Guys can you help.........

[bobafett]

I have just been in the garage to see my baby, and because my garage is separate from my house and cold the car has damp moisture all over it.

I dont really want to heat the garage, and wondering if any of you have the tailored car cover, and if this prevents the moisture over the car.

If the car stays dry under the cover ill buy one, if not it will be a waste.

Your thoughts would appreciated.

all the best guys.

 

[Tony Cocks]

I have exactly the same problem. I use a tailored car cover to keep dust etc. from blowing all over the car when the garage door is open. The cover is useless however as regards moisture.

 

[jamescharnley]

I use a carcoon www.carcoon.co.uk

 

[lee fulford]

My garage is separate from the house but I don't get any dampness....Are you sure the garage isn't letting in water?

You normally get dampness when hot and cold air mix (When you open the garage on a warm day or a heated garage on a cold day) or if there's a leak.

I rent another garage where the walls are damp because there is earth built up the other side. There car ends up atracting the dampness and sits there soaked even in the engine bay. Can't use the garage during the winter now. It does more harm than good.

A wooden garage is always the best as it absorbs any damp. Concrete block garages with asbestos or tin roofs are the worst.

 

[millisland]

An interesting one this ...........

We house our two Porsches in the same double garage, yet Tony's 944S2 (blue) is damp all over and my 944 Turbo (black) remains dry!!! We were wondering whether it may be the different polishes we use, or even the colour. Any ideas???

Harriet

 

[38F3E1]

Colour, polish etc make no difference. The only thing that effects whether dew forms on a surface is the temperature of the surface. Which implies one car is warmer than the other ????

Is the black car near a heat source as black is a good absorbtion colour.

 

[dparslow]

I can recommend the use of dehumidifiers, on a typical wet winters day I empty upto 10L of water out of 2 I have running in my garages. Another advantage is that if you put the car away when its wet, it is dry by the following day with no rusty discs. You can usually get decent size dehumidifiers for about £100 or less these days, much less than replacing brake discs due to corrosion!

 

[John Maddox]

Interesting. Might get a de humidifier - do they cost much to run ?

 

[LK_991GTS]

ORIGINAL: John Maddox

Interesting. Might get a de humidifier - do they cost much to run ?

A couple of pence a day I should think. I have two on permanently and, as above, bone dry - no rusty discs.

 

[38F3E1]

John.

Cost depends on how dry you want to keep the environment, how big the space is, whether it is heated or not and how quickly you want the environment to be brought under control after the garage doors have been opened. All these things are used to size de-humidifiers. From experience costs may be higher than people think.

Ian.

 

[Shane Hodges]

I like the idea of not having struggle in the garage trying to wipe the car dry after having been out in the rain! My garage is seperate to the house, and my [black] car gets covered in moisture during the cold winter months.

I guess given the gaps under doors etc, the dehumidifier is working all the time as moist air would continue to drift into the garage?

Any recommendations on makes of dehumidifiers? (or ones to definitely avoid.)

 

[bobafett]

I have just bought one that works as a heater de-humidifier and air-con and with a drain plug so no emptying tanks, got it running at the moment, and its very damp down south at the mo.... it seems to be working! running my fingers over the car reveals that lovely velvety feeling to touch and no damp/moisture marks left behind.

Probably cost a bomb to run but will double up for the house in the summer for cooling...Cool.

Ill run it all night and see if it does the job, then ill post another to say ye or nea.

thanks for all your help and imput, what a great community!

lee.

 

[danofesher]

My garage is well ventilated and I get no moisture on the car (even though cars parked on my drive are dripping wet in the morning). Maybe you should properly ventilate the garage rather than run electric gizmos permamently (you could run the dehumidifiers for a month and then disconnect them and convince yourself that you've done your 20% carbon footprint reduction). I try to not put it the car away wet, and if I do I'll dry it the next day (I guess if you use your car everyday it doesn't matter so much).

 

[vitesse]

I bought a"DeLonghi" dehumidifier with multiuse facility and continuous drain if required,around £120 in Makro for use in our cottage.They suggest operating at 60% humidity and it can remove horrifying volumes of water the first day of use and after that it runs like a fridge(which is what it is but in reverse),switching off&on as and when necessary.Control the costs by sensible use of the humidity level switch.Seem to be lots of unknown brands at sub £100 in B&Q etc.

 

[38F3E1]

I bought a cheap humidity meter from B&Q a year ago and it's useful for seeing how effective the machines are. The aim for long term benefit is to get below 60% relative humidity at all times.

Regarding gaps under doors, etc ... the less gaps there are the less work the de-humidifier has to do. Outside air at this time of year on a damp day will be 90% plus humidity.

 

[Robertb]

The only prob I've had with my dehumidifier is that it ices up in cold weather, which stops it working properly. I have seen some which work via chemicals which avoids this problem.

I would avoid a cover unless the garage is dry- it will only serve to stop the damp getting out...

A Carcoon is probably the best option all things considered, but it is a bit of a ballsache getting the car in and out as it is not self-supporting. The Airflow airchamber is more tent-like so you can drive the car in and out easier.

 

[38F3E1]

If you want a de-humidifier that works in cold weather (about 5C or lower) you need one that has a feature such as hot gas defrost. This stops the machine freezing up in cold weather. Only works to about 0C (which should be good enough inside a garage). In addition you can get features to protect the drain tube freezing if it goes outside.

For very low temps you can use a use a different type of dehumdifier (absorbtion type).

Each of these increases the cost of the unit.

 

[RSGulp]

Two years ago I bought a dehumidifier with hot-gas defrost and an option to attach a hose for permanent drainage. It has run non stop in my garage and I can't recommend one highly enough for keeping everything dry. (I feel a little guilty about the environment and all that, but then again I drive a 911 for fun so would be a hypocrite if I started hugging trees.) I haven't noticed an increase in electricity bills either. I did have to 'seal' the garage to limit the amount of work the dehumidifier does by fitting strips of rubber to the garage door to act as draught excluders. You need to ensure the dehumidifier is only dehumidifying your garage - and not all the moist air outside. You'll also notice any tools, BBQs etc won't have a nice covering of rust in the spring.

I got mine here - www.dry-it-out.com - and I think it cost about £150. If you are using one in a garage make sure it has HOT GAS DEFROST otherwise it will ice-up in low temperatures and won't work.

The company above were very helpful, do next day delivery and are recommended by several classic car clubs. By the way I'm not associated with this company - apart from being a satisfied customer.[]

 

[stuj76]

I went down this route, but the hardest part I found in kitting out the garage was finding a seal for the up-and-over garage door. So I thought I would share this with everyone on here, basic website but straight to the point:

www.gapstop.co.uk I am not associated with this company!

Stu

 

[38F3E1]

ORIGINAL: danofesher

My garage is well ventilated and I get no moisture on the car (even though cars parked on my drive are dripping wet in the morning). Maybe you should properly ventilate the garage rather than run electric gizmos permamently ...

This raises an interesting point which is 'what are we trying to achieve with a de-humidifier?'. If we want a car to be dry to the touch then a de-humidifier is one method and making sure the garage is well ventilated is another (and cheaper). In each case the only thing required is to keep the relative humidity inside the garage below 100%.

However, although a car is dry to the touch it is not being protected against rusting unless the relative humidity is kept below 60%. A relative humidity anywhere above 60% and below 100% looks good and feels dry but is not really doing the car that much good. Fortunately with modern cars (particularly a car as new as your GT3) it's not an issue because they have a high level of protection (galvanising plus a lot of other measures) built into them and it is this that ultimately protects the car rather than it being kept dry. It is only where the protection has been damaged that you typically see problems.

The story is different for early cars, cars with reduced protection (e.g. race cars) and for long-term protection of cars, says tens of years, which is why you see a lot of classic car clubs talking about de-humidifiers. For these sorts of situations a de-humidifier can make the difference between the car staying mint and developing rust over time. It's only effective if the humidity can be controlled to remain constantly below 60% as below 60% bare metal will not rust and this provides the ultimate level of protection. Controlling an environment to this degree is a lot more expensive.

Ian.