Dehumidifiers and drying the air in the house.

Superman · 10-16-2005, 12:53 AM

The wife and I ran the air conditioning in the house the whole summer, it kept the tanks at good temps, kept the air dry, and kept us comfortable. Now that the air conditioner doesn't kick on any more I am noticing that the humidity is creeping up, and that the OLD dehumidifier is not doing the job of keeping things dry enough. I am wondering if anyone has a line on a large dehumidifier, preferably the digital type that reads both the current humidity and the humdity set point. Looking for used or new. Thanks guys!

Sea monkey · 10-16-2005, 01:18 AM

they cost a fortune to run . I "think" your money may be way better spent on an air exchanger.

the_colonel · 10-16-2005, 01:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sea monkey

they cost a fortune to run . I "think" your money may be way better spent on an air exchanger.

True, but it will depend on what type of heat you have. You have an older house, is it forced air, or electric baseboard heat?

tico mike · 10-16-2005, 01:41 AM

Supe, if you plan on living there for any length of time you should do the air-exchanger. Especially since you have several displays throughout the house. If you are moving within a couple years use the dehumidifier. You'll never get your money back out of it if you move too soon. They are a selling point for a house, but the average person won't pay more because a house has one.

Sea monkey · 10-16-2005, 10:33 AM

how many watts does a large dehumidifier use ?

Loverotties · 10-16-2005, 11:02 AM

Is your heat on now?and what kind do you have?If it's forced hot air,then you probley have a humiditafier on it and you can turn it down to add less.But without humidity with heat your house will be to dry and that's not good for us or thing in the house like wood,plants and other things that need moisture.

Superman · 10-16-2005, 01:40 PM

we aren't planning on living in the house for a long period of time. We've been running a dehumidifier since we moved into this house. We just got forced air/heat, so is there some sort of setting I can change to run the air drier like Loverotties mentioned? I am consistantly running in the 60% range for percent humidity but suspect that it is higher in some parts of the house since I have very few cold air returns to circulate air. I would like to get into the 50% range. So anyone got a line on a good place to get a dehumidifier? Otherwise I will just go to Home Depot, Fleet Farm, Menards, and Best Buy and find the best price for the larger units. The next house will have an air exchanger, and also geothermal heating/cooling.

the_colonel · 10-16-2005, 01:46 PM

I would think the problem would go away for the next 6 months or so. I have to run my whole-house humidifier all winter or the RH droppes down to 15%-20%.

Superman · 10-16-2005, 01:52 PM

I definitely agree with you colonel, I figure I may as well start looking for a dehumidifier now in order to even out my humidity levels for when the furnace isn't on and the air conditioner is not as well. We have no idea what type of winter this is going to be, it may be fairly mild and in that case I may still have issues with the humidity.

Loverotties · 10-16-2005, 07:05 PM

Cut it back to 30% and see.Your just goig to waist electricty by having the two systems fightting each other.

Superman · 10-16-2005, 07:08 PM

Sorry, maybe you don't understand, both systems would not be fighting each other. When niether the furnace or the AC is on, the house air is not being dried, so that is where the dehumidifier comes in. So no, the two systems would not be "fighting" each other.

Loverotties · 10-16-2005, 07:23 PM

yes it would the furnace is putting out 50 to 60% the way you have it now.When the furace is off it will stay around 40 to 50% till it ask for more heat.Now you add a dehumidifier to bring it down so when the heat is off it will bring it down to a lower %(say30%) till your house needs more heat which will bring the humidity up to 50 to 60% again and then your dehumid will be on till it goes low and so on and so on.Just lower your setting on the humidifier to a lower setting like try 30% and see if you like it.

Sea monkey · 10-16-2005, 07:30 PM

hes talking about the humidifier you might have built into the furnace. if you have one turn it off : )

Superman · 10-16-2005, 07:33 PM

So the furnace/AC actually will humidify the air if the humidity is too low? This is the first that I have heard of that. Also I don't know where there is an adjustment that I can make on my furnace/AC to increase or decrease the humidity. Just flipped through the owners manual AND the installation manual, I don't see anything that mentions a way of adjusting the humidity set point.

Superman · 10-16-2005, 07:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sea monkey

hes talking about the humidifier you might have built into the furnace. if you have one turn it off : )

Pretty sure that I don't have one, this would be hooked up to a water supply I assume, and if so then I do not have one.