Yes, I know, wrong season, but can anyone point me too an efficient dehumidifier for a 1000 ft2 basement?
Efficient Dehumidifier?
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should be off season saving there, anything engery star rated would be good. seen a few on sale at lowes.
Not off season for us. The stove room is running at 35% but we have an adjacent room at 68% that I would like to get down to 50%. It's worse yet in the summer.
wow i just clean up my humidifier yesterday and got it running my house was at 38 percent before getting it going was at 45 percent this A.M.Highbeam said:
velvetfoot said:
I had the same thoughts. I had a good kenmore one that $%^$ the bed. The thing that I liked about it was it had a knob from high to low to control the humidity...I just kept it on the lowest setting, and I had to empty every 3 days so. (No need to keep my basement at 20% humidity...not storing precous items there. So, it then died and I had to buy a new/expensive one...problem was that it only had a high/low setting.no knob...and on the lowest setting I had to empty every day....electric bill went way up.....wasn't happy that my 10 year old dehumidifier was more efficient than a brand new one that cost twice the price. I think the manufacturers are in bed with the utility companies...but then again I am a naive one.
I think an energy efficient dehumidifier is an oxymoron. The energy star rated one I bought uses no less electricity than my old one. Plus, during the summer when we run ours, it consumes 25% of our total electricity -- a real hog, and an expensive one at that. Don't run it any drier than you really need, as that's about the only way to be energy efficient.
IIRC, most of them are Energy Star rated. I just bought a Whirlpool 75 pint last summer and found that it uses less power than the two 25 pint units it replaced. I needed two separate circuits for the old ones, but the 75 runs on one just fine.
It is hard for me to imagine that you need dehumidification in the winter, but the climate you're in, well.... If the adjacent room is much colder, it might be more economical to blow some of the heat from the stove into the other space. If you cool 35% air down, its RH will go up. The dewpoint is probably the same in both spaces and the difference is temperature. Humidity travels much better than heat and most dehumidifiers start to freeze up below 65F or so anyway. They do make low temp dehumidifiers, but they are real energy hogs.
Chris
It is hard for me to imagine that you need dehumidification in the winter, but the climate you're in, well.... If the adjacent room is much colder, it might be more economical to blow some of the heat from the stove into the other space. If you cool 35% air down, its RH will go up. The dewpoint is probably the same in both spaces and the difference is temperature. Humidity travels much better than heat and most dehumidifiers start to freeze up below 65F or so anyway. They do make low temp dehumidifiers, but they are real energy hogs.
Chris
Redox, does the fan on your new Whirlpool run all the time when it is turned on, even if it is not dehumidifing?
No. It cycles on every now and again to stir up the air and let the humidity sensor figure out whether to let it run. Nice feature, but the humidity is only controllable to 3 different levels plus continuous run. "Normal " seems to be about 50% and "dry" is still running at 40%. I ended up putting it on a timer to run it for a few hours during off peak rates at night. In a closed up basement, the humidity load is kind of predictable. BTW, that fan is very powerful; you can literally see stuff moving around 20 feet from the machine!
Chris
Chris
- Oct 8, 2008
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velvetfoot said:
Have you heard of the METS brand. You'll spend a lot and it sucks!
As a life long Phillies fan I couldnt resist lol
Seriously though, I picked up a Frigidaire 50 pint unit (Lowes) over the summer and it did a great job. Ive read that 40-50% humidity is an acceptable level in a basement. As long as you set the humidifier at that % you want it should turn itself off after it reaches the set level. You'd probably want to go with a 65 pint unit for 1000sqft.
Like the square footage ratings on a stove, the actual capacity for a given area is a "soft" number. It all depends on how tight the house is and how permeable the foundation. Weather usually also is a big factor. For the persnickety types, you can borrow one to see if it is big enough to do what you want to do, or just go oversize. It will just shut off quicker and may actually save energy by shutting off rather than struggling right on the edge of shutting off.
Oh, yeah. I found this:
http://www.energystar.gov/ia/products/prod_lists/dehumid_prod_list.xls
Chris
Oh, yeah. I found this:
http://www.energystar.gov/ia/products/prod_lists/dehumid_prod_list.xls
Chris
Chris,
Thanks. My late model delonghi's fan runs all the time and it won't start back up after a power failure, so you can use a timer, etc.
Thanks for the link too.
Bernie,
To put a postitive spin on it NL East rules!
Hopefully I'll be able to get to the new park this summer.
It looks good. Last time I drove by a week ago, Shea was still standing.
Thanks. My late model delonghi's fan runs all the time and it won't start back up after a power failure, so you can use a timer, etc.
Thanks for the link too.
Bernie,
To put a postitive spin on it NL East rules!
Hopefully I'll be able to get to the new park this summer.
It looks good. Last time I drove by a week ago, Shea was still standing.
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