Currently ambient is 95f and 88%rH.
So I bought an AC unit to help me Dry during the heat of summer.
BUYER BEWARE, there are some physics here that should be considered!
This unit is 6500 BTU. It also has de-humidification capability,
My Tent is 72 sq ft, in drying mode there is no heat from lights.
It has a hose that vents the hot air and moisture outside.
I stuck it in the tent and let ride for a few hours.
It brought the temp down nicely but damn if it didnt increase the humidity!
Played with settings, checked that water was coming out of the drain line, etc.
After a perplexing afternoon I figured out whats going on. It was because I went too cheap on the AC unit.
There are 2 types of portable ACs. One has a single hose, and the other has 2 hoses. This one was about $300, where the 2 hose models are about double that.
The hose exhausts the hot humid air to outside, and exhausts cool air inside the tent. On a single hose model the air being exhausted creates a vacuum inside the tent. It pulls all of the air being exhausted TO THE OUTSIDE from inside the tent. You can see the tent sides go concave.
See this for a more technical explanation:
I underestimated this effect!
It pulled so much of a vacuum and was pulling in so much hot/humid ambient air,to compensate for the vacuum, that it overwhelmed the dehumidifcation ability of the AC. The AC was dehumidifying just fine, water pouring from drain hose, but the incoming moisture just overwhelmed it.
The 2 hose models dont create this vacuum because one of the hoses intakes the air from the outside that it must exhaust. This lets the tent pressure stay neutral.
I ended up having to put a large 50pint dehumidifier inside the tent and then I was able to get conditions I could work with. Not very energy efficient, but it will get me through this harvest anyway. The big blips you see are from tripping the circuit breaker, had to spread out the electrical load a bit.
