Park your car where it will get sunlight first thing in the morning.
My car has been covered a few days this year at 630am. No sunlight available at that time.
Metals and glass can be colder than the surrounding air at night or in cold weather. This is due to radiative cooling. Here's how it works:
Metal and glass (like any object) radiate heat away. On clear nights, the metal surface of your car radiates heat outward faster than it gains heat from the surrounding air, this enables its temperature to drop below the ambient air temperature.
Steel and aluminum are a good heat conductors so they lose heat fast. This is why metal objects feel colder than the surrounding air when the ambient temperature is low.
Water condenses and this is why frost or ice can form when the air temperature is above freezing.
All that nice glass makes a good fish bowl and all the glass will be covered in condensation (on the inside if it's above freezing, on the both sides if it's below freezing (HINT HINT).
Next day leave the window down about 2"... no condensation.
Thats a lesson in ventilation, not condensation. Opening a window allows moisture trapped in the soft interior materials to equalize with surrounding air, you will see the same frost on both sides before the sun rises.
Park it in the shade... no condensation... or at least a lot less
Parking in shade reduces cooling radiation, even in the dark. Just like standing in the shade reduces heat absorption.
There's a grade 8 science lesson in there somewhere. Condensation doesn't come from temperature change, condensation comes from difference in temps. As the air warms, it loses it's ability to hold water and the water condenses on anything that is cooler than the air... like the engine or the full fuel tank)
So if you leave your bike in a un-heated shed, be sure it stays out of the sun.
If you empty the fuel tank and leave the lid open: there is enough air flow that the temp inside the tank will be the same as the outside, so NO condensation.
This has no impact on condensation. It just means if conditions for condensation are met, condensation will be the same on both sides.
If you don't empty the tank: fill it as full as possible... the idea is to lessen the surface area, the area in contact with humid air. If I leave 2 liters of fuel in my Honda's tank it has about 3-4 sq ft of area contacting air. If I fill it up to the brim, there is about 6 sq inches of gas contacting air.
The SCHMOO that clogs up carbs and injectors doesn't come from gas, it comes from the water that is absorbed by the gas (so YEAH, we're breathing that SCHMOO all the time)
Partly. As gas evaporates, it oxides to create sticky polymers (varnish). Small passages in carbs don’t like this. Oil makes it worse, so 2t carbs can have more varnish schmoo if they are allowed to evap dry.
In very small and cheaper carbs, water in the fuel reacts with metals to create powdery metal oxides. These are most problematic on tiny carbs. Adding oil reduces this, keeping carbs wet reduces this. Anodizing reduces this.
The way fuel stabilizers work is they contain a compound very much like soap, that floats on the top of the fuel, blocking off contact to air, it forms a layer on the top of the gas. It also deposits that soap stuff on everything it touches... so I won't use it on an injected motor. an injector is in a sealed system that the fuel has no access to air, unlike a carbed bike, so it won't be a problem for 5-6 months (at most) we store our bikes. Most of the aromatics will evaporate through the soap layer though... aromatic molecules are teeny tiny and highly active.
... so 75-100ml of Dawn dish soap works as well as STABIL as a fuel stabilizer
Stabilizers also reduce oxidation as fuel evaporates. This helps if the systems go dry or water is in the fuel.
If you have condensation inside a building you have a real problem and it means your structure wasn't built correctly... and you should fix it as soon as possible cuz your structure is going to quickly rot
This can happen for a lot of reasons in a structure with no HVAC. Snow falling from a parked car, moisture passing thru a slab, part time heating, diurnal range, and daily swings in relative humidity. Our climate is relatively mild, but rougher than most on bare metal surfaces.
