Humidity Utopia w/ Nikki & Bryan

HVAC School - For Techs, By Techs

This podcast episode is Nikki Krueger (Santa Fe Dehumidifiers) and Bryan's 2023 HVACR Training Symposium session about how we can optimize dehumidification and efficiency to create an HVAC design and humidity utopia.

While we attempt to achieve comfort and high indoor air quality in humid climates, we may find challenges integrating these with the HVAC system and getting customers to understand the need for proper dehumidification. Older homes that are built "leaky" allow for uncontrolled infiltration and exfiltration, but newer constructions are a lot tighter and rely on mechanical ventilation to control where the outdoor air comes from and make sure it is properly filtered and distributed.

We deal with both sensible and latent BTUs in a home, and we can't treat them as though they're all equal. Many high-efficiency systems have high sensible heat ratios (SHRs) and are designed to remove sensible BTUs very efficiently, but they're not adequate at removing latent BTUs. Ideally, we would rely on an A/C system or heat pump to dehumidify the air in cooling mode before adding a dehumidifier. However, some of the systems that are best equipped to handle high latent loads will be less efficient.

If you wish to install supplemental humidification, the ideal design will have a dedicated return and tie into the main HVAC supply duct.

Nikki and Bryan also discuss:

• Willis Carrier's real invention
• Strategies for reducing conductive, convective, and radiant gains
• Understanding relative humidity and dew point
• Design loads
• Electrification and energy efficiency incentives
• Adiabatic heating and cooling
• Single-stage vs. multi-stage equipment
• Dehumidification for ductless mini-splits
• Supplemental dehumidifier designs

Learn more about Santa Fe Dehumidifiers at https://www.santa-fe-products.com/.

Learn more about the HVACR Training Symposium or buy a virtual ticket today at https://hvacrschool.com/symposium.

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