Feature
Humidification equipment efficiency is often product quality , or water quality dependent in the form of wastewater . Wasting hot water as a result of unsuitable water quality or bad equipment design affects both electricity and water efficiency use . Evaporative humidifiers can be big water wasters depending on the design and required flushing and draining requirements to prevent bacterial growth such as legionnaires disease ( condensing type ).
“ Desiccant de-humidifiers require greater applied energy than condensing types , However , if the requirement is for low temperature or low RH requirements , there is no choice but to use a desiccant solution ”, says Schalekamp .
TECHNOLOGY ADVANCES Kotze says , “ Basic principles have remained the same , however , efficiencies have improved . Reheating for instance can be provided via heat recovery from a four-pipe chiller or a VRF unit , or a heat pipe for instance , avoiding the high running cost of resistance heating techniques .”
Older technologies are most often way less economical to run , consuming more energy than what is needed by today ’ s standards . When there are newer , far more energy efficient alternatives out there that are also designed to
Humidair | Condair
An electrode-type humidifier .
reduce a collective carbon footprint through improved system optimisation , it just makes sense to take the upgrade step .
“ Structured media technology has seen great development in recent years . The use of this method of humidification has become very useful because the air will only absorb what it can
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RACA Journal I September 2021 www . hvacronline . co . za