Garage Humidity

[Ron Gaal]

My babies are tucked away for the winter...61 vette and a a 74 Cuda.
I live in Southern Ontario Canada and i went to check the humidity and
it is 74%. The garage is insulated but not heated it is 5 degrees or 40
degrees for our American friends. Is this allright? If not what can
I do to lower the Humidity?

Thanks Ron

[Mike McKown]

A few things to think about

That'd be too high for me. I like to see around 35-40% humidity.

A little heat in that room would do wonders for the humidity. Don't use an unvented gas heater, they'll increase humidity.

If the roof is not vented you may be trapping moisture coming through the floor. A layer of plastic on the floor can help this.

My dehumidifiers don't work below about 40F. Maybe others do.

You would get better help if you'd describe your enclosure in a little detail.

[Ron Gaal]

Re: A few things to think about

Its a double car garage all insulated except for the doors...I will be doing
that soon...would an electric heater work? and I have carpet on the floor.The house is 9 years old and we beleive there is plastic under the concrete.

[Ron Gaal]

Re: A few things to think about

Also there is a bedroom above the garage.

[Mike McKown]

I'd be concerned the carpet

is a reservoir for moisture, not a source or cause. Once it got dry, it wouldn't matter.

Usually, cold winter weather brings dryer air. It's not quite that time of year yet. At least not here. You may still have moisture trapped from warm weather. Put a heat source in there with air moving and get it hot for several days then measure your humidity over the next several days afterwards. you may be okay if you keep the doors shut.

You might look around at different de-humidifiers. I think some of them will work at lower temps and that's the way I'd go if you can find one.

[Duke W.]

Re: Garage Humidity

Search the Web for dehumidifiers. I think the brand with the best current word of mouth is Solair. Their most popular unit looks like R2D2. I use a dehumidifer in my house during the winter because the So Cal climate near the beach is damp, and the downstairs tends to be damp and clammy, but the dehumidfier keeps it warm and dry. Mine is a 750 Watt Sears Kenmore about three years old, but the current Kenmore models are getting a lot of bad comments.

Dehumidifiers reduce humidity and 100 percent of their power consumption turns into heat, so they warm the space, too, but the problem is that they usually don't work well below about 60F because the evaporators tend to freeze up below this temperature.

Duke

[Mike M.]

Car Jacket

I live in southern Ont. also.I have a non heated garage. I use the car jacket or car bag and seal my car up. When spring comes the brake rotors are clean with no rust. Use there Omni Dry desiccant inside the bag. Mike

[don22567]

Re: Garage Humidity

I use car bubbles for my vettes in my garage and it works great. It keeps a constant flow of air circulating around the car and provides protection from dust and other elements. It is Cheaper than running a de-humidifier and I think it works better.

[don22567]

Re: Car Jacket

Mike, where did you get your car bag and what is this Omni Dry desiccant that you use? Thanks, Don.

[Joel Falk]

Re: Car Jacket

You can find the Car Bag at

http://www.carbag.com

It is basically a huge coated cloth bag with a long zipper covering on the front, side, and rear. You open it up, drive on, and zip it back up. It comes with 5 lbs of silica gel dessicant. Omni Dry is the brand they use but I suspect any type would be fine.

I am not sure if the bag breathes or not. I suspect it does not, and that the dessicant absorbs any moisture trapped in the bag so that rust and deterioration does not occur. 5 lbs is supposed to be good for 6 months of unopened storage. If you open the zipper on the bag, you are supposed to either replace the dessicant or dry it by baking it at 400*+ F for a couple of hours (don't recall the exact specifics, they come with the info packet).

I recently bought one and started using it. Too soon for me to comment but from everything I've read they work really well. The bit about the rust free brake rotors is also mentioned on their website.

[don22567]

Re: Car Jacket

Thanks Joel, I have the car storage capsule. You can see it at www.car-capsule.net. It is a clear bubble with a built in fan that keeps a constant flow of air circulating around the car. Also protects it from dust and other elements. So far it works great.

[Patrick H.]

Re: Car Jacket

I use 4 of these, and they work well.
I also bought the large can of dessicant from them as it's reusable.

Patrick

[Michael W.]

Re: Garage Humidity

How do the car bubbles reduce humidity?

[don22567]

Re: Garage Humidity

What they claim on www.car-capsule.net is that "Temperature and humidity will remain equal and constant to the ambient environment preventing condensation." It doesn't sound like it reduces or eliminates humidity but rather keeps the moisture from settling on the car.

[mike cobine]

Re: Garage Humidity

Is the humidty in the garage more or less than the humidity outside?

If more, you need more ventilation.

If less, then you need to go with dehumidifers and heaters.

With carpet, you are collecting a lot of moisture. I've seen that before. It gets it from moisture through the concrete and any that is brought in (wet tires, wet feet, etc.).