I'm thinking of getting one of these for my office, but have a question about how it disposes of the water. Does it work like a dehumidifier where you have to empty a bucket every now and then, or does it somehow exhaust it via the hot air exhaust out a window ?
the kind we had at work in some of the offices as a backup when the very large cent units went out.. you had a 5 gallon jug that you had to remove and pour down a drain to get rid of the water... no problem, it was alot better then suffering in an office building that had no windows to open and the parts were on order for the large central unit...i would rather lift the water than to have to wipe it off my forehead........
I assume the unit has some sort of safety shut off in case you aren't around when the bucket fills ?
I got a portable floor unit because my upstairs window a/c that came with a home built 1910, glued into an framed opening in top half of window (silicone sealer and expanded foam), suddenly failed when the heat came, and my other windows have steel storm window/screens that may not be easy to remove.
The floor unit is a Maytag 8000 btu (basically a Fedders with full 5 yr warranty instead of 1/5 limited). As is commonly done with window units too, I think the condensate is slung at the condenser to help cool it with evaporation, and is expelled in the form of water vapor out the vent hose. If too much water accumulates, it will automatically shut down until drained. I have only had it for a few days (including temps in mid-90s), but so far it does the job and has not required draining.
It does cost twice as much as a window unit, but it is more easily installed without help, can be installed where a window unit cannot, and can easily be moved to a different room or location.
And when I get around to replacing the upstairs window unit, I can use it on its dehumidify setting to dry (and cool) my half exposed basement, which starts getting warm in midsummer.
Question...
Are you saying that the condensate is slung back into the room air?
If yes.... isn't that bad for people who suffer from allergies?
OK
Im curious
Would a reg de-humdifier actually cool a room pretty well in the fact that it would be removing the moisture form the air?
I mean... with a portable AC you have two units ... one that sets inside and one that must set outside to pump the heat out, right?
Whereas with a de-humdifier its one unit only as all its doing is removing humidity from the air. So.... by that very fact Im wondering if just removing the humidity could make a room feel cooler?
The heat from condensor and re-evaporated condensate of a portable unit is exhausted through a 4" vent hose (like a dryer vent) to outside through a small window mounted panel. This draws in some outside air somewhere, so you are not breathing the same stale air all day long.
A dehumidifier is like an air conditioner, but the air that is cooled by the evaporator to remove the moisture is then reheated passing through the condenser (instead of being vented outside). So the air ends up drier, but slightly warmer.
That is a mini split, which is efficient because it just has small tubes between inside and outside units and no duct losses, but it is not portable and not generally DIY.
A dehumidifier can make it feel somewhat cooler since the drier air has more moisture holding capability (effective evaporative cooling of your skin instead of soaking sweat), especially if your a/c is oversize and does not remove enough humidity due to short cycling. But they are most commonly used to stop cold pipes from sweating in a cool damp basement since cold air cannot hold as much moisture.
I know my dehumidifier warms up my finished basement considerably. On a very humid 80F outside day, it can be 70-72F in the basement and clammy. The dehumidifier works great to remove the moisture and clammy feel, but in a matter of 3-4 hours the room is over 80F. I'm using a 50pint/day unit in a
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