Dehumidifiers

[KK]

Thinking about picking one up. Can anybody comment on the efficiency of using them with regards to using in conjunction with AC units. Will my electric bill drop? Will the AC unit not have to work as hard?

 

[Soccer55]

Check out the first question here

-Tom

 

[Eli]

Hmm.

Someone with some real experience please correct me if I'm wrong, but you shouldn't need to use a dehumidifier in addition to your A/C to effectivly dehumidify your house.

It won't make your A/C work any less harder, because your A/C doesen't care what the humidity is - only the temperature.

You need to size your A/C properly.

 

[shilala]

Originally posted by: Eli
Hmm.

Someone with some real experience please correct me if I'm wrong, but you shouldn't need to use a dehumidifier in addition to your A/C to effectivly dehumidify your house.

It won't make your A/C work any less harder, because your A/C doesen't care what the humidity is - only the temperature.

You need to size your A/C properly.

That's correct to a point.
The less humidity in the air, the more comfortable people feel.
Consequently it doesn't take as low a temperature and the air conditioner is adjusted to a higher temperature to keep people from freezing to death.

 

[Soccer55]

Originally posted by: Eli
Hmm.

Someone with some real experience please correct me if I'm wrong, but you shouldn't need to use a dehumidifier in addition to your A/C to effectivly dehumidify your house.

It won't make your A/C work any less harder, because your A/C doesen't care what the humidity is - only the temperature.

You need to size your A/C properly.

I thought that sounded strange too and after looking into it further, I found this link from the US DoE that says using a dehumidifier with A/C will make the A/C unit work harder. This makes more sense to me, so I would say no, don't use one.

-Tom