About Tim McAuley Expertise can answer general questions on air conditioning & heating. cannot answers questions on appliances.
Experience 19 yrs wholesale distribution of refrigeration & A/C equipment and related parts, 1 yr manufacturers representative for air conditioning & heating equipment, 10 yrs manufacturers of A/C & Heating equipment, 3 yrs with contractors as a mgr of service & sales. Currently employed with a manufacturer of heating & cooling thermostats for residential and light commercial applications.
Education/Credentials high school, some college. Many industry related schools & seminars, manufacturers education programs.
Question Mr. McAuley,
I did see a somewhat similar question on this topic, but... it didn't help me very much.
I have been almost battling with the management office at my apartment complex regarding my air conditioner. It will cool the air, but the air remains... clammy. My towels do not dry, my clothes that I hang do not dry. Following complications of surgery that have left me with a spinal injury, I currently spend most of my time in the apartment. The humidity makes it feel almost claustrophobic.
They told me that air conditioners do NOT handle humidity and nothing was wrong with the unit. It came down to me googling. After I asked, they cleaned the filter (very dirty), cleaned the evaporator coil (as if I even knew where it was!)and added a small amount of Freon to the air conditioner.
A day after all these "improvements" were complete, with the air pumping away at a temperature of 70 degrees, we hung up a gauge that measured 68 degrees of humidity! Five days later a tech was brought in (had to wait over the holiday weekend). The weather outside has not been humid for the past three days. I had opened the windows at times during the day and ran the air conditioner at night between 68 - 70. The humidity level went down to 54.
The tech told me there was nothing wrong with the air conditioner and it was not unusual for there to be 68 degrees of humidity in the apartment since it was summer and it was humid outside -- EVEN WITH THE AIR ON! This can't possibly be correct. Every article I have read says that a humidity level of 30 - 50 degrees is ideal and over 50 mold starts to breed (which is happening). I have lived in this complex previously and my towels DID DRY!
Oh -- one important thing. The air conditioning does not run continuously. It turns on and off as it reaches the desired temperature. (I did read somewhere that might be an issue since it cools so fast that it shuts off before having time to get rid of the humidity).
Do you have any ideas on what else could be causing this to be happening? I know that an oversize air conditioning unit could cause it residentially (I have been reading the site), but all the apts like mine have the same units. They are 10 years old. Since my profession is communications, I'll stop typing ideas and let you come up with the answers :-)
(Their current solution is to put weather strips on one of my doors and they see a stain on the ceiling over one of the air conditioning vents and are looking into a possible a leak from the roof).
Please help me :-) I know that 68 degrees of humidity with the air conditioning running full speed -- with towels that don't dry -- is NOT RIGHT.
Signed,
feeling kinda sweaty in NJ
(Robin)
P.S. They did put a dehumidifier in my apt when they were not believing this was an issue. Overnight it filled up half the bucket of water.
Answer Robin - It is true that an a/c system should be able to reduce humidity to a comfortable level. It is also true that systems that are oversized run for short cycles and do not run long enough to remove enough humidity.
It's really as simple as that. Did the dehumidifier help you to be more comfortable? If so, maybe that's the solution because I doubt the apt mgt will pop for a new unit.
When a/c & htg systems are designed, they have to take many factors into consideration including humidity.
There really isn't anything for me to add. As I said, it's really simple.
