>>> I have a collection of several thousand books in a part of my
>>> house that gets too humid in the summer time. The books
>>> can get moldy.
>>> I've dealt with that in the past with dehumidification, but in
>>> the last year electricity costs have gone through the roof
>>> in my state and it's getting really expensive. Has anyone
>>> successfully controlled mold by cheaper means - air
>>> circulation, lysol spray, ultraviolet light (which can also
>>> damage books), etc.?
>> A dehumidifier shouldn't cost much to run. Have you checked its
>> power consumption, or the power consumption of the smallest one
>> that will do the job?
> Air conditioning removes moisture as well as cooling the space.
> Air conditioning can be made less expensive with a heat pump.
If you just want to control mould you don't need cooling. A couple of
thousand years of manuscripts preserved in desert environments says so.
> High Efficiency (SEER 16 to 23) air conditioners (not heat
> pumps) cost about $3,500, but run with much reduced costs.
I bought my dehumidifier second-hand for fifty pounds. Our power
consumption had dropped a fair bit since, as I don't need to run a
heater in there very often.
No air conditioner can ever be very efficient. They are always a
grotesque waste of energy. The world simply can't afford them.
If you can't handle the climate where you are, abandon the place
to people who aren't such goddamn wimps. Probably the greatest
manuscript library of all time was that of mediaeval Baghdad,
destroyed by the Mongols under Hulagu - they wrote all that without
needing air conditioners. And there are plenty of people in present
day Baghdad who'd happily trade their bombed-out houses for yours
even if they didn't get AC with it.
==== j a c k at c a m p i n . m e . u k === <http://www.campin.me.uk>
====
Jack Campin, 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland == mob 07800 739
557
CD-ROMs and free stuff: Scottish music, food intolerance, and Mac logic
fonts
|
