Dehumidifier for the basement questions

[Alan A]

We use one of these. Bottom return hose is hard to plumb neatly on a slab but it’s two vents in the wall you see - like two extra A/C vents.

[zakthor]

Originally Posted by rfuerst911sc

^^^ Interesting comments . The space is tight except for the uninsulated overhead garage door . I have been thinking about insulating the door and replacing the aging weatherstripping .

There is a steel entry door that's fairly weather tight . Two windows which are standard builder grade double pane glass . Everything else is 2x6 studded walls with insulation or poured concrete walls .

I have thought maybe a mini split unit would be a good choice for that space . Something for me to think about .

Buy a digital humidity meter and start logging vapor pressure in different spots and compare with outside.
Try and see if water is coming from the garage door or up through the concrete floor/walls.
A simple vapor barrier on the floor and walls could help a lot, or might make no difference.
My point is only that you should investigate controlling the water entering, otherwise you’ll find yourself trying to heat and dry the earth.
Sore subject for me because my dad ran a pair of dehumidifiers in his store room for 40 years emptying daily. Water didn’t need to go in there - he could have sealed the room.

[fintstone]

I have a 90 Pt Dehumidifier in the encapsulated crawlspace of a 1700 sq ft ranch (house). The home is in a cool, shady forested area that sees quite a lot of rain (and there is a lot of groundwater). If not for humidity, you could probably not even have air conditioning. The water runs out into a small pump/reservoir like you would use with an air conditioning system and is automatically pumped outside when the small reservoir is filled. The dehumidifier has a humidistat and runs pretty much continuously. It makes a big difference in humidity levels and doesn't seem to cost a lot to run.

[540964]

I installed an air tight sump cover and radon mitigation fan system in the basement of my Michigan home built in the late 1970’s and the humidity level dropped significantly. Prior to that I had run 2 dehumidifiers. Inexpensive to install and certainly lower operating cost.

[rfuerst911sc]

Purchased a digital humidity/temp meter and placed it in the basement 3 hours ago . I just checked it and it's 61 % humidity and 73 degrees . According to my phone weather app it's 66 % humidity and 87 degrees outside . I will monitor for a few days to see how it changes .

We have had 13 inches of rain in July so very wet for here . Normal rainfall for the month is 2 inches . So that's it for now , monitor the data then make a decision on what to do . Everyone that has chimed in has given great advice . Thank you

[Mike80911]

Keep in mind that even though the unit will drain itself the drain pail in the unit still requires cleaning from time to time due to mold build up. You are creating the perfect environment for mold to flourish as it is dark and moist inside the pail. I have a 70 pint with pump in the basement it drains into the slop sink. I check it every few weeks to clean the slime and mold out of the pail. You do not want to solve one issue while causing another.

[KFC911]

I had forgotten about this thread... it's been rather "thick" here lately ... as humid and as hot as it gets

1K basement (now pretty dry & sealed along the walls... dug into sandrock). The big box unit pulled out mebbe 2 gal/per day for years ... set on 50% ... I plugged in an Alorair ... melikey already . Removed about the same amount yesterday... into a bucket. Gravity drain (not gonna drain into my now bone-dry sump)... directly outside.

I left it at 40% yesterday... just to quantify... it ran a lot, and I briefly opened the big garage door a few times. I think at 50% and normal southern humidity ... it will be awesome & not run all that much.

I like it already... but I repeat myself

edited: the basement ain't 1000K' either

[cabmandone]

Originally Posted by KFC911

I had forgotten about this thread... it's been rather "thick" here lately ... as humid and as hot as it gets

1K basement (now pretty dry & sealed along the walls... dug into sandrock). The big box unit pulled out mebbe 2 gal/per day for years ... set on 50% ... I plugged in an Alorair ... melikey already . Removed about the same amount yesterday... into a bucket. Gravity drain (not gonna drain into my now bone-dry sump)... directly outside.

I left it at 40% yesterday... just to quantify... it ran a lot, and I briefly opened the big garage door a few times. I think at 50% and normal southern humidity ... it will be awesome & not run all that much.

I like it already... but I repeat myself

edited: the basement ain't 1000K' either

Be careful how much humidity (moisture) you pull out, you can dry things out too much. I think around 45-50% is considered "ideal" in the summer.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by Chocaholic

Note that they will blow warm air into the room when running.

How does yours work? Mine has cooling coils that bring the air temperature passing over them down below the dew point so the water falls out of the air. It blows cold air into the room.

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by cabmandone

Be careful how much humidity (moisture) you pull out, you can dry things out too much. I think around 45-50% is considered "ideal" in the summer.

Yesterday I had it at 40% (just to see) and it ran a lot ... but I had left it at 50% ... and at 50%... it's just coasting... but cycling on/off .... basement temp is 75 ... and comfy.

These days are about as bad as it gets here too... ever .

An Alorair HD55 ... so far... so good

[cabmandone]

Originally Posted by KFC911

Yesterday I had it at 40% (just to see) and it ran a lot ... but I had left it at 50% ... and at 50%... it's just coasting... but cycling on/off .... basement temp is 75 ... and comfy.

These days are about as bad as it gets here too... ever .

An Alorair HD55 ... so far... so good

My kids have been complaining about how hot it is here. I've been telling them "wait till we get to Folly Beach in August. Then you're gonna see hot"

For my media room in my barn I have a DeLonghi Penguino portable AC unit that has a dehumidify setting. On dehumidify it doesn't care about temperature. Normally in the heat of the day it's around 74-75 degrees out there but with lower humidity.