Finding the right dehumidifier for emergency service drying rooms

Responding to floods. Extinguishing fires. Saving lives at sea. Some of the most serious situations emergency services respond to involve contact with water.

Combine this with the need to regularly clean the essential clothing and equipment that ambulance crews, police officers and more rely on, and you can start to see how moisture is a problem many emergency services must deal with every day.

Why are drying rooms so important for emergency services?

To ensure that wet clothing and equipment is dried as quickly and efficiently as possible, ready to be deployed whenever required, many emergency services rely on dedicated drying rooms to accelerate this process.

This is vital for the safety and performance of emergency services. The presence of water vapour in life-saving personal protection equipment (PPE) can substantially hinder the quality and safety of the crisis response provided.

As well as helping to reduce risks in life and death situations, drying rooms keep fire and rescue services, police forces, ambulance crews and beyond healthier by halting the spread of mould and the release of toxic spores that can occur in moist, overly humid settings.

Furthermore, it helps prevent any health issues that form through the wearing of damp clothing, from respiratory illnesses to hypothermia. This helps support the wellbeing of your critical personnel, so they are fit and active when needed.

Balancing humidity levels within these buildings also contributes to the long-term condition of facilities. By tackling the risk of ongoing water damage, these rooms help protect the integrity of dispatch centres, fire stations, maritime headquarters and more for the long term.

The essential role of drying room dehumidifiers

In the past, many emergency services would rely on heating and ventilation alone to dry air in drying rooms, as well as the PPE within. While this approach did the job, it typically came with high running costs.

Warm air only helps extract moisture from clothing and equipment. To physically remove the resulting water vapour, ventilation was necessary, and this would allow large amounts of heat to escape.

To dry clothing and gear as quickly, efficiently and cost-effectively as possible, modern facilities count on high performance drying room dehumidifiers to keep moisture levels perfectly controlled year-round.

Constantly circulating damp air, these dehumidifiers work by capturing humid air and forcing it over refrigerated coils, cooling it below its dew point. The resulting condensate is physically drained away, as the suitably dried air is reheated and returned to the room.

How to select the right drying room dehumidifier for your service

Drying room dehumidifiers are an asset to practically any emergency service. Yet, when you are choosing the right drying room dehumidifier, there is no ‘one size fits all’ solution.

To help you determine the best choice for your drying room, it is important to take several factors into account.

Assess how much moisture is in the atmosphere

Depending on what type of emergency service you operate, the size of dehumidifier you need will vary, as individual departments often operate in separate conditions.

For example, coast guards who constantly work on the water will be contending with substantial amounts of moisture. This will potentially demand a more powerful solution than a police station, where officers may only need their equipment dried after a rainy day.

Consider the specifics of your drying space

No two drying rooms are the same size. To ensure your space is kept suitably dry at all times, implement a dehumidifier of a suitable capacity.

Also think about how tightly sealed your room is. Poorly sealed structures allow moisture to penetrate. Air tight spaces, on the other hand, prevent infiltration and may stay dry through the use of smaller units.

Think about the items you need to dry

Different emergency service equipment has its own drying requirements, which is why it is important to employ technology suitable for the apparatus you use.

Incident gear for firefighters, for example, must be fully dry before use. Coast guard operational dress uniforms are not always held to the same standards.

Account for the climate you operate in

As well as anything in your room, it is also imperative to think about the climate around your emergency service facilities. The surrounding moisture content may impact your drying times.

Why emergency services rely on Dantherm Group to keep their equipment dry

In the world of emergency response, every second counts. Whenever that critical call comes, you need your equipment dry and ready to spring into action. This is why the right drying room dehumidifier is so essential.

With decades of experience and a wide array of commercial dehumidifiers to choose from, emergency services worldwide trust us to supply the equipment they need, so they’re always prepared for the unexpected.

Why Essex Fire & Rescue chose Dantherm Group

The quality and reliability of our solutions are given the utmost care and attention, which is why clients like Essex Fire & Rescue in the UK count on Dantherm Group drying room dehumidifiers to keep their PPE dry and ready for any eventuality.

Maldon Fire Station, with its drying room in constant use, found our professional dehumidifiers to be the ideal solution. After being installed, the equipment in place not only helps keep their operations responsive, it also assists in managing their operational costs.

20 years on and one upgrade later, our systems continue to be the most efficient and effective way for Maldon Fire Station to dry their life-saving equipment quickly and economically.

For more information on our market-leading range of drying room dehumidifiers for emergency services, get in touch with our team today.