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Your AC unit is a great dehumidifier. However, there are situations during the day and seasons where it does not run for long periods of time. The most obvious is when the outside temperature is below your setting. During that time, the humidity level inside is going up towards the outside level. When that happens, you feel increased warmth when the temperature has hardly changed.
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Nicely stated. Unfortunately, the older premanufactured home I live in does not have a state of the art system.
Here's a clip from
Top Ten Things About Air Conditioning | ashrae.org that has prompted this post.
"Modern air conditioners dehumidify as they cool; you can see that by the water that drains away, but this dehumidification is incidental to their main job of controlling temperature. They cannot independently control both temperature and humidity.
In hot, humid climates the incidental dehumidification that occurs may not always be enough to keep the indoor humidity conditions acceptable. (ASHRAE recommends roughly a 60% relative humidity maximum at 78F.) The maximum dehumidification happens not at the hot times of the year—when the air conditioner is running a lot—but at mild times of the year when the air conditioner runs very little.
Although there are some leading edge air conditioning systems that promise to independently control humidity, conventional systems may not be able to sufficiently control the problem and can cause comfort or mold problems in certain situations. Some current high-end systems have enhanced dehumidification, but when the existing system cannot sufficiently dehumidify, it may be necessary to buy a stand-alone dehumidifier. "