[DawnMTL]

Hi.

We live in a split-level house, so there's A LOT of open space -- very open-concept layout.

We are hoping to dehumidify our house and not rely so much on our air conditioners.

We bought a 50-pint GE dehumidifier yesterday and although the bucket is filling with water, it doesn't feel any more comfortable in the house. We placed the unit on the top level of the house, in the hallway, so it can suck out the moisture from that level as well as the living area below it which is only separated by stairs and a railing.

Have any of you had any luck dehumidifying your house? If so, what size unit is appropriate, especially since we'd like to dehumidify a large open space of approximately 1500 square feet?

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

[parentologist]

Dehumidifiers aren't going to work so well for areas above ground, because in temperate weather you can just open the windows, and in hot weather a dehumidifier would add too much heat to the already warm upper levels. If you want the above ground levels to be drier, you've got to use A/C, preferably central. We run it as much for drying the air as for cooling it. We've got a raised ranch. We run a dehumidifier in the lower level, but don't need it in the top level (have central air, but we don't use it much). Put the dehumidifier on the lowest level of the house that you want to dehumidify. Raise it up a little by putting it on a milk crate. Run a plastic tube from the dehumidifier collecting basin to the basement drain hole (where your sump pump is, if you have one). Apply a little suction to the drain hole end of the tube, and you'll have the dehumidifier constantly draining into your bsmt drain. Then cover the collection basin with something so that the water doesn't re-evaporate back into the house. If you've got a finished basement level, you probably want one running down there, too. If you have them running constantly at highest level, and the lower levels are still humid, you might have to consider adding central air to the upper and main levels. I'm not sure whether capacity is an issue - it's not how much water the tank can store, it's how much water can be condensed out, and how fast.

[DawnMTL]

Originally Posted by parentologist

Dehumidifiers aren't going to work so well for areas above ground, because in temperate weather you can just open the windows, and in hot weather a dehumidifier would add too much heat to the already warm upper levels. If you want the above ground levels to be drier, you've got to use A/C, preferably central. We run it as much for drying the air as for cooling it. We've got a raised ranch. We run a dehumidifier in the lower level, but don't need it in the top level (have central air, but we don't use it much). Put the dehumidifier on the lowest level of the house that you want to dehumidify. Raise it up a little by putting it on a milk crate. Run a plastic tube from the dehumidifier collecting basin to the basement drain hole (where your sump pump is, if you have one). Apply a little suction to the drain hole end of the tube, and you'll have the dehumidifier constantly draining into your bsmt drain. Then cover the collection basin with something so that the water doesn't re-evaporate back into the house. If you've got a finished basement level, you probably want one running down there, too. If you have them running constantly at highest level, and the lower levels are still humid, you might have to consider adding central air to the upper and main levels. I'm not sure whether capacity is an issue - it's not how much water the tank can store, it's how much water can be condensed out, and how fast.

Thanks. You just confirmed my suspicion. My basement level (unfinished) is cool and dry as can be. The ground floor level, where there's a family room, a guest room, and a bathroom are completely comfortable. It's when you get one level up (to the living room/kitchen floor) that things start getting bad. And on the upper level, where the bedrooms are? UGH!!!

We have air conditioners in each room (no central air, sadly) but we'd been hoping to dry out the air without having to use all of them concurrently.

Thanks for your input. Much appreciated.

[MikefromCT]

Would you consider a portable AC unit? A few of these don't even require window outlets (in which case you'd have to empty it) but it might be better for cooling a larger area than a traditional AC for the window or a de-humidifier. I'm thinking of getting one of these for my bedroom, whichis a loft and has no AC. I think we both learned our lesson - next time we BOTH need central air.

[DawnMTL]

Originally Posted by MikefromCT

Would you consider a portable AC unit? A few of these don't even require window outlets (in which case you'd have to empty it) but it might be better for cooling a larger area than a traditional AC for the window or a de-humidifier. I'm thinking of getting one of these for my bedroom, whichis a loft and has no AC. I think we both learned our lesson - next time we BOTH need central air.

YOU definitely need an air conditioner for the loft. Seriously! Heat rises -- it must be difficult to sleep.

We have window AC units in every room, and the wall one in the living room cools that whole mid-level area and even makes the lower level cooler than it had been before, which was already comfortable. And even so, we have an AC unit in the guest room in the lower level. It's the upper level that's difficult.

The mid-level living room AC doesn't *really* help the upper-level (although it does somewhat, as long as it's on -- once it's off, the upper level gets warm almost instantly while the mid-level remains cool for some time). We have window AC units in all the rooms upstairs, except for one of the rooms (you can guess which one, right, Mike?) -- so our bedroom is fine, my office is fine, but the other room and the hallway and the bathroom are quite sticky icky.

I really just wanted to unstickify (new word!) the whole house with one machine (not possible, I've learned) without having to run the AC units in every mid-level and upper-level room. Oh well. Maybe moving into the lower-level guest room is an idea! Or the basement! HA!

Definitely central air next house. DEFINITELY!

[Cambium]

Dehumidifiers take the moisture out of the air...it does not make the air cool and comfortable. In fact, the moisture is what cools the air, once moisture is out, it's actually warmer.

Run the a-c with the dehumidifier and you'll be fine. Keep a temperature guide to monitor the humidity. If its too dry shut the units off.

I have a 50pt for my basement. I noticed when it goes from very humid to dry it's actually few degrees warmer down there.... and once a window gets open down there, the humidity rises faster than you can say ...

[DawnMTL]

Originally Posted by Snowman27

Dehumidifiers take the moisture out of the air...it does not make the air cool and comfortable. In fact, the moisture is what cools the air, once moisture is out, it's actually warmer.

Run the a-c with the dehumidifier and you'll be fine. Keep a temperature guide to monitor the humidity. If its too dry shut the units off.

I have a 50pt for my basement. I noticed when it goes from very humid to dry it's actually few degrees warmer down there.... and once a window gets open down there, the humidity rises faster than you can say ...

Hiya Snow,

Yeah, I knew that it wouldn't make it cooler -- I just wanted the air to be more dry so that it would *feel* cooler. I didn't account for the fact that once the moisture is out, it's actually WARMER (I had no idea it worked like that).

Feh! I'm a Montreal girl -- warmer is NOT a good thing.

We're returning the dehumidifier. The AC does the job well enough on its own.

Thanks for the info. Had I known that it's a fact that a humidifier makes it warmer, I'd never have gotten it in the first place. Live and learn... and sweat!

[parentologist]

It's not that dehumidified air is warmer. It's that the dehumidifier machine puts out some heat while it dehumidifies, hence warming the room some. That's why it's okay on cooler, below ground levels, which tend to get humid from the surrounding ground moisture.

[DawnMTL]

Originally Posted by parentologist

It's not that dehumidified air is warmer. It's that the dehumidifier machine puts out some heat while it dehumidifies, hence warming the room some. That's why it's okay on cooler, below ground levels, which tend to get humid from the surrounding ground moisture.

Exactly what I discovered. It was blowing out warm air, thus heating the room closest to it (while it was in the hallway). All in all, although I realize that it does have huge benefits, it didn't do what I'd hoped it would. It couldn't for a house like this one's layout.

It's boxed up and going back.

It was good getting this information, though, just to make sure that it wasn't defective. It wasn't -- but it also can't possibly do what we wanted it to do. Live and learn.

[AnonChick]

We have odd-sized pop-out windows and as a result, can't use window air conditioners. Our house didn't come with central and we'd have to re-vent some of the duct-work, and this is a ranch on top of a full basement and a walk-up attic so it'd be a huge (and expensive) project.

We have ceiling fans in most of the rooms, and a big pole-fan, and a couple of smaller floor fans. But the electricity to run ALL of those, with all the windows open, all summer long, is just stupid. Not to mention the dust that gets all over everything and the fur from our two cats blowing up our nostrils all day and night.

So - we use the fans sparingly, thus reducing some of the air circulation, which is traumatic on hot humid days. I have a portable air conditioner which I'll turn on only when I come home from work, in my office, with the pole fan blowing the cool air into the hallway and the condensation out the window (we have to board that window up, and the board has a hole in it for the exhaust tube). I'll do that only on the most miserable days, when it's 96 degrees outside with over 60% humidity, and 98 inside, with over 70% humidity.

We also have a wading pool to cool off outside. And huge maple trees that shade the back yard, though that doesn't really help since it also prevents the air from moving and it just makes us suffer more.

I hate Connecticut in the summer. Hate it. With a passion.