Know All About Dehumidifiers and Their Functioning

Source: Achooallergy

Dehumidifiers are essential home appliances in places having high levels of humidity. It reduces the amount humidity in the air in an attempt to provide a desirable living environment. High humidity levels can cause serious health hazards in addition to excessive sweating. It also ensures suitable environments for the formation of mildew and mold. So to tackle this problem, a most preferred solution is the use of dehumidifiers. This article talks all about dehumidifiers and its various types available. The various types may include heat pump dehumidifiers, chemical adsorbent dehumidifiers and other homemade ones.

Dehumidifier Facts & Benefits

Heat pump dehumidifier

It actually works with a very simple principle. So, let us take a look at, how this machine provides a dehumidified environment. The machine consists of s fan that extracts the air from the room. This indoor air is made to flow over a heat exchange coil. This coil is maintained at a very low temperature throughout the process. Due to such low temperatures or cold environment, the water in the air condenses on the coil, which is drained by a suitable system. This air devoid of any water content is heated again with the aid of a second heat exchange coil. Finally this air is exhausted into the room. A heat pump dehumidifier releases any heat generated in the fan or compressor to the air or atmosphere. It also supplies some of this heat to the second heat exchange coil for final dehumidification.

Chemical adsorbent dehumidifier

Another common type of dehumidifiers popular in the market employs chemical adsorbents for the purpose. Before you go for this one, it is essential that you live in a very hot and humid region i.e. it is not suited for places like Canada where cool climate persists throughout the year. A chemical adsorbent dehumidifier uses a desiccant or drying agent like silica gel for separating the moisture from air. It also features a heat exchange wheel on which the desiccant is placed. Another air loop is also employed in order to dry the wheel. It further exhausts the hot damp air through a special duct. This type of dehumidifier is far energy consuming than those employing heat pumps. So this can be considered cost effective only if it uses natural gas for the heat exchange process. Also, the natural gas should be available at affordable rates and in sufficient amounts in your area or locality.

Homemade dehumidifiers

The prices of these dehumidifiers available in the market are quite high and unaffordable by many people. So people are now coming up with cheaper alternatives for dehumidification process. These homemade dehumidifiers employ simple materials commonly used in our daily lives for the purpose. One of the most common substances used is the de-icing salts. Bags of de-icing salts are used to extract moisture from the air. This solution of salt and water from the air is made to fall on a pan or floor drains are constructed. This has no moving parts related with its working, or in other words, it is a simple non mechanized process. As the solution takes away the salt also, it should regularly or periodically be replaced. This is one drawback of the method. Another disadvantage is the highly corrosive nature of these salts towards metals. It is also very hard on our skin.

Dehumidifying ventilators

To know all about dehumidifiers, you should necessarily study in detail about dehumidifying ventilators. This type of dehumidifiers are more advanced with a sensor controller and fan incorporated. You can easily set the limit of humidity to that of sea level. So when the humidity level reaches that specified amount the sensor switches on the operations. This type of dehumidifier is particularly useful in the case of basements. Unlike heat pump dehumidifiers, these equipments lack the ability to recover heat but still manage to use less energy than others. They are not suitable in muggy weather conditions as it draws air from outdoors into your room. Also, they are particularly useful in cold weather. These machines when used depressurizes the environment, so suitable fire safety measures such as carbon monoxide warnings are to be installed for more safety.

Dehumidifier purchase costs

As now you know all about dehumidifiers and its various types of working principles, you should now be aware of the costs of such equipments. Heat pump dehumidifiers are complex and are quite costly. The most important point that is to be kept in mind, before buying a dehumidifier is the efficiency factor. Automatic defrost and a two speed fan, these features needs to be ensured for a longer and efficient use. So you must select an averagely priced machine containing at least some of the necessary and basic features.

Conclusion

This article has talked about dehumidifiers, its types, corresponding advantages and disadvantages and finally how to choose a good dehumidifier for regular use. This is all about dehumidifiers that you need to know as an ordinary customer. A wide range of dehumidifiers of good quality are available at cheaper rates in various online market places. You can also avail discounts through the web for such products.

Categorised in: Dehumidifier