Dehumidifier recommendation needed

Mine in the shop is dead, contributing to a lot of issues.

500 square foot basement shop in the south. Very damp. Im thinking 30-50 pint continuous run with a drain outside. Set it and forget it.

Been using old ones from thrift stores for years, but am willing to spend ACTUAL MONEY for a good one that lastls longer than a year and a half.

Will be continuous use, hose outside.

What one and from where? Reading reviews, it seems luke they are all garbage now.

I dint care about features, noise, electricity usage, nothing but the ability to suck large amounts of water out of the air forever.

Window AC unit?

In reply to Dr. Hess:

If that could be mate to work in a cinderblock basement shop....

Ive already gone WAY down the air conditioning rabbit hole, and have a financially responsible plan. Unfortunately it requires a dehumidifier seperate from the ac due to issues with ducting returns and fumes. So a positive pressure ac system is going in place as soon as i can, as well as some more sealing around the doors and sills and such.

My first job was building climate control systems for giant computer rooms. 5-40 ton units. One of their big features was a hot gas reheat system. They took the hot gas coming off the compressor and put it through a coil with air on it to reheat the room. The cold side would cool the air and pull all the moisture out, the hot gas reheat would warm it back up again, now without the moisture, so your room wasn't freezing.

I was just about to ask the same question

I have also had a number of used units over the years and fixed one than one with parts from another, they share a LOT of parts but they do not have the same failure.

Just going to listen.

If you want to spend some money, Hy-E-Dry commercial dehumidifiers are the cat's meow. http://www.thermastor.com/Commercial-Dehumidification/ The same company has a residential line of dehumidifiers; I imagine they're more affordable and based on the performance of their commercial stuff I would expect they are high quality: http://www.santa-fe-products.com

When I worked for Sears about 10 years ago selling appliances, we sold Kenmore units built by LG. They were garbage, lasted about 18 months on average.

Lots of my customers would be upset, their last Kenmore unit lasted 20 years! One guy tried a bunch of units over the 4 years I worked there. All of them were garbage.

Sorry this doesn't really help. Im sure those Santa Fe units above are nice but $1500 is a tough pill to swallow. I would just get a cheap unit and plan on replacing it.

Just a silly observation about unit longevity. My Dad still uses a dehumidifier that I remember from childhood. I forget what brand it is. It's a blue box on wheels. It probably dates to 1960.

We have two of these in our enormous basement (~3000sf): https://www.amazon.com/Frigidaire-FAD704DWD-Energy-70-pint-Dehumidifier/dp/B00AU7GZXE/. I've been pleased with their performance. They're quiet, cycle on and off based on the humidity level you select, and have a "continuous" mode for when you need to remove a lot of moisture. We started running them on "continuous" for about six months since the house had a major moisture and mold problem. Once we got that under control we set them to a good relative humidity % and haven't touched them in two years. No idea if they'll last 20 years but they're going strong after nearly 3 years.

I replaced the one in my basement a few years ago. It runs pretty much non-stop from Spring to Fall. I forget where I bought (might have been Sam's Club; might have been Home Depot), but it seems to do the job. More efficiently than the old one it replaced (after it died) which would make my meter spin.

We picked this one up at Slowe's a couple months ago and it has kept our 600 sq ft 100-year-old nasty block basement incredibly dry. It has a built in pump, but I found it to be loud so I just gravity drain into the sump pit. I think they have a cheaper one without the pump which I should have gotten. Automatic, kicks on and off.

This thread, together with the onset of humid weather here in New England, motivated me to search for a good replacement for the 20+yr-old model I had.

The reviews on Dehumidifier Web were helpful for me. I bought a Frigidaire FFAD7033R1 locally for about $270. It had good reviews there and on on-line stores.

Overall I'm quite pleased with it; seems to work well and the air in the basement feels much nicer. Now I'm waiting to see what the impact will be on my electric bill ...

I gotta side with the "older ones are better" crowd. I have a Sears model purchased in 1996 when I bought my first house. Runs great, but I suppose it sucks electricity like nobody's business. Three years ago I bought a new highly rated in CR model from GE. It lasted a year. Got a replacement just under the one year warranty period after arm wrestling with GE for a bit, also highly rated by CR. The replacement also lasted a year. No dice on getting a replacement this time, as they now have a 90 day warranty. Wonder why? Fortunately I kept the old "junker" ... minor scrub of the coil, and she's back to sucking humidity out of my basement. Hopefully for a long time.

Maybe look for an older unit at Goodwill or an estate sale ??

Do dehumidifiers work well in canoes?

maschinenbau said:

We picked this one up at Slowe's a couple months ago and it has kept our 600 sq ft 100-year-old nasty block basement incredibly dry. It has a built in pump, but I found it to be loud so I just gravity drain into the sump pit. I think they have a cheaper one without the pump which I should have gotten. Automatic, kicks on and off.

Second on this one, it's what I have and it works great.

E: Son of a bitch, I need to learn to check dates before commenting, damn bots.

We have a Frigidaire in our basement.  Not sure what model.   Its around 30 pints, but it is plumbed to drain.  It's on a shelf over our clothes washer, so I just added a 'y' to add a second drain for it.  It's quiet and works.  The reviews for Frigidaire are good so we got it.  Only had it about a year now!

I have a no-name brand in my basement. After a recent flood, neighbors lent me theirs to help dry out.  Compared to some old ones and my el-cheapo unit, the lone Frigidaire unit was BY FAR the best of all the ones on loan.  When mine craps out, that's what I am getting. 

I picked this one up after this thread a dew years ago. Been soldiering on in the shop ever since. No problems. 

Dusterbd13-michael said:

Do dehumidifiers work well in canoes?

We'll never know. :)

Currently running a HiSense 70 for a couple of years in my garage. Florida, so very humid.  It keeps the relative humidity below 50% even on rainy days, which is really good, since there's no wall insulation and lots of gaps. I broke the attachment for the pump outlet by stepping on it, so I have it gravity drain via hose. 

Lowe's link

https://www.acwholesalers.com/Honeywell-DR65A3000/p84368.html?gclid=CjwKCAjwscDpBRBnEiwAnQ0HQMNhRSQrYB0PxK8n5fOVunNY3jSjaIH_NJjVWSiuDOOFvQ0617xN-BoCYg4QAvD_BwE

I run one of these, behind a wall with an intake and output grate at each end of the basement.  Done.

Not cheap but the best and repairable because it's a commercial refrigerator.

Looking for a dehumidifier for a while which is easy to operate and makes less noise also have some auto restart features.

In reply to janet :

what is your budget and where you want to use it any specific room?

In Healthcare facilities we used Dayton from Grainger.  I have one that was well used when it was retired and I keep it in the bathroom.  It has a timer so whoever showers turns it on and sets the timer between .5 and 1.5 hours and it shuts itself off.  It has a fitting to use a hose to drain so you don't have to empty the dumb bucket all the time.  Mike I'm in Alabama so we probably have similar exterior humidity