Humidification and dehumidification – it can do both. It’s not magic, it’s physics.
In most cases, people install water walls because of their humidifying effects. Dry air causes problems with concentration, and can also be damaging to health when one is exposed to it on a daily basis. Human mucous membranes suffer in dry air and people get red eyes, dry nose, bad skin, and heavy feeling in the chest. They just feel unwell and therefore become irritated—sometimes not even knowing why. It is also a proven fact that the flu virus multiplies faster in dry air. Last but not the least – wooden furniture, floors and other wooden elements may suffer irreparable damages when placed in droughty places. Most plants cannot survive long if the surrounding air is dry.
Most modern buildings have insufficient air circulation. In most modern buildings, the extensive air conditioning makes the air dry, and it’s a challenge to make it humid again. One solution is to get a humidification machine, but they are pretty ugly and they have their limits (a big room may need about 10 of them).
Using Water Walls for Humidification
Water walls can increase humidity in dry location. Evaporation of water is particularly high in dry air, since such air is very receptive. The larger the evaporation surface of a water wall, the higher the evaporation. Over the times, a rough guide to calculate the amount of water evaporating from water walls has been designed.
In an approximately 40m² room ,1m² evaporation surface evaporates about 3-5 liters a day at 24h of continuous operation. This means a 2m high and 1m wide wall of water has about 2m² evaporation surface and thus evaporates about 6-10 liters a day. As a general rule of thumb, the increase of the room temperature increases evaporation and the occurrence of dry air, and vice versa.
Using Water Walls as Dehumidifiers
During the hot seasons, the temperature can feel much hotter than it actually is, due to humid air. However you can make the air drier and feel better. This is especially useful in hot areas and many water walls are installed for this purpose, like in Dubai. If you can successfully dry the air, you will feel cooler, sweat less and your clothes won’t stick to your body. It gives a relaxing and refreshing atmosphere.
If you cool water in a water wall, it will absorb all the excess water from the air. That means the water level does not decrease, but rather increases and the excess is removed in a controlled way! The reason for this is that condensation always occurs at the coldest point of the given space. This effect can be observed, for example, if you bring a cold drink from a fridge, and just a few minutes later the bottle becomes wet on the outside – this is where condensation happened. You can achieve this effect when the water circuit of the water wall is connected with another large tank in a refrigerated room or cool basement, or if you cool the water additionally by a cooling line. Such cooling action must be carefully planned by an expert, in order to avoid the formation of condensation at unwanted sites. Dehumidification of the air can give a very pleasant relief, especially during the hot and humid days.
Both effects can be reinforced by the airflow at the evaporation surface by use of some aids, for example, a bigger fan.
In a nutshell, you can decrease or increase the amount of water in the air, only by changing the temperature of the water in a water wall. The physics behind this process is elemental, yet the effect is astonishing.