How Does a Dehumidifier Work?

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Dehumidifiers and How They Work

A dehumidifier removes moisture from the air. The usual technique used to remove the moisture is to condense the moisture onto a cold surface.

Anyone who has poured a cold glass of iced tea on a hot, humid summer day knows that moisture will condense on the glass. When air cools, it loses its ability to hold moisture; in the case of the cold glass, the moisture in the air condenses right onto the glass. If the glass is left on a table long enough and if the air is very humid, a significant puddle of water can form. You may have noticed the same phenomenon in any air conditioner. The moisture in the air inside the room condenses onto the air conditioner's cold coils. If it's a window unit, the water drips out the back of the unit onto the ground.

A dehumidifier is simply an air conditioner that has both its hot and cold coils in the same box. A fan draws the room's air over the cold coil of the air conditioner to condense the moisture (which normally drips into a bucket). The dry air then passes through the hot coil to heat it back up to its original temperature. That's all there is to it!

If you have a room that is air conditioned, it should not need a dehumidifier -- the air conditioner should be doing the dehumidifying for you.

Types of Dehumidifiers

Heat Pump Dehumidifiers

Dehumidifiers use a heat pump (similar to an air conditioner's heat pump) or chemical adsorbents to remove moisture from the air without cooling the air. A heat pump dehumidifier uses a fan to draw indoor air over a heat exchange coil. The coil is almost freezing.The water in the air condenses on the coil and is drained. A second heat exchange coil reheats the air, which the dehumidifier exhausts into the room. A heat pump dehumidifier dumps heat lost from the compressor and fan motors into the air. It returns to the indoor air the heat generated by the dehumidifier turning water vapour to liquid.

Chemical Adsorbent Dehumidifiers

This type of dehumidifier is designed for hot, humid climates. Chemical adsorbent dehumidifiers absorb moisture from the air with a "desiccant" - a drying agent such as silica gel. The desiccant is on a heat exchange wheel. A separate air loop dries the wheel and exhausts the hot, damp air outdoors through special ducting. A chemical adsorbent dehumidifier uses more energy than a heat pump dehumidifier. It is only cost-effective when it uses natural gas for heat exchange - and then only if natural gas is available at a low summer rate.

Homemade Dehumidifier

Some inventive people use bags of road de-icing salt to absorb moisture from the air. The wet salt solution drips into a pan or floor drain, drying the air. Because the salt runs off with the water removed from the air, it must be replaced.The system has no moving parts. If you try this homemade dehumidifier, remember that salt is highly corrosive to metals and quite hard on the skin.

Dehumidifying Ventilators

This type of dehumidifier has a sensor-controller and exhaust fan. You set the sensor-controller to run when humidity reaches a set level. A dehumidifying ventilator is particularly effective if the humidity source is in your basement. Dehumidifying ventilators don't recover heat but they use less electricity than heat pump dehumidifiers. They are not effective in hot, muggy weather, as they bring more outside air into the house. They can be effective in cold weather.