Using air conditioning and humidifiers together

[poppysdad]

Seems a contradiction to use both together judging by the amount of water our air conditioner places outside every morning but I wake up a couple of times a night for a toilet visit with a dry throat and lips. My wife suffers even more so than I do. Before anyone suggests the obvious air conditioning does greatly improve my breathing issues. 

So, anyone have experiences of using both together and was it successful plus any advice on models and make etc. 

[scubascuba3]

I used a humidifier night time for a period along with the AC, it worked, stopped my dry gravely throat.

 

I can't recall the make just look on Lazada at reviews, around 600 baht, friend bought a Xiaomi and loves it, easy to clean, more expensive though.

 

Also check your AC isn't on dry mode

[JBChiangRai]

In theory, there is no reason why you shouldn't run both, keep the humidifier away from the inlet duct of the aircon.

 

Also, running you air con fan as fast as you can help.  The air will be delivered faster and warmer and dehumidified less.  If you want the science behind this, let me know.

[ravip]

1 hour ago, JBChiangRai said:

In theory, there is no reason why you shouldn't run both, keep the humidifier away from the inlet duct of the aircon.

 

Also, running you air con fan as fast as you can help.  The air will be delivered faster and warmer and dehumidified less.  If you want the science behind this, let me know.

 If you want the science behind this, let me know - would be great. 

Thank you 

[JBChiangRai]

54 minutes ago, ravip said:

 If you want the science behind this, let me know - would be great. 

Thank you 

 

Warm air can contain more moisture than cool air, if you cool warm moist air the dew point lowers and water can condense out, you see this dripping out the drain pipe of you air con's waste.

 

If your fan is running slowly and the air con is currently cooling at (say) 12,000 BTU the air coming out the air con will be colder than if the fan is running at a high speed while cooling at the same rate of (say) 12,000 BTU.

 

Running at a high fan speed cools the room slightly more as if it were running slow, but the air coming out is warmer and because it's warmer the dew point is higher and less water is condensed out.

 

The reason running the fan faster cools the room slightly more is that condensing water out of the air uses some of your cooling capability, the less you condense water the more cooling capacity is used to cool the air.

 

 

[johng]

3 hours ago, poppysdad said:

I wake up a couple of times a night for a toilet visit with a dry throat and lips.

What temperature are you setting the aircon to ? 

try 27-28 degrees and a fan if its still too warm.

[poppysdad]

Currently johng its set at 27° on a cool automatic setting with ion cleaning set to on. Works very efficiently but this constant and sometimes very dry throat and lips is becoming a nuisance, I always have a bottle of water bedside and take a few mouthfuls each time i wake but my wife more so since she recovered from COVID now many months ago really suffers a lot worse than I do. 

[johng]

Ion cleaning ?   perhaps it's ozone causing or exacerbating the dry throat...?   might be useful to buy a hydrometer (cheap )  to gauge how humid the air is,   below 40%  humidity most people start to suffer the symptoms you describe 50-60%  humidity would be more comfortable on throat but still feeling cool on the skin.

 

As suggested above check that the auto mode doesn't include a bit of "drying" too.

[AAArdvark]

I use a dehumidifier. I had %70 before. 

[johng]

20 minutes ago, AAArdvark said:

I use a dehumidifier. I had %70 before. 

How low do you like your humidity ?   70% ++  is quite "normal" for Thailand. 

[CecilM]

Try a warmer setting, like 25° on the A/C. 

[johng]

4 hours ago, CecilM said:

Try a warmer setting, like 25° on the A/C. 

No that is a cooler setting.  25 degrees C is cooler than 27 degrees C

[outsidetrader]

I do and they work fine together .

[xtrnuno41]

You wake up several times a night, your mouth is dry.

Maybe you have sleep apneu? 

Once it started with me , waking up in the morning with a very dry throat/mouth.

Didnt feel like me, so to doctor, hospital and diagnosed sleep apneu, over 40 stops in a night.

Sleeping in the night, had no problems, didnt wake up, but in the morning, no fun. First thing was water.

But probably depending on your condition.

The higher the setting of temperature of airco, the more moist.

You put humidifier in room, first more moist , but airco will take it out again.

You could also put a tile of water in the room, as the water will evaporate, depending on temp setting airco.

That will cost you no extra energy. Maybe worth a try. Draw a line on the level of water and you can see in teh morning how much water was evaporated during the night.

 

[AndreasHG]

On 10/9/2024 at 3:26 PM, JBChiangRai said:

If your fan is running slowly and the air con is currently cooling at (say) 12,000 BTU the air coming out the air con will be colder than if the fan is running at a high speed while cooling at the same rate of (say) 12,000 BTU

 

Good post but this only works with obsolete air-conditioners.

 

If the air-conditioner is equipped with a good quality inverter, the cooling capacity is adjusted based on the airflow, being the temperature set point the guiding factor.

At lower fan speeds the cooling rate would not be 12,000 BTU anymore, but let's say 6,000, even 4 or 3,000 BTU for a high-quality inverter, capable of operating at a wide RPM range.

 

Instead of using an obsolete, inefficient (electricitty-guzzling) air-conditioner, and a dehumidifier to fix its pitfalls (more electricity down the drain), I would recommend you install an efficient, high-quality Japanese inverter unit (plenty of them also made in Thailand). Possibly with dual rotor compressor for the highest RPM operating range. This will improve your comfort and save you money in the long run.

[JBChiangRai]

4 minutes ago, AndreasHG said:

 

Good post but this only works with obsolete air-conditioners.

 

If the air-conditioner is equipped with a good quality inverter, the cooling capacity is adjusted based on the airflow, being the temperature set point the guiding factor.

At lower speeds the cooling rate would not be 12,000 BTU anymore, but let's say 6,000, even 4 or 3,000 BTU for a high-quality inverter, capable of operating at a wide RPM range.

 

Instead of using an obsolete, inefficient (electricitty-guzzling) air-conditioner, and a dehumidifier to fix its pitfalls, I would recommend you install an efficient, high-quality Japanese inverter unit (plenty of them also made in Thailand). Possibly with dual rotor compressor for the highest RPM operating range. This will improve your comfort and save you money in the long run.

 

You've got it mostly right.

 

On an inverter model the compressor speed will be adjusted based on how far off the set temperature is from the ambient temperature, it doesn't have anything to do with airflow unless you have selected an airflow which is too slow to support the speed it would like to run the compressor in which case the compressor's maximum speed will be throttled. You're right in saying the compressor could be delivering anything between 3,000 and 12,000 BTU depending on the gap between set & ambient temperatures.

 

If you want less dehumidification, set the airflow as high as possible (this is true on both inverter and non-inverter units).  The room temperature will be maintained just the same but less dehumidification will take place.

 

I think you may have been talking about the fan's "Auto" setting.  The air con will adjust both compressor speed and fan speed based on how far apart the set temperature and the ambient temperature are.

 

I disagree on choosing Japanese units, the newer Chinese ones, eg TCL are every bit as good and less than half the price.

[Tropicalevo]

22 hours ago, xtrnuno41 said:

You wake up several times a night, your mouth is dry.

Maybe you have sleep apneu? 

Totally agree with the sleep apnoea thought.

To the OP

Ask the local doc or hospital for a sleep test.

[AndreasHG]

8 minutes ago, JBChiangRai said:

I disagree on choosing Japanese units, the newer Chinese ones, eg TCL are every bit as good and less than half the price.

 

Chinese units are just as good v/s competition as their prices are. But to each its own.