It’s been a scorching few days, hasn’t it? We’ve all been longing for a cool, refreshing breeze! And when summer temperatures start to soar, we’re willing to do whatever it takes to find a little relief.
However, making a little economy when using these devices is essential if one does not want to run the risk of suffering a bloodletting at the end of the month.
That’s when you probe the Web for tips on how to optimize the use of these appliances and save a little on your utility bill. But how many of the tips one reads actually save money and how many are fake news?
One of the things you may often read in online articles and hear in videos is about using the dehumidifier mode of the air conditioner to save energy. But is this really the case or is it a hoax? Let’s see together.
Does dehumidifier mode really save money?
The air conditioner, in addition to cooling (or heating) the rooms in your home, also offers a dehumidifier function, a mode of use that is particularly useful during periods of high humidity, when the feeling of heat is accentuated.
Dehumidifier operation is simple: the air conditioner cools the indoor coils, condensing the moisture in the air, which is then discharged and expelled as condensation water.
In addition to mitigating the feeling of heat, the dehumidifier function improves the quality of the air inside the home, creating an environment less conducive to the growth of mold and dust mites.
But that’s not all: low humidity helps prevent condensation on walls and furniture, preventing structural damage and the appearance of unsightly stains that are dangerous to our health.
In short, using the air conditioner in dehumidifier mode provides undoubted advantages-among them, however, no savings in utility bills as is often thought-as technology and savings expert Valerio Renzetti explains in a recent video shared on TikTok.
Contrary to popular belief, the dehumidifier consumes more than the cooling mode: this is because, in order to collect moisture, the air conditioner must deliver more refrigerant gas to the evaporator, thus increasing energy consumption.
But the higher consumption depends not only on using the dehumidifier mode itself. Other factors contribute to the increased energy requirements of our appliance–for example:
- the amount of humidity in the room (a very humid environment “forces” the air conditioner to work harder)
- the type of electronics in the appliance (low energy class air conditioners have higher consumption)
- the temperature we have set (to reach a temperature very far from the temperature in the room, the air conditioner will consume more energy)
So, if we really want to save energy, we would do better to avoid dehumidifier mode-especially if our environment is very humid.
