Anyone have personal experience with both dessicant dehumidifers and condesner dehumidifers?

bristolleedsfan

seatbeltnoob said:

Mthsaxby said:

I have had a desiccant dehumidifier for a couple of years now and absolutely love it. It costs a bit more to run than a condenser model but not much. It costs about 335w per kWh so around 8p per hour currently. It also gives off heat so you will save money on heating. It can heat the room up anywhere from 0.5 degrees to 1.5 degrees warmer depending on the size of the room. Mine works fine to get the humidity under 60. It can go down to 50 but I don’t see the point in reducing it that far. Cost around the £350-400 mark a couple of years ago. 

 I was probably just under the false illusion that it's possible to get the humidity down to desert levels with these machines - looks like no. And I think I grabbed a good bargain for a 10L/24h one for £79.

My condenser 280w dehumidifier gets my 17ft living room which I spend best part of 24 hours a day in down to 55 within 10 minutes 39 within a couple of hours, that is with door to kitchen and hall kept closed, no heating on.

What could prevent some condenser dehumidifiers getting lower than some experiences is going into  Auto Defrost (electronic controls) or Auto Frost (knob controls) mode, to remove frost from the coils before starting dehumidification again. During the defrost cycle the compressor turns off but allows the fan to continue running, this causes cold air to be blown out increasing relative humidity level.

I have two same model one does this other does not, latter I use in living room.

ThisIsWeird

I think our Martin Lewis stated recently that using a dehumidifier is cheaper than a tumble drier.

But, it's worth taking a step back and looking at the whole humidity and condensation issue.

If I were to take the oldest and coldest house mentioned on this thread and live in it with zero heating, and have an 'orse of damp clothes standing in t'middle of the room, I would have zero condie on my windows, and low humidity levels on most days.

Ok, I'd be totally incapacitated by the cold 'cos the windows and doors would be wide open, but I'm just making a point... Ventilation is the key, or at least the first thing to consider.

If you have cond on your windows first thing in the morning - and most of us do to some degree - then the solution is to have that room ventilated overnight by cracking open the windows, heating off. Yes, you will wake up to a cold room, but it'll be dry. In the morning, push partner out of bed, and don't let them back in until they've shut the windows and turned on the heating. 

(On a continued ventilation note, bedrooms should also be ventilated throughout the day too, heating off, doors closed. By all means shut the windows a good half-hour or so before bedtime, and turn the rad on to make it a welcoming place, but then heating off and windows cracked open once you are under the covers. That should prevent 99% of condensation issues. Ditto with any other room - the sitting room, for example, which will have been heated and cosy during that evening, and therefore very prone to having condie forming on the windows overnight. Turn off heating a good half hour before you retire, and crack open the windows to 'vent'. Wake up to no cond.)

If you are lucky enough to have a spare room where you can place yer 'orse, then open the windows in that room as far as possible, heating off, and close the door. In a day or so your clothes will have lost the vast majority of its moisture, and will be ready to finish off either in a TD for 20-odd minutes, or on radiator racks, to get it 'cupboard dry'.

If you have a cooling fan that costs next to now't to run, then try aiming it to blow a gentle waft over the clothes. Or even consider one of these fanned horses - that should speed things up considerably (no heat, just fan). The secret, tho', is the open windows.

Do you have a garage?! Stick yer horse in there, but leave the doors open. Any other covered area outside will work.

seatbeltnoob

mark_cycling00 gee I wonder where all the moisture from the tumble dryer goes? Are you going to generate all that heat and pump it outdoors? Or will it be non-ducted version and the moisture and heat is pumped into the house?

If is ducted out of the house - then you just produced a whole load of heat and pumped it straight out. If you dont pump the heat and moisture out - then you will need to use a dehumidifer with the tumble dryer to capture all the excess moisture.

ThisIsWeird

Tumble dryers should be a measure of last resort.