AC Makes room too dry

G

gourav

Skilled
Hi friends. I'm facing a weird problem. I got an AC in May this year. When we use the AC at night, the room becomes too dry. Both my wife and I are a bit sensitive to this and have trouble in dry weather.

It was somewhat OK in May-June, when the humidity levels were really high here in Mumbai. We didn't use the AC from mid-June to September as the weather was fairly cool. When we started using it in October again, we started feeling it making the room really dry. So much so that we have to run a humidifier to prevent dryness of nose and throat.

We have used AC in other places as well, but never felt this way.

For context, we live in Mumbai. The weather is usually hot and humid here. The AC is LG 1-Ton 4 star inverter AC. The room is approx 110 sq. feet with a height of 9 feet. We run the AC for only 3-4 hours at night. After running it at full power for around half an hour, we leave it running at 40% as that keeps the room comfortable enough for us. I run it in cooling mode and keep the fan speed at low to medium.

I don't know if this is normal or there is something wrong with the AC. I have checked the AC's manual thoroughly and didn't find anything. I am not running it in dry or monsoon mode.

Has anyone else faced such an issue. Is there a solution other than running a humidifier?
 
Was facing similar issue, solved by buying this - https://www.amazon.in/gp/product/B09J839X5Z/

With humidifiers, you have to clean the entire thing properly atleast once a week, otherwise bacteria, mold etc will potentially start to grow and cause even more issues. The model I linked above has a UV light, which I keep on all the time during operation.
 
If you're doing the above, make extra sure the fins on the indoor unit are free from dust. More dust = clogged drain pipe = water will drip from it

Alternatively, you can set the temperature higher. The less frequent the AC turns on, the less the air is dehumidified. Combine this with ceiling fan to find that comfortable range

Also, does your AC have heating/HVAC? If so use only the regular cooling mode. Warm dry air can remove more moisture than cold dry air
 
Another solution is plants. Water evaporates from the leaves and humidifies the air. I can't quantify how much it'll help but maybe start with a couple of pots. Adds some life to the interior as well (literally).
 
gourav said:
Hi friends. I'm facing a weird problem. I got an AC in May this year. When we use the AC at night, the room becomes too dry. Both my wife and I are a bit sensitive to this and have trouble in dry weather.

It was somewhat OK in May-June, when the humidity levels were really high here in Mumbai. We didn't use the AC from mid-June to September as the weather was fairly cool. When we started using it in October again, we started feeling it making the room really dry. So much so that we have to run a humidifier to prevent dryness of nose and throat.

We have used AC in other places as well, but never felt this way.

For context, we live in Mumbai. The weather is usually hot and humid here. The AC is LG 1-Ton 4 star inverter AC. The room is approx 110 sq. feet with a height of 9 feet. We run the AC for only 3-4 hours at night. After running it at full power for around half an hour, we leave it running at 40% as that keeps the room comfortable enough for us. I run it in cooling mode and keep the fan speed at low to medium.

I don't know if this is normal or there is something wrong with the AC. I have checked the AC's manual thoroughly and didn't find anything. I am not running it in dry or monsoon mode.

Has anyone else faced such an issue. Is there a solution other than running a humidifier?
Click to expand...
Increase the temperature set point (if possible) and the fan speed. Dry mode on AC reduces the fan speed so doing the opposite should not dry the room as much.
 
For an air conditioning system that cools air, it also de-humidifies them.

The physical property of cold air is that it cannot retain moisture very well, this is why if you bring iced water out from a fridge, you can see water droplets forming. Where do these droplets come from? It comes from the surrounding air, and it is condensed by the cold glass of water.

In the same way, the cooling coil of an AC unit condenses the moisture in the air into water droplets, taking away air humidity.

other than running a humidifier keep one or two bowls of water across the room. this shall work very well.
 
Thanks for the responses folks, sorry I was not able to respond earlier.

I run the AC at 27 degrees, so it's not possible to increase the temperature further. So that option is out of the window.
I've been using a humidifier and I guess that's the most recommended option here. It's just surprising that I had not faced such issue in other places (parents' home or hotels).

I don't have space for plants in my room. The room is barely big enough for the things I need to put in it, so no possibility of keeping plants or anything.

I do need to clean the dust filters though, haven't done it yet.

I will, however, try to lower the temperature and reduce the fan speed once to see if that works.

In any case, since it's late November, not using the AC anymore. Will probably only need it again in March.
 
Back
Top