Dehumidification

Erich Kesse was wondering on Feb. 26 how his portable air filtration
device also acted as a dehumidifier, since there was no resulting
condensation.  The answer to that one is easy:  it doesn't.  Any device
that takes water out of the air has to put it somewhere, and if there is
no connection to the outside, the water is still in the room, in either
liquid or gaseous form.  If the air purifier motor generates any heat at
all, it will heat the surrounding air and consequently lower the RH.

There may be an unrecognized connection to the outside, however. A
window air conditioner moves condensed moisture outside and lets it drip
down beside the building on passers-by.  But in February, even in
Florida, air conditioners are probably not yet in use.

The rational way to go about solving the mystery, however, is first to
establish whether a mystery exists.  Have the temperature and RH been
recorded in an ongoing basis, before and after turning the air purifier
on?

                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 5:43
                 Distributed: Thursday, March 12, 1992
                        Message Id: cdl-5-43-001
                                  ***