# condensation under bed



## 92859 (May 1, 2005)

Greetings,

What do people use to eliminate the condensation under the bed mattress? the Elddis had slatted bases so it was not a problem but the Hymer is plywood so there is no air circulation.

I thought of drilling holes in the ply at regular intervals but did not want to weaken this, perhaps some of the beach mat material may do.

I know some time ago you could buy some material which looked like large scouring pads at a marine chandlers but this was expensive.


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## Rapide561 (Oct 1, 2005)

*Condensation.*

Hi

I would drill holes. Or maybe put a thick bath towel betwen the mattress and bed base.

Russell


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## Waleem (Nov 1, 2006)

You can still buy that stuff- Fiamma aircell (?) i think- seen it on eBay, but I think its £50 a roll!!


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## Grizzly (May 9, 2005)

I think your best bet would be to drill holes as Russell says. If you put a mat there all you do is absorb the condensation into the mat. What you need to cure it is air flow round the underside of the bed. Make sure the under-bed air vents are not blocked up or this will not work.

G


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## rowley (May 14, 2005)

I have drilled 20mm holes which has helped, but not as effective as slats. In our caravan days we used corrugated cardboard which was successful.


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## MikeE (May 1, 2005)

We put two bamboo beach mats under the mattress. Don't ask me how/why it works - but it does :!: 

Mike


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## 99900 (Jul 5, 2006)

you could try putting a closed cell foam mats under the bed matress -these are readily available in camping shops as camping mats -and you won't need especiallly good ones and they should provide a sufficient thermal gradient for condensation not to occur-they work well in tents in very cold conditions i.e sleeping on ice ,so should work fine in a van (should have thought of that for our van before i read your post!!) I think the bamboo mat idea is good too -but that just ensures ventilation.
Phil.
Mountain Wolf


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## 88927 (May 10, 2005)

MikeE said:


> We put two bamboo beach mats under the mattress. Don't ask me how/why it works - but it does :!:
> 
> Mike


The reason that these work is that air is trapped in the hollow core of the bamboo and is acts as a temperature barrier, in much the same way as the "hollowfibre" duvets work.
Great idea Mike, and one that I think we shall be trying soon :wink:

Keith


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## peedee (May 10, 2005)

I used to use those "grass" beach mats as suggested by Humber Traveller. It used to work. Probably for the same reason you state Keith.

peedee


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## Saphire (May 1, 2005)

We bought this and it worked brilliant no more condensation. 
http://www.airflowsprings.com/acatalog/index.html

We took it out when we sold the van because we thought we needed it in the new van but the bed is slatted, I think we have still got it, if you are interested we will check tomorrow.


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## Rapide561 (Oct 1, 2005)

*Condensation*

Hi

The other option is to buy a Kontiki with under mattress heating. A warm bed! I am amazed that Swift have used their heads.

Russell


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## Boff (May 10, 2005)

Hi Peter,

if the mattress lies directly on the plywood then just drilling holes will not help. Because to get rid of the condensation the air under the mattress must be able to circulate.

We also had condensation problems under our overcab bed mattress, even though there was a slatted frame and an air duct from the heating under it. We even had mould growing on the plywood! Problem was that the slats were a bit worn out (don't ask why... :love3: ), so they came to rest on the plywood, thus obstructing air circulation. This was the situation before my modification:










(Note that I had already sticked felt pads under the slats to keep a little air circulation, but no use.)

As we also were not fully satisfied with the sleeping comfort of the bed - too thin mattress and too wide spaced slats - I bought last year on the Düsseldorf show a set of springs from a company called FROLI which has specialized on such solutions. Now the base of our bed looks like this, we sleep much better in it and no problems with moisture anymore:










Best Regards,
Gerhard


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## Rapide561 (Oct 1, 2005)

*Condensation*

Hi Peter

Just another thought. Did you warm the van up quickly?

If the temperature changed quickly inside the van, then the van shell etc does not warm up at the same pace.

Once the whole structure is warmed through, it might help.

Russell


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## rocky58 (May 11, 2005)

*AIRCELL & DEHUMIDIFIER*

Have fiamma air cell under overcab mattress also when parked up outside house have mini dehumidifier on all the time works great everything dry no mould anywhere


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## 92859 (May 1, 2005)

*condensation*

Greetings,

Thanks for the matting Saphire, it was very good of you to let us have this, it should put an end to our condensation problems now. 

.............

Russell,


> Just another thought. Did you warm the van up quickly?


Van warmed up as normal, all day OK, warm at night and condensation in the morning, but we should be Ok now thanks to Saphire. Could have been the fact that the lower locker is cold and not warmed by the heater.


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## Saphire (May 1, 2005)

So Glad you received it.
I was a bit concerned with the latter end of postcode, the post Office said it didn't exist but put a number which he thought was right.

The Mattress in the Granduca wasn't straight sided and it touched the walls it was also built up on the opening side so there was nowhere for air to get underneath we found that matting did just the trick no condensation. If it covers most of the underside of your mattress it should work. 

Good luck and Happy motoring.


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