Using a dehumidifier?

[wildrice]

This feels like a dumb question, but hopefully you can help me figure it out. How do you use a dehumidifier for a multi-level house? Do you need one for each level or will one in the basement do the trick for the whole house? 

It seems illogical to me that 1 would cover areas 2 floors up, but all the ones I've been seeing are "whole house" or "up to 4500 square feet" so IDK? Our house is only about 1500 square feet but it's split into 3 floors.

I really don't want to buy 3 of them if I can avoid it - these things are expensive!

Finally, does anyone have a model they would recommend?

[imojoebunny]

Some are part of the HVAC system, the whole house type. Some are freestanding. I use one in the basement of both of my personal houses. One is on a continuous drain with a pump (it drains into the same pump the HVAC system uses. The other is completely free standing, and I have to empty it, when it is full. It doesn't get much water, so I only have to empty it every week or so. If it was a more humid basement, I would figure out a way to drain it, into a bathtub or pump, so that I don't have to empty it out. We run our air condition all summer, since a hot, humid climate, so the need for a dehumidifier is reduced, over a humid climate that is not as hot, or where people open their windows. We have a Frigidaire with the drain hose attachment. I think it is a 50 pt. Our houses are 3800 and 2400 square feet, and we only need them in the basements.

[Deleted]

We only use one in the basement, but I would think that if you have humidity issues on all floors, that you would need one for each, but I'm no expert.

We had a Frigidaire that died after 6 years so we just replaced it.

One piece of advise, if you are going to be putting it in a space that is very humid, connect a drain hose. My basement is very humid in the summer and even getting the 50 pint size, we were still having to empty it twice a day until we got around to connecting the hose.

[wildrice]

Sept 1, 2021 10:49:57 GMT -5 imojoebunny said:

Some are part of the HVAC system, the whole house type. Some are freestanding. I use one in the basement of both of my personal houses. One is on a continuous drain with a pump (it drains into the same pump the HVAC system uses. The other is completely free standing, and I have to empty it, when it is full. It doesn't get much water, so I only have to empty it every week or so. If it was a more humid basement, I would figure out a way to drain it, into a bathtub or pump, so that I don't have to empty it out. We run our air condition all summer, since a hot, humid climate, so the need for a dehumidifier is reduced, over a humid climate that is not as hot, or where people open their windows. We have a Frigidaire with the drain hose attachment. I think it is a 50 pt. Our houses are 3800 and 2400 square feet, and we only need them in the basements.

Do you know if your humidity is mostly in the basement or the whole house?

We live in a hot and humid climate in the summer (Maryland) but it's super dry in the winter. I'm noticing our humidity monitor on our main floor is often in the 60's and 70's which is way too humid. It dips when the AC kicks on, but in between cycles gets up there again. It's not uncomfortable per se, but I don't want to tempt mold or other humidity related issues. 

[cricketwife]

It depends?

Disclaimer, we don't have one in our house, so this isn't exactly answering your question, but might be helpful. I have one in my office which is probably 150 sq ft. Currently, it fills every 6 hours. It will be less in winter. There are two other people who have dehumidifiers in our building, one on my floor and one on the basement/ground level (build on a slope). I feel like we could have 10 more and they would just fill too because it's super humid. Of course, our buiding is bigger than a house, but my office is pretty small and it's filling up 4x/day... I'd start with one and see how it does and it you want more after that. It's also a lot of white noise to deal with. I always love when it turns off and it's quiet in my office for a few minutes.

[bex1973]

We keep/run ours in the basement. During the super humid times my H set it up to drain in to a floor drain. For the other times we empty the water in to containers that I then use to water flowers outside.

[melmo1122]

wildrice I have a 2000sq ft townhouse in NOVA and this is the first year I've had high humidity in my house. My ecobee thermostat was alerting me daily it was high so I bought this one from best buy. I got a 10ft hose to attach to it to drain into my basement bathroom so I don't have to keep emptying the container (it shuts off once it is full). It was filling up in about 8 hours of it running. and it's on sale today too. It seems to do a good job of controlling the whole house humidity level.

www.bestbuy.com/site/insignia-35-pint-dehumidifier-white/6385840.p?skuId=6385840

[just]

Definitely get one that drains itself. Ours (just one in the basement) doesn't and it's a pain in the ass to remember to empty it

We were told by our inspector not to run it in the winter.

[wildrice]

Sept 1, 2021 13:43:45 GMT -5 melmo1122 said:

wildrice I have a 2000sq ft townhouse in NOVA and this is the first year I've had high humidity in my house. My ecobee thermostat was alerting me daily it was high so I bought this one from best buy. I got a 10ft hose to attach to it to drain into my basement bathroom so I don't have to keep emptying the container (it shuts off once it is full). It was filling up in about 8 hours of it running. and it's on sale today too. It seems to do a good job of controlling the whole house humidity level.

www.bestbuy.com/site/insignia-35-pint-dehumidifier-white/6385840.p?skuId=6385840

Thanks - this is perfect! Good price, too - this is cheaper than what I've been looking at elsewhere.

Maybe it's just the weather this year? I didn't notice this as an issue last summer but I also may not have been monitoring as much, I guess.

[archiethedragon]

Sept 1, 2021 14:01:38 GMT -5 wildrice said:

Sept 1, 2021 13:43:45 GMT -5 melmo1122 said:

wildrice I have a 2000sq ft townhouse in NOVA and this is the first year I've had high humidity in my house. My ecobee thermostat was alerting me daily it was high so I bought this one from best buy. I got a 10ft hose to attach to it to drain into my basement bathroom so I don't have to keep emptying the container (it shuts off once it is full). It was filling up in about 8 hours of it running. and it's on sale today too. It seems to do a good job of controlling the whole house humidity level.

www.bestbuy.com/site/insignia-35-pint-dehumidifier-white/6385840.p?skuId=6385840

Thanks - this is perfect! Good price, too - this is cheaper than what I've been looking at elsewhere.

Maybe it's just the weather this year? I didn't notice this as an issue last summer but I also may not have been monitoring as much, I guess.

That is the dehumidifier that I use in the basement.  But as others have said, it is really nice to have the water automatically pumped out.   This dehumidifier does not have a pump, so I bought the pump below and hooked a short hose up to from the dehumidifier to the pump (both are made to do this) and ran tube to my washing machine drain pipe.    So it is all automatic now and it is great. 


www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000JGD3H2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

[melmo1122]

wildrice I've been in my house since 2009 and have never had a problem before. My basement flooded (AC unit) last year and I had damage and mold and just got it all repaired so I do not want any more mold down there. A regular garden hose attaches to it. I was going to link the one I got on Amazon but it's currently unavailable.

[imojoebunny]

Sept 1, 2021 10:55:01 GMT -5 wildrice said:

Sept 1, 2021 10:49:57 GMT -5 imojoebunny said:

Do you know if your humidity is mostly in the basement or the whole house?

We live in a hot and humid climate in the summer (Maryland) but it's super dry in the winter. I'm noticing our humidity monitor on our main floor is often in the 60's and 70's which is way too humid. It dips when the AC kicks on, but in between cycles gets up there again. It's not uncomfortable per se, but I don't want to tempt mold or other humidity related issues. 

I assume your house, like ours, has an open stairwell to the basement.  I feel like having that, the humidity travels upstairs.  In our main house, we keep the air cooler in the basement, which helps with humidity, and the humidifier running, and it seems to keep the rest of the house comfortable.  Our other house, there is a door to the upstairs, and I feel like most of the humidity is in the basement.  We keep the air condition fairly high, like 85, when we aren't there, and I don't smell mold.  I am pretty sensitive to it.  

[hazelden]

We have one dehumidifier in our basement that uses a hose to drain directly to a floor drain. I try to manage the temp and humidity in our home by using the air conditioner and running the dehumidifier. If the temp in our home is low enough that the a/c doesn't kick on I'll sometimes turn on the fan function on our thermostat. I figure that turning on the fan will circulate the air through our home and circulate the dehumidified basement air through the upper levels.

[VillainV]

If you’re not using a whole-home system that connects to your HVAC, you have to get the humid air to the system somehow. So if you had a freestanding unit in the basement, it will only dehumidify the basement unless you have really good air circulation between floors and the air from the other levels eventually so circulates to the basement. Otherwise you’d want one per level/area.

[dontlook]

We use it where we need it. It’s mostly in the basement but when the other 2 levels need it H will carry it to that floor. He dumps the water out a few times a day as needed when it beeps that it’s full. It works bc we are both home all day.