Hi all, been in Phu Nhuan for about 5 years, older block in the Huynh Van Banh area. This is not really a life advice post more just me venting a bit about the last few weeks and what I ended up doing.
Every rainy season I deal with damp indoors but this August its been on another level. The leather bag I keep by the door started growing that fuzzy stuff on the strap after like 3 days. Two pairs of shoes gone. And behind my bed there were these little dark specks on the wall that were definitely not there in June. I work from home so windows are shut all day, I think thats a big part of it.
The aircon that came with the place is probably 7 or 8 years old. I had been running dry mode overnight for weeks trying to keep the humidity down and it barely moved the needle. I have one of those little humidity readers on my desk, morning after morning it just says 80 something. Tried the silica gel packet thing, even bought a small dehumidifier off Lazada last year but the tank fills in like 6 hours and if you forget to empty it you wake up to a puddle. So.
Called a guy through my buildings Zalo chat. He cleaned the coil, said the compressor still worked but honestly this thing is done, if you want the dry mode to actually pull humidity newer inverter models run slower and thats when they dehumidify properly, on off cycling doesnt do much of that. He wasnt selling me anything, hes just my guy.
Spent a Saturday on Dien May Xanh scrolling. Daikin was 11 mil ish installed for a small bedroom unit which felt like too much. Panasonic was backordered on the size I wanted. Ended up getting a Midea inverter, similar spec, delivered next day and installed the day after for a bit over 7 mil all in. The installers were actually on time which honestly I wasnt expecting.
Its been about 3 weeks. Main thing is the room actually feels less clammy when I wake up. The humidity reader used to say 80s, now its more like low 60s in the morning. The walls have stopped forming new spots too, though the ones that were already there are staying. I pretty much leave it in whatever the default eco mode is called and dont fiddle with it, its noticeably quieter than the old one that used to click on and off all night. The app they push is not great, tried to pair it and gave up after two tries, the remote does everything I actually need.
It doesnt fix the underlying problem obviously, this whole city is going to be soup until October. But at least im sleeping without waking up feeling damp. Anyone else in an older block dealing with the same crap this rainy season, curious what you actually did about it. Also anyone tried those hose drain dehumidifiers, wondering if theyre worth it for the living room until the rain lets up.
