Dehumidifier

[titanxt]

Between the boat and the high-humidity of the Midwest, I have been battling some mildew showing up here and there. I am going to install a dehumidifier, but have a couple of questions.

1. I do not have a drain in the garage and I will need to run the discharge hose about 20-feet to drain to the outside. I assume I will need a dehumidifier with an internal pump to composite for the distance?

2. What is a good humidity % to shoot for with wood and projects being housed and built in the garage?

3. Any recommendations on the size of the dehumidifier, or stick with one rated for the square footage (approx 800).

Thank you!

[fredhargis]

The drain without a pump should be just fine as long as it's flat or sloped down ever so slightly, I've used a 20 drain on one in the basement for some time. The one I use in my detached shop has a pump because I stick the hose out one of the windows.  As for size, my shop is just over 900 sq. ft. with 10' ceilings....and I'm in west central Ohio (or maybe  maybe it's NW Ohio) and i use a 70 pint in there which works about as well as you want. I simply keep it at 55% RH; not because t's the right setting (I have no idea what the right setting is) but because that keeps the rust off my tools.

[tablesawtom]

If you use a hose to drain then you do not need a dehumidifier with a pump. I just bought a 50 pint with a pump, I can not run a hose. I just have the tube into a 5 gallon bucket. The on board container will  fill up before the pump will start pumping so you will always have a full container on board.

If you are going to use a hose then you do not need a pump, but most of the bigger units will have one. the dehumidifier will do its job even if it is next to where the hose will discharge to, so a long hose isn't necessary.

You can size the dehumidifier to the room but personally I just bough a 50 pint and moved on. Once it get to the level you want it is turn off and come on when needed. A bigger one will just do it faster.

Tom

[jteneyck]

What the others said about drain and sizing.  My input is to buy a unit that's over 25 years old, if you can find one.  The chiller lasts forever and fans can be replaced when needed.  If you are forced to buy new, buy the cheapest you can find because none of them last more than a couple of years.  I've had at least 5 of them in the last 10 -15 years.  Name brands, off name brands, it makes no difference.  But my 40 year old General still runs fine.    

John

[KC]

What the others said about drain and sizing.  My input is to buy a unit that's over 25 years old, if you can find one.  The chiller lasts forever and fans can be replaced when needed.  If you are forced to buy new, buy the cheapest you can find because none of them last more than a couple of years.  I've had at least 5 of them in the last 10 -15 years.  Name brands, off name brands, it makes no difference.  But my 40 year old General still runs fine.    

John

I can't speak to longevity yet, but I bought a small GE (1500sf for damp area) coming up on two years ago.  Seems to do what it's supposed to do, but it makes a lot of noise because the filter screen vibrates/rattles enough that you can hear it all over the house.  One of those things you get used to, but 'shouldn't be'.  I've tried a couple different things to dampen it, but I think I'm just gonna take the filter off.   Far as I can tell, it's as clean as it was two years ago.

[EdL]

I bought a portable ac unit that vents outside.it sits on a stand, ducted out the window.
I set it on "dry" mode wich is dehumidify and put a 5 gal bucket under the drain.
It works great, removes the moisture without heating up the shop.
In doing so, the shop stays cool also.

Ed

[Brian in sunny FL]

Look at A/C condensate removal pumps.  They are popular for air conditioning when you can use a standard gravity fed drain line for the air handler.  You can even dill and adapt your own fitting in the tank of the dehumidifier.