Hi,

Does anyone have some good advice on how to dry wet car carpet. Im talking really wet, like when there was a storm and water leaked into the car. I want to avoid mildew, mold and odors.

I was thinking to put some silica gel or similar dessicant in the car, to pull moisture out of the air, thus hopefully allowing more and more to evaporate from the carpet so that phase equilibrium can be maintained. This could be VERY slow, but its safe.

I have been rubbing the carpets with paper towels, and have them to the point where theyre wet to the touch, but I need to press very hard to get them to fully wet the paper towels.

I was thinking that maybe something like baking soda could draw some of the water up, and then could be vacummed out. Im not so sure about this though.

Does anyone have any suggestions of how to best dry the carpet, in-car? Unfortunately I don't have a garage, and dont have access to any power, except perhaps my battery power.

Thanks in advance,

JMH

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Let the engine idle, with the heater on full blast & the windows down 1-2", for about 1 hour.
Check & repeat as required.

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I've found just circulation works real good. Put a couple of fans in there and let them run for a while with the windows open.

Don't add anything do the carpet while it's wet, just get it dry naturally with fans blowing air into the interior. You want to dry it as soon as possible to avoid mold and mildew. Regardless, when the carpet is bone dry, you'll want to use a "dry" cleaning system for carpets. Wet systems make the carpet fibers oily and attract dirt.

Wet Vac will get the moisture out the carpets, any removal carpet should be removed and leave the car idling with heating on full blast with rear windows down an inch. Going out driving with all windows open is a good idea too but in the winter time this may not be a good idea depending on location.

Peter

If it is warm in your area, park in the sun with the windows open. If you must leave the car to go somewhere, open the vindows very slightly. The heat and open windows will dry out the car in a day or 2. I did that when I had my interior carpet cleaned.

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Get a De-Humidifier. Put it on the back seat, in a level position. Close all windows. Plug it in, and let it run overnight.

It will remove any moisture from the interior of the car.

Phil

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That only works if the car is warm...........ask me how I know.

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Of course you are right. A Dehumidifier is more effective in warm than cold ambient temperatures. Most Dehumidifiers don't even tur-on below a certain ambiant emperature.

Nevertheless, they will still dehumidify the cabin, as long as the temperature is above approximately 50F. The warmer, the better.

Phil

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Another idea.
Take a few bath towels from the house.....(Make sure significant other doesn't catch you ) and place them on the wet carpet Now place something heavy on the towel(tool box, encyclopedias,dumbbells, etc) this will help pull the water from the carpets.

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I have used a small electric space heater in both the cabin and the trunk. Be sure to crack a window open(you can run the extension cord through here also). I have a small Pelonis ceramic fan forced heater. I can place it directly in the foot well and let the heater blow on the carpet.

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I have tried this and failed, I'm going to try cat litter in some old tights, then hopefully I can get rid of the condensation from the inside of the windows

After dealing with a bad water leak on my car for a while I can say the only way to get things completely dry is to remove the carpet and put it someplace warm. Running the AC and heat, windows down, parked in the sun, etc will dry the top but it will still be damp underneath.

After the padding on my carpet got saturated it took nearly a full day, upside down, in the sun, to dry.

-J

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I've had good luck using a relatively powerful shop vac to suck the excess water out...take your time...

Then I've left the car in the sun with the sunroof and windows merely cracked...car dried out in short order in very warm temps...

Humidity and cool weather will slow your drying times but I've found the shop vac to pull a significant amount of water out of the carpet and padding underneath

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Do the following as SOON as possible. Don't even wait another hour or two.. water is soaking things and mildew/mold is getting started.

1. Get a shop vac and vacuum any wet spots once or twice, to pull all water out possible. Carpet should be damp now.

In order of preference (best to worst)
2a. Put a humidifier in the car, crank it, and shut the windows as much as possible. Extension cord should go through the door seal. Let it suck the water out of the air in the car. Check every so often, to make sure it isn't full of water.

2b. Fan in the car with one window cracked a little bit (enough for the extension cord)

2c. Small space heater in the car. The reason this is ranked lower in preference than 2b is because this has the highest risk of fire.. 2a and 2b are pretty much completely safe.

3. Once dry have the car vacuumed/cleaned/run an ozonator if necessary. The really scary stuff (mold) will be fixed by the end of step #2 so this is more to get rid of smells and for cosmetic reasons.

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