Any recommendations for dehumidifiers?

[Adam]

I'm considering a purchase of a dehumidifier for the workshop. Anyone have any recommendations - or any features that I should consider essential? How much do they cost to run?

Also, where do you buy them? The only place I've seen so far is Argos.

Adam

 

[Philly]

I got mine from B+Q-£89 if I remember. Had it about 3 months. You wont regret getting one Adam, it makes the environment so much more consistant. I'll did out the details later for you.
regards
Philly

 

[johnelliott]

Wickes do some cheap ones as well. As long as it claims to be big enough for a small house it should be fine. Once you've been running one for a while, and as long as the workshop is reasonably well sealed against the ingress of water, you will not want to go back to not having one.
John

 

[Anonymous]

Look for auto cutout, otherwise you end up with puddles and if you have somewhere to drain it to some can be plumbed in.

 

[Chris Knight]

Look for auto cutout, otherwise you end up with puddles and if you have somewhere to drain it to some can be plumbed in.

It is worth getting one of these if possible - they often have that as an option (you can still use the water container if need be) and the plumbing doesn't have to be much more than a garden hose. When I got mine from B&Q, one of the models then on display had this option.

 

[DaveL]

Adam,

I have one from Wicks. It has auto cutout and a constant drain outlet, I use 6' of 6mm plastic pipe on it just tucked under the door. :shock:
As the others have said you will not want to go back to not having one.

 

[Scott]

Brilliant things they are Adam!

I got one from Homebase for about 90 quid at the start of this year and I've got to agree that you'll never want to be without one once you've had one in your workshop.

Mine has auto-cutout when the tank is full or you can stick a bit of the afore-mentioned 6mm windscreen washer hose (Halfords or similar) on it and have it running all the time. Mine also has different settings for the humidity level it maintains (Wet/Comfortable/Dry) which is nice.

I use it in conjunction with a transmitting thermometer/hygrometer so I can see when I'm in the house what the temp/humidity is in the garage.

I'm afraid I couldn't really say how much it costs to run but it's amazing how much water collects in the tank so I'm not really bothered. I don't imagine it's much different to one of those little caravan fridges in terms of power usage.

 

[Scott]

Just looked at mine and it's rated at 290W (230/240V, 1.6A) so I guess it costs the same to run as three decent light bulbs

 

[gidon]

Adam
I have a B&Q one in my shed - been there for a year or so I guess. They are still doing them for about £80. Most of them seem to have continuous drainage mode now. One thing to note is that only the very expensive ones cope with freezing conditions. And they all work much less efficiently at low temperatures.
Having said that my shed is draughty and cold and the d/h works ok - switching to its "defrost mode" every now and again. I have also put a electric fan heater with frost mode in there now to keep the temp over 5 degrees.
Mine is rated at around 300W as well, and with the now pretty standard humidstats you can set the unit to use as much electricity as you like. I left mine on constant for a couple of weeks and then set the humidstat just below the level my shed reached. I may measure the actual power used since just today I got myself a power meter from Maplin (for £9!).
Excellent things d/h's - you won't regret buying one. Some people collect the distilled water and you it for various things - in fact a colleague at work bought a d/h just as a source of distilled water!
Cheers
Gidon

 

[Woodythepecker]

Adam, get one you will not regret it.

If as Gidon says you are worried about them coping in freezing conditions then get one that incorporates a "Hot Gas Defrost function" These work by reversing the coils and using the heat generated to melt any ice that has formed. It will then go back to working normally.

Dehumidifiers cost from about 1p to 3p an hour to run. But after the first week or two they will only run for a few hours a day. I say after the first week or two because in this time they run nearly continuously to bring the humidity down and set itself up. After this they only turn on when they need to and the better your workshop is sealed the less it will need to turn on.

So get out there and get one, you really will not forget it.

Regards

Woody

How did i miss that? Sorry Gidon i have just noticed that you mentioned the defrost mode already. Talk about brain dead i need not have bothered.

 

[dedee]

Adam,
I have an Ebac 2600e bought from Homebase a couple of years ago. I originally used it to dry clothes as we had no room at the time for a tumble dryer. At 300w it was considerably cheaper than a tumble dryer (3000w) and would dry clothes in about 2 hours with the aid of ebac's dying tent. Ebac are British made and have been making humidifiers for home and industrial use for many years.

Do you know what the humidity levels in your workshop are? I was horrified when I first measured mine and discovered that it would go up to in excess of 90%. Since the Ebac has been running it keeps it down to about 50% (min 40 max 60%). I have only just got around to ordering a drain hose as emptying the container every couple of days was getting too much of a pain.

Andy

 

[DemiFrog]

Hi,

I have a DeLonghi DS105, it's been is use for the past three years, it has a large reservoir and, constant drainage outlet, an auto stop and you can adjust the humidity level sensor, I don't know about the any anti-frost protection? This is not an issue for me as its below ground thus the temperature never drops much lower than 10/12 deg. It's principle role is to keep the underground part of the house (Cellar Garage, utility room etc) dry, I occasionally bring it upstairs to dry out the bathroom after my girls have taken their baths....

If you want to be fancy, you could try looking at one other those Air-conditioning units that cool, heat and dehumidify.