My basement is INCREDIBLY humid (my dehumidifier says 80%). We have a really nice GREE SOLUS 70 pint unit that came with the house. I've noticed once it got warmer out and it's been running more, the cool 60* basement has been closer to 80-90*. The GREE dehumidifier had been heating up so much you couldn't touch it. A quick google and there was a big lawsuit with them catching on fire. I immediately unplugged it, I called the company a half dozen times; it looks like they're out of business.

My guns have been rusting... FAST. I moved them all, but I need my basement back. I borrowed a smaller 35 pint Hisense unit from a friend, but it doesn't have a pump, it's constantly on, and constantly needing to be emptied, and is way too small.

What do we like for dehumidifiers. I like my basement between 40-50%, I got home tonight at 7:15 after dropping a client off at the airport and this little guy said the tank was full but the basement was 80% humidity. I've been checking the tank, and we're at 55% humidity right now. I'd like to keep it around $300, if there's a huge difference between a $300 unit and a $500 one I'd be open to discussion.

I just want an entire floor of my house back!

::edit::

It's around 500-600sq/ft under ground with ground level windows.

I don't have specifics about dehumidifiers, however, I bought a super nice air purifier from allergybuyersclub.com & they have dehumidifiers too. I am very happy with my purchase. Would be a place to start.

Does your basement have a sump with a sump pump or a shower with a drain or sink with a drain? If so, get a Whirlpool dehumidifyer or similar, MOST you can connect a garden hose to it and bypass the catch tank, run the garden hose (cut it shorter) right to the sump in your basement and let the sump pump kick on to pump it outside or down a drain.

In one of my places I have a Danby that was cheap at Costco set up to drain directly into a drain in the floor. It's been doing a great job for at least 4 years and never gets touched except when I check on it maybe once or twice a year. I also keep a fan on low to keep the air circulating a bit.

I have a Kenmore that is a hand me down and likely older than me.
It works very well. My only gripe is being that it is old I have to jockey the setting knob pretty frequently. Pretty much all the newer ones I have seen you set it to a desired humidity level numerically.
I use mine in a basement garage that is not currently climate controlled.

I have a Hisense 50-pint with the built-in pump that was around $200 at Lowe's. It's been running in the basement for about 2 years with no problems, draining into the floor at the same place my air handler drains. During the summer I set it keep the humidity in the basement at about 55% and it does so. Before that, had a Kenmore that ran fine for about 5-6 years before it gave up the ghost. (My grandmother had a Kenmore in her basement that must have run for 30 years. But they made things better back then.)

Anyhow - I would buy either brand again. But you've got to get something with a pump or drain. Trying to keep up with emptying buckets just doesn't work if your basement is that damp.

There was a thread on DE-humidifiers a while back. I think we decided (with Appliance Brad's help) that they all suck. Buy them expecting to get a couple of years out of them. Then replace them. Brand didn't matter a whole lot.
I am sure some brands were higher in the pecking order than others, but the gist of the thread was that they should all be considered consumable.

If you don't have a drain in the floor consider one of these

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/pr...01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I used it along with a bunch of tubing to send the collected water in my crawl space to a drain used by the furnace.

I had a similar problem starting in May (75%+) of this year. Picked up the cheapest 70 pint I could find on Amazon at the time after reading the thread on hear saying they all suck. It has been humming along keeping the humidity at 45% since then. It runs a lot so I am not expecting it to last. Based on reviews, I also paid $12 for the extended warranty. We'll see what happens when/if it dies. Reviews said replacements with the extended warranty but sometimes the reviews on Amazon are suspect. Either way it was only $12.

Here's the one I got for $182 with free prime shipping. Looks like it has gone up since then though.

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B0...s?_encoding=UTF8&me=

We bought this last year from Amazon.
Seems to work well. You can use the bucket or a hose.

Frigidaire FFAD7033R1 70-Pint Dehumidifier

Our basement will, likewise, get on up around 70% or so humidity w/o a dehumidifier running in the warmer-weather months, even with the AC running.

Don't recall what we first had, but it didn't live long. Replaced it with a DeLonghi 50 pint/day with a pump. Put a hose on it that runs to the sump well. We've had it 3-4 years and it's still doing the job. Keeps the basement down around 50%, which is low enough.

Have a fan at the other end of the basement that blows in the direction of the dehumidifier to keep the air circulating.

Have a GoldenRod dehumidifier in the safe, as well.

Not certain what will happen when I build my man cave down there, as it'll be a separate, closed-off space. I might have to put a separate small dehumidifier in it unless I can devise a way to create constant air exchange with the rest of the basement in the summertime.

I concur with the other responses in this thread. You can get a commercial quality dehumidifier, but you're going to have to pay over $1000. It is cheaper to buy a cheap consumer grade unit for $200 and replace as needed. In my case, these units have been lasting 3-4 seasons of use. In the summer, it stays on almost constantly (rated at 70 pints) and it maintains humidity level at about 50%. My basement is completely finished and is about 1200 square feet.

Thanks everyone. So they all suck. I'm headed to home despot now to look at them. We have a window over where the dehumidifier sits that has a small hole in the frame the old one drained out of, so I'll just use that. The fan idea is a good one, I'll definitely do that.

This seems to get good reviews.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Fri...863050&wl13=&veh=sem

quote:

Originally posted by cmr076:
Thanks everyone. So they all suck. I'm headed to home despot now to look at them. We have a window over where the dehumidifier sits that has a small hole in the frame the old one drained out of, so I'll just use that. The fan idea is a good one, I'll definitely do that.

This seems to get good reviews.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Fri...863050&wl13=&veh=sem

I have this model. I'm on my second one. They last a few years but they come with a five year warranty. My experience was that when the first one I bought crapped out after a few years, Frigidaire send me a check for 3/4 of the price I paid, so I figure every other one will mostly be on them.

How about a window air conditioner?

I got tired of messing with dehumidifiers and went with an ac unit. I have zero humidity issues now.

I have a Haier that runs nonstop from around May 1 to October 1 since my basement will be around 80% without it, I have it set to 55% and it seems to do a decent job. Mine has a hose going to a floor drain which is great or I'd be emptying a bucket 5 times a day.

I also have a large box fan going down there moving the drier air around, my Dad the HVAC guy told me it's good to keep good air circulation too.

So I got sick of looking at these things and bought this one
https://m.lowes.com/pd/Hisense...ilt-in-Pump/50134738

I have a hose running out of the window frame to a drain in the yard. It seems to work well, took the humidity from 79 when plugged in to 45 in an hour. I put two steel 1911 mags down there to see if it's actually working well enough to not rust my guns before I move them all back down. I do have a window I could put an ac unit in, but it's the only window down there and the wife won't let me block it because the cat spends her entire day in the window.

Also in PA with a basement. Not a heavy dampness problem but enough that you could detect it.

We had an 65 pint LG LD651EBL which gave us four years of service in our previous basement before the fan died and the replacement (discontinued part, naturally) is going for $80 bucks. I really liked how this dehumidifier performed but the parts are expensive compared to a new unit. I used the pipe drain on this one.

Just bought a Frigidaire FFAD7033R1 70 pint dehumidifier. So far it's doing a great job and has some good features like operation down to 41 degree F. It is one of the better rated units. Right now I am using it by emptying the tank manually. It needs to be emptied roughly once a day on average so far.

One caution I would give about shopping for these is to note where the intake and exhaust ports are located on the new models.
Sometimes it is not "logical".

 
We've had 70% humidity here the past couple of weeks. Probably won't see that again until this time next year. It's down <30% now. I did have to manually defrost the refrigerator coils because the door was left open a bit too long during the really humid spell.
 

Evidently the consumer grade dehumidifiers are all made in China and the sealed units are made by only a few manufacturers. The result is that they are all equally bad.

I have one running in my basement and another running in my garage shop/reload area. The average life span is about 18 months in my situation in FL. I have had them fail in 6 months and run as long as three years. The one in the basement has started running longer to get the job done so is on it's last legs.

I buy at Lowes because I like their extended warrantee system better.