Drying out car carpets.

[bl1300]

Ive pulled the whole interior out of the L200 as at some point in its life its been leaking badly or has been driven through a flood. The seats and such were only damp and have dried out nicely but the carpet particularly the drivers side front is soaked through.

Ive had the carpets hanging on the banister above the radiator all day today and its really not had much effect. The sound insulation layer on the bottom of the carpet seems to have soaked up water like a sponge and is going to take weeks to dry at the rate its going at the moment.

I'm sure other people on here must have come accross this problem before, old cars leak and 4x4s get flooded occasionally. What have you found to be the most effective way to dry out the cars carpets. I need it dry fairly fast so that the interior of the car can come out of my living room before SWMBO boils over and so she can use her car again ;D

[ben711200]

Do you happen to own a dehumidifier you can put in the same room to help things along? It'll still take absolutely ages, mind.

[mirafioriman]

wet and dry hoover to pull out the worst and then hang to dry as you were doing. If they are soaked through I would guess they will take up to a week to dry fully.

[Mystery Machine]

First and foremost, now that you've got the carpet out, leave it out (stick it in the garage for now) and make sure the inside of the L200 is bone dry (the floors, bulkhead etc...) then leave it to get rained on for a few days and see if any water comes in from anywhere. There is NO point going to all the effort of drying your carpets out if a leak is there.

Once you've established if there is or isn't a leak (if there is, fix it first obviously) refit the carpets, soundproofing, everything...even if they are still wet.

Then stick a de-humidifier in the car and make sure all the windows and doors are properly closed, Also close all the heater vents and set the fan cycle to recirculate so that it closes the vents from the outside air.

Leave the de-humidifier to run as long as you can, emptying it every 12 hours (probably more often to start with) and this WILL dry the carpets out.

When I was driving through the floods in Gloucester back in 2007 (think 5ft deep water and I was in there for a LONG time) my interior was absolutley soaked. Like over a foot deep in water inside the cab....pretty much up to my knees! When I was done I was lent a de-humidifier and I put it on the front seat and left it to do its thing, draining it whenever it was full. Within a few days the carpets were a lot drier and within a week it was completely dry in there.

The interior of a Delica has a lot more surface area than in an L200 (probably three or four times as much) and mine had been submerged for some time. Yours will probably dry out in a matter of days. The de-humidifier will literally suck the moisture out of the carpet.

I did the same at Area 52 a few months back when there was a big leak in the roof which flooded the floor in the lock-up (which has a high brick lip step below the only door, so cannot be squeegeed out) - a week with a de-humidifier and it was bone dry again. I think I counted that at something like 45 litres of water pulled out of the floor tiles!

The more sealed you can make the space you're drying, the more effective it'll be. An L200 interior isn't big and it's easy to seal, so shouldn't take too long I shouldn't have thought?

[optimusprime]

As you say, the foam backing really does take ages to dry out.
It took a week to dry out the 'boot' carpet in my old Disco

When I had an old cortina that let water in, I cut the carpet up into manageable chunks and put thru a spin cycle in the washing machine. Then hang over radiators etc
(I must point out, it was a manky old cortina, that had more holes in it than an open topped Landy. so it was a regular occurance)

[Mystery Machine]

^ heat won't really help drying out if the moisture hasn't got anywhere to go...so won't be too effective if you do this in the car. Obviously if you can keep them hung over the bannister and the heat rising up the stairs from the heating being on will certainly help.

Airflow and removal of moisture is far more effective at drying things out than heat alone. Obviously heat helps, but heat alone is not as effective.

[bl1300]

Thanks for the advice people. I thourighly dried out the floorpans this morning and have put talc on all the door seals. Its now chucking it down so hopefully I should find out if its leaking by the morning. I shall go on the hunt for a dehumidifier tomorrow to put in the car.

One thing I can be sure of though is it hasn't been sodden for that long as all the floorpans are rust free still. I was also pleasantly suprised at how easy it is to remove the interior certainlly far easier than most other cars ive done.

Something that may explain the water though. I was fiddling around for something in the rear footwells and the carpet felt very crunchy. That would be because under the carpet was a nice layer of shattered window glass. If a window had been missing for any length of time that would be a prime oppurtunity for a wet interior.

[OUTRUN]

Fix the leak, if there is one.

Wet vac to suck most of the water out whilst hanging on washing line. Then hang on clothes horse in garage for the final few drips.

Done my Escort carpet like this the other week, and from removal to refitting, it was two days (had to buy and cut new sound deadening).

[bl1300]

Not fair. £120 spent on dehumidifier and after a whole night running in the wet room with the wet carpet, the carpet is still wet and the dehumidifier bucket is not just empty its bone dry!

[dodgerover]

It's buggered then! If it was working you'de have emptied it probably twice if it was really wet...

[jrevillug]

Dehumidifiers are basically fridges - if the room was cold inside any condensation could have frozen on the evaporator plate and stopped the airflow.

[OUTRUN]

It's definitley knackered! We recently bought one to dry out an outside wall after having a leaking roof replaced, and in a couple of weeks I must have removed 15 litres!

[bl1300]

Room was a not cold its part of the house and heated the same. Electric storage heaters until we move so boiling at night and freezing during the day ;D

It will be going back tomorrow as I now have another car to dry out. I discovered a lake in the passenger footwell of the van this morning so a seal somewhere on that one has let go now.