Solar Powered Dehumidifiers
Monday, 12th October 2009
Dehumidifiers go green and environment friendly with a range of solarpowered dehumidifiers from SolarVenti UK . Unlike a traditional dehumidifier which will need to be plugged into a power socket in your house, these dehumidifiers are powered entirely by the sun.With zero running costs and no CO2 emissions they seem like the perfect solution. So are they the perfect dehumidifier?
Whats Good
Theres lots to like about these dehumidifiers from SolarVenti, they are environment friendly, cost nothing to run, no CO2 emissions and will provide warm dry air for inside your home. From looking at the SolarVenti website the units come in a range of sizes and can be mounted on roofs or walls. As the unit is mounted outside there is no loss of space inside the home. We would expect these units to be extremely reliable as the only moving part is the solar powered fan. No water buckets to empty and no noise either.
Whats Bad
For this to be a fair and useful review we need to highlight the downsides to this unit, and this is where it starts to get difficult because we really struggled to think of any! The only thing we could find was the initial cost. As of October 2009 Prices start at £362 for an SV2 and go all the way up to £2849 for a SV30H that also provides hot water, but its not fair to compare the cost of these to the cost of a standard dehumidifier. When you factor in that these units cost nothing to run and that the top models can also provide hot water the initial outlay isn't the only thing you should be considering. We were just about to sit down and attempt to work out the cost difference including running costs when we found that SolarVenti have already done this for us. According to the SolarVenti analysis a SolarVenti unit will have cost (purchase and running costs combined) the same as a traditional unit at the 3 year mark. After that the SolarVenti is saving money each year as it costs nothing to run. SolarVenti have published the data used to make this comparison, we took a look and found the values and assumptions made to be perfectly reasonable.
How it Works
Having never seen one of these units before we have to rely on the SolarVenti website to explain it. The concept is quite simple, sunlight falls on the unit and warms dry, fresh air from outside that is then vented inside the home. A small solar PV cell powers a fan to help circulate the air.
Carbon Cops - SV30 SolarVenti
Here's an interesting video found on YouTube where the Carbon Cops installed a SolarVenti SV30 into a home to help with drying clothes. Take a look at the video to see one in action.
Conclusion
Most homes these days have modern doors and windows that seal against drafts very well. While this is great for keeping the warmth in when its cold outside there is an increasing problem of not getting enough fresh air in to the house. Being able to get fresh, warm and dry air into your home without increasing your fuel bills is a big advantage that standard dehumidifiers just cant offer. We think the solar powered dehumidifier is a great idea and as we all need to reduce our CO2 emissions we expect that this unit will become a common sight on homes all over the world.