Question:
I already have a dehumidifier. The humidity was hovering around 65 in the
shop, while it was 30-40 in the house and outside. It has a concrete slab
floor, insulated walls and attic, and a mostly glass north wall
(double-paned). I figure the moisture is coming from the floor (but then I
don't really know what I'm talking about). The dehumidifier has worked
great - I take about a gallon of water out of it every day (I need to hook
up the drain hose someday so I don't have to keep emptying the bucket) and
it keeps the humidity down to around 35-40. I've also had concern about the
dehumidifier getting damaged by dust, so I turn it off and cover it when I'm
generating dust. I need a better solution - it's a pain to deal with, and
the humidity starts rising the moment I turn it off.
I imagine the air conditioner will take some of the load off the
dehumidifier while it's running.
what do you think about the dust issue?
Answer:
I've just gone through buying airconditioners (window) for my house. Not
the shop but the house. The new units are really efficient. For $200,
Sears has a 5400 btu with digital controls and remote and it cools great.
We have it in a large bedroom and on all but the hottest days, it was
cooling the bedroom and the rest of the house too. For the really hot days,
we bought the 8000 btu version ($300) of the same unit and it really is
powerful. Cools the house down on the really hot, sticky days. Both these
units are made by Frigidaire and if Sears is out of stock on them you can go
over to Best Buy and get the ones with the Frigidaire name. That's what we
did with the 8000 unit. They have plastic filters that are fitted behind a
frame that snaps out. I'm thinking that for the shop, maybe you could tape
a disposable furnace filter right over the grill of the air conditioner. We
use to use these filters on the air conditioner on our boat where I was
making lots of sanding and saw dust and it really worked well
