Did Air Cond DRY mode really save energy/electricity?

dry mode makes the internal fan run slower to allow more moisture condensation. this means the blower uses a bit less power (maybe 2-5 Watt only).

BUT: dryer air feels colder (it allows for better body cooling). usually 65° humidity air feels 2-3° cooler to humans than "regular a/c air" when you set the AC to 28°. so in dry mode you only have to chill the room to 28° to feel like 25°. that is where the savings kick in.i would recommend to you to try it. for our house many rooms are in dry mode at 29 or even 30 degrees and they feel cool. my home office ist @ dry mode 30°, temp is 29.7° right now and it feels cold. actually a bit too cold. need long sleeves

using dry mode, set temp to 27º and sometimes even 28º cause too cold
saves electricity for sure

This post has been edited by idoblu: May 26 2017, 10:18 AM

Very interesting topic. DRY MODE *Activated*

If a person very sensitive to dryness is not a good method. Skin can get very itchy, throat can get very dry (especially sleeping)

When I switch on a/c at night, I will turn on humidifier and set 50%, because anything fall below 40% humidity wife always complain of throat pain, and my kids always cough at night.

i dont think i would want to use dry mode for a setting of 22° or so. i can however tell you if you use it within 30-28° you end up with 70-55 % humidity which is a comfort zone and it _feels_ like 25° to the human body. this is how you safe. you dont need to cool the room as much as in cool mode. also the lower humidty prevents mold nicely.

How you know the humidity %?


Why not use 22°C or so?

you can use a hygrometer. 22° is a crazy cold setting - way too cold and to dry if you can actually get your room down to 22°C. you need to set the temp and humidty to a comfortable level and not chill down because you can. then when you go in and out you will get sick.

very technical discussion.."dry mode *activated* too"

22c not cold lah. I used to set 22, sometime 21. Only now with kids and my wife sinus, i set it to 23c + humidifier 45%

Dry mode may make one feel cooler, but will damage sensitive skin and also make your mouth feel dry.

not sure if its only me or not..but when i used dry mode at 26'c from 7pm-7am (my bedroom wall facing west side so it will be very hot when coming back to work hence the 12hour period AC on), sometimes i did wake up around 3-4am because i feel quite hot..for the 1st 6hours or so, it feel like 24'c or something with dry mode, but after that, it felt warmer..

p/s: there are many factors i guess..your blanket type, mattress type, room environment and so on..so i'm not sure if the warmer condition is because of dry mode on for too long or other reasons.

that is why you want to use dry mode with a higher temp setting. you can adjust until hygrometer shows 55-65 % humidity. room will feel cool and comfy then. there is no need to go down to 22° to begin with and that will cause you problems also if you leave the house due to the higher temp-difference.

To me 26c better don't switch on lah, at night outside already 28-29c if use 26 i feel stuffy. I will use ventilation fan and open up windows feel much fresh.

Just like in office, if go anything >24c, will be very stuffy.

Interesting topic.
Stuffy is becoz of high humidity, or maybe too still or dead air.. not much air movement.

I dont really know how aircon work in dry mode.. but dehumidification or drying the air can only be done by having low cooling coil temperature.. coil must be below room dew point temperature for condensation to happen, thus moisture is removed from the air.
But the main energy consumption is usually at the compressor. Compressor is the one that make the coil cold, thus it need to consume energy.

Anyway, anyone care to share the data/ finding of this by sharing the setting on aircon, data taken from elec meter and room temperature?

good topic , need more info

I am guessing the reason is in dry mode, humidity control is the parameter compare to cool mode.
Are u able to take the room temperature? Take room dry bulb and wet bulb temperature.
Google search if dont know how to take wet bulb temperature. From there we can see the humidity %.

Usually lower humidity result in better comfort when u sweat.

which is why dry mode @ 28/27 is working. its dry and you wont feel stuffy. no harm done - try for yourself.

i can give you a precise humidity level for my place as i use a high-end hygrometer: A/C (invertrer) set to 28°C - humidity 50%. since the A/C maintains the temp and not the humidity level (would be even better) the humidity can go up to 65% at 28° when there is plenty of rain. however like this no fugus issues and air barely ever feels stuffy. if to cold outside i just lower by 1 °C and it will be around 50% again.

This post has been edited by PJusa: May 7 2017, 03:07 PM

Never set AC from 16 to 20, will use more energy and stress the compressor. Set to 24 and wait for the air to cool down naturally.

agreed with you ... even daikin technician recommend me to set 22 .. most of the time i will go for 22 , sometimes 23

Done before, not working for me, and my wife also complain stuffy.

maybe your room has too much airflow? or the aircon didnt suck enough moisture. did you check the humidity level? if you can get the moisture down to between 50-65% you should be comfy though 65% is bordering it. of course you need a rather sealed room as outside has high humidity levels when its not super hot. best controlled with a ventilation system. our house is completely A/Ced this way, fresh air coming only from aireguard fresh air system & bathroom and kitchen suction and the occasional door opening. proper door and window seals prevent humidity creeping inside. if like that you can effectively chill the house to 28° and hover between 45%-65% humidity at all times. That feels pretty comfy and as added bonus you dont have any issues with fungus or mold (too dry). but then mileage might vary. i think you might also need to control airflow to make this really work.

interesting

My room moisture level always remain around 45-55%, usually 45% when i switch on AC at 23c. Very likely is the human factor not the environment. I am a person can handle hot and cold, but not stuffy (stuffy make me vomit) and my daughter will complain "cannot breath". During rainy day when humidity is +80%, room windows are open and switch on Ventilation, we don't feel stuffy and room temperate around 27+-.

interesting. i dont know your personal situation so i cant really comment. 45% is normal for regualr mode and 23° as you set rather low. Personally I cannto stand the rainy day moisture levels so I adjust accordingly. Too bad dry mode doesnt work well for you then - the energy savings would be substantial as every degree you lower your room will roughly increase power needed by 10%.

How to check for humidity?

Hygrometers

lzd a alot

May I know where did you buy that hygrometer or where I can find a good one?

http://my.rs-online.com/web/ sells a cheap one: http://my.rs-online.com/web/p/digital-thermometers/4086109/

more (and better) choices:

http://www.unidex.my/products/thermo-hygrometers.html

Or build your own

https://www.lelong.com.my/arduino-dht11-tem...8-01-Sale-P.htm

I wonder how accurate is the reading.

Actually not that bad for the price. I made a temperature reading (another shield, not this) pretty accurate, i was testing it using Raspberry i2s bus logging server room data and push the data into cloud. I would say tolerance of +-5%

Cause this kits make it as hobby/DIY/project. Doesn't require accuracy as long as it cheap for hobby.

So I have this impression that this kits are not accurate.

There are cheap build sensor and also expensive sensor. Nevertheless is very often use for prototyping, once have a proper design and spec out, will have to properly build and test on different environment.

Do you've a dehumidifier or dehumidifier + air purifier 2 in 1?

why? i have an aircon which is a dehumidifier already. and i dont have to empty a bucket with it either

a dehumidifier is essentially a portable aircon. only difference is that the heat is not blown outside but "kept" in the room.

May I know what brand and price is this Air Con?

any inverter will do. i use pana

i brought at daiso rm 5.90 only...

may I ask how many airconds you have in house, and how many hours you normally use, and your electricity bill per month (average)?

haha....same.
previously it wasnt so accurate but i bought another one recently and the accuracy is at +-5%



This post has been edited by idoblu: Jul 31 2017, 08:22 AM

Interesting. Going to activate dry mode when i get home later.

try once, still so hot for me, and the blower actually use a little bit current only compare to compressor, i think it really save a liitle bit only

Lots of factors to consider like where does that room face (W,S,SW not ideal), first floor (roof insulated or without) or ground floor, is that room isolated from the other adjoining areas with a door sealed with draft preventers etc. Circulate with a ceiling or whole house fan might help.

run fan/blower mode only save

switch off the aircond paling save

Panasonic.

while i dont see the point to the other questions as this depends on the house, the AC is running 24/7. i pay around 400RM for electricity but that is all consumers so this will not help you in any way.

ok thanks

erm. correct me if im wrong. whats the point of using dry mode in aircond. i mean u are using it for cool. for electricity saving wise, i dont think theres a solution. maybe timer can reduce the usage.

Keeps the air drier with slight cooling effect. Reduces humidity stickiness felt in the room with drier air.

i try with my york aircond 1.5hp, the electricity bill remains the same amount, so for me, no save at all

my house from rm300 when to rm200 with dry mode.. can try

i) Is your comparison both at the same temperature throughout?

ii) If yes, what degree celcius?

what temp did you set?

Just found this thread.
Interesting read indeed.
I'm gonna try the Dry Mode just to see the cooling effect.
Lol!

This post has been edited by Ewww!: Jan 14 2019, 02:10 AM

Wow me too.

Dry Mode from now on.

~Right after my post above I tried myself, using Daikin Air Cond, to equate to coolness of i. Normal Mode 30- 28 Celcius, need ii. Dehumidify, also known as Dry Mode about 25 Celcius, while other electrical appliances usage are kept same throughout I tried both i. & ii. for strictly 1 month ~24 hrs/day each & recorded electricity bill, ii.'s more expensive by ~RM60.





Edit, typo, ii.'s more expensive than i. .

This post has been edited by Diiimn: Sep 11 2019, 04:36 PM

Daikin dry modes is ok

What if dry mode at lower temp.24-26

You are very wrong, we try to get the best value for the comfort we get. Dry mode vs cool mode will effect your electric bill for sure. In my case, RM90/mnth vs RM140/mnth.

usually i use cool mode for around 1 hour+ then switch to dry mode, the temp on the remote is always 27c, the room remain cooled or even cooler when i use dry mode until i have to switch off the ceiling fan

but if i switch on with dry mode all the way it take longer time to cool my living room and i only use my aircond when weather is hot

Typo in my page 3 post, ii.'s more expensive than i. .

Correct me if im wrongg, so u use cool mode 28-30 celcius, but in dry mode u use 25 celcius? Why not set same temperature? 27-29 celcius maybe? 25 vs 28 is very different power consumption 😅😅

As 25 Celcius highest Celcius to same coolness as Normal mode 30 Celcius.

Just wanting to get better understanding on the fungus part. mentioned that putting it on dry, helps to avoid fungus. does it mean setting it to cool, fungus would invade the space? not sure if i have seen fungus at home or office, though both is set to cool

fungus usually happens on indoor unit evaporator coil... this year CNY while servicing the AC unit myself, one unit was infested with fungus shaped like mushroom, it's disgusting...

oic, thoughtis around the room the aircon is cooling, lol

So using dry mode, my AC off the compressor for like 7 minutes and then it switched on, basically the conpressor runs for like 7 minutes off 7 minutes, on again after 7 minutes.

Does this give power saving compared to the compressor running fully in Cool Mode?

If I’m not mistaken. In dry mode, the compressor indeed work for shorter time. But instead of continuously taking in moist air from the surrounding as in cool mode, dry mode only takes in a batch amount of moist air. The heat exchanging process then started but the coolant nor air is of continuous flow. As the heat exchange in cool mode is continuous while the dry mode is of batch, moist air is being cooled down to even lower T (perhaps to extent where coolant and air achieve thermal equilibrium) than cool mode does (heat exchange duration is short so T of air will not as cold as that of coolant). As in how energy is saved, not only the energy supplied to expand the coolant is less, but the energy supplied to compressed the coolant to the higher T is also less (as the T of coolant of dry mode is higher than that in cool mode, so less energy to increase the T back to the high T).

I think using dry mode saves electricity because compressor does not turn on to full capacity. The cheapest is FAN mode because the compressor does not turn on at al

tried dry mode for more than 1 year... cant see any significant changes to my electricity consumption.

I used to use Cool mode at 25°C on remote control.

After switching to Dry mode, had to increase the remote control temperature to 28°C. Having 25°C for Dry mode was too cold.

Living in a small Studio appartment. All walls and floor bricks and marble. Windows all airtight type.

My throat bit dry sometime thou, drinking more water now, which is good i suppose.

Aircon is running 24/7. Old YORK EcoKing model.
Electricity bill wise, Dry mode got decrease 25% vs before on Cool mode.

in my case dry mode can cool down the room and when turning the aircond off, the cold sustain..

While cold mode, the aircold is too cold and when turn off, it became heat and trap again...

Now only I realize something to do with the humidity..