HVAC Design - Keep It Simple Stupid!

[@TofuInc]

What even more simple is using the dehumidification functions built into the air handler. When the air handler knows it needs to dehumidify it will drop the fan speed, lower the coil temp and pull the moisture out faster. When the unit is removing latent heat it will do very little sensible cooling. This works even better with variable speed equipment that can control the system capacity, but can work with single or two stage equipment as well.

[@markstipulkoski1389]

Agreed. I'm planning unvented attic, stand alone ERV, and mini-splits. I will probably have a dedicated dehumidifier for cool days when the AC doesn’t kick on enough to dry out the air. How did you duct your standalone dehumidifier? Is it tied into the ERV or HVAC ducts, have its own separate ductwork, or does it just have a single (separate) supply and return?

[@macgyver03ga]

Jordan, I did this setup at my house I built a couple years ago and I 100% agree with this. I’m in GA where it’s hot and humid. I will do this setup at every house I ever build here going forward. Most comfortable house I have ever lived in! My house got a 2.0 ACH50 on my blower door and I didn’t even have weatherstripping on the doors (painters left night before and blower door guy showed up early before I could get them all back in) so I imagine with the weatherstripping installed I’m closer to 1.0. Our main systems are variable speed Trane, but sometimes they need the extra oomph of the Aprilaire dehu to keep the air dry in the house because of the humidity. I keep the dehumidifiers (one for the conditioned part of the house, and one in the unfinished basement) set at 49% RH. My ERV (fantech) runs 24/7 in “eco mode” where it runs at low speed all the time. We can keep the thermostat set at 74 during the day and it’s not stuffy at all, and we sleep with it at 71. At our old house (which was a 2014 build so pretty new) We had to keep the thermostat set at 72 during the day and 68 at night to stay comfortable.

[@donaldwashington9017]

I would like to know your thoughts on vent hood's , regarding taking out the stale air 😒🤧

[@Mike-ew9zn]

Great point and post! Helps the HVAC thieves make more $$$$

[@tjrooger1092]

You had me at HVAC Wait. What? 3 separate pieces is keeping it simple? Must be a Texas thing.

[@polopolomay1]

Did you independently duct the erv and the humidifier? If so, how did you organize/allocate the supplies and exhausts for each system?

[@mylifeintexas]

How many Tesla power walls are there in that house?

[@ZergZfTw]

This seams like a very crude understanding of Psychrometrics. Sure, it works; but having multiple pieces of equipment to do one relatively simple job seems very unelegant. With a fully modulating air handler you are pretty close to being able to load follow both the sensible and latent; if you already have a variable speed compressor and fan, all you need is a modulating reheat coil of some sort, and the sensors/controls to control it. A lot of commercial equipment can already do this.

[@scorpio6587]

Logical

[@ColeSpolaric]

5 seconds less and this would have been posted as a short

[@CybekCusal]

As a licensed HVAC engineer, no don't do this.

[@macgyver03ga]

Do you live in the South?