Musty Smells In Your RV

Have you ever opened the door of your RV only to be greeted by an unwelcome whiff of something unpleasant, a musty smell that tells you straight away that all is not well? The smell is probably a sign of trouble and a warning that you probably have a damp problem that is doing some damage to your RV and/or its contents.

The smell comes from mold spores that are in the air. The mold spores come from a mold patch on something organic in the RV, and the mold patch is there in the first place because something is damp.

Mold will form on any organic surface where there is too much moisture and the higher the relative humidity in the RV, the larger the mold patch will grow, and the more mold spores that are released into the air.

Organic materials that you might have in your RV include:

• Cushions
• Seats
• Upholstery
• Books
• Papers
• Wood
• Leather

Other materials that can also be affected by high relative humidity in your RV include veneer, which can crack or warp if the humidity is too low or too high.

The excess humidity can get trapped in the RV over the autumn/winter months and when you come to open up the RV in spring, first you get hit by the smell and then you find that you have to replace materials in the spring because they are too damp to use again.

The way to avoid this is to place a dehumidifier in the RV when you are not using it. Normally you place the dehumidifier on the kitchen side and let the water drain away via a hose and down into the sink. Alternatively you could use a shower tray.

The Keystone DD7L Junior does not take up much space and is very light to move about and to position in the RV.

To get the best out of the dehumidifier seal up any ventilation holes in the RV (open them back up again when you next use it), leave all internal doors open and set the humidistat on the dehumidifier to 50%rh or 55%rh and leave it to switch itself on and off as required.

By keeping the relative humidity in the RV below 68%rh you will prevent mold from growing and you should come back to a much fresher RV the following spring.