I was working in London in late 2000 when the capital was hit by extremely heavy rain that caused disruption on a huge scale with the inevitable flooding that followed affected numerous parts of the city. At that time, as noted by a subsequent report by the Greater London Assembly, around half of residents living in flood-prone areas were unaware to the danger that flooding posed to them so it came as a shock to many. Add to this the quantity of basement and cellar conversions in zones where land is flood prone, and you can envisage the wide-scale disruption that this extreme weather caused many Londoners – both businesses and residents the same.
At that time, I was working with a company that, among other things, leased dehumidifiers for industrial applications such as drying out properties and buildings. Normally used for things like drying plaster or decorating, there was suddenly a massive demand for these machines by homeowners, once the waters had subsided and people were able to see the damage that had been caused.
Dehumidifiers work by reducing the humidity in a room. They remove excess moisture from the air by drawing it over the refrigerant-cooled coils using a fan allowing the excess moisture to condense. In works in a similar way to how the moisture forms on the glass of a cold drink on a hot day. Warm air holds much more moisture than cold air. You cool the air and it lets go of the moisture.
Dehumidifiers are important not just for homes where they’re often used to remove moisture from the air to tackle damp and mould, but they’re also very important in the workplace. Too much humidity, or simply excessive variation in levels of humidity in a workplace and you can end up with big problems. They used in many diverse industries such as the agri-food and food processing sector; industrial bakeries & pastries; the pharmaceutical industry; the chemicals industry; and all companies involved in the process of seed storage. The
industrial dehumidifier provides a fast and efficient way to remove moisture industrial (i.e. industrially) scale. Without them, many of the foods and chemicals we use on a daily basis would be much more expensive or even not able to be produced in the first place