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We just moved into a newly renovated basement apartment and the humidity level is currently at 80% based on a digital hygrometer made by Acurite, at 11.25pm EST. Portable AC is off. Is 77 degree. It does not feel humid unless it gets up to 85%. We have a LG portable AC with a dehumidifier mode. According to the spec, it can extra 5.6 pint of moisture per hour. Roughly, 120+ pint per day??? It seems like is much more powerful than most dedicated, standalone dehumidifier. My question is that...which is better to lower my humidity? Using the dehumidifier mode on my LG AC or getting a dedicated, standalone dehumidifier?

When my LG AC is on, either in the COOL mode or DRY mode, the RH can get down to 60%. In DRY mode, I just have to empty my 2.5 gallon bucket every 6 hour. In the COOl mode, I don't need to at all.....

Also, if I have to run a dehumidifier for more than 12 hours a day, which is more energy efficient?

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    This isn't either of the questions you asked, so I'm not writing a full answer, but you might want to know that the only reason to use an AC's dehumidifier mode is if you want to avoid cooling the room, keeping it dry and warm instead of dry and cool. The cooling mode dehumidifies too, as you noticed, and blows most of the moisture outside with the hot air exhaust (which is why you don't see as much water collecting).
    – Kevin Reid
    Jul 11, 2020 at 4:32
  • Thanks...for some reason, the dehumidifier mode on my LG portable AC does cool the room or not warming up the room...but it extracts more moisture based on the amount of water it could collect BUT the humidity wasn't dropping. And the auto on/off function appears to tie to the indoor temperature....
    – Victor C
    Jul 12, 2020 at 14:57
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    Read the manual and I expect it tells you to, when using the dehumidification mode, change how the hoses are hooked up or not connect them at all. If you do that, then it will produce both hot and cold air in the room so there's no net cooling effect, and it won't send water vapor out the hot-exhaust pipe as it does when cooling because that wouldn't actually dehumidify.
    – Kevin Reid
    Jul 12, 2020 at 15:17

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Thanks....well, I went out and bought a Toshiba 50 pint dehumidifier to see which one is more efficient in removing the humidity. Well, the Toshiba does a better job in removing the humidity but it adds about an extra 4 degree warmer in my basement apartment. The Toshiba can easily get the humidity down to near 40%, when my LG portable AC couldn't....even running it for more than 8 hours. The lowest humidity the LG could get down to is around 60% with 73 degree. The Toshiba can easily maintain the humidity around 50% for the entire night but keeping the indoor temperature around 81 degree.

Personally, I would prefer lower humidity but warmer than higher humidity but cooler.

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The amount of humidification needed per day isn't measured in hours, it's measured in pints (or some more sensible measure of liquid).

Given that both devices use a similar technology (mechanical boiling fluid heat pump) their energy efficiency will likely be about the same.

consider putting an automatic pump in the condensate bucket and running a pipe to a drain. (or position the unit over a drain etc.)

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