Instead, the refrigerant is pumped by the compressor to a condenser which is located outside the room to be conditioned, and the heat is then released to the outside air. l would be introduced from the outside environment into our room per hour and would have to be allowed for. Energy Star Qualified Dehumidifiers Archived 2010-12-19 at the Wayback Machine table listing removal rates and efficiencies. The volume of air that needs drying is a big factor and, in general, the bigger the room the better suited a refrigerant drier will be. A fan constantly draws the room air through the dehumidifier and over the cool metal plate(s) and all the time more and more of the moisture condenses onto the plate and drips into the dehumidifiers water tank.

Power Consumption - Generally desiccant type will use consume slightly higher energy cost compared to compressor type. However, on the whole, If you are choosing a dehumidifier for use in the normal living areas of your home, then a refrigerant model will be entirely suitable. As the wheel rotates the hygroscopic media passes through a separate isolated chamber where air is heated so the moisture passes back from the wheel to the air and is exhausted away. This is unfortunately an inevitability, although not necessarily given appropriate consideration in most applications it is nonetheless an important factor to be taken into account in accurately selecting a dehumidifier, especially if the results are critical. Even if condensate is drained, a modified air conditioner is still less efficient than a single-purpose appliance with a design optimized for dehumidification.If however the application you’re looking at stays between 15-35°C then an air defrost system might be a viable alternative. If the dehumidifier is operating at an ambient below about 15°C the moisture forming on the evaporator will freeze as it condenses, then as the ice builds up it reduces the effectiveness of the unit. Refrigerated dehumidifiers come in all shapes and sizes ranging from small, plastic units found in homes all the way up to large swimming pool dedicated types. We would recommend our DD8L Junior for basic applications where you are not spending any extended period of time in the space, for example, garages, boats and caravans. The very nature of desiccant dehumidifiers presents many benefits when compared to compressor dehumidifiers.

Although performance might tail off at the extreme ends of that performance envelope, they do offer a good general performance across a very broad range of conditions, certainly much wider than desiccant units. So as air cools the less moisture it can hold and any excess it contains will condense and it is this principle that’s used by refrigeration dehumidifiers to lower the moisture content of an environment.

A desiccant dehumidifier will have a wheel coated with something like silica gel or lithium chloride that gently rotates, while a fan draws in air from the room and passes it across through the wheel. Condensate dehumidifiers use a refrigeration cycle to collect water known as condensate, which is normally considered to be greywater but may at times be reused for industrial purposes. Defrosting using a hot gas mechanism is much faster and more effective than air circulation at lower temperatures so when you’ve got an application with an ambient below 15°C then this is the system to go for. They’re the most basic and simple form of dehumidifier used today, utterly useless for anything much bigger than a shoe box or handbag but perfect for helping keep sensitive items safe.

A desiccant is a material that absorbs water and will be familiar to anyone who has ever found a small pack of crystals, labelled "silica gel", packaged with a camera, computer or some other product. Although this system can work well in warm climates when the environmental temperature drops below about 15°C the surface temperature of the evaporator coils falls below 0°C and the ice formation becomes quicker and more aggressive, meaning the sensor has the unit in defrost almost permanently. That being said though there are types of dehumidifiers available that use larger packets of silica gel or similar, but again although they might have uses these are very limited and they are not to be considered a legitimate alternative to mechanical dehumidifiers. Zambezi has now been weaned and has been moved to a release facility in Kafue National Park along with another elephant, Musolole, which takes him a step closer to living free in the wild. Dehumidifiers which work according to the absorption principle are especially suited for high humidity levels at low temperatures.The most common applications though are probably building sites where you’ll find mid range industrial dehumidifiers helping to dry out plaster etc. Our smaller desiccant models have a power consumption of approximately 250-550W compared to 210W from our similarly sized compressor models.

The desiccant can be mounted on a belt or other means of transporting it during a cycle of operation.

This type of dehumidifier differs from a standard air conditioner in that both the evaporator and the condenser are placed in the same air path. First of all, from a practical point of view, as they rely on a substance, rather than anything mechanical, to remove water from the air, they tend to be much smaller and lighter. Many portable dehumidifiers can also be adapted to connect the condensate drip output directly to a drain via a hose. The diffusion process is slow compared with mechanical ventilation and would not cope with the copious amount of water vapour produced in a short time scale without the combined use of mechanical ventilation in kitchens and bathrooms. You’ll perhaps be more familiar with the process of condensation and ‘dew point’ than the 30 year old Arnie reference above: Cold beer on a hot day?