Agreed with heating the box...
Shove a rag (a long one to provide lots of area to keep the moisture
out) into the conduit that comes from the underground.
Ventilate the box on the bottom with a screened opening at least an inch
in diameter. (Larger would be better).
73, Jim W7RY
On 10/16/2023 2:51 PM, Lux, Jim wrote:
On 10/16/23 11:56 AM, Shawn Donley wrote:
Hello fellow TowerTalkers,
I have an aluminum outdoor electrical enclosure at the base of my
tower. My underground runs of hardline enter the box through a PVC
conduit elbow entering at the bottom of the enclosure. The tower coax
and rotor cables exit the bottom as well. In humid weather,
especially this time of year when the temperature goes down at night,
I get a significant amount of condensation inside the enclosure, not
only on the enclosure but on the outside of the cables within it.
Enough water to make one think there's no environmental protection
provided by the enclosure in the first place. I suspect the moist
air from the conduit is the source since the underground run uses
slotted corrugated drain pipe covered with a soil sock rather than
solid wall PVC. Why ... concerns of long term condensation inside
solid conduit...another subject thoroughly discussed elsewhere and
hopefully not again on this thread.
Has anyone experienced something similar and has a proven fix? I
considered a small 12v box fan to circulate some outside air through
the enclosure but I think the cold box walls would just condense that
moist air as well. Perhaps a low wattage 12v light bulb inside the
enclosure to provide some heat to keep the walls warmer? Some water
pipe heat tape on the outside of the box (but I would like to avoid
any 125vac solution)? Sealing the entry conduit is problematic with
the several cables of different diameters. I would not want to
"foam" the conduit with expanding foam or something like that which
would make pulling a new cable much more difficult.
tnx
N3AE
I'd think it's the usual problem of cooling in the evening, pulling in
humid air from outside, which then condenses. It might be from the
conduit, but probably more likely the air around the box. The only
solution is to provide a source of dry air. Heating the box *might* help.
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Thanks and 73, Jim W7RY
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