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dehumidifiers #7879161 06/23/20 10:48 PM
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garyrapp55 Offline OP
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I was killing time looking at Friedrich ACs when I saw on there site dehumidifiers. Today (at least in Freestone county) was a good example of why this might be a good idea for me. The humidity was killing me. I'm wondering if I put one of these in a 1000 sq ft cabin if it will make it more tolerable. This would be in addition to AC. Do you have any experience with dehumidifiers that you can share?

Re: dehumidifiers [Re: garyrapp55] #7879191 06/23/20 11:15 PM
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bill oxner Offline
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Good question. I thought that your regular AC would eliminate humidity.


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Re: dehumidifiers [Re: garyrapp55] #7879198 06/23/20 11:18 PM
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garyrapp55 Offline OP
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It does Bill but I'll take more help, if it works.

Re: dehumidifiers [Re: garyrapp55] #7879223 06/23/20 11:32 PM
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We use one at the ranch, lowering the humidity in the house makes it seem cooler. We can tell a difference.

When we are gone several days we raise the temp in the house to save money. When we come back, we lower the temp and start the dehumidifier.

Re: dehumidifiers [Re: garyrapp55] #7879266 06/23/20 11:58 PM
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Most dehums are basically a window AC that does not lower the tempature in a space. It has a compressor, the cooling coil is located before the condenser. They actually raise the temperature of room due to heat produced by electricy consumption. So climate control is required in space. They have catch pans that need to be dumped. Most can be drained by a hose to a floor drain if available.

If the air conditioning is sized properly for heat load, humidity control is adequate. If the AC is grossly oversized or undersized humidity can be a problem.

You mentioned cabin 1000 sq ft. What do you use for AC now. Window type? Ducted? BTU size?


If the 2nd amendment was written just to include guns for hunting, why is there not an amendment to protect fishing poles?
Re: dehumidifiers [Re: Lazyjack] #7879291 06/24/20 12:17 AM
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Originally Posted by Lazyjack
It has a compressor, the cooling coil is located before the condenser. They actually raise the temperature of room due to heat produced by electricy consumption. So climate control is required in space.

If the air conditioning is sized properly for heat load, humidity control is adequate. If the AC is grossly oversized or undersized humidity can be a problem.

You mentioned cabin 1000 sq ft. What do you use for AC now. Window type? Ducted? BTU size?

I figured they might have a compressor and produce some heat and that is why I came in search of knowledge. Currently I have 3 window units but usually only run 2. Those 2 combined are 20k BTU. The more I think on it the more I think I should just run AC and forget about dehumidification. I just thought it might make quite a difference. For example, it is 73 here right now but I was just outside and the humidity is so bad I was sweating within 10 minutes or less.

Re: dehumidifiers [Re: garyrapp55] #7879375 06/24/20 01:27 AM
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Try running one at desired set point. And second one a couple degrees higher. If you can increase run time on one of them, it should pull more humidty. Kinda like creating a 2 stage cooling.

You might even play with fan speeds. Slowing air across indoor coil will increase contact time with cool coil, these may help pull more humidity with with changing set point.

Trial and error should get you where you need to be with what you have.

Feel free to PM me if you have a question.


If the 2nd amendment was written just to include guns for hunting, why is there not an amendment to protect fishing poles?
Re: dehumidifiers [Re: garyrapp55] #7879383 06/24/20 01:31 AM
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When we lived in Houston I made some less than great decisions on air conditioning. I lowered the cooling and ran ceiling fans. Humidity shot up and we were miserable. I decided on a dehumidifier, and being a Chemical Engineer I did a ton of calculations on what size dehumidifier I needed. After that, I did the smart thing and went and bought the biggest one I could find. I ran it day and night in our 3500 sq ft house and I was amazed at the amount of water I removed. It took weeks to get the house humidity down to about 50%. There was moisture in the carpets, the drapes, closets, sofa, etc. It was a slow process. The engineering calculations I did only considered the moisture in the air in the house, which is why my calculations sucked.

After I got the house to about the right humidity, I would only run the dehumidifier occasionally.

Our present home runs at about 50% humidity these days, but the barn workshop has a 12,000 btu LG window unit, and it does not pullout enough moisture. I’ll get a dehumidifier for it. Doing the research now. No decision made on which one.


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Re: dehumidifiers [Re: garyrapp55] #7879411 06/24/20 01:58 AM
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I have a 1200 sq foot shop and 14 foot ceilings with a 2.5 ton dedicated AC. Doors are insulated, walls are insulated, but not to the effect of a normal house. After the two days of rain, the humidity in the shop was 70% and the temp was 74. Would a dehumidifier be ideal for this?

Re: dehumidifiers [Re: garyrapp55] #7879436 06/24/20 02:16 AM
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Yes, and try to limit air flow from outside if the humidity is high. As for what size dehumidifier, good luck with that. When my calculations failed, I called professionals. They didn’t know either. Hence buying the biggest I could find. If you get one, there will be a lot of water to deal with, so disposal has to be planned for or you’ll do the ‘manual’ solution like I did.

Our present house has foam insulation, giving us (in theory) a sealed home. Because of that, it was suggested that I buy and have installed a Honeywell air/heat exchanger. It would exhaust a set amount of air from inside and bring in the same amount of fresh air from outside, and it would exchange heat or cool, depending on winter or summer. Our inside humidity was always high. I cut off the exchanger, and all is now well.


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Re: dehumidifiers [Re: 603Country] #7879469 06/24/20 02:50 AM
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Originally Posted by 603Country
Yes, and try to limit air flow from outside if the humidity is high. As for what size dehumidifier, good luck with that. When my calculations failed, I called professionals. They didn’t know either. Hence buying the biggest I could find. If you get one, there will be a lot of water to deal with, so disposal has to be planned for or you’ll do the ‘manual’ solution like I did.

Our present house has foam insulation, giving us (in theory) a sealed home. Because of that, it was suggested that I buy and have installed a Honeywell air/heat exchanger. It would exhaust a set amount of air from inside and bring in the same amount of fresh air from outside, and it would exchange heat or cool, depending on winter or summer. Our inside humidity was always high. I cut off the exchanger, and all is now well.


Just tried "the man" aka my normal HVAC guy to see if he deals with these and plumbs them in. No dice. Should I just take a shot at a gigantic one and figure it out on my own, or would your experience show its best to find someone to do it right the first time?

Re: dehumidifiers [Re: garyrapp55] #7879480 06/24/20 03:03 AM
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Like lazyjack mentioned, the key is fan-speed on AC. Run your window units on slowest fan speed when humidity is high. It will pull out much more humidity out of air.

With HVAC, you can get a thermostat that also has a humidity sensor in it: it will trigger running the fan at a slightly slower speed, significantly increasing de-humidification. (This takes either a variable-speed air handler, or being Very handy with electric motors & adding a relay(24vAC primary) & possibly a motor speed control to kick fan motor to slower speed when triggered by thermostat. It works wonderfully, automatic, and is very cost effective.

Re: dehumidifiers [Re: garyrapp55] #7879555 06/24/20 06:28 AM
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Place a dehumidifier and a humidifier in the same room.

Which one wins?


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Re: dehumidifiers [Re: garyrapp55] #7879644 06/24/20 12:27 PM
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Our house is on a slope, with half of downstairs being underground. We run a dehumidifier downstairs year around, that is plumbed into the bathroom drain. The central A/C system is a bit undersized so it does provide a lot of dehumidification. The dehumidifier reduces a lot of the latent load, making the central air far more effective in cooling.

The dehumidifier is located in a room downstairs with a large return air intake, so the unit helps dry the entire house. Ours is rated to remove almost 9 gallons of water per day, but it it cycles on/off when I keep it set for 40% RH. I will always have a dehumidifier in this house.

Marc


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Re: dehumidifiers [Re: garyrapp55] #7879692 06/24/20 01:28 PM
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I run one in my air conditioned gun room year round and it makes a world of difference. It recovers several qts of water a day in the room that the ac doesn't remove. It's even more beneficial in the winter when humidity levels are higher and the A/C isn't running. I wouldn't be without one.


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Re: dehumidifiers [Re: garyrapp55] #7879737 06/24/20 02:04 PM
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So are you gentlemen saying that running a dehumidifier in your home will enable your AC to run less?




LETS GO BRANDON
Re: dehumidifiers [Re: TXHOGSLAYER] #7879760 06/24/20 02:21 PM
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Originally Posted by TXHOGSLAYER
So are you gentlemen saying that running a dehumidifier in your home will enable your AC to run less?


It will probably make the AC run more and the heat run less as it produces dry hot air. The AC could care less what the humidity is, only the temperature.


One shot is all it should take.
Re: dehumidifiers [Re: TXHOGSLAYER] #7879774 06/24/20 02:31 PM
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Originally Posted by TXHOGSLAYER
So are you gentlemen saying that running a dehumidifier in your home will enable your AC to run less?


It's not a simple black/white question/answer:
If your HVAC cannot compensate humidity, on cool/muggy days (when the AC is not running much anyway) the de-humidifier will certainly reduce humidity inside while slightly raising temperature (which the AC will then have to cycle to reduce). Kinda a tug-o-war.

On normal hot/muggy days, your HVAC will be cycling for much longer time to keep inside temp down, doing the majority of the work of dehumidification, so the dehumidifier will cycle far less often, but still adding heat to air when it does.

So essentially, you are 'spreading the workload of dehumidifying' across 2 units when adding a separate humidifier. It will work, but won't save you any electricity.

Also to note - de-humidifiers, while effective, work very slowly; small compressor with very low air fan speed.


A tip - I often see nice de-humidifiers real cheap at thrift stores; people from up north bring them down with them when they move here and nobody knows what they are - I've bought 'em $25 , and keep it around for when we shampoo a carpet, etc, but don't really need fulltime cause I modified my HVAC to compensate (thermostat w/humidity sensor & fan-speed-relay/controller). The thermostat I use is Emerson 1F95-1291. There are other brands/models that have it too.

Re: dehumidifiers [Re: garyrapp55] #7879799 06/24/20 02:57 PM
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Originally Posted by garyrapp55
I was killing time looking at Friedrich ACs when I saw on there site dehumidifiers. Today (at least in Freestone county) was a good example of why this might be a good idea for me. The humidity was killing me. I'm wondering if I put one of these in a 1000 sq ft cabin if it will make it more tolerable. This would be in addition to AC. Do you have any experience with dehumidifiers that you can share?


OP, If you're running strictly with (multiple) WINDOW ac's , a very effective solution would be to get 1 small window ac unit (5000btu), and set it's run temp to 64 degrees and SLOW fan - and then set your larger ones to your normal comfort temps.
The small ac would essentially run continuously (just as a dehumidifier would), dehumidifying at least as good as a dehumidifier would, but would not INCREASE the temp as a dehumidifier would. Way cheaper than a dehumidifier too - under $100. The bigger units will only cycle on later in the day when sun heats things up. 100% of your electricity used will go towards dehumidifying AND cooling, and no tug-of-war.

Re: dehumidifiers [Re: oldoak2000] #7879809 06/24/20 03:05 PM
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Originally Posted by oldoak2000
Originally Posted by garyrapp55
I was killing time looking at Friedrich ACs when I saw on there site dehumidifiers. Today (at least in Freestone county) was a good example of why this might be a good idea for me. The humidity was killing me. I'm wondering if I put one of these in a 1000 sq ft cabin if it will make it more tolerable. This would be in addition to AC. Do you have any experience with dehumidifiers that you can share?


OP, If you're running strictly with (multiple) WINDOW ac's , a very effective solution would be to get 1 small window ac unit (5000btu), and set it's run temp to 64 degrees and SLOW fan - and then set your larger ones to your normal comfort temps.
The small ac would essentially run continuously (just as a dehumidifier would), dehumidifying at least as good as a dehumidifier would, but would not INCREASE the temp as a dehumidifier would. Way cheaper than a dehumidifier too - under $100. The bigger units will only cycle on later in the day when sun heats things up. 100% of your electricity used will go towards dehumidifying AND cooling, and no tug-of-war.



The only problem with that is 64 is awful cold and everything will be covered with condensation as soon as it goes outside. Eye glasses fogging over. Good idea though.

I like the thermostat idea with a built in humidistat. Kind of like in the attic where the exhaust fan kicks on for high temp or high humidity.


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Re: dehumidifiers [Re: yotehater] #7879812 06/24/20 03:08 PM
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Originally Posted by yotehater
Originally Posted by TXHOGSLAYER
So are you gentlemen saying that running a dehumidifier in your home will enable your AC to run less?


It will probably make the AC run more and the heat run less as it produces dry hot air. The AC could care less what the humidity is, only the temperature.



I see, thanks.




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Re: dehumidifiers [Re: pegasaurus] #7879815 06/24/20 03:09 PM
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Originally Posted by pegasaurus
Place a dehumidifier and a humidifier in the same room.

Which one wins?


The electric company. violin


One shot is all it should take.
Re: dehumidifiers [Re: yotehater] #7879875 06/24/20 04:02 PM
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Originally Posted by yotehater
Originally Posted by oldoak2000
Originally Posted by garyrapp55
I was killing time looking at Friedrich ACs when I saw on there site dehumidifiers. Today (at least in Freestone county) was a good example of why this might be a good idea for me. The humidity was killing me. I'm wondering if I put one of these in a 1000 sq ft cabin if it will make it more tolerable. This would be in addition to AC. Do you have any experience with dehumidifiers that you can share?

OP, If you're running strictly with (multiple) WINDOW ac's , a very effective solution would be to get 1 small window ac unit (5000btu), and set it's run temp to 64 degrees and SLOW fan - and then set your larger ones to your normal comfort temps.
The small ac would essentially run continuously (just as a dehumidifier would), dehumidifying at least as good as a dehumidifier would, but would not INCREASE the temp as a dehumidifier would. Way cheaper than a dehumidifier too - under $100. The bigger units will only cycle on later in the day when sun heats things up. 100% of your electricity used will go towards dehumidifying AND cooling, and no tug-of-war.



The only problem with that is 64 is awful cold and everything will be covered with condensation as soon as it goes outside. Eye glasses fogging over. Good idea though.

I like the thermostat idea with a built in humidistat. Kind of like in the attic where the exhaust fan kicks on for high temp or high humidity.


It won't ever get to 64 on a 1000sqft cabin with just the small 5000btu unit. If it does get too cold, you can add a $5 timer, 15min on, 15min off, and adjust to daily load etc.
From my experience, you do need it set down no higher than about 66 for those cool muggy mornings when it's 72 outside and 99.9% humidity outside.
You keep your BIG units set at 78 (or whatever) - those will determine the building temp.

Re: dehumidifiers [Re: garyrapp55] #7879886 06/24/20 04:26 PM
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Dehumidifier will absolutely help. Bought one for the house a couple of months ago. Without it, humidity would range in the 60-65% range even with A/C running. Keep it at 50% now, and I can tell a substantial difference in comfort level. Even bumped up the thermostat a few degrees.

Re: dehumidifiers [Re: garyrapp55] #7879897 06/24/20 04:40 PM
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I bought one a few months ago for our the master bedroom in our beach house. We were right in that transition from winter to summer temps and without the A/C running, I was getting 70-80% humidity in the room. Everything felt sticky and damp all the time. I put in the dehumidifier and set it to about 55%. The room is about 15x20 and it is able to knock the humidity from 70% down to 50% or so in about an hour. I'd usually run it for a couple of hours each night before I went to sleep to bring the humidity down. Once the weather started warming up and we were running the A/C more, I didn't need to run it as much. Occasionally I would put it in the hallway to try to get the humidity from the other rooms and if the room felt really moist, I would just move it into that room for a few hours.

This is the one I bought from Amazon. hOmeLabs 1,500 Sq. Ft Energy Star Dehumidifier for Medium to Large Rooms and Basements - Efficiently Removes Moisture to Prevent Mold, Mildew and Allergens. Price was $180. I tried to get a direct link to it, but it looks like Amazon doesn't sell it any more.


Thanks,
Rich
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