. It is condensation from your breath when sleeping. The best way to get rid of it, is to open a few vents, or the top of the end zippers (we opened ours about 2 inches or so) to promote air flow, or maybe use the small fan to circulate air while you sleep.

John

Marteau · 09-30-2013, 07:52 PM

Pop-up Gizmos to the rescue!

mitechie · 09-30-2013, 08:48 PM

We've been leaving the bathroom door cracked and running the fantastic fan on the lowest setting at night. On each bunk end we open one corner a couple of inches and you can feel the air get sucked through. We keep the furnace really low, only kick it on in the 50s and use the mattress pads and sleeping bags to keep warm. Not a problem this way. I've been tempted to try to put some sort of closable vent on the bathroom door so that in the heat we could leave the fan running and open up the top of the bathroom door (heat rises, get it out of the camper) and in the winter open a lower vent in the door so that the colder air is pulled out.

Maybe one day I'll get the guts to tinker with modding the bathroom door for that.

s1njin · 10-01-2013, 06:08 AM

As Marteau points out - PUGS (Pop-Up Gizmos) will help you here. Still need to vent the unit, but PUGS will go a long way to helping you out.

Lurker · 10-02-2013, 06:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by s1njin

As Marteau points out - PUGS (Pop-Up Gizmos) will help you here. Still need to vent the unit, but PUGS will go a long way to helping you out.

How do the PUGS help?

Threebutchers · 10-02-2013, 06:22 AM

Condensation occurs in areas where water laden air is cooled. The perfect incubator would be a warm TT with tent ends (where warm air meets cold unhindered) and the occupants are creating moisture by breathing (or the relative humidity is high).

Creating airflow will help or insulate the area to slow down the amount of heat loss....Pop-up Gizmos should help with heat loss at night and cooling loss during the day.

s1njin · 10-02-2013, 07:06 AM

The PUGS act as a insulation barrier on the top of the tent end, helping to keep the canvas warmer due to the air pocket and PUG resting on top. Warmer canvas does not condense the water vapor you're expiring as readily. You still have to crack a window somewhere, but you don't need to be as aggressive w/ it.

glsimms · 10-02-2013, 07:38 AM

We leave our bathroom vent open with the fan running. We don't have any condensation issues.....

yingpin · 10-02-2013, 07:49 AM

We had the same issue last year on our hunting trip in December. I believe it was 15 degrees at night and we would routinely wipe down the inside of the bunk ends with a towel to dry it up. We would be sleeping and the water would drip on our face and/or soak the blankets. It was obviously really cold and we had 5 adults in the camper so it was worse than most would experience. For $100 for both ends, I think I will invest in some of those PUGS for ours.

Anyone know how long they take to ship?

mitechie · 10-02-2013, 07:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yingpin

Anyone know how long they take to ship?

When I ordered ours back in June/July they arrived just about a week after calling them. I remember being impressed with the response for a small operation like theirs.

s1njin · 10-02-2013, 08:04 AM

Bob Pitney over at PUGs is very responsive. If you email sales@telegizmos.com he'll likely respond quickly; however note it looks like they are closing down shop for a few days this week for holiday or something. Its all on their website.

Jagiven · 10-02-2013, 12:33 PM

We only do two things to eliminate condensation.

Open the bathroom vent about a half inch, while keeping the bathroom door ajar, and zip open, one bunk end window about a total of 4 inches on each end. We keep the unzipped portion in the upper portion (corner) of the window. Ever since we started doing this we have absolutely no condensation in the unit.

HarryM · 10-09-2013, 09:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by s1njin

As Marteau points out - PUGS (Pop-Up Gizmos) will help you here. Still need to vent the unit, but PUGS will go a long way to helping you out.

I'm dealing with the same issue. 50 outside and 70 in the trailer and each tent end dripping wet. May I ask what exactly is a PUGS? Where do they pop up? I also have the small bed fans that I thought about running to pull warm air into each sleeping area. Thanks everyone in advance!
HarryM

RedHorse1 · 10-09-2013, 10:24 AM

Using the PUG's we have no condensation without the PUG's sometimes we will have some. The bathroom vent is always open. The folks at PUG were really great to deal with. For an overnight stop I usually don't put them on (and sometimes wish I had).
We just returned from a 10 day trip that included 6 nights at a TP in Grants NM. A couple of the nights got down to 28deg and with the extra insulation (PUG's), our down comforter and the little electric space heater (1500 Watts) we were pretty comfy. I'd set the space heater on 45 Deg when we went to bed and when the dog would wake me for her morning walk I would turn the thermostat to around 65 and about a half hour later it was pleasant in the TT. Didn't use the furnace at all.
http://www.popupgizmos.com/
After we left the weather forecast was calling for a low around 22 deg which I expect would cause some water line freezing issues.

s1njin · 10-09-2013, 01:20 PM

I can't for the life of me understand why so many folks go to bed and let their camper get so cold. My stat stays around 60/65 when the camper is occupied (don't bother turning the heat on during the afternoon or anything like that). Part of the reason I have a camper is to have the creature comforts of home w/ me - so I use every system to its utmost !!! I can always use my iPhone to find more propane, or if I'm on full hookups I'll let the space heater rip all night long relatively high.

That's just me though.

RedHorse1 · 10-09-2013, 01:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by s1njin

I can't for the life of me understand why so many folks go to bed and let their camper get so cold. My stat stays around 60/65 when the camper is occupied (don't bother turning the heat on during the afternoon or anything like that). Part of the reason I have a camper is to have the creature comforts of home w/ me - so I use every system to its utmost !!! I can always use my iPhone to find more propane, or if I'm on full hookups I'll let the space heater rip all night long relatively high.

That's just me though.

I hear ya s1n, but we enjoy crawling under the comforter in cold weather. Any colder than the mid-40's inside would start to be uncomfortable but down that point we love it. To each... and all that jazz.

HarryM · 10-09-2013, 02:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RedHorse1

Using the PUG's we have no condensation without the PUG's sometimes we will have some. The bathroom vent is always open. The folks at PUG were really great to deal with. For an overnight stop I usually don't put them on (and sometimes wish I had).
We just returned from a 10 day trip that included 6 nights at a TP in Grants NM. A couple of the nights got down to 28deg and with the extra insulation (PUG's), our down comforter and the little electric space heater (1500 Watts) we were pretty comfy. I'd set the space heater on 45 Deg when we went to bed and when the dog would wake me for her morning walk I would turn the thermostat to around 65 and about a half hour later it was pleasant in the TT. Didn't use the furnace at all.
http://www.popupgizmos.com/
After we left the weather forecast was calling for a low around 22 deg which I expect would cause some water line freezing issues.

Thanks! An insulated blanket! makes sense....gezzz...I'm thinking it's some sort of pop up thing in the trailer!! LOL...I'll give them a call. I'll need to pay attention to venting as well. It was a cold heavy rain and by day 3 the tent ends were soaked from the inside. I'll try to blow warm air into the tent ends as well.

Thanks again!
HarryM

RedHorse1 · 10-09-2013, 02:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryM

Thanks! An insulated blanket! makes sense....gezzz...I'm thinking it's some sort of pop up thing in the trailer!! LOL...I'll give them a call. I'll need to pay attention to venting as well. It was a cold heavy rain and by day 3 the tent ends were soaked from the inside. I'll try to blow warm air into the tent ends as well.

Thanks again!
HarryM

Harry, No probs. Just to make sure I was clear, the PUG is really like one of those "survival blankets" that you see in outdoor stores. Silver on one side and dark green on the other. I think it adds some insulation because it traps a thin layer of air between it and the tent top. In the summer the silver helps keep some of the heat out due to its reflectiveness.

33 RLDS · 10-10-2013, 10:30 AM

We had the pugs for our Hybrid both the inside and outside ones. It helped alot in both summer and colder weather but in the end, we traded for a hardsided camper for the quiet at night for when you have noisy neighbors. Even people taking quietly was to much for us to sleep. Oh well, live and learn..

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