I run a dehumidifier in the summer as it seem to take the musty smell out of
the basement and mine is finished, and there is nothing wrong with running
the fan on the furnace constantly, mine runs 24-7 365.

Tom


"jay" wrote in message
news:TxHse.13367$Nx1.5087@trndny05...
I live in Northern NJ. I'm beginning to monitor humidity levels in my
basement to determine whether or not I need a dehumidifier. Today, I put a
hygrometer and the relative humidity of my basement was around 66%. Today
was not warm enough to use AC, but I decided to turn the blower motor of my
furnace/AC system on, and since there are return ducts in the basement, the
added circulation caused the basement humidity to drop to around 59% after
leaving the fan on for an hour or more. If I shut the fan off for an hour
the humidity would rise into the mid 60s again. The humidity at the rest
of the house was still at the low 40% range.

If I can keep the basement humidity below 60% by simply leaving the fan
on, do I really need a dehumidifier?

Does leaving the blower fan on all the time use up too much electricity or
cause blower motor to wear out very quickly?

By the way, my basement is finished, and I don't want mold problems. If
you think I should get a dehumidifier to further reduce humidity, then I
think the only convenient logical place to drain the condensation would be
to install a T fitting into the existing narrow PVC A/C condensation drain
pipe. (and presumably some dehumidifiers have the ability to pump the
condensation upward through a tube which I would connect to the T fitting.
If I want to avoid having to empty out tanks, then is the setup I just
described a good setup?

(If so, then hopefully basement humidity would not be a problem during the
heating season, because the only practical location is within the furnace
room, and since the furnace room gets hot/dry when the gas furnace is
running, the dehumidifier would not function correctly during the winter
months. Presumably I would only need to use the dehumidifier in the
warmer months)

Thanks,

J.