How to soak your interior in a rainstorm
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Joined: Jul 2003
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From: Arlington, VA
How to soak your interior in a rainstorm
Lots of thunderstorms in the Northeast for the past two weeks...
Drove to work with the top down as usual. Pulled into my spot. Raised the roof, then lifted both switches to raise the windows. Went into the office, where I can see the car all day from the driver's side. It poured for 45 minutes in the afternoon.
When I got into the car, the passenger side window was open, and that whole side of the interior was wet. Went to raise the window, and it would not move. After fooling around for a minute, I found that I had accidentally engaged the passenger side power window lockout, so when I thought I was raising both windows in the morning, only the driver's side had gone up. Oh well.
So, how do you get the water out before the car mildews, especially when the forecast is for more thunderstorms and a week of high humidity?? My trick is to make a flat platform on your seat, install a regular house dehumidifier, roll up the windows, and let the thing crank. You have to check back to make sure that the machine stays stable and that it is draining into the tank. Between the water extraction action and the huge amount of heat that a dehumidifier adds to a sealed car interior, the moisture is baked and extracted out. The whole process takes several hours, and your car interior ends up dry and as hot as it would be on a hot, sunny day. Just keep monitoring it so nothing weird happens, like a leaking tank or the dehumidifier falling over.
Drove to work with the top down as usual. Pulled into my spot. Raised the roof, then lifted both switches to raise the windows. Went into the office, where I can see the car all day from the driver's side. It poured for 45 minutes in the afternoon.
When I got into the car, the passenger side window was open, and that whole side of the interior was wet. Went to raise the window, and it would not move. After fooling around for a minute, I found that I had accidentally engaged the passenger side power window lockout, so when I thought I was raising both windows in the morning, only the driver's side had gone up. Oh well.
So, how do you get the water out before the car mildews, especially when the forecast is for more thunderstorms and a week of high humidity?? My trick is to make a flat platform on your seat, install a regular house dehumidifier, roll up the windows, and let the thing crank. You have to check back to make sure that the machine stays stable and that it is draining into the tank. Between the water extraction action and the huge amount of heat that a dehumidifier adds to a sealed car interior, the moisture is baked and extracted out. The whole process takes several hours, and your car interior ends up dry and as hot as it would be on a hot, sunny day. Just keep monitoring it so nothing weird happens, like a leaking tank or the dehumidifier falling over.
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From: Philly
This happened to me with my Sentra. I left the passenger window open one night accidentally and found about 6" of standing water in the passenger side when I found it the next morning.
1) Take the passenger seat out of the car and let it sit out in the sun to dry for a day or so.
2) With the seat out, you now have easy access to the wet carpet. The best thing to do is blot out all excess water with a sponge. Soak up water with dry sponge. Wring out sponge well. Repeat as needed.
3) (optional) After that, I would pull up the wet passenger side carpet and prop it up with something just so that air can flow under it and speed the drying process.
4) Let the car out in the sun for a day or two, top open, seat out.
Don't worry about mold. It's not going to mold unless you leave the water in there untreated for days on end.
Andrew
1) Take the passenger seat out of the car and let it sit out in the sun to dry for a day or so.
2) With the seat out, you now have easy access to the wet carpet. The best thing to do is blot out all excess water with a sponge. Soak up water with dry sponge. Wring out sponge well. Repeat as needed.
3) (optional) After that, I would pull up the wet passenger side carpet and prop it up with something just so that air can flow under it and speed the drying process.
4) Let the car out in the sun for a day or two, top open, seat out.
Don't worry about mold. It's not going to mold unless you leave the water in there untreated for days on end.
Andrew
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Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 7,840
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From: socal
Originally Posted by jwa4378,Jul 19 2005, 09:09 AM
1 word.....SHOP-VAC....actually, is that 2 words?
John
John
you still need some heat to evaporate.i say 1 word, hyphenated
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Joined: Jul 2003
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From: Dupont Circle, Wash. DC
same thing...other day i left the top down and went into Clydes at Tysons....bad idea...came out after happy hour to a DRENCHED car. it does smell a bit now and i'm going to have to post in the W&W forum for some advice...
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 4,766
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From: Queens, NY
I don't know about the drying of the car, but as for the smell, put a few cloths dryer sheets (like Bounce) in the car w/ the windows up. That'll help it smell better. Leaving a few sticks of chewing gum out, w/ the wrapper opened but sitting on the wrapper might also help.
Warren
Warren