DeLonghi produce dehumidifiers that operate on one of two operating principles –
Refrigerant types
Air is drawn into the machine from all over the house (providing there is free air flow i.e. doors open). Water is removed from the air by passing over a refrigerated evaporator and the warm dry air is released to the atmosphere.
- A fan sucks in moisture laden air and draws it first through a filter removing house dust particles. This helps to ease allergies.
- The air is then carried along to the evaporator which runs very cold. At this cold temperature moisture is not able to stay in the air and condenses into water droplets which collect in a container below.
- The cool, dried (dehumidified) air is then passed to the condenser (which runs hot) to warm the air before returning it to the room, resulting in warm, dry and filtered air in the atmosphere of your home.
All De'Longhi models have a humidistat that allows you to set the degree of relative humidity that you feel most comfortable with. The humidistat will switch the machine on and off accordingly to maintain the desired humidity level. Humidistats also help save on running costs as you do not need to have it running on full power all the time.
Desiccant types
The desiccant dehumidification process uses a special humidity-absorbing material (known as a desiccant) to extract moisture from the air passed against it. The now saturated material then passes to a different position where the saturation is driven off by heating.
To achieve this, DeLonghi desiccant types set the absorbing material within a large slowly rotating wheel, passing the separate de-humidifying and drying stages as a continual cycle. Desiccant dehumidifiers are ideal solution in high humidity, low temperature situations where refrigerants' are less effective.