How Do Commercial Dehumidifiers Work?

Maintaining the humidity levels at an optimum level in any environment, especially a commercial space, is of utmost importance. It ensures maximum comfort, provides protection to your equipment and building’s structure, and also improves the productivity and well-being of the workers. Commercial dehumidifiers are made to achieve this goal and provide numerous other benefits.

However, when it comes to the working of commercial dehumidifiers, people have a lot of confusion because they are not a one-size-fits-all solution. The way commercial dehumidifiers remove moisture can be a little complicated to understand for beginners.

So, the goal of this article is to thoroughly discuss the working of commercial dehumidifiers in a simple and easy-to-understand manner.

Overview of Commercial Dehumidifiers

Commercial dehumidifiers come in different sizes, categories, and types to maintain a comfortable and healthy indoor environment in varying commercial spaces. They range from portable dehumidifiers to full-fledged commercial dehumidifier packages. Ultimately, your choice is dependent on the scale and size of your commercial area.

The primary goal of commercial humidifiers is to regulate the moisture level in the air and improve respiratory health by reducing dampness. Many advanced features, such as automatic shut-off, digital mechanisms, and filters, are available in commercial dehumidifiers to enhance their usage and benefits.

Hospitals, offices, hotels, data centers, crawl spaces, flooded buildings, warehouses, and other large commercial areas are typically equipped with dehumidifiers.

Benefits of Commercial Dehumidifiers

Investing in a commercial dehumidifier is a smart choice because it offers many benefits, such as:

• Removing a high quantity of humidity from the air quickly.
• Too much humidity can lead to many health issues. Commercial dehumidifiers are vital to improve the indoor air quality and respiratory health of people working in such environments.
• Dampness also damages a building's structure and equipment. Installing a commercial dehumidifier helps you minimize the chances of such damage.
• The investment you make in a commercial dehumidifier is much lower than the long-term maintenance costs incurred by corrosion, rotting, and molding caused by humidity.

Key Components of Commercial Dehumidifier

A commercial dehumidifier is a large-scale device composed of several different components to pull out large quantities of water from the air. They include well-built, powerful fans, big coils, and a smart drainage system to function even in the most challenging and humid environments.

Some of the common components of a commercial dehumidifier are:

• Intake fan to pull humid air into the unit.
• The evaporator coil (cold coil) condenses water vapor into liquid.
• A compressor to pump refrigerant through the system and increase pressure.
• The condenser coil (hot coil) releases heat into the surrounding environment.
• An expansion device to lower refrigerant pressure, so it can evaporate and absorb heat.
• Drain the pan and plumbing to collect condensed water.
• Smart controls, including humidistat, defrost controls, and safety

Working of a Commercial Dehumidifier

The exact working and components of a commercial dehumidifier can vary depending on its type and size. But generally, here’s how a dehumidifier works:

1. Air Intake

The first step is to bring in the damp air into the unit with the help of a powerful fan. These fans are much more efficient and powerful than residential dehumidifiers because they are designed to handle a large quantity of air over a massive area. Moreover, the air intake and overall air circulation process are quite fast to ensure quick humidity disposal.

2. Condensation

The next step in the working of a commercial dehumidifier involves passing the air across chilled coils. The humidity in the air is compressed into drops when it comes into contact with the cold surfaces.

This is the main working principle of almost every other type of dehumidifier, including commercial dehumidifiers and crawl space dehumidifiers.

3. Water Collection or Disposal

The next step in the working of a commercial dehumidifier involves passing the air across chilled coils. The humidity in the air is compressed into drops when it comes into contact with the cold surfaces.

Distilled water is collected in a container ot is disposed of via a drain hose. A commercial dehumidifier with a pump usually shifts water to a closer drain to ensure continual activity. This is also important in commercial areas where it is not ideal to pause the machine to free a tank.

4. Reheating Dry Air

After the water disposal, the air is passed through hot coils to make it room temperature. The commercial dehumidifier then moves the air back into the area. This step is useful to reduce the dampness slowly and also sustain the indoor air quality.

The above four steps are typically performed as part of the continuous operation in commercial dehumidifiers. They are equipped with smart controls to ensure regular working. Modern commercial dehumidifiers can even work for days without the need for closing or restarting.

Types of Commercial Dehumidifiers

The working of commercial dehumidifiers is also dependent on the type of system you are using. So, let’s get familiar with some of the most common types of commercial dehumidifiers:

1. Refrigerant Dehumidifier

Refrigerant dehumidifiers involve using a refrigerant and a compressor to suck in damp air via a chill evaporator coil and liquefy it in the air. The coil unit then re-heats the dry air and returns it to the area. These are commonly used as garage dehumidifiers because they offer a quick and long-term solution.

2. Desiccant Dehumidifiers

Desiccant dehumidifiers use chemical desiccants to extract dampness instead of chilled coils. These dehumidifiers operate best in low temperatures, especially in environments where refrigerant units are lacking.

Cold storage spaces often use desiccant dehumidifiers, along with different commercial areas, during winter restoration tasks. Overall, desiccant dehumidifiers are suited for spaces with highly chill and humid atmospheres.

Low-Grain Refrigerant (LGR) Dehumidifiers

LGR dehumidifiers are the modern versions of normal refrigerant dehumidifiers. They are able to dehumidify the air more effectively by removing excess moisture, even in tough atmospheres. These are typically used in flood recovery areas and are also considered to be a type of industrial dehumidifier.

Ventilation Dehumidifiers

Ventilation dehumidifiers are meant to extract humidity and replace “dead air” with clean air simultaneously. These dehumidifiers are usually connected to large-scale HVAC systems to ensure optimum working. Schools, offices, and many other commercial buildings use these commercial dehumidifiers.

Choosing the Right Commercial Dehumidifier

Now that you are familiar with the working and different types of commercial dehumidifiers, let’s see the key factors that you should consider to pick the right type of unit for your requirements:

1. Size of Commercial Area: The size of the area you want to dehumidify has a direct impact on choosing the right unit. A larger space requires a dehumidifier with a higher capacity.

2. Optimum Humidity Level: Different areas have varying suitable humidity levels. So, you need to narrow down the desired humidity level and see which dehumidifier can help you achieve that. For example, a warehouse is likely to need a lower humidity level than a health facility.

3. Energy Efficiency: An energy-efficient commercial dehumidifier is the key to saving money on your energy bills over a long period. This is an important factor to consider because most commercial dehumidifiers run 24/7, so you should consider the energy bills as well.

Conclusion

Overall, commercial dehumidifiers are robust systems that help you remove excess moisture from the air and protect the building’s structure and equipment. Different types of dehumidifiers have different working processes, but the end goal of such systems is to ensure optimum air quality.

You can choose the best commercial dehumidifier for your business by determining the size of the area, evaluating digital controls, and ensuring regular maintenance. Moreover, contacting the humidifier experts is a quick and effective way of making sure you are choosing the best unit for your specific needs.