Let's Just Get It Over With, ok?

Let's Just Get It Over With, ok?

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nervous

Original Poster:

24,050 posts

230 months

Thursday 20th November 2014
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Biker's Nemesis said:
BN do you have any experience of that/ those models of dehumidifier?

HertsBiker

6,309 posts

271 months

Thursday 20th November 2014
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Oh you wuss. Ride the bloody things. Indoor covers ffs....! Wish I had a shed or garage. Outdoors mine live, mostly with a cover.

nervous

Original Poster:

24,050 posts

230 months

Thursday 20th November 2014
quotequote all
HertsBiker said:
Outdoors mine live, mostly with a cover.
Wait. Are you the guy that keeps calling me and saying "a sister, you have" then hanging up? Because it's not funny.

Wedg1e

26,803 posts

265 months

Thursday 20th November 2014
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I have a dehumidifier that I bought for £69 from Bodgit & Quik nine years ago to dry out Wedg1e Villas after a leaking shower incident... then I found it was great for drying clothes overnight in winter. It's probably run virtually continuously for six of those nine years, week in, week out. On a damp laundry day it'll pull 6L out of the air in as many hours.

I don't use it for the bikes though.

nervous

Original Poster:

24,050 posts

230 months

Friday 21st November 2014
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Wedg1e said:
I have a dehumidifier that I bought for £69 from Bodgit & Quik nine years ago to dry out Wedg1e Villas after a leaking shower incident... then I found it was great for drying clothes overnight in winter. It's probably run virtually continuously for six of those nine years, week in, week out. On a damp laundry day it'll pull 6L out of the air in as many hours.

I don't use it for the bikes though.
No one likes a show off.

Biker's Nemesis

38,652 posts

208 months

Friday 21st November 2014
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nervous said:
BN do you have any experience of that/ those models of dehumidifier?
I have just ordered one

moanthebairns

17,939 posts

198 months

Friday 21st November 2014
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Biker's Nemesis said:
nervous said:
BN do you have any experience of that/ those models of dehumidifier?
I have just ordered one
if it has and overflow device your on to a winner. Its essentially a valve at the back that you hook up with rubber tubing and feed to a drain.

Saying that if you have a garage next to your house you could just empty it each day. That only takes out 500ml a day, that's not bad mines takes out 1.5 litres or something. After a few days though, providing the doors are shut they take out all the moisture they can feasibly take out.

Honestly its a great invention I wouldn't be without one now. They basically work by drawing in air and running it over a cold evaporation coil, as the air passes the moisture in the air clings onto this, and drips down into a drip tray. The air passed out contains less moisture. I cant remember if this actually raises the temperature of the room by a degree or two, but apparently your body sweat doesn't evaporate as quickly in an atmosphere with no moisture in the air, making you feel warmer.

MC Bodge

21,628 posts

175 months

Friday 21st November 2014
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moanthebairns said:
I cant remember if this actually raises the temperature of the room by a degree or two, but I apparently your body sweat doesn't evaporate as quickly in an atmosphere with no moisture in the air, making you feel warmer.
The dehumidifier re-heats the air a little.

Reduced humidity in a room allows your body to evaporate more sweat. When it is humid the body sweat can't evaporate, you feel clammy and you can't regulate your temperature as effectively.

Too little humidity causes the mucous membranes and eyes to dry out and is not pleasant either.

moanthebairns

17,939 posts

198 months

Friday 21st November 2014
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MC Bodge said:
moanthebairns said:
I cant remember if this actually raises the temperature of the room by a degree or two, but I apparently your body sweat doesn't evaporate as quickly in an atmosphere with no moisture in the air, making you feel warmer.
The dehumidifier re-heats the air a little.

Reduced humidity in a room allows your body to evaporate more sweat. When it is humid the body sweat can't evaporate, you feel clammy and you can't regulate your temperature as effectively.

Too little humidity causes the mucous membranes and eyes to dry out and is not pleasant either.
Thanks.

moanthebairns

17,939 posts

198 months

Friday 21st November 2014
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I have to say that when I use mines in the house I find its humming noise totally hypnotic, its a sort of white noise that sends me into a deep sleep.

MC Bodge

21,628 posts

175 months

Friday 21st November 2014
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Ps. Colder air can hold less water, so in a given space, the relative humidity (ie. % of the maximum at a given temperature, not the absolute humidity) will increase if the temperature is lowered and will decrease if the temperature is raised.

creampuff

6,511 posts

143 months

Friday 21st November 2014
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It would make more sense to have British homes heated and cooled by reverse cycle air-conditioners. They are around 200-300% efficient (you get more heat out than energy you put in) as they are heat pumps, not heaters. They also dehumidify the air.

moanthebairns

17,939 posts

198 months

Friday 21st November 2014
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creampuff said:
It would make more sense to have British homes heated and cooled by reverse cycle air-conditioners. They are around 200-300% efficient (you get more heat out than energy you put in) as they are heat pumps, not heaters. They also dehumidify the air.
They have started to do this have they not, but not all homes are suitable. Or certainly not all homes can receive the benefits in every room.

MC Bodge

21,628 posts

175 months

Friday 21st November 2014
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moanthebairns said:
They have started to do this have they not, but not all homes are suitable. Or certainly not all homes can receive the benefits in every room.
They can work well if it is not extremely cold so, as somebody has said, good for most of the UK most of the time. Colder parts of Scotland might need extra heating. Ground source heat pumps can work well, but more difficult to implement and maintain.

creampuff

6,511 posts

143 months

Friday 21st November 2014
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MC Bodge said:
They (reverse cycle air cons) can work well if it is not extremely cold so, as somebody has said, good for most of the UK most of the time. Colder parts of Scotland might need extra heating. Ground source heat pumps can work well, but more difficult to implement and maintain.
The problem with them is that because they are heat pumps, the outside bit gets very very cold. If it is already freezing outside, then the outside unit will be well below freezing, which means ice can form on it and ice is a good insulator so then your air con doesn't work. You can get around this by running the air-con as cooling (so the inside of your house gets cold!) and the outside unit gets hot and then have a heating element to reheat the cold air-conditioned air, but that is very inefficient. It's been years since I researched air-cons but reverse cycle aircons are common in North America, which tells me that there is a way to make them efficient at heating and cooling in a wide range of outdoor temperatures.

Cabinet Enforcer

497 posts

226 months

Friday 21st November 2014
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For shed use it's best to take some care in picking a dehumidifier. The more common refrigerant type can work out more efficient, but this depends on air temperature, they get less and less effective as the air gets colder, many of them basically don't work below about 5degC.

Since most of the concern when storing bikes/cars etc in sheds arise when it is cold, the sensible choice is a dessicant type, they aren't bothered by cold temps as much. I got a DD122fw a couple of years ago and it has been on most of the time since then, has encouraged me to do some work making the shed more airtight though.

MC Bodge

21,628 posts

175 months

Friday 21st November 2014
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creampuff said:
The problem with them is that because they are heat pumps, the outside bit gets very very cold. If it is already freezing outside, then the outside unit will be well below freezing, which means ice can form on it and ice is a good insulator so then your air con doesn't work. You can get around this by running the air-con as cooling (so the inside of your house gets cold!) and have a heating element to reheat the air, but that is very inefficient. It's been years since I researched air-cons but reverse cycle aircons are common in North America, which tells me that there is a way to make them efficient at heating and cooling in a wide range of outdoor temperatures.
Ground source is effective as the ground temp (below the surface) remains relatively constant.

Air source Heat/cool pumps are used in some buildings in the UK, but as you say, they do have limitations.

The USA has traditionally had cheap fuel so they have been less concerned about the cost of it.

WinstonWolf

72,857 posts

239 months

Friday 21st November 2014
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C'mon Nervy, use the fking science. Spray it with GT85 or similar. No oxygen = no corrosion.

LiquidGnome

551 posts

121 months

Friday 21st November 2014
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5 months!? Are your bikes made of paper mache?

Wacky Racer

38,160 posts

247 months

Friday 21st November 2014
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nervous said:
So, covers off, dehumidifier on, yes?
This. You will be amazed how often you have to empty the collection tank.

Lift the dehumidifier up a couple of feet, (Stand it on a stool), drill a very small hole in your shed and run a hosepipe from the dehumidifier outlet (taking the tank out), through the hole so the water continuously drains outside onto the grass/hardstanding.

All this is assuming you have an electric supply to your shed.

It will cost a bit in electric all winter, but this is small fry compared to possible damage to your bikes.

(If your dehumidifier (like mine) has a plastic trip tumbler stop, wedge it open so you get continuous drainage.)

Also done this in my motorhome, I reckon it's removed about ten bathfuls of water, that otherwise would have been absorbed into the walls, causing damp issues.