Aloha Scott, Did I understand you to say that the room you have the unit in is not one that you can close up?
I have had a dehumidifier for many years because my husband is a graphic designer and photographer and has lots of pictures, paper, and negatives that we have stored here in Hawaii. Thank heaven for digital cameras arriving on the scene. I think we would have run out of storage room otherwise. Our unit is a Whirlpool and holds 24 pints. I could have purchased a larger one, but I didn't want to have to run the drain hose outside, so I bought the smaller container so I could easily lift it and dump the water. Because our room where the unit works is closed up, there are many times when it isn't running, but when we have a lot of rain, it runs almost constantly. My kilowatt hours here cost about $.35 and it costs us about $37 per month to run it, worth every dime to us. As for it warming the space, that is the warmest room in the house. It's great in the Winter when it's Hawaiian chilly, about 58 degrees in the house. Good luck, Betsy At 11:43 PM 5/9/2009, you wrote: >Folks, > >I found that our basement was running anywhere from 60 to 70% >humidity. I have a good deal of electronic and musical gear down here >and have to assume that based on the hygrometer, those numbers are >fairly accurate. Knowing that 60 to 70% humidity is not good for most >wood and electronics, I purchased a dehumidifier. I generally take >days if not weeks, but in this case there seemed to be few options, so >I purchased a LG. It is a 45 pint unit with a five year warranty. This >one cost $199.99 and a Kenmore at 35 pints cost $169.95. The question >I have is first this LG seems to short-cycle, it's on for 30 minutes >to 45 minutes it seems and then it shuts off for maybe 10 minutes or >so. Now we have not had it quite 24 hours, but in less than 12 hours >it has pulled the humidity level from 70% down to 51%. I don't know >how accurate the humidistat is in the unit or how accurate the >hygrometer is, but I guess an average will have to be figured. Now as >I sit here the fan was on a while, shut itself off, and now the fan >and compressor just came back on within five to eight minutes of it >being off. I did adjust the humidistat to 60%, which is still within >acceptable range. So, makes me wonder if the humidistat is to >sensitive. I hate to think this thing will short-cycle so much as to >really start costing me a lot of money in electrical use. Maybe the >humidity down here isn't as bad as the cost of electricity. grin. >Here are a few factors that might be a problem. I live in a split- >level house. So, there is no basement door, I had the unit over by the >outside door and I just moved it to the other side of the room closer >to the stairwell. Now recall I just told you it was off five to eight >minutes and came back on? It just turned itself off after five >minutes. I'll have to track how long it stays off this time. In any >event the question is what brands has folks had experience with, do >you find any difference with a unit that has digital controls over the >mechanical controls? ANy tips on the whole dehumidification process? I >just can't believe these things can short-cycle so much. I have to say >in just typing this message, it has cycled 3 times and I've been >working on this message for probably 10 minutes with a spousal >interruption. > >tnx, > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
