dehumidifier question

[Swat]

Well , I've heard a few things about dehumidifier's. I was just wondering if anyone could give me more information on these things and if any benefits come to using them in watercooling. I've heard they drop the water temps a little below ambient and can be found for pretty cheap.


--- Thanks

 

[MonkeyShave]

I haven't heard of anybody using a dehumidifier for a waterchiller, but it would work like an air conditioner-based waterchiller. A dehumidifier and air conditioner both use the same principles, they use a compressor, evaporator, radiator, and working medium (freon in the old days, other substances today). The refridgeration loop effectively moves heat from one place to another (you can find detailed descriptions of the process online).

The difference between an air conditioner and a dehumidifier is the final destination of the heat. An air conditioner moves heat outside of your house (which leaves the air inside your house cooler) while a dehumidifier returns the heat to the air in your house (a dehumidifier first cools the air, which causes water to condense, then it rewarms it, since the heat needs to go somewhere, and returns the drier (and slightly warmer) air to your house).

A dehumidifer will tend to be smaller (and more self-contained) than an air conditioner, and could be less expensive, but you'll still need to dispose of the heat. One option would be to run a separate water loop over the dehumidifier radiator to a subterranean tank, another would be to air cool the dehumidifier radiator. Of course you'll want to look at the heat movement capacity of the units to determine if it would be worthwhile or not.

Here is a (not very descriptive IMO) brief article on dehumidifiers.