Can I just use a dehumidifier instead of the AC?

[Shane Griffee]

In the summer in Taipei, my 2 room place is kept cool by this old second hand air conditioner my school gave me for free. It makes the air feel cold, clammy and unnatural, and I think it wastes a lot of electricity. My electric bill during the summer is always over NT$3000.

I’m thinking of getting a dehumidifier instead of getting a new AC. It’s the humidity I hate, not the heat. It’s not cheap, but it seems to me a good dehumidifier would pay for itself when I wasn’t running the old rickety machine very often. Can anybody who has used both and has done more Taiwanese summers than me help me out?

[Eric Jeffs]

To be honest, if I had to go with one or the other, cost aside, I’d choose the AC because it cools and sucks some of the humidity out of the air (if it’s a half-decent machine). While it does use a lot of electricity, you can at least turn it off when you’re not there.

My family all got sick of the dehumidifier after a while because 1) you need to run it most of the time; 2) it’s good for only one room, and you need to keep that room pretty well sealed off or the humidity creeps back in; 3) following from number 2, it doesn’t do much good to run the humidifier with the windows open, so it’s just too unbearbly hot in the summer to use the dehumidify on its own; and 4) you have to empty the damn thing too often.

I used the dehumidifier more in the winter.

Hope this helps

[Adrian]

Well, you can get an air conditioner that has a dehumidifier function. Just run the dehumidifier most of the time and only use the a/c when it’s really necessary…

I have one at home and it also has a ‘dry clothes’ setting, but it wasn’t cheap ~

Personally, I cannot imagine living or even sleeping in Taipei for most of the year without an AC.

[Johnathan Robertson]

You should also consider getting someone in to recondition your old ac. If its old, reconditioning will vastly improve its efficiency and reduce your power bills.

God, I’m so glad I live out of the city and need no more than an electric fan to keep cool.

[David Jenner]

A dehumidifier only really keeps the humidity down enough to prevent your stuff from getting mouldy.

It usually isn’t sufficient to get rid of the humid feeling. If it is somehow keeping the humidity low enough, you’re probably going to be emptying out the water every day.

– Mine takes half a day to fill up when the dehumidification setting is on.

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