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Linkhttps://www.evilution.co.uk/mod/drying-the-roadster-carpet.htm Copy to ClipboardIf you have a Roadster, chances are that it leaks from somewhere. If you are brave or clued up, you’ll have checked. However, many Roadster owners either don’t know or ignore it until it causes issues. Bad move.
Depending on your leak position, you will probably start being affected badly by condensation on the windows.
This is a very common sight. The interior warms up like a greenhouse which makes the air more humid. The humid air condenses on the cold glass creating thousands of tiny drips. Eventually the drips combine and will start running back down the glass and into the car.
It’s a vicious cycle and getting the water out after sorting the leak can be time consuming. My 1st Roadster had wet carpets. I removed the seats and a lot of the interior just to remove the carpet. It’s a long job and the wet carpet weighed about 30kg. I placed it in my conservatory for a week through summer and it dried out really well. Putting the lighter carpet back in was a lot easier.
When the next Roadster came along, I didn’t have a garage to work in or a conservatory to dry it out. Luckily, this car wasn’t that bad and only had a wet carpet behind the driver’s seat. A better more self contained plan had to be invented so I tried using a dehumidifier.
The model I used was an Ecoair DD122FW but it’s not that important. Get a mains powered desiccant dehumidifier. They heat the air and blow it passed a desiccant drum which catches the moisture. This drips…
…into a collection box which can be regularly checked and emptied.
Only 24 hours later, this is what the windows looked like.
Totally clear of water droplets.
After another day, the underside of the carpets were also totally dry.
What About Really Wet Roadsters?
The next Roadster was a challenge. Every single part of the carpet was soaked. Moving the carpet at all caused a waterfall and there were standing puddles of water in the footwells. On these problems, you can still use a dehumidifier but it makes sense to give it a fighting chance.
Remove the seats, lift the carpet and throw a load of towels underneath. Walk or press on the carpet to force a lot of the water into the dry towels. Just removing what you can this way will reduce the drying time by days. Now prop the carpets up off of the floor so the air can circulate.
Place the dehumidifier in the car on full blast, close all the doors and windows and leave it to work. Empty the tank regularly. After 5 days of continuous work, the dehumidifier removed 8 litres of water. Yes, it took 5 days but I had to do nothing in that time. No removing or refitting the carpet.
Should I Get The Same Dehumidifier?
No, the one I got was unnecessary. It had a built in ioniser and silver filter for killing bacteria. I originally bought it to dry out my conservatory which was soaking. It pulled 6 litres a day out of that room.
Desiccant dehumidifiers work in lower temperatures and use a lot less power than compressor types. Make sure you get one that runs off of mains power. Not battery powered or not powered at all. They are a waste of time and money. Do a search for desiccant dehumidifier and find a mains powered one.
Quote from Appliances Direct
These products contain a (Desiccant) Zeolite Disc which is placed within the machine. As humid air is passed through the dehumidifier it is absorbed by the zeolite disc. Desiccant dehumidifiers have a heating element that heats the zeolite; this discharges the absorbed water into the water tank. As there is no compressor gas, but a natural rock in the absorption disc; desiccant dehumidifiers are very ecological. The zeolite regenerates itself during the heating process.