Battery powered dehumidifier for a remote garage

[danyeates]

Do they exist?

I have a small council garage without any power in which I keep my car. I put it away wet yesterday and checked on it today, only to find it's still a bit wet in places, and where it's dried it's left water stain marks, even though it's very well waxed. Unfortunately it's not right next to my house so I can't give the car a quick rinse and chamois before I put it away.

So are battery powered dehumidifiers feasible? What power do typical dehumidifiers use, could I use an inverter and a bank of 12v batteries? I have available about 18 heavy duty batteries from a contract replacement we've undertaken recently. They're a couple of years old but still good.

Also, what size/power dehumidifier would I need for a very small garage? 4.5m x 2.5m, seems well sealed, but can seal any gaps with expanding foam.

Thanks,

Dan

[Dog Star]

Dehumidifiers use quite a bit of juice - I'd not think it feasible to power one from one or more car batteries.

It wouldn't help with the marks left on your paint either. Nothing will, save rinsing and drying.

If you haven't got power then I'd say ventilation is your best option.

[danyeates]

Dog Star said:

Dehumidifiers use quite a bit of juice - I'd not think it feasible to power one from one or more car batteries.

It wouldn't help with the marks left on your paint either. Nothing will, save rinsing and drying.

If you haven't got power then I'd say ventilation is your best option.

Yeah, just been looking at the figures of a few 240v ones online. They're about 200w, so it's probably only going to give an 85AH battery 2 or so hours on a 300w inverter.

[Dog Star]

Aslo (unless you somehow run a hose outside) you'd be emptying the water tank every 3.6 nanoseconds.

[Snowboy]

You could do what they do on sailing boats when they store them on dry land.

A large muslin bag full of silica gel hung from the ceiling with a big bucket underneath.
The silica absorbs the moisture from the air, and if it gets saturated it just drips down into the bucket.

It requires no batteries, and minimal maintenance.

I'm not sure if it would work well enough to dry a slightly car though – but, it's fairly cheap to try it out before investing in the expensive hardware.