Anyone have experience with rechargable dehumidifiers?

[nevadatear]

Although we live in a dry climate, but when it is cold and the windows are mostly closed, as our walls are not insulated we tend to get droplet formation on the walls at night from our breathing. I have tried the dessicants in bags (throwaway) but I hate doing the disposable thing. Anyone have experience with Eva-dry, H2Out, or stax-on? These all plug in to recharge.

[chartle]

Although we live in a dry climate, but when it is cold and the windows are mostly closed, as our walls are not insulated we tend to get droplet formation on the walls at night from our breathing. I have tried the dessicants in bags (throwaway) but I hate doing the disposable thing. Anyone have experience with Eva-dry, H2Out, or stax-on? These all plug in to recharge.

I think most would say you should be thinking ventilation not dehumidification. And I would look into insulation.

[eamarquardt]

Per the internet a person exhales about 400 ml of water a day. So in eight hours a couple would exhale about 260 ml of water or about a cup of water.

Silica gel can absorb about 40% of its weight in water so to absorb 260 ml you'd need about 650 grams of silica gel (roughly a pound). I wouldn't think that this would do under less than ideal conditions so you'd probably need more. All the battery power does, as far as I can tell, is blow air over the gel to increase the efficiency of the gel.

To rejuvenate the gel it has to be heated to 250f for several hours so you have to figure out how you will do this each day to get it to work again.

I kinda think that these units are meant for areas that have typical humidity versus a small enclosed space with two people exhaling moisture continuously.

That said, I've never used one, have no idea how effective they might or might not be, but what I learned suggests that they may not be suitable for "dry camping" with no electric outlet to rejuvenate the gel each day.

Hope this helps.

Gus

[Martiangod]

You could try Calcium Cloride.
Road Salt
Dad always had a burlap sack hanging in the basement full of calcium chloride, it dripped into a bucket

Cheap, you could make up an assist device.
Piece of abs pipe or and perforate it, or whte PVC perforated sewer pipe
Plastic screen
plastic fitting with barbed end
plastic tubeing through the floor
Computer fan with variable speed, runs on 12 volts 120mm fans are quite quiet, especially slowed down and draw very little power

Bet you could build a couple of them for under $20.

When won't absorb any more, dump salt on a cookie sheet, put in sun to dry or in oven on low heat for a hour


Thats my rendition of a cheap air dryer, will work without fan, just not as efficient

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calcium_chloride

[Shadow Catcher]

My personal feeling is that your best bet is still the fan, perhaps set on exhaust. Eva-dry has a good reputation and is non poisonous.
Calcium Chloride is hazardous, This from the MSDS sheet
Potential Acute Health Effects:
Hazardous in case of skin contact (irritant), of eye contact (irritant), of ingestion, of inhalation. Slightly hazardous in case of
skin contact (permeator).
Potential Chronic Health Effects:
CARCINOGENIC EFFECTS: Not available. MUTAGENIC EFFECTS: Mutagenic for mammalian somatic cells. Mutagenic for
bacteria and/or yeast. TERATOGENIC EFFECTS: Not available. DEVELOPMENTAL TOXICITY: Not available. The substance
may be toxic to heart, cardiovascular system. Repeated or prolonged exposure to the substance can produce target organs
damage.

[Martiangod]

Calcium chloride is quite safe
its used in DampRid and Dri-Z-Air
Used in Beer, canned vegitables, sports drinks and on and on.
It is an irratant to skin because of its drying properties

[stumphugger]

I have an Evadry.
http://evadry.reachlocal.com/?scid=1277 ... 7189349689

I had it in the trailer during a winter sleep over. My Labrador Heater and I were in the Little Guy 5 wide. Temps were in the upper 30s and there was the usual rain. There was still the normal condensation. I got the trailer home and parked back in the shop, and put an electric heater inside to dry it out. The shop has no heat.

I keep the Evadry thing in the trailer and the crystals have needed recharging once since Christmas. To recharge it, you plug it in and it heats up and dies the crystals. They turn pink when they are saturated.

I prefer them to the ones that must be replaced. There is no smell with the Evadry. I kept the other stuff in the trailer before and it seemed like the smell permeated into everything, and the Camelbak that I stored in the trailer made water taste like the smell.
The trailer feels and looks dry when I check it.

That's all I can say about it.

[David S]

I have a small rechargable in my gun safe,its probaly half the cubic footage of my teardrop.It does a good job,the silica is blue when dry and when it turns pink you jusy plug it into 110v and in 5-6 hrs they are blue again
I have known guys that just hook up a small fan to a humidistat in their campers.