There’s nothing better than walking into a apartment that is air conditioned on a hot & humid afternoon.
- It’s also a delight to walk into a basement that is nicely dehumidified & not damp & musty.
So what is the difference between an air conditioned versus a dehumidified home, & is one better than the other? The basic differences are in how they operate & what results from each. Air conditioners remove hot air & replace it with cold, but doesn’t remove fungus. Dehumidifiers remove moisture & fungus from the air, but not the hot air itself. Air conditioners remove many allergens from the air, whereas dehumidifiers remove mold & fungus. With cooling systems, the main options to choose from are window units, ductless systems, & central air conditioning. And dehumidifiers types include desiccant, thermoelectric, & refrigerated coil. Next there are the many features that both cooling systems & dehumidifiers offer, which could ultimately be the deciding factor for a consumer. Are you looking for something that treats the air in just one or two rooms? Then you might be delighted with a small, portable, straight-forward to install dehumidifier. It’s also much cheaper than other options. If you have a basement room or rooms that smell musty & feel damp, a wise option would be a dehumidifier which covers a wide range of space & also includes a sensor that detects the optimal level of fan speed & duration of the frost cycle. If it’s the above-ground rooms of the apartment that get easily hot & the feeling of dampness, then central air conditioning is the way to go. Finally, there’s the cost factor. Stand-alone dehumidifiers almost always cost less, but cooling systems that tackle both heat & dampness problems may be more efficient overall. Finally, dehumidifiers & cooling systems can be used together. The choices are many, but the features of both are what should be used to make your final decision.