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Efficient basement dehumidification? (self.homeimprovement)

submitted 1 year ago by bbbbb to c/homeimprovement

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I have 2 standard freestanding units in my basement and crawlspace running 24/7. I want to get something more energy efficient, will last a while, and that's easy to maintain. I am considering an Aprileaire dehumidifier. Based on this https://www.energystar.gov/productfinder/product/certified-dehumidifiers/results it would appear they have a high efficiency rating. Does anyone have experience with these or recommendations on solutions?

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[–] bbbbb 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I was interested in the same thing to save energy not running the standalone dehumidifier, but as I understand it they don't dehumidify quite as much as a dedicated unit. I believe it only runs when I consume hot water, so I'm not sure how often it would run daily on average for our water usage and if that would be sufficient to dehumidify the basement. We do have a heating oil boiler in the unfinished space, so there would be plenty of heat for it to use in the winter, so that's also helpful for savings.
We have a variable speed heat pump for house cooling, so I believe we have enough dehumidification in the cooling season

[–] Wxfisch 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

So we installed a heat pump water heater a few months ago. We don’t need dehumidification in the basement but it does provide that as well as essentially free AC down there (letting us close all the vents and it’s still cooler than the rest of the house). It does produce condensate of course, Rheem says to fit it to a drain or a pump that can handle at least two gallons per day. Its essentially a window AC unit on top of a tank as a comparison. I wouldn’t consider it a great choice just for dehumidification though, ours really doesn’t produce that much condensate and it really only circulates air in the area it’s installed (the fan isn’t really designed to move a ton of air through the room).

That said, as a water heater it’s great. It does kick on and off a bit throughout the day, but it isn’t constant, maybe 30 mins every two or three hours. It then runs for a bit after a shower or the dishwasher runs to heat up the cold water coming in.

[–] Jakor 2 points 1 year ago

Hey thanks for chiming in with your experience! Sounds like I won’t be able to rely on it as an end-all solution. Like the other post above, I also have a heat pump upstairs and a boiler in the basement, so there are a couple other devices I’d like to play with to play with balancing the humidity to save the dedicated dehumidifier for only times it’s really needed