How & Why the Carcoon Works

The Carcoon Airflow System is the only system in the world that actively isolates, cleans and ventilates the air around the vehicle whilst garaged

Dampness in the average garage is often the result of a build-up of condensation. This, along with poor ventilation, can create the worst environment to keep any vehicle, even for a short period of time.

The Carcoon Airflow System actively isolates, cleans and ventilates the air around any size vehicle

The moisture problem is exacerbated each time the air temperature within the garage drops below the dew-point (ie. the temperature at which dew begins to form, which varies with the humidity and temperature of the atmosphere), when a little more moisture is absorbed into the building.

Later, as the air temperature starts to rise again, the potential for drying is greatly reduced, usually entirely due to the poor air circulation and inadequate ventilation within the building.

The Carcoon Airflow System actively isolates, cleans and ventilates the air around any size vehicle, including 4WDs

Imagine it working like this: Equate the air within the garage to a large sponge. The warmer the sponge becomes, the more water it can take on. Conversely, the colder it becomes, the more water it has to dispose of.

In the mid to late evening, as the air cools and drops below the dew-point, it immediately starts to rid itself of excess moisture. The colder it becomes, the more moisture will be expelled. Several hours later and it’s a new day. The sun starts to rise, and the air temperature within the garage starts to increase, and begins soaking up some of the moisture deposited only a few hours earlier.

Poorly insulated garages (in reality, most) will be subject to increased temperatures, sometimes even higher than the external ambient temperature. This means that the air within the garage will not only take on moisture from inside the garage environment, but under certain climatic conditions it will also take on moisture from outside, as the external ambient air finds its way into the building.

The Carcoon Airflow System with drying vent open

Under these conditions there will be more moisture supported within the air in the garage than is outside in the open air. Poor ventilation will keep the moisture locked within the building. Over ventilation will let in more moist air than necessary early on in the proceedings. Subsequently, again, as the temperature starts to drop, the garage environment will be the first to reach the dew-point, and could end the day with more moisture than it started with.

This is all part of the normal 24-hour cycle during wintertime. Some people simply heat the garage in an effort to keep it dry, or more importantly to keep the vehicle dry. As long as the garage doors remain closed, and the temperature is maintained throughout the 24-hour cycle, this is an adequate - if not ideal - solution.

However, heating the garage doesn't remove water from the air. The resulting drop in relative humidity after turning on the heating simply demonstrates the extra capacity of the air to support moisture.

A garage heated to, say, 26°C with a relative humidity (RH) of 50% will have 5.5 grams of water for every cubic foot of air. A typical unheated garage with a temperature of only 5°C, again at 50% RH will contain 72% less water - only 1.5 grams per cubic foot.

Therefore the rule of thumb has to be: If you heat your garage, keep the heat low and heat it day and night. Or alternatively, don’t heat it at all!

One thing is perfectly clear, the higher the humidity, and the greater the temperature drop, the heavier the condensation. Historically, only governments could afford the expense of pressurised temperature and humidity controlled buildings. These buildings cost millions to build, and are very expensive to run and maintain.

Running a dehumidifier in the average garage without controlling the airflow can be an expensive and futile attempt at controlling the moisture content within the garage. Sometimes it’s more like an attempt at dehumidifying the whole neighbourhood! If you really want to protect your car properly, keeping it dry is the obvious one, but in this modern industrial age there are also other important considerations.

Traditional Car Cover

In most garages the floor is the first place to collect condensation. The problem when using an ordinary car cover is that as the moisture starts to dry, it's allowed to rise up into the vehicle. It can then become trapped under the cover itself.

Most manufacturers of ordinary car covers have considered this problem, and claim that their cover will breathe and let the moisture pass through. The fact is, if the cover didn't let the moisture through, it would have serious implications. As it is, moisture is very slowly passing through the cover, and this now-damp cover is resting directly on the vehicle.

Vital Ventilation

It is also worth noting that the condensation you can see on the outer panels is less than half the story. All double-skin box sections – chassis sections – doors – reinforcing panels and the like - are ventilated, and it’s absolutely essential that they are.

One of the Active Carcoon Air Treatment Units, showing constant return carbon filter

You may ask why it's so important that all these places are ventilated? Well, the answer is fairly obvious. When the air drops below the dew-point and deposits its moisture on the external panels, the inside panels soon follow. Without adequate ventilation, trapped moisture inside these sections would reap havoc, destroying these essential panels within a very short period of time.

Ventilation holes of all shapes and sizes are there to help draw out this moisture as the vehicle 'flows through the air' whilst being driven. The latest generation of cars make great use of ventilation throughout the entire structure. It's a very effective anti-corrosion solution.

If the vehicle is not being driven on a regular basis, protecting against condensation becomes even more important, in fact, essential to the life of the vehicle.