TES FAQs

1. Can I use an ETES with dehumidifiers?
Absolutely! However, because the ETES unit is creating a faster evaporation rate on your drying job, we recommend that you use a dehumidifier with a rating of at least 92 pints a day at AHAM. Another option for removing the moist air from your environment is to exhaust the moist air outside and bring in either unaffected or outside air into your environment.

2. What happens if the GPP in the room gets high when using the ETES? Isn't a high GPP poor for drying?
Great question! With conventional drying what usually happens is that the GPP of the ambient air rises slowly, peaks, and then drops slowly until your structure is dry. When using the ETES to directly heat the wet materials, the GPP in the room will not slowly rise but skyrocket; however, the GPP will drop tremendously as well. So, basically you are turbo drying the wet material. At the end of the day, though, your structure is just as dry as with conventional drying. Directed heat drying just dries wet materials faster.

3. Bottom line is that I'm in business to make money. Why would I want to dry faster when the insurance companies are fine with paying my 3-5 day drying bill?
First let me answer a question with a question. If you could make the same amount of money in 2 days that it would take 4 days, would you be interested? Of course you would! When you are using ETES units, the adjusters really don't care how you dry a structure. They just want the file closed. To an adjuster, the bottom line is this: the longer the file is open, the more money he is spending. So here is a question you might want to ask your adjuster next time. "If you had a choice for this particular mitigation job with the price of (just as an example) $8,000 and I can dry it in 2 days or 4 days - same price, which would you choose?" They would choose two days right? But if you were going to make $8,000 on a 4-day drying job and the job were an hour away, then that means 8 hours of driving and 8 hours of labor. Why don't you just dry it in 2 days? Then you will cut your gas & labor cost by 50% (just driving back and forth to the job). Next, you will notice your PROFIT increases. Not a bad problem to have!

4. Can I use Directed Heat Drying and still be within the industry standards?
Most certainly. Here are just some examples of what the IICRC S500 states about heat drying:
12.1.22 & 12.1. 23 (Page 52) Heat accelerates evaporation, heat should be applied directly to materials...
12.3.1.1 Partial (or soft) floating of carpet. Carpet acts as an insulator and holds heat close to the materials being dried.
12.3.2.10.4 Drying walls, solid wood floors, the underside of sub floors, etc. can be accelerated by applying heat to the materials.
There are many more similar statements acknowledging the value of heat drying. If you are interested, please visit www.tesdryingsystem.com or contact us at tesinfo@tesdryingsystem.com.

5. If I can't float, tent, or contain the heat, can I just use my ETES just as another air mover for top-down drying?
Yes, but in that case you will be just heating the air - and heat rises. You probably won't see a tremendous difference in your drying time. The reason is that the vapor pressure of the wet material is going to be close to the vapor pressure of the air, which means slower drying or slower evaporation. BUT you will find that using the ETES as another tool for top down drying will be faster than if you just use air movers as usual.

6. Do you really think that Directed Heat Drying is the future of the restoration industry?
I don't think it's the future. I think that heat drying is NOW. Let's ask an interesting question. If heat drying were NOT the future, then why are leading manufacturers selling all their large dehumidifiers that operate between 70° - 120°? They used to only operate between 70°-90°. Something to think about, right? What's interesting is that outside of our industry we ALL use heat to dry things faster. If heat isn't the answer, then from now on you're not allowed to use heat when you're using your clothes drier, the defroster on your car during the winter time, nor heat in your hair dryer. Do you think that would work?

7. What does the IICRC S500 state about vapor pressure?
IICRC S500 Chapter 5 - Page 122 "Psychrometry by definition" = Evaporation occurs if the vapor pressure of the air is LOWER than the surface vapor pressure of the material. Ok, so what we have been taught? If we dry the air in the room, then the moisture will want to come out of the material into the air and the dehumidifiers will remove that moist air, right? There is nothing wrong with that. It works and we have been doing it for years. However, according to the definition, "Evaporation occurs if the vapor pressure of the AIR is LOWER than the surface vapor pressure of the material." What would happen if we raised the vapor pressure of the material HIGHER than the vapor pressure of the air? Faster evaporation would occur. How would you raise the vapor pressure of the wet material? Heat the materials. For every 20° we raise the temperature of wet material, we double the vapor pressure in that material. For example, if the surface temperature of the wet material was 60° and then we heated the material to 80°, then the vapor pressure in that material would double and the evaporation process will be faster.

8. Do you think we should manage or track surface temperature of the wet material?
According to the IICRC S500: 6.1.3 (page 20) Restorers should manage both AIR & SURFACE temperature in order to enhance drying and avoid potential related damage... Think about this: If you start to take surface temperatures of the wet materials on your drying jobs, what do you think you will find? That the material, because it's wet, will usually will be cooler than the ambient air. If the material is cool, then what kind of evaporation rate do you have? SLOW. However, if you heat the wet materials, guess what kind of evaporation rate you would have? You're right: FAST! So the question I have for you is why don't we track surface temperature? Something to think about? The IICRC S500 states that a restorer should manage not only the air temperature but the surface temperature as well. The next time you are on a job and wonder why your wet material is NOT dried in two days, check the temperature of the wet material. It's probably cool - which just means slower drying. Then you will remember, if you HEAT the wet material (NOT just the air) your evaporation rate will increase.