On 23 Apr 2007 14:15:55 -0400, wrote:

Joe wrote:

I've been looking for a good dehumidifier and I notice that each big
box store only really carries one brand and there really isn't much
online as far as reviews. I know some dehumidifiers are energy hogs...

How about a Crawlspace Smart Vent?

http://www.smartvent.net

They cost $365, but they only use 40 watts when moving 290 cfm of air
out of a basement when the absolute moisture content of basement air
is greater than the absolute moisture content of outdoor air.

But that isn't what he asked about. If he has a serious humidity
problem as I did then venting won't do a thing. I tried (for about
$100 for a vent fan that fit in place of a concrete-block-sized vent).

Last year when I turned my vacation home into my residence and moved a
lot of possessions into my basement, I bought this dehumidifier:

http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/nav...95&prDeTab=2#A

Which is this unit, private labeled for Sam's I think:

http://products.geappliances.com/App...=GEA &TABID=2

Same specs, same control panel, same looks.

Later I connected a watt-hour meter to the unit. With the humidistat
set for 50% RH, from the period from 11/04/06 til today, the unit has
consumed 346 KWH or 2.03 per day. At my power rate that's 13 cents a
day, $3.95 per month.

My basement is quite moist - green mold grew everywhere - but quite
cool, never going above 60 deg even in the summer. That, of course
has a very favorable impact on the cost of operating this unit.

The way to evaluate the efficiency of a dehumidifier is its rating in
pints removed per KWH consumed. Using the spec sheet of 580 watts
draw and 40 pints/day, that works out to 2.9 Pts/KWH.

It turns out that this is worst-case, for I just checked my unit with
a Kill-A-Watt and measured 450 watts. That makes the Pts/KWH a much
better 3.7. That compares nicely with the 5.3 that the Santa Fe unit
that Bill posted about in this thread. The GE is far cheaper (list
price is $189). At the energy consumption rate that mine is
exhibiting I could never save enough energy to pay the cost difference
for the Santa Fe.

One other thing to note. For low temperature and/or very low humidity
operations, your dehumidifier must operate in the freezing mode. That
is, the evaporator must get cold enough to form frost to condense
sufficient moisture to achieve a low humidity and the unit must have a
good auto-defrost cycle. The GE does both.

For higher temperature operation and moderate humidity reduction, a
modified window AC works great. The modification involves stopping up
the passage from the evaporator to the condenser that lets the
condensate be slung upon the condenser and evaporated. Block the tube
and drill a hole in the bottom to allow the condensate to drain out.

At under a hundred bux for a 5KBTU window unit, that's a heck of a
good deal. Just sit it in the floor over a drain or bucket and turn
it on. If the room is small enough that the humidity is reduced
rapidly then you might need an external humidistat.

I used one like that in the upstairs part of my home for several
years. I haven't measured the efficiency in terms of Pts/KWH but I
know that my power bill is about the same so the AC can't be a big
power hog.

John
---
John De Armond
See my website for my current email address
http://www.neon-john.com
Cleveland, Occupied TN
All great things are simple and many can be expressed in single words:
Freedom, Justice, Honor, Duty, Mercy, Hope. -Churchill