As promised we’re going to talk about evaporation potential today. Evaporation Potential is key to drying your home. We work with evaporation potential on a daily basis to help get people’s lives back to normal.
So what is evaporation potential? Evaporation potential is a formula that gives a value to the difference between vapor pressure in water and air. This may seem a little complicated but can be explained relatively easily. Let’s start with vapor pressure. It is a measure of how easily a liquid will evaporate. Think about boiling water. When you start the water is cold and the vapor pressure is low. As it heats the vapor pressure increases.
Your water restoration specialist’s goal is to speed up drying time using their knowledge of vapor pressure and evaporation potential. Once extraction is done evaporation potential comes into play. They will use the measurement of evaporation potential to help set up the environment for better evaporation.
Evaporation potential focuses on ‘Dalton’s Law of Evaporation’ to help facilitate quicker drying times. So here’s the formula. It’s not too complex, but I’ll make sure to explain it.
Evaporation Rate = Wind (Water Vapor Pressure – Air Vapor Pressure)
So first we use a tool to measure the vapor pressure of the water in the room and the vapor pressure of the air in the room. Subtract those and multiply it by the wind, or air flow, of the room. This equals the evaporation rate.
Even without taking readings this law can tell us a few things to help us dry quicker and more effectively. First we can increase air flow to speed up drying. We can also heat the room because just like boiling water that will increase the vapor pressure of the water left in your house. Lastly we can turn on dehumidifiers to reduce the vapor pressure of the air. These tools all encourage evaporation. The lower the air’s vapor pressure and the higher the water’s vapor pressure, the faster evaporation will happen.
This is the essence of evaporation potential. It measures the difference between air and water vapor pressure. The greater the evaporation potential the faster drying will happen. If you have water damage in your home make sure your water restoration specialist knows and uses evaporation potential. It is very important to making sure your home is dried safely and quickly.
