Dehumidifiers. peltier vs. compressor.

[Chris Patterson]

I have got to do something different. The dehumidifier seems to be the way to go. Here in East Cambodia, which the locals fondly call Southport, (the only difference being you can kill the people you don't like in s.e. asia), the humidity is out of control. I stay even with the battle using a wheelbarrow load of Damprid, but I've gotta try something different. And spend money as well, that always helps, retail therapy if you will.
So to begin with, leaving the A.C. running is out of the question. Too many hoses running beneath the waterline, and I could care less if they were S.S. braided teflon aircraft hoses, I do not leave valves open on an unattended boat. And a trailer park window shaker unit would get me excommunicated. No deal.
So in research, and also being familiar with the technology of peltier junctions, blah, blah, blah, will these units effectively remove moisture from the boat? I mean done deal, not needing to get disgusted with it and trash it for the "bigger" compressor models. Or is the larger units more or less what I need? I'm going through two bags of Damprid a week now, this is getting exhausting..

 

[kloudie1]

For your size boat, the larger/largest of the Peltier Effect ones would probably be ok. Practical Sailor did an evaluation and they seemed to live up to their claims except in cold weather, the cold junction tended to freeze up. They solved that problem by using a timer to let it thaw for a while each day. You are still liable to generate enough water to require an open sink drain unless ya just let it drain to the bilge where the pump would pump it out. I ran one of the big compressor ones for a few years and it worked very well. I would secure it to the sink and let it drain into the sink whose drain was open. The real problem is what to do with it when you go out to sail. I had to lug the big thing out of the boat and put it into the car or the dock box.. I now have the AC on "Dehumidify" cycle while I am gone. It drains into the bilge where the pump takes care of it.. Still requires an open thru-hull to feed the AC pump. I would think that the smaller, lighter Peltier ones would be attractive because of the ease of dealing with them before/after sailing.

 

[Steve Dion]

If you have as much moisture as you say, you will want a unit that can bypass the collection tank and the water can be expended into an over-board drain (ie: sink) or bilge.

We have a unit that will fill the storage tank in a couple of days so it does not do much good if you can not dump it daily (maybe sooner in your case).

.....and yes like the article mention, larger is better!

We drain ours in the galley sink.

 

[Chris Patterson]

Yep, I didn't think to mention the drain. The A.C. drains to the bilge, and I don't let that bother me much for some reason. The bilges are ultra clean, and painted white, so a little water ain't gonna hurt it. I figured that I would have to engineer a separate drain from its pan, and a hose to bilge. My galley sink is another valve my O.C.D. will not leave open. And like said, I certainly don't want a monster down there. Depending upon size, theoretically I could build it in over the A.C. maybe.
Too much thinking, it's pouring rain right now. Drat!!