Suggestions on shop de-humidifier

tvrgeek

Scott
Corporate Member
My mini-split can't keep up. None of the high efficiency ones can. I had a portable "GE" for when the one in my crawlspace died as it took a couple months to get it replaced. Well, it lasted a week in the shop. No charge. Bought another portable. ( 5 star) Worked fine, except, now about a few months, it is freezing up. In other words, either losing charge or the controller is bad.

Any units that can be recommended that will last decades, or at least years? I am not impressed with the Sani-Dry in my crawl space.
 

tvrgeek

Scott
Corporate Member
All I see on the WEB is " won't honor warrantee" Gad have we gone down hill. The contractor who d1d my crawl space still uses the Sani-dry
 

Rwe2156

DrBob
Senior User
How dry do you want your shop, and why does it need to be lower than AC can do?

How big is the shop? Insulated?

Sounds like you need a whole house type unit.
 

Wolfpacker

New User
Brent
I am using a Danby 90 pint unit in my basement. It failed within the warranty and they sent me a new one. 2 yr warranty. I can't speak to using one in a crawlspace, but have seen commercial units used in that application but you're talking about $1000 for one plus a consensate pump.
 

robliles

Rob
Corporate Member
I am currently using Hisense Model DH70K1G that I got from Lowes, under $500.00. It has a capacity of 70 pts. per day. This is for my basement shop that is 25' x 25' x 9' and keeps the humidity level between 35 and 40%. This unit runs 24/7, 365 days a year and I have had it for three years. No problems. I run an attachable hose into a 5 gal bucket and check and empty it daily. In the summer on high humidity days, I will empty as much a 4-5 gals. of water each day.
 

tvrgeek

Scott
Corporate Member
shop is 16 x 36, insulated, tight. As I said modern high efficiency units do NOT de-humidify,. The coils run too warm and the higher airflow just blows it back in. Target 50-55. I need to pull about 2 gallons worst case a day.
 

tvrgeek

Scott
Corporate Member
More like $1500. Don't need a pump or defrost as the shop never gets cold.
Two of the household type failed. Not throwing any money away on more crap. 2 year is insulting. These should last 20 to 30.
 

golfdad

Co-director of Outreach
Dirk
Corporate Member
My question is if you have conditioned space year round why is it so damp?
 

tvrgeek

Scott
Corporate Member
Because modern high efficiency AC units DO NOT DEHUMIDIFY. They run at a higher temp and higher fan speed. Mine can pump maybe a quart day. We had a summer with weeks of higher humidity. Bring it in and cool it, you get to 99% real fast. During the worst of the summer, the shop was peaking @ 80% before I added the second cheap crap "5 star rated" unit. It pumped about a gallon and a half on worst days. Right now, worse condition as the AC is not running. Shop has creeped up to 75%.

The shop is not as tight as a house having only faced insulation, a bay door, exhaust fan etc. It is efficient enough the AC only runs a fraction of the time to keep it cool. So it does not leak much. Slab has a poly barrier and is coated with Rust Bullet to boot.

SCIENCE:
Older AC units ran about 45 degrees on the evaporator ad the fan speed was lower. Modern ones run more like 55 degrees with higher speed fan. If you leave the fan running to circulate the air, needed in a large room, the fan just evaporates the condensation back into the room instead of it draining off.
 

bobsmodels

Bob
Senior User
I understand your issue with an AC unit. My shop building is 30' x 60' x10' ceiling, insulated tight, no windows. My biggest problem was getting an HVAC company to install a system to my specs and not what their computer system told them to put in. They wanted about a 3ton system. That would not dehumidify at all. I did not want cold air I wanted dehumidified air. Finally got a guy to put in a 1ton unit and a multi speed fan. I run it at a slow fan speed. I live in NW ILL lots of humidity, shop stays at about 35 to 40 on worst day. AC set to 70 or 68 and on hot humid days it runs about 50% of the time as it cannot keep the temp that low, but sucks the water out of the air. I have what is called a high efficiency system, not sure about the temps you mention. I do not let the fan run all the time because of the fact that then the remaining condensation just goes back into the shop defeating the purpose of the whole design. I have no idea how much water it pulls as it dumps into a rock bed outside the shop.

BTW had same problem getting the correct size heating system, the computer wanted 200K BTU system, my calculations called for 60K system, I put in a 80K system, again at my insistence and it works just fine, nice and toasty even at at -20 outside. My slab has insulation under it and up the sides, as would have been spec'd for an in slab heating system.

Bob
 

tvrgeek

Scott
Corporate Member
AC tonnage may be a tad large, but it is a heat pump so it provides heat. Seems about right. I was amazed how modern pumps can supply such a large temp swing. Stays fine even to close to zero. I put the fan on econo mode to see if that helps. Weather has been a little dryer the past few days.
 

Rick Mainhart

Rick
Corporate Member
I have a HiSense dehumidifier in my shop that has been replaced twice! In both cases the condensate pump failed (units were fully operational otherwise, but I didn't want to go down to the basement and empty the bucket several times a day. The third unit has not failed.

In both cases, I had to cut the plug off the unit and send in a photo of the resulting mayhem. If you want, you can have both pump-impaired dehumidifiers (pickup only).

Regards,

Rick
 

tvrgeek

Scott
Corporate Member
I have a HiSense dehumidifier in my shop that has been replaced twice! In both cases the condensate pump failed (units were fully operational otherwise, but I didn't want to go down to the basement and empty the bucket several times a day. The third unit has not failed.

In both cases, I had to cut the plug off the unit and send in a photo of the resulting mayhem. If you want, you can have both pump-impaired dehumidifiers (pickup only).

Regards,

Rick
I'll take you up on that. I'll check the weather. I love a nice drive to explore NC. Yesterday I took 70 to about your area where it ran out. "I'l PM you with my contact. At your convenience of course.
 

tvrgeek

Scott
Corporate Member
Oh happy day. Picked up the units form Rick. Plugged one in and have dropped 6 points already. Shop is saved! Much thanks.

I really look forward to when this COVID stuff is under control and we can be more social. I owe at least a beer to several members!
 

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