Ice Castle Question

[matthewkolden]

Wondering who out there has an Ice Castle and if you do, have you experienced these same issues...

We have used our new castle 4 days so far this winter.  We ended up with so much condensation and moisture inside the house the windows and door completely froze over.  The windows had nearly one solid inch of ice around the edges.  We also have skylights in ours and they had so much water on them all weekend they were constantly dripping onto the floor.

In addition, anywhere something like a seat pad or pillow was pushed up against a wall, the wall would sweat and the pillow or pad would end up completely wet!  At one point a seat pad actually partially froze to the wall.

This house is supposed to be completely spray foamed, floor walls and ceiling.  In my experience in home remodeling, spray foam (closed cell anyway) should be a moisture barrier.  There should be no reason for my walls to be sweating like that.

I'm at a complete loss as to what to think.  I've got a huge investment into this thing and after 4 days of use i'm 100% disappointed in it.  I can see massive water and mold issues down the road.

I've already got an email into my sales guy, so we'll see where that leads.  Just wanted some other opinions.  Thanks.

[saskriverman]

don't own one but thinking of getting one to replace our camper and allow me to use it on the ice this is not what I want to hear but from my experience it sounds like the propane furnace is not being vented outside properly so im thinking all the moisture is staying inside the trailer keep me posted plz  with your customer service thanks good luck

[clm]

I agree with saskriverman, sounds like your furnace isn't vented properly.  Are you running a burner on your stove a lot, or a secondary non vented heat source?  Those would cause some condensation.

[vessey]

I think it sounds like you are sealed up to well and need some ventilation.  My hard side isn't sealed very well and after being in there all day we get lots of condensation.  We get so much water on the floor and our clothes are wet from snow melting that it just gets really humid in there.

[Gamedog]

These guys are nailing your problem on the head. Your heat source being propane puts out a high amount of moisture as it runs along with all the cooking, breathing and evaporation inside the house.

I had a ventless heater in my hardside and I had very minimal condensation issues but you always had to have windows cracked on opposite sides of the house in order to vent out the condensation. On really cold nights, the seat cushions would freeze to the wall.

[bmiller423]

We have a 22 ft Ice Castle - haven't really had any issues with condensation other than around the edge of the windows and even then it wasn't that much.  Occasionally we would get some condensation around the door when it was really cold (-10 or colder) but not to the extent that you are talking about.  Would be interested to hear what your sales guy says. 

[Whopper Stopper]

I think the answers you received were spot on. I will add that anyone I know that has the sky lights cuss them and the water that drips from them.

         WS