On 05/29/2010 01:50 PM, Existential Angst wrote:
Awl --

Nice so far.... a DeLonghi DD40P, 40 pints -- but pretty small pints. *with
a pump feature*!
From Costco, $197. delonghi.com, delonghiusa.com, a bit pricey, I thought.

HD had units, but all over $200 (my GE's cost $139), so I went to the Costco
upstairs, and they had DeLonghi's, a company I'm not crazy about,
reliability-wise.

But, holy smokes, ahm emptying this "40 pint" bucket like crazy!!
So finally, I pretty much had no choice but to fiddle with the pump ditty,
and gollygee, it really works! 13' head, they claim.

This thing takes out so much moisture, I can't even use it to "top off" the
reservoirs on my machines (fadal, kalamazoo auto saw), cuz they'll FLOOD!!!
Holy ****....

Maybe if I used the fadal for hours on end, in production, it would be ok,
but in prototyping, this unit will just overflow the machine reservoirs.
I can't even fill up buckets, cuz the shop would be nothing but 5 gal pails!
So I hook the hose to the sink.

It's got an inneresting LED readout, that sposedly reads humidity, but seems
to read high. Has antifrost+indication, timer, etc.

It's got a powerful blower, really puts out air, much much more than my
other units, which I think just use a regular fan blade... The difference
is like a factor of 10, no hyperbole!

It's not super quiet with this blower, but it's not overly noisy, either.
It's two speed, but it's so powerful, they really could have greatly lowered
the rpm, for a super-quiet but still effective mode.
If quiet is a concern, mebbe a dropping resistor or high-watt potentiometer
or small transformer would give you the best of all worlds.

I think part of the effectiveness of this unit is in fact due to this
blower, as it blows upward with some force, certainly mixing/circulating the
air MUCH better than my other units.

So, so far, I'm pretty impressed. It's also got a gravity drain, if you
don't need to pump up a height, and don't want to empty buckets. Oh, also
nice is that the pump hose is a "quick connect", like shop air.

I subsequently went out price shopping a little more, and Fridigaire units
(larger cap, cheaper) did not have this pump feature, nor did any of HD's
units.

It's also got a 2 year parts/labor warrantee, for Costco-ers.

God willing, it will prove more reliable than the GE's. It's certainly much
better finished, better visual appeal.

Later, if I remember, I'll amp-probe the unit and compare it with my others.
But, regardless, if you really need to pull out moisture with a footprint no
larger than other "40 pinters", this unit fills the bill, and that pump
really proves to be useful.

You can find it cheaper online, but the shipping more than wipes out the
savings.

The online reviews of those were horrifying, I just bought a cheap
dehumidifier from the big box and a condensate pump, that way whenever
one part dies I'm not out another $200...

nate