Subject says all... need a dehumidifier, preferably quiet and with low
temp operability. After searching on Amazon, I can't find a single
brand that I feel confident purchasing. Probably the one with the
least negative reviews was Frigidaire and I'll be returning one of
those this afternoon because it doesn't work properly and Frigidaire
apparently doesn't have real customer service personnel, only an
annoying automated answering system.

is there *anything* that doesn't suck? Anything at all? All I see
are comments like "I had this for two weeks and it died" "loud, rattly
POS" "doesn't really have a deice feature, just shuts off until the
ice melts" yadda yadda yadda.

nate

"N8N" wrote in message
...
Subject says all... need a dehumidifier, preferably quiet and with low
temp operability. After searching on Amazon, I can't find a single
brand that I feel confident purchasing. Probably the one with the
least negative reviews was Frigidaire and I'll be returning one of
those this afternoon because it doesn't work properly and Frigidaire
apparently doesn't have real customer service personnel, only an
annoying automated answering system.

is there *anything* that doesn't suck? Anything at all? All I see
are comments like "I had this for two weeks and it died" "loud, rattly
POS" "doesn't really have a deice feature, just shuts off until the
ice melts" yadda yadda yadda.

nate

Whirlpool used to (up to 6yrs ago or so) to make an excellent dehumdifier
and Sears brand was made by Whirlpool until about 3 or 4 years ago. I was
working at Sears when they switched to a Chinese made unit instead of the
Whirlpool. Price stayed the same but quality went down the tubes. Not too
many of the Chinese units didn't get returned with a month or so. You might
check to see if Whirlpool still makes their own units stateside...may be
still a good unit.

Tom G.

On Jul 15, 6:55*pm, "Tom G" wrote:
"N8N" wrote in message

...

Subject says all... need a dehumidifier, preferably quiet and with low
temp operability. *After searching on Amazon, I can't find a single
brand that I feel confident purchasing. *Probably the one with the
least negative reviews was Frigidaire and I'll be returning one of
those this afternoon because it doesn't work properly and Frigidaire
apparently doesn't have real customer service personnel, only an
annoying automated answering system.

is there *anything* that doesn't suck? *Anything at all? *All I see
are comments like "I had this for two weeks and it died" "loud, rattly
POS" "doesn't really have a deice feature, just shuts off until the
ice melts" yadda yadda yadda.

nate

Whirlpool used to (up to 6yrs ago or so) to make an excellent dehumdifier
and Sears brand was made by Whirlpool until about 3 or 4 years ago. *I was
working at Sears when they switched to a Chinese made unit instead of the
Whirlpool. *Price stayed the same but quality went down the tubes. *Not too
many of the Chinese units didn't get returned with a month or so. *You might
check to see if Whirlpool still makes their own units stateside...may be
still a good unit.

Tom G.

About 5 yrs ago I bought a sears, it was fine, following year I bought
a second sears it was junk and I returned it. They are all made in
china, so how can anyone know if any are good.

ransley wrote:
On Jul 15, 6:55 pm, "Tom G" wrote:

"N8N" wrote in message

...


Subject says all... need a dehumidifier, preferably quiet and with low
temp operability. After searching on Amazon, I can't find a single
brand that I feel confident purchasing. Probably the one with the
least negative reviews was Frigidaire and I'll be returning one of
those this afternoon because it doesn't work properly and Frigidaire
apparently doesn't have real customer service personnel, only an
annoying automated answering system.

is there *anything* that doesn't suck? Anything at all? All I see
are comments like "I had this for two weeks and it died" "loud, rattly
POS" "doesn't really have a deice feature, just shuts off until the
ice melts" yadda yadda yadda.

nate

Whirlpool used to (up to 6yrs ago or so) to make an excellent dehumdifier
and Sears brand was made by Whirlpool until about 3 or 4 years ago. I was
working at Sears when they switched to a Chinese made unit instead of the
Whirlpool. Price stayed the same but quality went down the tubes. Not too
many of the Chinese units didn't get returned with a month or so. You might
check to see if Whirlpool still makes their own units stateside...may be
still a good unit.

Tom G.


About 5 yrs ago I bought a sears, it was fine, following year I bought
a second sears it was junk and I returned it. They are all made in
china, so how can anyone know if any are good.

Maybe I'll just have to go with my usual modus operandi and look for a
good used one on Craigslist. What brands *used* to be good? I'm not
enamored of my DeLonghi just because it's loud and hard to move around.
My parents have had one for years that they probably bought at
Wal-Mart way back in the day. those are my only experiences with
dehumidifiers.

BTW I stopped at Lowe's after work to return the Frigidaire. I asked
the guy in the appliance dept. about the fan running all the time and he
said no, he didn't think that was normal, but he didn't sound real sure.
That's all they sell there, anyway. They had a display model out so I
waited until nobody was looking, took it off the shelf, and plugged it
into the power strip for the fridge display. It works EXACTLY the same
as the one I just returned - fan runs constantly, and I *think* the
compressor does too, regardless of humidity setting, and also it doesn't
shut off when you remove the bucket. Also based on reading reviews
online it would make a lousy unit for my garage because apparently it
puts itself in the "off" mode if the power goes out. So if the power
goes out while you're away, your dehumidifier stops working and next
time you open the garage you find your old car is now all full of mold
and mildew. What a POS. would it be too hard to make the same damn
thing that millions of people have in their basement, a simple box with
a bucket that dehumidifies, and has a rotary knob that turns it on and
off. The fan runs when the compressor runs. Just make it new, durable,
and quiet. Maybe put a garden hose fitting on it somewhere in case I
want to use a condensate pump. That's all I want. Is that really too
much to ask for?

nate


--
replace "roosters" with "cox" to reply.
http://members.cox.net/njnagel

On Jul 15, 5:08*pm, N8N wrote:
Subject says all... need a dehumidifier, preferably quiet and with low
temp operability. *After searching on Amazon, I can't find a single
brand that I feel confident purchasing. *Probably the one with the
least negative reviews was Frigidaire and I'll be returning one of
those this afternoon because it doesn't work properly and Frigidaire
apparently doesn't have real customer service personnel, only an
annoying automated answering system.

is there *anything* that doesn't suck? *Anything at all? *All I see
are comments like "I had this for two weeks and it died" "loud, rattly
POS" "doesn't really have a deice feature, just shuts off until the
ice melts" yadda yadda yadda.

nate

How about Soleus?

It seems to have good reviews.

http://www.consumersearch.com/www/ho...ifier-reviews/

N8N wrote:

Subject says all... need a dehumidifier, preferably quiet and with low
temp operability. After searching on Amazon, I can't find a single
brand that I feel confident purchasing. Probably the one with the
least negative reviews was Frigidaire and I'll be returning one of
those this afternoon because it doesn't work properly and Frigidaire
apparently doesn't have real customer service personnel, only an
annoying automated answering system.

is there *anything* that doesn't suck? Anything at all? All I see
are comments like "I had this for two weeks and it died" "loud, rattly
POS" "doesn't really have a deice feature, just shuts off until the
ice melts" yadda yadda yadda.

nate

I can't give you advice based on experience with the specific
dehumidifiers mentioned below BUT . . . A few months ago I did some
research on basement dehumidifiers in anticipation of replace my ageing
one when it dies. . . it's still running.

I think the feature you are looking for as far as not "just shuts off
until the ice melts" (which is what my current one does until the
basement warms up) is called "hot gas defrost". It's a feature common on
high-end (mucho $$$) dehumidifiers but, from what I could tell, not that
common in sub-$500 ones.

I found only 2 brands that offerred economy-level dehumidifiers that
appeared to be "relatively" reliable and had hot gas defrost:

1. Comfort Aire -- models BHD-501D (50 pint), BHD-651D (65 pint)
2. Whirlpool -- models AD50USS (50 pint), AD75USS (75 pint)

I don't know how noisy those are -- I was looking for something for an
unfinished basement so I didn't care much.

HTH.

Ron wrote:
On Jul 15, 5:08 pm, N8N wrote:

Subject says all... need a dehumidifier, preferably quiet and with low
temp operability. After searching on Amazon, I can't find a single
brand that I feel confident purchasing. Probably the one with the
least negative reviews was Frigidaire and I'll be returning one of
those this afternoon because it doesn't work properly and Frigidaire
apparently doesn't have real customer service personnel, only an
annoying automated answering system.

is there *anything* that doesn't suck? Anything at all? All I see
are comments like "I had this for two weeks and it died" "loud, rattly
POS" "doesn't really have a deice feature, just shuts off until the
ice melts" yadda yadda yadda.

nate


How about Soleus?

It seems to have good reviews.

http://www.consumersearch.com/www/ho...ifier-reviews/

I've never heard of that brand before... which I guess is why I'm
posting. I've heard of, say, Whirlpool, Frigidaire, DeLonghi, etc. and
they all seem to get consistently slagged.

I'll check 'em out.

nate

--
replace "roosters" with "cox" to reply.
http://members.cox.net/njnagel

Nate Nagel wrote:
Ron wrote:

On Jul 15, 5:08 pm, N8N wrote:

Subject says all... need a dehumidifier, preferably quiet and with low
temp operability. After searching on Amazon, I can't find a single
brand that I feel confident purchasing. Probably the one with the
least negative reviews was Frigidaire and I'll be returning one of
those this afternoon because it doesn't work properly and Frigidaire
apparently doesn't have real customer service personnel, only an
annoying automated answering system.

is there *anything* that doesn't suck? Anything at all? All I see
are comments like "I had this for two weeks and it died" "loud, rattly
POS" "doesn't really have a deice feature, just shuts off until the
ice melts" yadda yadda yadda.

nate



How about Soleus?

It seems to have good reviews.

http://www.consumersearch.com/www/ho...ifier-reviews/


I've never heard of that brand before... which I guess is why I'm
posting. I've heard of, say, Whirlpool, Frigidaire, DeLonghi, etc. and
they all seem to get consistently slagged.

I'll check 'em out.

nate


Hmmm... I see lots of people saying they like it, but it sounds like it
has two of the "features" I didn't like about the Frigidaire... fan
runs constantly and it also won't restart if the power goes out. why?

nate

--
replace "roosters" with "cox" to reply.
http://members.cox.net/njnagel

on 7/15/2008 8:23 PM Nate Nagel said the following:
ransley wrote:
On Jul 15, 6:55 pm, "Tom G" wrote:

"N8N" wrote in message

...



Subject says all... need a dehumidifier, preferably quiet and with low
temp operability. After searching on Amazon, I can't find a single
brand that I feel confident purchasing. Probably the one with the
least negative reviews was Frigidaire and I'll be returning one of
those this afternoon because it doesn't work properly and Frigidaire
apparently doesn't have real customer service personnel, only an
annoying automated answering system.

is there *anything* that doesn't suck? Anything at all? All I see
are comments like "I had this for two weeks and it died" "loud, rattly
POS" "doesn't really have a deice feature, just shuts off until the
ice melts" yadda yadda yadda.

nate

Whirlpool used to (up to 6yrs ago or so) to make an excellent
dehumdifier
and Sears brand was made by Whirlpool until about 3 or 4 years ago.
I was
working at Sears when they switched to a Chinese made unit instead
of the
Whirlpool. Price stayed the same but quality went down the tubes.
Not too
many of the Chinese units didn't get returned with a month or so.
You might
check to see if Whirlpool still makes their own units
stateside...may be
still a good unit.

Tom G.


About 5 yrs ago I bought a sears, it was fine, following year I bought
a second sears it was junk and I returned it. They are all made in
china, so how can anyone know if any are good.

Maybe I'll just have to go with my usual modus operandi and look for a
good used one on Craigslist. What brands *used* to be good? I'm not
enamored of my DeLonghi just because it's loud and hard to move
around. My parents have had one for years that they probably bought
at Wal-Mart way back in the day. those are my only experiences with
dehumidifiers.

BTW I stopped at Lowe's after work to return the Frigidaire. I asked
the guy in the appliance dept. about the fan running all the time and
he said no, he didn't think that was normal, but he didn't sound real
sure. That's all they sell there, anyway. They had a display model
out so I waited until nobody was looking, took it off the shelf, and
plugged it into the power strip for the fridge display. It works
EXACTLY the same as the one I just returned - fan runs constantly, and
I *think* the compressor does too, regardless of humidity setting, and
also it doesn't shut off when you remove the bucket. Also based on
reading reviews online it would make a lousy unit for my garage
because apparently it puts itself in the "off" mode if the power goes
out. So if the power goes out while you're away, your dehumidifier
stops working and next time you open the garage you find your old car
is now all full of mold and mildew. What a POS. would it be too hard
to make the same damn thing that millions of people have in their
basement, a simple box with a bucket that dehumidifies, and has a
rotary knob that turns it on and off. The fan runs when the
compressor runs. Just make it new, durable, and quiet. Maybe put a
garden hose fitting on it somewhere in case I want to use a
condensate pump. That's all I want. Is that really too much to ask for?

nate


That's what I have, an old White-Westinghouse model MDH25WW1. It has a
nondescript analog dial with numbers from 0 to 10 and no other controls.
The dial sets the humidity level at which it turns on and off, including
the fan. It was manufactured by White Consolidated Industries in Dublin
Ohio. There is no country of origin on the info label. It still works
like a charm, although a little loud. I don't know exactly how old the
thing is, but it contains CFC-12 as a refrigerant, which was banned in 1994.

--

Bill
In Hamptonburgh, NY
To email, remove the double zeroes after @

On Tue, 15 Jul 2008 14:08:38 -0700, N8N wrote:

Subject says all... need a dehumidifier, preferably quiet and with low
temp operability. After searching on Amazon, I can't find a single
brand that I feel confident purchasing. Probably the one with the least
negative reviews was Frigidaire and I'll be returning one of those this
afternoon because it doesn't work properly and Frigidaire apparently
doesn't have real customer service personnel, only an annoying automated
answering system.

is there *anything* that doesn't suck? Anything at all? All I see are
comments like "I had this for two weeks and it died" "loud, rattly POS"
"doesn't really have a deice feature, just shuts off until the ice
melts" yadda yadda yadda.

nate

Research Products, Madison, WI, makes a unit called the Aprilaire 1700
Whole-Home Dehumidifier Santa Fe. It is expensive but it removes 95
pints per day. A friend just bought one and we are both amazed at how
well it works. She paid $1100 for hers but I've seen them for less.



--

=================================================
Franz Fripplfrappl

franz fripplfrappl wrote:
On Tue, 15 Jul 2008 14:08:38 -0700, N8N wrote:


Subject says all... need a dehumidifier, preferably quiet and with low
temp operability. After searching on Amazon, I can't find a single
brand that I feel confident purchasing. Probably the one with the least
negative reviews was Frigidaire and I'll be returning one of those this
afternoon because it doesn't work properly and Frigidaire apparently
doesn't have real customer service personnel, only an annoying automated
answering system.

is there *anything* that doesn't suck? Anything at all? All I see are
comments like "I had this for two weeks and it died" "loud, rattly POS"
"doesn't really have a deice feature, just shuts off until the ice
melts" yadda yadda yadda.

nate


Research Products, Madison, WI, makes a unit called the Aprilaire 1700
Whole-Home Dehumidifier Santa Fe. It is expensive but it removes 95
pints per day. A friend just bought one and we are both amazed at how
well it works. She paid $1100 for hers but I've seen them for less.


The thing is, I don't really need a huge one. That's the problem I have
with most of the ones I've seen... if it's going to be running only a
few minutes per day, I don't want the fan running all the time wasting
all that electricity. But thanks for the recommend, that's another
brand I hadn't heard of, so I'll check it out, see if they make
something smaller.

nate


--
replace "roosters" with "cox" to reply.
http://members.cox.net/njnagel

On Wed, 16 Jul 2008 07:25:46 -0400, Nate Nagel wrote:

franz fripplfrappl wrote:
On Tue, 15 Jul 2008 14:08:38 -0700, N8N wrote:


Subject says all... need a dehumidifier, preferably quiet and with low
temp operability. After searching on Amazon, I can't find a single
brand that I feel confident purchasing. Probably the one with the
least negative reviews was Frigidaire and I'll be returning one of
those this afternoon because it doesn't work properly and Frigidaire
apparently doesn't have real customer service personnel, only an
annoying automated answering system.

is there *anything* that doesn't suck? Anything at all? All I see are
comments like "I had this for two weeks and it died" "loud, rattly POS"
"doesn't really have a deice feature, just shuts off until the ice
melts" yadda yadda yadda.

nate


Research Products, Madison, WI, makes a unit called the Aprilaire 1700
Whole-Home Dehumidifier Santa Fe. It is expensive but it removes 95
pints per day. A friend just bought one and we are both amazed at how
well it works. She paid $1100 for hers but I've seen them for less.


The thing is, I don't really need a huge one. That's the problem I have
with most of the ones I've seen... if it's going to be running only a
few minutes per day, I don't want the fan running all the time wasting
all that electricity. But thanks for the recommend, that's another
brand I hadn't heard of, so I'll check it out, see if they make
something smaller.

nate

I have a smaller unit that runs constantly and costs $20 a month to
operate. Ouch! Mine supposedly is sized to the basement, too.

If I were choosing a unit again, I'd consider what it will cost to
operate and go with most energy efficient model there is. Even with a
higher initial cost, over the long run you would save money and recoup
the cost quickly.



--

=================================================
Franz Fripplfrappl

Check Consumer Reports. They tested a bunch a few years back, and they may
have updated it since. They included noise level measurements, which you may
consider important.



"N8N" wrote in message
...
Subject says all... need a dehumidifier, preferably quiet and with low
temp operability. After searching on Amazon, I can't find a single
brand that I feel confident purchasing. Probably the one with the
least negative reviews was Frigidaire and I'll be returning one of
those this afternoon because it doesn't work properly and Frigidaire
apparently doesn't have real customer service personnel, only an
annoying automated answering system.

is there *anything* that doesn't suck? Anything at all? All I see
are comments like "I had this for two weeks and it died" "loud, rattly
POS" "doesn't really have a deice feature, just shuts off until the
ice melts" yadda yadda yadda.

nate

Been using Comfort Aire and have good luck with them so far.
"N8N" wrote in message
...
Subject says all... need a dehumidifier, preferably quiet and with low
temp operability. After searching on Amazon, I can't find a single
brand that I feel confident purchasing. Probably the one with the
least negative reviews was Frigidaire and I'll be returning one of
those this afternoon because it doesn't work properly and Frigidaire
apparently doesn't have real customer service personnel, only an
annoying automated answering system.

is there *anything* that doesn't suck? Anything at all? All I see
are comments like "I had this for two weeks and it died" "loud, rattly
POS" "doesn't really have a deice feature, just shuts off until the
ice melts" yadda yadda yadda.

nate

N8N writes:

is there *anything* that doesn't suck? Anything at all? All I see
are comments like "I had this for two weeks and it died" "loud, rattly
POS" "doesn't really have a deice feature, just shuts off until the
ice melts" yadda yadda yadda.

Do you really need a heated deice mode?

We have a Chinese-made Whirlpool brand bought from Home Depot a few
years ago. It runs the fan only when it needs to, which is mostly when
the compressor is running (but see below).

It has electronic controls that do not restart the unit after a power
failure. That's actually an advantage in some circumstances, because it
means a momentary power failure while the unit is running will not try
to restart the compressor under running head pressure. What you
*really* want is electronic controls that, when power comes back on,
remembers that the unit was last turned on, waits a few minutes, and
then restarts automatically. But I haven't seen such a unit.

This dehumidifier will operate in low temperatures. The controller is
aware that the evaporator will freeze up, and periodically shuts down
the compressor while running the fan in "high" to defrost it. That
seems to work well enough, and doesn't require a solenoid valve or extra
plumbing like hot gas defrost. It doesn't just wait for the ice to
melt.

Dave

Dave Martindale wrote:
N8N writes:


is there *anything* that doesn't suck? Anything at all? All I see
are comments like "I had this for two weeks and it died" "loud, rattly
POS" "doesn't really have a deice feature, just shuts off until the
ice melts" yadda yadda yadda.


Do you really need a heated deice mode?

We have a Chinese-made Whirlpool brand bought from Home Depot a few
years ago. It runs the fan only when it needs to, which is mostly when
the compressor is running (but see below).

It has electronic controls that do not restart the unit after a power
failure. That's actually an advantage in some circumstances, because it
means a momentary power failure while the unit is running will not try
to restart the compressor under running head pressure. What you
*really* want is electronic controls that, when power comes back on,
remembers that the unit was last turned on, waits a few minutes, and
then restarts automatically. But I haven't seen such a unit.

This dehumidifier will operate in low temperatures. The controller is
aware that the evaporator will freeze up, and periodically shuts down
the compressor while running the fan in "high" to defrost it. That
seems to work well enough, and doesn't require a solenoid valve or extra
plumbing like hot gas defrost. It doesn't just wait for the ice to
melt.

Dave

Hmm... maybe I should check 'em out. I've seen some reviews of poor
reliability of Whirlpools too, but not much more than the others. What
I want is something that I can "set and forget" in my garage, which I
may only go into once a week or so. It does get below freezing here
occasionally, but not for long periods of time, and my garage gets damp
enough that I feel I want a dehumidifier, but no condensation, weeping,
anything like that - just a vague feeling of dampness and a slight musty
odor.

I was actually out in there this afternoon and it felt less musty than I
remembered, maybe my grading is slowly but surely working. I wouldn't
mind a quieter unit in the basement though, so I guess I'm looking for
something suitable that I can try out in the garage and if I like it
I'll probably buy another one for the basement (similar conditiona; no
apparent water problems other than one leaky window that only shows up
in very heavy rain, but it isn't quite as dry as I'd like without the
dehumidifier running.)

I guess that's why I don't like the idea of a fan running 24/7 - I don't
need serious dehumidification or constant airflow, I just want something
to take the edge off.

nate

--
replace "roosters" with "cox" to reply.
http://members.cox.net/njnagel

(Dave Martindale) writes:

We have a Chinese-made Whirlpool brand bought from Home Depot a few
years ago. It runs the fan only when it needs to, which is mostly when
the compressor is running (but see below).

Correction: the brand name is Maytag, not Whirlpool. Still made in
China.

Dave

On Thu, 17 Jul 2008 04:56:39 +0000 (UTC), Dave Martindale wrote:
(Dave Martindale) writes:

We have a Chinese-made Whirlpool brand bought from Home Depot a few
years ago. It runs the fan only when it needs to, which is mostly when
the compressor is running (but see below).

Correction: the brand name is Maytag, not Whirlpool. Still made in
China.

As is 99% of everything else sold in the U.S.

Nate Nagel wrote:
Dave Martindale wrote:

N8N writes:


is there *anything* that doesn't suck? Anything at all? All I see
are comments like "I had this for two weeks and it died" "loud, rattly
POS" "doesn't really have a deice feature, just shuts off until the
ice melts" yadda yadda yadda.



Do you really need a heated deice mode?

We have a Chinese-made Whirlpool brand bought from Home Depot a few
years ago. It runs the fan only when it needs to, which is mostly when
the compressor is running (but see below).

It has electronic controls that do not restart the unit after a power
failure. That's actually an advantage in some circumstances, because it
means a momentary power failure while the unit is running will not try
to restart the compressor under running head pressure. What you
*really* want is electronic controls that, when power comes back on,
remembers that the unit was last turned on, waits a few minutes, and
then restarts automatically. But I haven't seen such a unit.

This dehumidifier will operate in low temperatures. The controller is
aware that the evaporator will freeze up, and periodically shuts down
the compressor while running the fan in "high" to defrost it. That
seems to work well enough, and doesn't require a solenoid valve or extra
plumbing like hot gas defrost. It doesn't just wait for the ice to
melt.

Dave


Hmm... maybe I should check 'em out. I've seen some reviews of poor
reliability of Whirlpools too, but not much more than the others. What
I want is something that I can "set and forget" in my garage, which I
may only go into once a week or so. It does get below freezing here
occasionally, but not for long periods of time, and my garage gets damp
enough that I feel I want a dehumidifier, but no condensation, weeping,
anything like that - just a vague feeling of dampness and a slight musty
odor.

I was actually out in there this afternoon and it felt less musty than I
remembered, maybe my grading is slowly but surely working. I wouldn't
mind a quieter unit in the basement though, so I guess I'm looking for
something suitable that I can try out in the garage and if I like it
I'll probably buy another one for the basement (similar conditiona; no
apparent water problems other than one leaky window that only shows up
in very heavy rain, but it isn't quite as dry as I'd like without the
dehumidifier running.)

I guess that's why I don't like the idea of a fan running 24/7 - I don't
need serious dehumidification or constant airflow, I just want something
to take the edge off.

nate


I've been doing some more searching, it looks like what I'm looking for
simply isn't available. So... are there any that correctly restart
after a power outage? Brands available to me locally are only
Frigidaire and LG/Zenith. I know the Frigidaire doesn't. How about
LG/Zenith? I'm thinking of getting a used one off Craigslist and
putting it on a cheap Intermatic timer so it only runs a couple hours a
day. I figure that's about the only way to keep the power consumption
low. That way I can force it to run in the middle of the night as well,
when it won't bother anyone.

nate

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Nate Nagel wrote:
Nate Nagel wrote:

Dave Martindale wrote:

N8N writes:


is there *anything* that doesn't suck? Anything at all? All I see
are comments like "I had this for two weeks and it died" "loud, rattly
POS" "doesn't really have a deice feature, just shuts off until the
ice melts" yadda yadda yadda.




Do you really need a heated deice mode?

We have a Chinese-made Whirlpool brand bought from Home Depot a few
years ago. It runs the fan only when it needs to, which is mostly when
the compressor is running (but see below).

It has electronic controls that do not restart the unit after a power
failure. That's actually an advantage in some circumstances, because it
means a momentary power failure while the unit is running will not try
to restart the compressor under running head pressure. What you
*really* want is electronic controls that, when power comes back on,
remembers that the unit was last turned on, waits a few minutes, and
then restarts automatically. But I haven't seen such a unit.

This dehumidifier will operate in low temperatures. The controller is
aware that the evaporator will freeze up, and periodically shuts down
the compressor while running the fan in "high" to defrost it. That
seems to work well enough, and doesn't require a solenoid valve or extra
plumbing like hot gas defrost. It doesn't just wait for the ice to
melt.

Dave



Hmm... maybe I should check 'em out. I've seen some reviews of poor
reliability of Whirlpools too, but not much more than the others.
What I want is something that I can "set and forget" in my garage,
which I may only go into once a week or so. It does get below
freezing here occasionally, but not for long periods of time, and my
garage gets damp enough that I feel I want a dehumidifier, but no
condensation, weeping, anything like that - just a vague feeling of
dampness and a slight musty odor.

I was actually out in there this afternoon and it felt less musty than
I remembered, maybe my grading is slowly but surely working. I
wouldn't mind a quieter unit in the basement though, so I guess I'm
looking for something suitable that I can try out in the garage and if
I like it I'll probably buy another one for the basement (similar
conditiona; no apparent water problems other than one leaky window
that only shows up in very heavy rain, but it isn't quite as dry as
I'd like without the dehumidifier running.)

I guess that's why I don't like the idea of a fan running 24/7 - I
don't need serious dehumidification or constant airflow, I just want
something to take the edge off.

nate


I've been doing some more searching, it looks like what I'm looking for
simply isn't available. So... are there any that correctly restart
after a power outage? Brands available to me locally are only
Frigidaire and LG/Zenith. I know the Frigidaire doesn't. How about
LG/Zenith? I'm thinking of getting a used one off Craigslist and
putting it on a cheap Intermatic timer so it only runs a couple hours a
day. I figure that's about the only way to keep the power consumption
low. That way I can force it to run in the middle of the night as well,
when it won't bother anyone.

nate


Ha- I finally got a one line response from Frigidaire customer
service... two days after I gave up waiting and returned their ****ty
dehumidifier. Just referred me to local appliance repair guy without
mentioning anything about my question about the fan running all the time.

Not that I really expect better customer service from anyone, really...
it's all disposable chinese crap and call centers in pakistan or
something these days. Kinda sad but maybe the dollar going through the
floor will actually give companies the ability to move customer service
back stateside...

nate

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