Water (condensation?) in the wheel well

daivid

I keep a few emergency/just incase items in the wheel well and have noticed a slight damp issue. No puddles but the footpump had a lot of condensation on it and the old newspaper was damp and a little mouldy. I assume the damp is condensation as there are no paticularly wet bits - the carpet lining is all dry to the touch.

Does anyone have any suggestions of a low maintenace way to cut out the problem? I was thinking maybe a small plastic tub, with holes punched in the lid, full of kitty litter to absorb the moisture. Any better ideas, silica gel sachets would work but I dont buy nearly enough shoes...

facade

Get a couple of the xl bags of silica-gel Pingi, these have a nice blue penguin on that goes green when it is time to dry them in the microwave.

There are some traders on Amazon, somebodies Diving who sell 1kg bags, but these need emptying out and warming up in baking trays.

Homebase used to sell them, but dropped the price and sold their stock.

Don't buy the cheap calcium chloride type, these make a corrosive puddle.

colino

Better to find out if you have a missing or hardened seal/bung to replace or fix. Water ingress can play havoc with modern car electrics.

Ectophile

An old sock filled with silica gel kitty litter seems to be a popular solution for damp (I've got one on the dashboard of my Landy). Make sure it's silica gel, as kitty litter can be made of all sorts of things.

You might want to try finding out where the water's coming from. It could be a hole in the floor. Leaking door seals are also a good possibility.

jazzy

What make vehicle is it?

Richard53

Could just be condensation. I have a gel bag in the boot of my Mazda MX-5 and it gets very damp, even though there is no sign of water ingress and the carpet etc is dry to the touch. I have closed the boot lid on a totally dry boot one afternoon, and opened the boot after a cold night to find the inside surface of the lid running with moisture. Plain, single-skin metal with no insulation, so at night it cools rapidly.

daivid

Thanks for the replies, as I said before, no sign of water ingress and I'm not going to rip up (dry) fitted carpet to look without good cause. Have had many frosty mornings since the last time I opened up the hatch and the water was on or around the metal abjects I keep in there. For now condensation is the prime candidate, I will try a bag of silica gell and monitor the situation.

Richard53

daivid wrote: »

Have had many frosty mornings since the last time I opened up the hatch and the water was on or around the metal abjects I keep in there.

There's your answer, I think.

daivid wrote: »

For now condensation is the prime candidate, I will try a bag of silica gell and monitor the situation.

I got some of the Halfords Air Dry dehumidifier bags. At £10 each, not cheap, but discreet and easy to use. They work well (they get damp, almost wet to the touch, but the boot they are in is bone dry), but they take forever to dry out. I might try something simpler next time, like cat litter in a vented box. More of a mess, but easier to dry out, I would have thought.

Hintza

Leave the boot open on a breezy day and that will help.