Does a dehumidifier will heat your room? A dehumidifier has been designed not to heat the air but to eliminate moisture from it. However, the unit removes the moisture by reheating the air to make it dryer after moisture is released.
Dehumidifiers – What Can They Do?
Dehumidifiers are somewhat similar to a vacuum cleaner. They suck in the air from a room, removes the moisture from it, then blows this back to the room all over again.
Its collected moisture flows through a collection tank which needs to be emptied every now and then. How does the unit remove moisture, then?
This is where the dehumidifier works similar to an air conditioning unit which works similar to a refrigerator in itself.
Understanding the Dehumidifier’s Generated Heat
A refrigerant whole house dehumidifier has a natural process of releasing some heat back to the living space. It is the result of the use of electricity for powering the dehumidifier. This heat or energy has to go somewhere.
An air conditioning unit releases this heat or energy outside through placing the compressor and condenser outside the structure.
A dehumidifier will release that heat or energy back to the allotted space to assist the process of drying.
Humidity and Temperature
The increase in temperature in the discharge or supply air, compared to the incoming stream of air, will vary from 15 to 25 degrees Fahrenheit, which depends on the load the unit needs to take on.
But, it doesn’t mean that your house will have a temperature increase of 15 to 25 degrees Fahrenheit as well. The air is combined with other air in the house and will be distributed evenly through the HVAC ductwork put in place.
Aside from this, for each degree that the temperature is increased, the relative humidity is going to drop a 2 percent average.
Thus, it is typical for the home to experience a temperature increase of over 2 to 4 degrees Fahrenheit provided that the dehumidifier control has been dialed to a reasonable set point.
Setting the relative humidity too low will lead to further running time of the unit and added output of heat.
Moisture Removal
You also have to consider that a dehumidifier has been put in place to eliminate moisture if the air conditioning unit cannot do so. It is typical during colder season and during nights and mornings when the home doesn’t have a sensible load.
If the air conditioning unit is sized properly, there is no need for the dehumidifier to run during midday when it is typical for the temperatures to be at their warmest. But, when the dehumidifier’s run time increases the temperature to several degrees, the air conditioning unit is going to kick on and help remove excess moisture aside from cooling down the home.
The excess heat output of the dehumidifier can be of great help during colder seasons when it is raining outside with a temperature of 60 to 65 degrees Fahrenheit.
This kind of condition is not conducive for an air conditioning unit to draw out moisture from the air. Cooler temperatures can increase the relative humidity percentage, creating cold surfaces wherein condensation can gather.
A dehumidifier that can give off some amount of heat to the home is more energy efficient and more ideal when it comes to removing moisture.
Since you now know more about how a refrigerant-based dehumidifier releases heat back to the living space, it is important to ensure that you choose a dehumidifier that is energy efficient.
When the unit has lower power consumption or drawn AMP, you will have lesser heat output as well.
How to Compare Dehumidifiers
Experts in the field state that there are two primary factors you have to consider when looking for a dehumidifier:
Efficiency
When you are using your dehumidifier for a longer period of time, probably even on a permanent basis since you are living in a damp area, you will have to study the amount of power that your unit consumes.
In this case, the best measure is the machine’s efficiency, sometimes referred to as the energy factor. This refers to the amount of water that the unit can remove divided by the amount of power that it uses.
This is measured in terms of pints or liters for every kilowatt hour.
Water Removed Daily
The simplest and most basic consideration is the amount of water that a dehumidifier can remove, measured in pints or liters collected within a continuous operation of 24 hours.
Obviously, a bigger machine is going to draw out more amounts of water as compared to smaller ones.
In case there are lots of water that you want to remove immediately, probably after a flood, this measurement is the best one to go by.
During such emergency cases, you don’t actually care much about the amount of electricity you are using because hopefully, this will just last for a relatively short time.
Wattage
The power consumption or wattage alone will not tell you how great or effective a dehumidifier is. However, in general, a higher wattage will mean that the machine will have to work harder and remove more water every hour.
Let’s take the following machines for example. A conventional mini tabletop dehumidifier makes use of 20 watts of power, extracting 0.25 liters or 250ml of water daily, with a tank capacity of 0.5 liters or 500ml.
On the other hand, a traditional big wheelable dehumidifier can remove 50 liters of water a day, which is 200 times more than a tabletop unit and makes use of around 1,000 watts. The bigger machine is going to extract 50L in a day, making use of 24kWh of energy during the process.
The smaller machine takes 4 days for extracting one liter and 200 days for removing 50 liters. Thus, the bigger machine will be 200 times much faster and 4 times more energy efficient.
With these, make sure that you choose the right dehumidifier unit for your home to ensure that you would make the most out of this appliance.
