Dehumidifier Blog - user oriented dehumidifier reviews

Here is the original question I saw on Yahoo! Answers:

i need a cheap home dehumidifier one for a room 500sq feet and up like 500 to 800 should be good…would like to spend no more then 150 200 max if ….possible would like to have these features or some of them

Auto shut off when the water storage tray is full

Some sort of visual indicator that the water tray is full

Built in humidistat (humidity meter / hygrometer) that can automatically control the humidity of the room(this is the most important one)

A frost sensor that will switch off the unit if it gets too cold.
Low noise levels

At first glance, a 25-30 pint dehumidifier such as Sunpentown SD-25A or Comfort-Aire 30-Pint (BHD-301) Dehumidifier should meet his/her requirement. Both dehumidifiers have the auto defrost and auto restart capability, and they can shut off automatically when the water container is full. For the Comfort-Aire BHD-301dehumidifier, it will alert you with an audible 3 beeps in addition to a full indicator shown on the panel. To control the humidity of the room, you will first have to have a desired humidity level in mind (e.g. 35%) before choosing that setting manually on the panel. Once you are done with the setting, the built in humidistat will do the work for you automatically. There is also an option that will allow you to attach a drainage line to the unit and allow gravity to feed the water out of the unit, so that you can run the dehumidifier for a long time.

Price Comparison:

However, we should keep in mind that most of the time we are using a dehumidifier is when the humidity is high than 55%. A 50 pint or higher dehumidifier will do a much better job in this case (Read: How to choose a dehumidifier article). The elctronic LCD panel looks much better than the two models mentioned above, and there is a timer that will allow you to control when to start/stop the dehumidifier. In addition, there are 4 easy roll casters that will allow you to move it around the house.

Since there is almost ALWAYS a DeLonghi 50 Pint Digital Dehumidifier DE500P selling on Ebay for less than $200, I don’t see why you should not buy a 50 pint dehumidifier instead.

$399 DeLonghi 50 Pint Dehumidifier With Pump DE500P US $175.00 (0 Bid) End Date: Friday Jul-25-2008 0:26:06 PDT Bid now | Buy it now | Add to watch list

$399 DeLonghi 50 Pint Dehumidifier With Pump DE500P LG US $175.00 (0 Bid) End Date: Friday Jul-25-2008 6:22:06 PDT Bid now | Buy it now | Add to watch list

Delonghi DE500P Energy Star Electronic Dehumidifier US $328.05 End Date: Friday Jul-25-2008 7:05:01 PDT Buy it now | Add to watch list

Delonghi DE400 40 Pint Energy Star Electronic Dehumidif US $247.04 End Date: Friday Jul-25-2008 7:05:03 PDT Buy it now | Add to watch list

$399 DeLonghi 50 Pint Dehumidifier With Pump DE500P US $175.00 (0 Bid) End Date: Friday Jul-25-2008 8:55:07 PDT Bid now | Buy it now | Add to watch list

Dehumidifier related news:

A computer program called Smart House Adaptive Control System controls the house’s appliances. This program, designed by students on the project, senses when different appliances need to be turned on or off by the house through a central computer. (Source)

Q. I am writing in reference to replacing my home’s 22 windows. Our home is 17 years old, and during the years we have added two additions; an apartment for my mother-in-law and another one over the garage. We have a very large family: six children, two of us and Nana. We have had a problem with moisture in the main part of the house since we take eight showers a day plus cooking, etc. Our only bathroom is at the top of the front-door stairs and the bedrooms surround it. We added outside venting, run a dehumidifier and try to open the windows daily, weather permitting. Well, our window frames are moldy.

We sanded them, bleached them, treated them, refinished and sealed them, but the mold keeps coming back. We don’t want to replace windows and have the same thing happen. I wrote to Andersen asking if they would custom-make a double-hung, wood window with vinyl casing around both sides. They told me they couldn’t; only the outside of the frame is vinyl. They referred me to a new window company they took over — Skyline, which are all-vinyl windows. I didn’t want to go all-vinyl and wanted to stay wood with a vinyl covering for ease of cleaning and maintenance.

Do you have any suggestions? Do you recommend all-vinyl windows, or do I stay away from them? Do you recommend Skyline windows, or are they an unknown entity?

Milton, Vt.

A. Sorry, I do not know anything about Skyline windows. However, if Andersen has acquired the company and is recommending these windows, they must be of good quality. There are other high-quality, all-vinyl windows. Just be sure that you deal with a time-tested, reputable firm. (Some firms selling windows do not stay around long). You may want to look into the fiberglass windows that Marvin makes, where you have a choice of fiberglass outside and wood inside, or all fiberglass.

The windows may also get moldy since you have such a high indoor relative humidity (RH), but they won’t rot. Dehumidifiers are not too effective in winter. You may also want to look into one or more wall-type air-to-air heat exchangers to deal with the excessive RH; that will be less expensive than a whole-house air-to-air heat exchanger, but the latter will do a more effective job. (Source)