Central air help

[otis24]

The duct work for my central air runs through my basement. My bedroom, a closet and a bathroom are locaI located in the basement. The "basement" is actually a root cellar that had a floor poured. The walls are sheetrocked.

I am getting a lot of condensation on the duct work. So much that it has run down the bathroom wall and ruined the sheetrock. Is a dehumidifier my best bet for eliminating the condensation? Other suggestions?

This year has been particularly humid in South Dakota so the condensation is worse now then ever.

Thanks!

 

[Maximumbob54]

If you have block walls behind the gypsum panels then you need to buy a special sealant coating that will block moisture intrusion. That is a very common basement problem. You can use a dehumidifier for the moment but drying the air out will only help to pull more moisture through. You should also add a vapor barrier to the floor. You won't eliminate the condensation but you will cut it enough that it won't cause issues again. A trip to the hardware store and a knowledgeable salesperson should fix you right up.

I should emphasize "knowledgeable"...

 

[DeathGrip]

What's a hardware store?

 

[DeathGrip]

Otis,What kind of duct do you have and is it insulated?Insulation breaks down.

 

[otis24]

The duct work is not insulated. In one area, I did insulate it and it is soaked. The duct work is pretty much not enclosed. It passes over one inside wall and is dripping onto the wall and soaking it through. Where it passes through the bathroom, it is boxed on two sides with sheetrock (side and bottom). It is dripping onto that sheetrock. The walls behing the sheet rock are a mixture of concrete and rock.

 

[LVSteve]

You either have an issue with moisture being drawn through the wall, or you have an airflow problem. Have you checked the temperature drop from the return register to the register nearest the A/C unit? There is a website that explains why too big a drop indicates a problem, either with equipment or because the system design is wrong.

Have you recently fitted some "high efficiency" A/C filters, the ones that claim to filter down to some miniscule particle size? If you did and the system is more than 15-20 years old, the new filters may be restricting the flow too much. This leads to over cooling of the air at the evaporator with the increased likelihood of condensation in the ducts, especially if you live somewhere humid. Dodged the bullet on that one because I live in Nevada. I went back to less restrictive filters and the A/C system works better.

 

[otis24]

A dehumidifier seems to have solved the problem.