Help Please

[jhoss17]

Hi All,
I need some expert advice.
When I put my van in storage, I put in unibond damp crystals I have been using these for a few years and find them very good.However this year when I returned to the van I found that the recepticle that collects the liquid from the crystals had fallen over and as a result one of the seat cushions and corner roll were soaking wet. I have tried almost everything over the past few weeksto get them dried out,like hotpress,radiators etc but to no avail. When they are left at the radiator for a time they feel dry to the touh,but when they are taken away after a few hours they are wet again. I am wondering if the chemicals in the water from the crystals any bearing on it.
I would really appreciate any help you can give as to how I can get them dried out

 

[Lord Braykewynde]

A bit late now or no help to your present problem but you are wasting your money in using these crystals or even an electric dehumidifer. They serve no purpose because due to vents all you will be doing is trying to dehumidify the environment. I've never used them or found that I needed them. What I do do is a few days before going away for the first time after winter is put the heating on to give it a airing.

 

[Sproket]

Hmm !
Just a thought a while ago we bought some of these vac bags what you can put clothes & coats in..........
If you have a wet & dry vac ? you could put the cushion in & as you suck out the air the cushion will compress down & the water should come out.......
Other than that would it fit into a large tumble dryer like they have at a launderette ?

One of the reasons we bought them was so that use them for the sleeping bags & bedding in the van.....

 

[ValA.]

The dissolved crystals in the liquid which went into your cushion are continuing to absorb water - as you say when you dry them out they are OK, but soon feel wet again. I think perhaps you need to take advice from the manufacturer of the crystals to find out how to get them out of the cushions. I'm sure their technical department will be able to offer some advice.
If not, then you might have to just 'go for it' and give the cushions a really good wash in lots of changes of water - and if it ruins them bite the bullet and have some more made.

 

[colin-yorkshire1]

The dissolved crystals in the liquid which went into your cushion are continuing to absorb water - as you say when you dry them out they are OK, but soon feel wet again. I think perhaps you need to take advice from the manufacturer of the crystals to find out how to get them out of the cushions. I'm sure their technical department will be able to offer some advice.
If not, then you might have to just 'go for it' and give the cushions a really good wash in lots of changes of water - and if it ruins them bite the bullet and have some more made.

I would have some more made anyway not just because of the water but the chrystals are caustic and so is the water that collects in the drip tray if the whole lot went onto the cushions the residue with be very alkiline, even when completely dried out they could cause a burn or at least a skin irritation it is quite nasty stuff, on the whole I would never use them, as LB points out it is not required however if you feel it is better to be safe than sorry as many static owners are a better system is silica gel this is none toxic and can be placed in a muslin bag and hung around the van when wet to saturation point it is a simple matter to dry them out in low oven for a couple hrs (minus bags of course)
colin

 

[LunarLooney]

Last year I have a similar problem due to not packing the caravan away properly when leaving a site, when I got back to the caravan storage and open the door I found the full contents of a bottle of fairy liquid had been empted onto the seating cushion this was also buttoned I tried all the methods you have described but nothing worked, in the end I cut the buttons off sliced the cushion open with a Stanley knife underneath and pulled to cover off washed all the fairy liquid out of the sponge as you can imagine that was fun, machine washed the cover and then had a zip sown in where I’d cut it open once back together I re-buttoned it and now it is as good as new for the price of a zip some string and a bit of time. So is this not something you could have a look at doing before you decide to replace it.