Rice - good idea. Adding bicarb of soda will help to kill any smells.
I said I would report back on how we got on with the Halfords Air Dry Car Dehumidifier.
It has worked really well in the Mazda with front and rear screens both kept clear despite the cold, wet and damp weather. The instructions say it will be effective for 2 - 4 months but after a few weeks the weight had increased to about 1.5Kg (max is 1.6Kg according to the instructions) i.e. it had absorbed 0.5Kg of water. This is hardly surprising given we have a slight leak around the hood. Leaving it on the radiator to regenerate was a waste of time and in the end I stuck it in the oven a few times on a low heat for a few hours each time. Jayne kept wanting to cook food which meant I couldn’t do it all in one go. In the end I got it down to just under 1.1Kg at which point I got bored and put it back in the car.
It has been slightly less successful in the Mercedes E-Class Estate although it has definitely made an improvement. Two reasons I think. Firstly it’s a much bigger space than the Mazda and secondly I use a windscreen cover on frosty nights which, still wet/damp, gets left in the boot when not in use so I’m probably not helping myself.
Overall very effective and a good buy for £10.
May sound daft but its not, if you have any salt for putting on ice this works fantastic. Put it in a wee container and it will attract any moisture to it.
I also have a Halfords Air Dry Car Dehumidifier which work great
Drying to dry it out is a pain.
Will try other ways to do it.
Ned
If one doesn’t want to go to Halfords then Amazon has a best seller in these silica gel packs, 2 x 1kg for 13.95, each pack can adsorb 800g of water. (adsorb and not absorb, see why the difference in the Wiki entry on Silica Gel…)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/LARGE-DEHUMIDIFIER-REUSABLE-MOISTURE-ABSORBER/dp/B00AZZB5UY/
As used in a friend’s ancient half-timbered Mini traveller that does not have air-con to dry it out.
1 bag of tesco value salt mixed with some bicarb in a plastic tray completely dried out my interior and cleared the slightly musty smell
I’m using a product called ‘Car Dehumidyfying Crystals’ available online from Hamilton Classic Ltd www.hamiltongrouponline.com which costs £11.95 plus post each and if you are a paid up member of the MX-5 Owners’ Club there is a 10% discount code in the December issue of ‘soft top hardtop’ club magazine. Same sort of thing as the Halfords’ product, bagged crystals, but with the advantages of a large visible indicator which changes colour when the crystals need drying out, and has the facility to dry the bag out in a few minutes in a household microwave oven. rather than the couple of days it takes me to dry out the Halfords’ ones on the radiator.
I’m using two of these in my MX-5, one in the cabin and one in the boot and two in my MGB GT, one by the hand break and one on the rear parcel shelf. In my opinion, this product is well worth the extra couple of quid over the Halfords’ product.
Just to show how effective, I got in my NC about a week ago, having not used it for a few days, and found condensation. Having just had the old water ingress issue fixed, was a bit worried. Then discovered the moisture trap was full and the crystals (Kontrol) kaput. Empty trap, change of crystals, roof cleaned, no further problem.