ππ²Does your bike have a heat pump?
Thermostat only goes down to 64 π 61F and 79% humidity in the garage right now. I thought a spare AC could dehumidify this but I guess we need a heat gun too
Hold my beer I'm getting 80F on one side of this thing and 36F on the other, down to 75% on the hygrometer. I had to move the heatgun a few inches closer to keep it going, then wait on the compressor time delay a couple times. Heatgun says 350W but it's on I not II, if I hold my hand on the grille it's fine
I do see some water condensing in the pan. That will have to be modified to drain because window ACs like to splash your indoor humidity on their outdoor coil and then this exercise is just a ~600W heater. 69%
66% 63.5F It's pretty nice on the warm side of it. The outdoor fan blade is starting to splash in the water. A dehumidifier is probably quieter. The rains got into the underground /uphill part of the garage, and it took until just now for the puddles on the floor from Monday's bike fenders to dry out.
I think the way to drain the pan might be to tilt it slightly forward and drill a corner in the front.
Hole drilled, drained 3/4in into the bottom of a 5gal bucket. 77% 57.5F. Temp bulb stuck in a glove with hand warmer, heat gun off.
Oops this was not quite close enough and it shut off. Maybe if the cold air wasn't blowing on the heater
Trying something like a 15min cycle but it really needs a thermostat to keep the coil temp above freezing. Might be 10min. Maybe higher fan speed.
TransitBiker@enobacon a proper phase change dehumidifier would be far more energy efficient to dry a space like a garage. Emitting the late heat from the water. It collects allows for the ambient temperature in the space to climb which aids in further drying. Our dryer has been broken for months now and any essential clothing items. We simply put in the bathroom with a dehumidifier. Dehumidifier also works to dry the bathroom after shower. Only tradeoff is collection bin makes it larger than window unitοΏΌοΏΌοΏΌοΏΌ
@TransitBiker the air conditioner has a phase change, two coils and a compressor... What makes a dehumidifier different besides the control logic? Is the coil and compressor setup to make a smaller delta-T so it won't freeze? Other than avoiding cycling the compressor, what would make it more efficient?
@enobacon itβs more efficient because the evap coil sits directly next to the condenser coilοΏΌ in the same airflow. The warm exhaust air is dry, which further enhances the drying effect by pulling moisture out of stuff more quickly than without the warmer dry air.οΏΌοΏΌοΏΌοΏΌοΏΌοΏΌ The heat in the exhaust is only latent heat from the moisture that is condensing out of the air. You can run these continuously for as long as you need. Eventually, you will have a warmer and dry space without holes or tilting etc
@TransitBiker this exhausts into the room, so what makes a proper dehumidifier any more efficient than an AC which has been ducted to direct the cold air into the hot coil? Is it not actually any different in terms of icing-up or cycling of the compressor / smaller delta-T?
@enobacon it really depends on what youβre trying to do I guess. We have our set to continuous operation so it ignores any particular level of humidity in the air and just runs until we turn it offοΏΌ. οΏΌ https://youtu.be/j_QfX0SYCE8
Dehumidifiers are confusing. Here's why.
@TransitBiker I'm trying to avoid buying a dehumidifier or three when I have three unused window ACs. Even if I was using them during the summer, a quick hack to make them convertible might be worthwhile. It seems like just being able to heat a small resistor on a cyclic timer would be enough to keep it from freezing, modulo adjustment to changing conditions. Ideally would be to cycle the compressor based on keeping the temperature of the coil above freezing and below the dew point. π€·& 4 fun
@enobacon ducting & a drain bucket.
BjΓΆrn Stenberg@enobacon With the risk of misunderstanding what you are trying to do: You do know that relative humidity is a function of air temperature, right? If you want lower RH it's way more efficient to just run the heat pump in heat mode and remove the resistive heatgun.
@bjst it doesn't have a heat mode. I'm just messing with one of a few spare ac units which were replaced by heat pumps, to see how effective they would be as dehumidifiers (maybe I would duct the cold outlet into the other coil) because the rest of the house is warm but too humid.
@bjst I might buy a real dehumidifier for the house but the garage needs something to dry out the bikes and abusing an old window AC for that seems about right. Consulting the psychrometric chart, we would still need drying after heating 80% 60F to 70F (albeit less of it.)