AC drips on floor

[StillCampin]

I know it is condensation and the only real solution is likely going to a dry climate, but the AC is cooling so well in the current Blaine weather that room moisture is condensing on the exposed part of the ceiling unit and dripping on the floor. The attached pic shows the worst location but a paper towel came away damp wherever I wiped it on the AC.

Is this something I get to look foreward to when I'm in muggy weather or is there something I could do to reduce it? I did finally find the power brick for my little Eva-Dry dehumidifier and I'll see if it does enough to make a difference.

[cpaharley2008]

Never seen that before, you may have to turn the thermostat a little higher or try using the maxxfan in the closed position to move air around.

[JStelly]

Or run the maxxfan on low continuously. We do this on the Gulf Coast in humid weather with the a/c running and never have a problem with humidity.

[huskersteffy]

Practicing HVAC engineer here.

The interior surface temperature of your AC unit is below the dew point of the surrounding air inside your trailer. Think of sitting outside on a hot (midwest) summer day with a bottle of beer just removed from the fridge. Water condenses on the beer bottle like crazy! Running the max fan to pull in even more humid outside air is the worst thing you can do. Make sure all trailer windows and door are closed, turn down the AC and wait for it to remove the moisture contained within the air in the trailer. This will lower the dew point temperature. Also make sure your return air filter is clean. Its a removable, washable screen underneath the part with holes.

BTW: I have never seen this happen in our trailer and we've used the AC dozens of times where it is hot and muggy outside.

[tdf-texas]

Originally Posted by huskersteffy

Practicing HVAC engineer here.

The interior surface temperature of your AC unit is below the dew point of the surrounding air inside your trailer. Think of sitting outside on a hot (midwest) summer day with a bottle of beer just removed from the fridge. Water condenses on the beer bottle like crazy! Running the max fan to pull in even more humid outside air is the worst thing you can do. Make sure all trailer windows and door are closed, turn down the AC and wait for it to remove the moisture contained within the air in the trailer. This will lower the dew point temperature. Also make sure your return air filter is clean. Its a removable, washable screen underneath the part with holes.

BTW: I have never seen this happen in our trailer and we've used the AC dozens of times where it is hot and muggy outside.

Living next to the ocean, we get high humidity most of the year.

The only time I have seen condensation inside the trailer is when I accidentally left a window cracked open and moisture from outside coming in tried to make it rain in the trailer.

Tom (StillCampin), you might want to check to see where outside air is coming in to cause that.

[StillCampin]

You are saying that for humidity control when using the AC, I want to close my usual source of control - that being a window cracked and roof vent open?

Thinking about it, I may have inadvertantly contributed to the unit getting cold enough to collect moisture. Besides having window & vent allowing fresh moist air inside I also had most of the exits from the AC closed off. The air coming out was so freaking cold (at least by comparison to outside) that I did not want it blowing directly on me.

[padlin]

I do pretty much the same. The only vent that's mostly open is the one the faces the loft, the one towards the table is open a bit, the rest are closed. It's the only way I can get it so the whole trailer is roughly the same temp.

[tdf-texas]

Originally Posted by StillCampin

You are saying that for humidity control when using the AC, I want to close my usual source of control - that being a window cracked and roof vent open?

Thinking about it, I may have inadvertantly contributed to the unit getting cold enough to collect moisture. Besides having window & vent allowing fresh moist air inside I also had most of the exits from the AC closed off. The air coming out was so freaking cold (at least by comparison to outside) that I did not want it blowing directly on me.

Sounds like you figured out the problem. Lots of moist air coming in and a restricted A/C blowing cold air = rain.

Try closing all the vents and windows and letting the A/C stabilize the humidity and temperature. The A/C will start to cycle to control the temp to the thermostat setting and the condensation will disappear.

[cpaharley2008]

and open all the vents on the a/c unit to let it circulate

[Defenestrator]

Originally Posted by StillCampin

You are saying that for humidity control when using the AC, I want to close my usual source of control - that being a window cracked and roof vent open?

Thinking about it, I may have inadvertantly contributed to the unit getting cold enough to collect moisture. Besides having window & vent allowing fresh moist air inside I also had most of the exits from the AC closed off. The air coming out was so freaking cold (at least by comparison to outside) that I did not want it blowing directly on me.

It depends on the season, basically. If you're running the A/C, you'll want to close everything down. If you're running the heater, you'll want to let a little outside air in to keep humidity down.

Probably also worth just opening the vents partway, so you get less direct airflow but don't limit it to the point that it can't push the cold air out. Closing too many vents can also cause it to freeze up and not work until it thaws.