Interior condensation

I'm also wondering if I should just take the car cover off, do daily snow removal, pop the trunk a bit, throw a box of damprid in the trunk and another in the interior and maybe crack the wing windows for airflow.

Seems the car cover may cause more problems than it solves when there is snow/rain and cold temperatures, and I totally did NOT realize that so much humidity rose up from the concrete slab she's parked on, going into the vehicle and getting trapped inside . . .

Thoughts?
 
Leave the fuel cap on. The tank is vented. I would still leave the cover on. The humidity will freeze or equalize and go away. It’s not like Spokane is that humid.
 
Leave the fuel cap on. The tank is vented. I would still leave the cover on. The humidity will freeze or equalize and go away. It’s not like Spokane is that humid.
You're right about that - it's very dry here, except when it's raining (LOL). Thanks for the clarifications!
 
If the car is outside, parked on concrete, don't worry about water transfer from the ground through the concrete, it's a non issue. It's only something to be aware of for a garage floor and you want to control the humidity inside the garage. If it's cold outside and you air out the car and the trunk for a few minutes (or an hour) there's not much more you can do, you might not get any more condensation for a while.

So you're in Spokane eh? There's been some nice C-bodies for sale in the BC interior over the past few months, north of you pretty close to the border...
 
If the car is outside, parked on concrete, don't worry about water transfer from the ground through the concrete, it's a non issue. It's only something to be aware of for a garage floor and you want to control the humidity inside the garage. If it's cold outside and you air out the car and the trunk for a few minutes (or an hour) there's not much more you can do, you might not get any more condensation for a while.

So you're in Spokane eh? There's been some nice C-bodies for sale in the BC interior over the past few months, north of you pretty close to the border...
Yeah, we’re about 2 hours south of the border. I see folks from BC and Alberta all the time. We love our Canadian neighbors here in WA state.
 
Ok we were dealt 3” of snow last night. I have a van with no interior. Here is what the I see of the roof looks like at 3pm. Just cleaned off the snow now. It was 28 overnight, got sunny at 11AM and is mid 30’s now.

Check out the water droplets inside on the ceiling of this van. The white paint is flat, so any shine is water. I have windows cracked open and there was a slight breeze all day.

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Thank you everyone for the tips and advice. It's too late at this point to fill the gas tank, as the snowy hill I live on is impossible to navigate without snow tires and the gas station is at the bottom of said hill. I'm wondering if I should just remove the fuel filler cap to let it "breathe."
No, that's how the water get's in, every time the tank breathes.
Fill it with gas cans.
 
My gas tank is currently removed from my Monaco so I don't have to wrestle with how to prepare it for long-term winter storage. And I'm glad for that, because I've just spent an hour looking into that issue and I don't think there's a clear-cut answer.

A lot of advice says to fill the tank. That advice needs to be updated to take into account the ethanol in today's gas. I want a reality check on that advice for today's gasoline AND yesterdays steel gas tank.

Ethanol is a magnet for water, and there are too many arm-chair explanations as to why this will, or won't, be good for metal gas tanks. What is clear is that today's pump gas is not stable after as little as a month or two, hence the constant advice to add stabilizer, which is a whole other rabbit hole.

When you think about it, the metal gas tank "problem" is always there, on those summer days when you're driving the car and the 4 months (or more) in the winter when your storing it. And these are big gas tanks, and if you can buy non-ethanol gas it's going to be expensive to fill up. And you'd better hope you don't have any leaks.

I think the hassle of filling your tank with gas for long-term storage that you really don't know has or doesn't have ethanol and then adding a stabilizer is not worth it.

Since my tank is out, and at some point will go back in, I'm going to install a drain plug, so in the future I can drain it completely for storage. Then as a storage solution I'll find a way I can insert and remove desiccant material in the tank to keep it dry. Beyond that, something that can be done is to buy a tank of compressed nitrogen and use a long tube and flood the air space in the tank with nitrogen, displace the (presumed to be humidified) air in the tank, then put the cap on.

Other more practical things to look at if the car isin't going to be moving for a while:

- take the battery out, keep it somewhere that doesn't freeze, or probably best is room temp or cooler, put a trickle charge on it every once in a while. Check it with a volt meter, don't let it go below 12.25 volts if you can help it.

- I like the idea of putting a car on jack stands to keep the tires from getting flat spots. No hassle of having the check the tire pressure regularly for those problem tires with slow leaks.

- If the car is outside, then when it's dry outside, put an indoor car cover on the car and then throw a 10 x 20 piece of 6-mil vapor barrier over the car and tie it down with a few loops of 1/4" rope under and over the car (hood and trunk). Then let as much rain and snow hit the car as it wants.
 
It’s got non-ethanol 91 in the tank. 5-6 gallons. I don’t think I’ll lose too much to evap.
If you added a couple ounces of Stabil to the 5 gallons of gas, you should be ok without filling the tank. I don't store my cars outside but I never fill the tanks before storing either. Same with my lawnmowers, just add some Stabil and I have never had a problem but I don't run ethanol in any of them either.
 
Steel and aluminum boat tanks are a big problem.
So, we keep them full and add 1 ounce of outboard oil per 10 gallons of gas to the 4 stroke engine boats. Then seal the vents over the winter.
The oil is used to prevent tank corrosion, not preserve the gas. The gas evaporates off the surfaces inside the tank but the oil in the gas does not.
E-fuel hasn't been a problem for winter layup.
 
Steel and aluminum boat tanks are a big problem.
So, we keep them full and add 1 ounce of outboard oil per 10 gallons of gas to the 4 stroke engine boats. Then seal the vents over the winter.
The oil is used to prevent tank corrosion, not preserve the gas. The gas evaporates off the surfaces inside the tank but the oil in the gas does not.
E-fuel hasn't been a problem for winter layup.
I add 1 oz of Marine 2 cycle per 5 gallons of ethanol free 91 gas. Should that also protect the inside of the tank? The tank is in very good shape when I last looked inside with a bore scope.
 
I add 1 oz of Marine 2 cycle per 5 gallons of ethanol free 91 gas. Should that also protect the inside of the tank? The tank is in very good shape when I last looked inside with a bore scope.
I don't see why not. We found 1 ounce to ten gallons to be effective.
I don't know how much before it begins to affect the valves that 2 strokes don't have.
 
I add 1 oz of Marine 2 cycle per 5 gallons of ethanol free 91 gas. Should that also protect the inside of the tank? The tank is in very good shape when I last looked inside with a bore scope.
I would fill your tank to the top for storage. If your going to add the Outboard oil add it first then fill tank as much as possible. Give it a good shake and close cap tight
give it a shake a few more times when walking buy. Maybe put a dehumidifier in the car for a few days then cover, that will remove trapped moisture. I have a house dehumidifier in the shop I use on wet cars when they come in.
Or after a big wash on something special like Tux.
 
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