Please recommend a dehumidifier

[ufdrew79]

Hello All,

I've had my tank setup (180g DT with 55g sump) since early March in my basement (Long Island, NY) and for the past 2 months I've been trying to battle the humidity problems with little success. I currently have a 14-15 year old Westinghouse unit that does a decent job but draws about 400-500 watts.

I was just wondering for those that have dehumidifiers, can you please tell me the pros and cons of your unit? I'm currently leaning towards the GE 30 pint/day dehumidifier that draws 390 Watts. I was originally going to go with Soleus but decided against it after reading all the poor reviews with regards to customer service.

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Andrew

 

[Los]

I'd like to hear other's thoughts on this as well. For what it's worth, I was having similar issues on a system about 3x larger and I went with the largest one I could find at Home Depot. One word of advice if you travel; get as large a reservoir as you can. Mine fills up in 24hrs, which isn't good since I travel a lot.

 

[Creetin]

I like my 70 pint(I believe its a 70 pint) LG dehumidifier.
Nice and holds alot of water.

 

[jq1177]

I bought a 50 pint frigidair that had great reviews for my basement with my 240gal in it. So far it has been great I can barely hear it when its running.

 

[RichK]

I also have my tanks in the basement and the humidity was unreal. I also got the 70pt LG model and it works great. I did attach a drain hose to it and it drains into my A/C condenser "sump" which has a small pump in it to pump condensation from the coils to the outside.

This has worked fine, but even at 55% humidity, it was just too uncomfortable to sit and watch the tank for an extended period of time. I was using fans to cool the tank from~ 84 to 79. I just added a 1/3HP chiller and removed all of the fans. My tank now stays at 79 and the humidity has dropped to 40%. MUCH nicer now. Another bonus is that since my basement stairwell is open (no provision for a door), all of that humidity/heat would rise upstairs. Not any more. I should have done this years ago.

 

[Los]

Rich, in the winter do you plan on switching back to the fans? I would think the added humidity would be a bonus in the winter.

 

[RichK]

No, I do not plan on adding the fans again. The basement is finished and insulated and really doesn't get all that cold. It is so nice siting by the tank without all of those fans whirring away. My only regret is that I did not get a chiller years ago.