On Thu, 3 Aug 1995, Robert J. Donahue wrote:
> as good as a garage. One person had an idea that intrigued me, he suggested
> putting a heater in the car. If the car is slightly warmer than the outside
> air, it will always be above the dew point. In other words, water vapor
> won't condense on it. Maybe a light bulb would suffice?
The british cars list went through this last winter. Boat companies sell
small heaters at high prices to accomplish this. (A correction is in
order--a car can be warmer than the outside air, yet be below the dew
point, though that wouldn't happen except in a heavy fog.) I suspect that
the most common situation will be that a car will be colder than the
outside air, colder than the dew point, and a small heater won't be able
to warm the car above the dew point. On the other hand, it seems worth
trying if one is very careful to minimize the risk of fire.
Next winter, I plan to try an experiment. I will secure a 150 watt bulb
inside a piece of stove pipe (with an air space between the bulb and the
pipe), put it in the car, and plug it in only when I see condensate form
on the car. The conditions that cause this are generally obvious. It
will be interesting to see if it does any good.
Ray
Ray Gibbons Dept. of Molecular Physiology & Biophysics
Univ. of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, VT
gibbons@northpole.med.uvm.edu (802) 656-8910
|