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shelly_k_gw

Options for dehumidifiers in basements

shelly_k
15 years ago

X-posted in Plumbing as well...

We will have a partially finished basement. I've always just used the regular humidifiers that you plug in and empty every day during the humid summer months (live in the midwest). I dislike having to empty the thing every day.

What are some other options? I know I could put it in the unfinished part next to a drain and just have it leak in there all day, but then I need to leave the door open all the time to the unfinished part. I don't really like the noise either.

Is there anything that could be built in? We will have around 2100 sq finished and 900 unfinished space that needs to be dehumidified. It is a walkout.

Any recommendations or advice?

Comments (3)

  • jasper60103
    15 years ago

    Yea, I have the same situation.
    I bought a dehumidifier a couple summers ago after finishing my basement. I placed it furthest from my TV and entainment area because I didn't want to hear the noise.
    Unfortunately, the drain is only accessible from the entertainment area, which meant I had to empty the bucket once a day.

    However, this summer I noticed the humidity level hasn't gone much over 55%, so it really hasn't ran much. I guess the house is still drying out. If things reamin the same I may be able to retire my dehumidifier.

    Anyway, not sure if this will help you.... If you can place the dehumidifier against the wall near the unfinished/drain area. You could drill a hole through the drywall and run a garden hose from the dehumidifier to the drain. Also, I'm assuming your dehumidifier allows you to connect a garden hose to it.

    Hope this helps.

    jasper

  • countryboymo
    15 years ago

    Replace your water heater with a heat pump water heater and it will dehumidify and condition the space for you and provide hot water at 2-3 units of heat per unit of electricity. All that and taking care of the humidity!

  • sniffdog
    15 years ago

    shelly

    look at the whole house dehumidiers on iaqsource.com. I recently purchased the Sante Fe whole house unit that handles up to 3300 square feet, Honeywell makes a good dehumidier too. Each vendor makes also make a smaller size unit. If you download the installation manual, it will show you the various ways to hook it up. After posting on the GW, I decided to use the standalone configuration which is quite easy to install.

    The unit can be installed in the unfisished portion of the basement (presumably in the utlilty room) with the intake and output flex ducts runing to/from the dehumidifier running to the finished portions of the basement. Put the intake on one side of the basement and the output on the other side to get good air circulation. Put a vented door for entry into the unfinished portion to allow air to flow through that room. The closed vented door will buffer the noise and allow air to pass through. You must have a vented door to that utility room if you have gas heat.

    As far as drainage for the dehumidifier, it is best if you have a drain nearby that runs into your sump pump since these units do pull a lot of water out of the air. But if that is a problem, they make small pumps designed for HVAC applications that allow you to take the output of an AC or dehumidifier unit and pump the water to a drain location.

    Good luck.