Consumer Guide – Dehumidifiers FAQ

A dehumidifier product specialist answers your questions

Added by: Mercia Tapping

Editorial Notes: Updated 6/28/2011

1. The manufacturer says this dehumidifier will cover 1000 square feet. Is this really true?

No, it is usually about half that amount. Apparently the manufacturers feel that if you bring the humidity level from, let’s say, 80% to 70%, you are dehumidifying. At AllergyBuyersClub.com we recommend the proper size dehumidifier for you to bring the humidity level to 50% or just under so that mold won’t grow. Our concern and goal is to prevent mold, which is an allergen to many people.

2. What is the ideal humidity I should be looking for in my basement?
In order to prevent mold from growing or to put existing mold into “hibernation”, the humidity level should be at 50% or less. However, reducing the level much below that such as 40% is a waste of your electricity.

3. I bought a dehumidifier at a store and it runs all the time – why?
The dehumidifier that you purchased is probably not capable of removing the amount of moisture in this area. If your area needs to have 50 pints of moisture removed from it daily and you have a 40-pint unit, you will never catch up and the machine will run continuously.

4. I want a quiet dehumidifier for the main part of my house – what do you recommend?

The very best quiet dehumidifier is the Santa Fe RX Whole House Dehumidifier. While it is pricey, it is quiet, has a built in pump to remove the water so that you don’t have to empty a bucket all the time. The Santa Fe not only uses less electricity to operate than many smaller units but will need to operate far fewer hours to remove the moisture. It is a true “set and forget” machine. It also has a replaceable filter that unlike most residential smaller units is actually capable of removing particles as small as 1 micron, which would include most mold and pollen.

Of the lower end dehumidifiers, the new Danby dehumidifiers are all fairly quiet.

5. Ouch, my old dehumidifier is costing me a small fortune in electricity. What do you have that is energy efficient?
Almost every dehumidifier that we sell is energy starred, but this does not mean that it will necessarily save you money. Properly sizing your unit so that it does not have to run all the time is actually going to save you the most money. A telephone call to one of our product specialists at 888-236-7231 will give you answers as to what size and brand would work most efficiently for your situation.

6. Do dehumidifiers raise the heat in my house?
Yes, but this can be either good or bad. The warmer the room, the easier and more efficiently you can remove moisture so the machine will have to work less. If you have air conditioning, this added heat that has to be removed will be mostly compensated by the air conditioner not having to work as hard because it is easier to cool dry air than moist air. On the other hand depending on the size of the room, you could raise the temperature by 5– 10 degrees.

7. I have a second home. What happens if we have a power outage, will the machine turn itself back on?

That depends on the brand and model that you buy. Most dehumidifiers with manual humidistat controls will turn themselves back on. With the electronic controls it varies. The Danby 50 & 70 pint units will turn back on and will continue to remove moisture at the humidity level for which you had set the machine. This is true also with the Frigidaire low temperature units. The Delonghi dehumidifier will not turn back on and needs to have the “on” button pushed, and while it is a quiet and excellent machine, it would not be a good choice for a second home or if you plan to be away from your house for extended periods.

 

8. Can a dehumidifier cover multiple connected rooms?
That depends on the total square footage of all the rooms, the configuration of the rooms, and the openness between the rooms.

The more open the rooms are to each other (not 3’ doorways), the easier it is. Having ceiling fans in the rooms to move the air would certainly help. If you don’t have ceiling fans you can add small, inexpensive fans in the rooms to help move the air in these satellite rooms into the main area where you have placed the dehumidifier.

9. Emptying the dehumidifier 3 times a day is driving my crazy. How can I pump it out automatically?

Most dehumidifiers have a drain hole at the bottom of the bucket from which you can continuously drain the water. You use gravity to empty the bucket by positioning the dehumidifier close to a drain hole or sink so that the water can flow downhill into this drainage area. You might have to elevate the dehumidifier to have the water flow downhill because the bottom of the bucket is usually only about 2 inches from the ground. One can also purchase a pump that would be positioned under the drainage point in the bucket that would allow you to pump the water as high as 15 feet vertically or about 100 feet horizontally.

Some models such as the Comfort-Aire allow you to set up continuous draining through a tube that exits at the back of the machine about 10″ from the ground, which due to this height allows you to drain to a drainage area a short distance away or into the pump box without having to elevate the dehumidifier.

10. My dehumidifier does not have a digital humidistat display. How do I know whether it is doing a good job?

If you want to prevent mold by bringing the humidity level to 50%, you need a hygrometer to measure the actual humidity in the room. This is a measuring device about the size of a pocket calculator that measures humidity just as a thermometer measures temperature. You place this device somewhere in the room and keep adjusting the setting on your dehumidifier until the hygrometer measures 50% or less. (This could take you a few days to get it to the setting you want.) You have then calibrated your dehumidifier to go on and off at a point where the humidity will be maintained at 50%. We carry a very good digital hygrometer/thermometer on our website.

Dehumidifiers
Frigidaire FAD704DUD 70 Pint Dehumidifiers	Comfort-Aire 65 Pint Dehumidifiers	Aprilaire 1710A Whole Basement Portable Dehumidifiers - 90 Pints	Santa Fe Classic Whole Basement Dehumidifiers

 Tags: Dehumidifiers  Posted in: Dehumidifiers

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