Hi All,
I went to fire up the dehumidifier in my shop for this year and once again another unit has died. This was a Frigidaire 70 pint unit that was only 2 yrs old!!! I have tried to use them with an extra pleated furnace filter taped on the front to reduce dust intake. It seems that like a lot of other small appliances, dehumidifiers are designed and built to be disposable units. At $200-300, that can get to be a little too pricey for my budget.
Does anyone have suggestions on whether to just go with the $400-600 commercial units from Grainger (or another source) or just keep buying the disposable units? If I cover the commercial unit with a better filter box to keep out the dust, will it last longer than the cheap units. Here in Central Indiana the summer weather gets to be 80-90 degrees and 80% humidity so some sort of dehumidifier is needed in the shop to prevent rust spots.
Thanks in advance for your suggestions,
CraigPFDS
Replies
Craig
They are a crapshoot. I have a 35+ year old Montgomery Wards dehumidifier that still works. I also have a 2-yr old Kemore that roars like a jet plane, that I expect not to last too much longer than the Kenmore that preceeded it. I don't think there is any retail brand that you can count on. If I had to buy a new one now, I would look for a Whirlpool, but they seem to be hard to find.
EDIT I just ran across the July issue of Consumer Reports where they rate dehumidifiers. They rate an LG model highest among large capacity units. However, I note that longevity doesn't seem to be a factor in their rating.
De-humidifiers
Hi Craig.... If you're going through these units every two years, there has got to be a problem. The motor on most of these units are rather skimpy, and by adding the extra filters, you may be causing the motor to over-heat. If Sears has the size unit you want, buy it. Check their guarantee... it may have a 'no questions asked' guarantee, so even if the unit goes to dehumidifier heaven every two years, they should replace it for free.
SawdustSteve
Icing up
Hi,
I have a related question. I have a dehumidifier in my basement workshop, that has recently started forming thick layer of frost on the top of the unit, towards the front (over the refrigeration coils). I have tried blowing the dust out of the coils with compressed air, and tried to flush out the dust with water from the garden hose, thinking that a lack of air flowing over the coils was causing this. Neither of these fixed the problem. Do you guys have any idea why this happens and how I should go about fixing it?
Thanks,
Bryan
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled