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Dont have the money right now to add a whole house dehumidifier to my AC system. Summers here in CT get very humid outside and in turn, get humid inside my 1950's built home.
Not sure why one is so much more expensive than the other, even if its slightly different. Im curious as to if one or both of these can serve the purpose Im looking for. I would like my Central Air to run off the Dehumidifier Control. I think this could work but just wanted to see if anyone else sees something I am missing.
Dont have the money right now to add a whole house dehumidifier to my AC system.
The AC itself should be doing all the needed dehumidifying in CT.
In Texas? Not so much.
Do you have a good meter and hard numbers? About $10 at Lowes: LINK If the AC isn't maintaining (45-55%) look into why.
(probably related to too much moist outside air infiltrating)
Long story short though...
a portable dehumidifier in the basement will probably be your best bet.
Often times, even in the summer, its not the heat thats bad, its the humidity. My central AC is pretty old, and I usually dont even run it for cooling, not to mention it cools very very slowly. Most times, I turn it on manually just to get the humidity down. For example it is 73 inside now, humidity was over 60. I just turned it on manually, set for 72. Now I would probably have to leave it on for two hours or longer for it to actually cool the house to 72. But ill leave it running until humidity is down to a little under 50 and ill turn it off.
I have a dehumidifier in the basement. Has no effect on up stairs living space unfortunately, basement is unfinished so there is a door that is always shut that leads down to the basement.
Ive tried to use a stand alone dehumidifier in the living space. I hate them. Theyre loud, too loud for my small home.
For example it is 73 inside now, humidity was over 60.
Outside here is 78F and probably 70%+ NC humidity); later it'll be high 80's.
This room with window shaker AC on 24/7... is 70F and 43% humidity.
The basement is 75F and 51% humidity (with old windows, gap at bottom of
OH door and an open trench from unfinished plumbing work).
Quote:
My central AC is pretty old, and I usually don't even run it for cooling,
not to mention it cools very very slowly.
That's your problem then.
If the equipment isn't even running... it won't do the secondary job either.
Quote:
Ive tried to use a stand alone dehumidifier in the living space.
I hate them. They're loud, too loud for my small home.
Your choices boil down to $5000 to replace your HVAC equipment (probably needed regardless)
plus a $150 monthly bill to actually keep it running ... or to use a noisy dehumidifier.
c'est la vie.
ps the meter referred to in that link above is $20 (not $10) and worth every penny.
Last edited by MrRational; 06-29-2013 at 10:39 AM..
Reason: gauge price
Well, I would use the window ac unit, which I have. Unfortunately, sometimes when its on, its not using the compressor, so all its doing is recycling humid air. Maybe I can just get the dehumidifier control for the window ac unit, set it on lowest temp, and use it that way.
Maybe I can just get the dehumidifier control for...
And I didn't address your initial Q...
The humidity sensor control is an "overlay" on top of the temp control (thermostat) circuit.
If you are going to tell the equipment to run...
it really doesn't matter which of these controls does the telling.
Just to bring you back to reality, our projected temperature today will be 111, 115 tomorrow, and my humidity gauge is pegged on 16% because it won't read any lower. I wish we could do a little trading, I'd love to take 20-25 % of your rh....
I'm shopping for a humidifier..
The older AC units have an evaporation pressure/temperature "approach" that is greater than newer units. In other words the operating temperature of the older evaporators is lower than newer ones. This will increase dehumidification.
As MrRational said if your unit isn't on it's not working. The first jobs of your AC system is to remove humidity or latent heat. If it's not on, it's not going to be removing that humidity. The second job is to remove sensible heat or what you register on your drybulb (typical) thermometer. Just because your thermostat isn't reading a drop in temperature to your liking does not mean it's not removing heat.
You should have your AC system in the summer set to the lowest fan speed possible so long as it does not cause coil freezing. That's typically not going to be a problem. You should see longer run times and with the lower humidity you should be able to keep your thermostat set higher and still feel comfortable. If you can't then you have a problem. That problem I would venture to guess is a clogged coil which lowers the effective surface area of the coil and and the same time insulates the fins from doing what they're suppose to be doing (see second paragraph).
As far as adding humidity to your home, that's adding latent heat and all though it may seem to make sense it reduces your body's ability to evaporate (a cooling process) sweat. As a side note people will add humidity in very high temperature areas like AZ because water has a high specific heat and can absorb almost 3 times the amount of heat as dry air without a change in temperature. You'll still need to remove the heat latent and sensible. This can be done with a exhaust that brings in new fresh "dry" air. Basically it's one of the more efficient ways to absorb heat and send it outside of the home.
The older AC units have an evaporation pressure/temperature "approach" that is greater than newer units. In other words the operating temperature of the older evaporators is lower than newer ones. This will increase dehumidification.
As MrRational said if your unit isn't on it's not working. The first jobs of your AC system is to remove humidity or latent heat. If it's not on, it's not going to be removing that humidity. The second job is to remove sensible heat or what you register on your drybulb (typical) thermometer. Just because your thermostat isn't reading a drop in temperature to your liking does not mean it's not removing heat.
You should have your AC system in the summer set to the lowest fan speed possible so long as it does not cause coil freezing. That's typically not going to be a problem. You should see longer run times and with the lower humidity you should be able to keep your thermostat set higher and still feel comfortable. If you can't then you have a problem. That problem I would venture to guess is a clogged coil which lowers the effective surface area of the coil and and the same time insulates the fins from doing what they're suppose to be doing (see second paragraph).
As far as adding humidity to your home, that's adding latent heat and all though it may seem to make sense it reduces your body's ability to evaporate (a cooling process) sweat. As a side note people will add humidity in very high temperature areas like AZ because water has a high specific heat and can absorb almost 3 times the amount of heat as dry air without a change in temperature. You'll still need to remove the heat latent and sensible. This can be done with a exhaust that brings in new fresh "dry" air. Basically it's one of the more efficient ways to absorb heat and send it outside of the home.
What you ideally want in your AZ situation is a swamp cooler. My family uses them out in Idaho and Oregon.
An air conditioned house is really no different than a large and inefficient refrigerator. Your refrigerator removes moisture that rots food and cools it at the same time. Have you called anyone out to service the thing? From what I am reading it is ready to remove and replace. It could just need some servicing though a new one would be great. Get an oversized compressor to make sure you get ll that moisture.
I live in the DC area and we are having a humid crush right now. I run a dehumidifier in my basement, a must and let the AC run at ~75*. I also have a nice reciprocating fan in the big room upstairs to keep air flowing; the secret to truly staying cool.
What you ideally want in your AZ situation is a swamp cooler. My family uses them out in Idaho and Oregon.
An air conditioned house is really no different than a large and inefficient refrigerator. Your refrigerator removes moisture that rots food and cools it at the same time. Have you called anyone out to service the thing? From what I am reading it is ready to remove and replace. It could just need some servicing though a new one would be great. Get an oversized compressor to make sure you get ll that moisture.
I live in the DC area and we are having a humid crush right now. I run a dehumidifier in my basement, a must and let the AC run at ~75*. I also have a nice reciprocating fan in the big room upstairs to keep air flowing; the secret to truly staying cool.
You responded to me although I'm not sure you meant to.
An over sized compressor is going to have the exact opposite effect that you're shooting for. It will shut off too quickly and never reach the equalized apparatus dew point that would be achieved by longer run times.
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