Need To Cool Down? Use A Dehumidifier!

By:James Monahan

A dehumidifier is a device which removes excess moisture in the air. This device performs this process by condensing the moisture on a cool surface. A dehumidifier is simply an air conditioner. The air conditioner cools the temperature of a humid room by condensing the air in its cold coils.

A dehumidifier has hot and cold coils that are built in the same box. The unit’s fan draws the air in the room through the cold coils of the dehumidifier to condense its moisture. When this happens, as in the case of window type air conditioning units, water drips out of the unit. Dry air then goes through the dehumidifier’s hot coils so it can we heated up again back to its previous temperature.

An example of a dehumidifier is an air conditioning (AC) unit. It is a device that was designed to remove heat out of an area using the principles of refrigeration. An AC is a good example of a dehumidifier because it is designed to lower the humidity in the air which goes through it.

Human bodies have natural dehumidifiers in form of sweat. When we sweat, our bodies cool because of the evaporating perspiration from our skin. Dry air, then coming from an AC unit creates provides comfort as it creates 40-60% relative humidity in an area.

As a dehumidifier, an AC unit is basically another form of refrigerator without an insulated box. It uses a refrigerant like Freon for its evaporation to cool an area. Freon is one of the many non-flammable fluorocarbons which are in use today as refrigerants.

In an AC unit, the evaporation cycle works in this manner: 1) cool Freon gas is compressed, making it high-pressure, hot gas; 2) the hot gas then goes through the set of coils in the AC unit so it can disperse its heat and then condenses into liquid form; 3) Freon goes through a valve, and through this process it becomes low-pressure, cold gas; and 4) the cold Freon gas then goes through a set of coils in the AC unit that will allow the gas to take in heat and chill the air within the area. A special type of oil is mixed with the Freon gas to lubricate the AC unit’s compressor.

The coldness that a dehumidifier can provide depends on the air’s relative humidity and the barometric pressure (this is sea level normal pressure). When there is 50% humidity in the air, water temperature will drop at about 6 degrees to 89F.

Change that to 20% air humidity and the temperature drops to 28 degrees to 67F. These small temperature drops affect energy consumption because the use of these AC units places a large demand on electricity especially on warm months when more units are operated.

During these peak times, more power plants must be online to cater to the large demand for energy. Studies of residential air conditioning showed that AC units wasted 40% of energy. This energy gets wasted in the form of heat waiting to be pumped out.

When you see large quantities of water running through plastic hoses at the backs of big buildings, you’ll know that there are dehumidifier units inside. Many apartment and office complexes now use centralized AC units and the chilled water coming out of these systems is directed to underground pipes.

Digg del.icio.us Blink Stumble Spurl Reddit Netscape Furl

Article keywords: dehumidifier, humidity, temperature, AC, air conditioner, evaporation, freon

Article Source: http://www.articles2k.com

James Monahan is the owner and Senior Editor of
DehumidifierHub.com and writes expert
articles about dehumidifier.

Top Science Articles
1). Chandrayan I By : dasan It was on July 20, 1969 that "Eagle", the lunar module landed on the moon and American Astronaut Neil Armstrong took "that one small step" paving way for "a giant leap for mankind" . In 2007-08, India will launch Chandrayan I, which will be closely followed by China's CHANGE-I. Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is spear-heading all the activities in the field.
2). Looking To The Past Of Geothermal Energy By : Rick Solare Geothermal energy is often viewed as a relatively new form of alternative energy. In truth, the use of geothermal energy stretches far back into the past. Looking To The Past Of Geothermal Energy Geothermal energy is literally, “earth heat”. This type of energy's name comes from two Greek words: “geo” meaning earth, and “therme”, which means heat.
3). Alternative Fuel Source - An Urgent Need For One By : Ernest R. Peterson Using alternative fuel sources is not just a matter of environmental responsibility. It is not just about assuaging your conscience. It is good sense, and sound planning. Although most of us are in denial, the fossil fuels which form the backbone of our world economy are dwindling quite rapidly, even as we go about our daily business in our cars. Although few Americans use an alternative fuel source to commute, those who do are soon going to be at an advantage.
4). The Wages of Science By : Sam Vaknin In the United States, Congress approved, In February 2003, increases in the 2003 budgets of both the National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation. America is not alone in - vainly - trying to compensate for imploding capital markets and risk-averse financiers. In 1999, chancellor Gordon Brown inaugurated a $1.6 billion program of "upgrading British science" and commercializing its products.
5). Many Uses of Metal Detectors By : James Hunt Have you ever lost something at the beach or at a park and wondered for weeks what happened to it? Chances are that someone was walking with the ingenious invention...
6). How the Meter Came To Be By : James Monahan The meter follows a timeline dating back to the eighteenth century, when two approaches to the definition of the standard unit of length were broached.
7). How to Make a Thermometer By : James Hunt A thermometer is an instrument that measures the temperature. Depending on what country you live in, temperature is measured either in a scale called Fahrenheit or Celsius...
8). The Fossil Record And Creation Science By : Greg Neyman Young earth creationists commonly point to the fossil record in order to support their position. In one instance, the article "The Fossil Record: Becoming More Random All the Time" by John Woodmorappe, has some very good points to it (Footnote 1). Read it if you like, (its a long one), but you don't have to much farther than the abstract to see problems.
9). Weird Science – The Inner Workings Of The National Science Foundation By : Dave Klein The National Science Foundation is an independent government agency in the United States. The National Science Foundation is responsible for providing support to basic science research, which is primarily accomplished through research funding. The National Science Foundation mostly provides research funding in the form of grants. These grants are most often given in the form of individual grants to graduate students and professors.
10). Understanding the Scientific Method By : Professor Know Understanding the scientific method and how to follow it is critical to building a good reputation in the technical community. In regards to science fairs, as a student progresses in grade levels the judges are going to demand more and more focus on using the scientific method. Here is my seven step description of the scientific method. 1. Define the question 2.

New Science Articles
1). The Process of Sleep in Humans By : Alex Rider This article briefly looks at the physiological and some of the chemical processes and changes associated with sleep.
2). Amazing New Hubble Pics By : Anne Noonan New Hubble pics - how exciting! The latest of the new Hubble pics is of a black hole, which they've captioned as being in need of a home. To get these new Hubble pics a team of astronomers, all from Europe, combined the power of the Hubble Space Telescope with that of the VLT (Very Large Telescope at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in Cerro Paranal.
3). How To Get The Most From Direct TV By : dave4 More and more, savvy consumers are choosing Direct TV over traditional cable. In fact, Direct TV is now the leading cable television provider in the United States and the largest satellite TV company in the entire world. Why are so many people choosing Direct TV over regular cable television For starters, Direct TV offers access to hundreds of channels, bringing a plethora of programming into private homes, apartments, condominiums, commercial properties, airports, bars, and restaurants, as well as numerous other locations.
4). Direct TV Total Choice Premier By : dave4 The Total Choice Premier Channel Package from DIRECTV includes practically every channel offered in the United States for a great price. You get all the sports channels, movie channels, news channels, shopping channels and tons of specialty and informational programming like “The Learning Channel” and “The Food Network.” You even get your local channels so you can see local news and local programming.
5). Is Dish TV a Valuable Alternative By : dave4 Are features offered by Dish TV making its Satellite TV service a valuable alternative? With interactive tools, guides, and myriad options made available to every subscriber, the offerings made by Dish TV cannot be surpassed. Moreover, the affordability of Dish TV’s services seems almost criminal when one considers all of the incredible options made available to them with Dish TV’s amazing features! In fact, it is no surprise that Dish TV has been deemed the number one Satellite TV company in terms of customer service by J.
6). What Is A Fossil? By : Claudia Mann What is a fossil? While this is a simple question, the answer can be simple or a bit more complicated. The short and sweet answer to that question is “A fossil is the remains or evidence of any creature or plant that lived on the earth in a past geologic age.” But there are so many KINDS of fossils. A more important question for a curious student is “What kinds of fossils are there?” The answer to that question will take a bit more exploration.
7). Is Solar Power The Immediate Answer To Our Energy Woes ? By : L.Beauley We are looking for an across-the-board solution for our present exorbitant consumption of gasoline and it seems as though there is none, at least for the present. We are looking at Ethanol additive to our present gasoline formulas, but this will only give us better miles per gallon and of course, much cleaner bi-products with its use. Ethanol becomes a temporary fix.
8). The Energy Waste Dilemma By : L.Beauley Date: 04-23-06 With the price of gasoline on the upswing(again, April 20, 06), there seems to be little sign that we Americans are at least trying to conserve fuel, though there are pockets of concerned groups that are making their voice heard, mainly against Oil Company price gouging. At the same time the automotive advertising media seems to be pushing the higher gas consumption Suv's and cars.
9). Energy Conservation By : L.Beauley The Role We Can Each Play ========================= We can all play a part in lessening our reliance on fossil fuels. A- Use low-energy lamps such as CFL replacements for as many incandescent lightbulbs as possible in our home or apartment. B- Turn off all lamps in areas where they are not needed. C- Turn down water heater temperature to between 120-125 degrees.
10). Talk About "Hidden" Costs...Technically Speaking By : L.Beauley 7:47 PM 4/24/2006 Author: Lucien Beauley Lighting Facts...I Wanna Know ! Each one of us, at one time or another has either driven or been a passenger in an automobile and experienced our traffic control lighting system. Originally unique, but now part of a global system. Situated at every fully functional traffic light intersection is at least one "Red" light which is timed to turn on and off regularly to "Stop" traffic.