Dehumidifiers?

[R_Bert]

My dehumidifier, a Soleus (45 pint) seems to have bit the dust in less than two years (18 months ?)

 

Anyone have a unit over two years old?  If so, what brand?

 

Looking for a good one, with gravity fed garden hose connection.

 

Suggestions appreciated.

 

Thanks, Bert

[Hozzie]

I have had a Fridgidaire 70 Pint for just over two years.  It seems to work good.  It has good reviews on Amazon.  Only issue I ever had was once the coil iced over and I had to let it defrost.  My parents just got the same in a 50 pint and it also seems to work well.  

[Mike.357]

I have one.  No real idea how many pints it holds,. Probably five gallons or so. If I run it on a two hour on/off mode it takes about 24 hours to fill and shuts off when it is full.  It also has a connection for a garden hose to hook up.  Never messed with that though.

 

IIRC it cost about 250 bucks or so.  It is a Goldstar brand and I bought it at Walmart about ten years ago.  I use it daily when humidity is high.

 

It is a running devil.

[tercel89]

My Grandma used to use one. How do you know if you need one ? 

[R_Bert]

My Grandma used to use one. How do you know if you need one ? 

 If your basement smells like musty without one.

 

I like running the house humidity ~45%.  It just smells cleaner.  Mine is not bad yet, but give it enough time without the humidifier, and it will get there.

[hardknox00001]

If you have any friends that are A/C guys, maybe you could get them to look at it and tell you what is wrong with it.  They are repairable to a point.  If it just ran low on gas, it could be repumped, leak found/sealed, and it would be good as new.  If the compressor is gone, yeah, it's toast.

Edited October 28, 2013 by hardknox00001

[Sam1]

we use this specific one:

 

http://www.lowes.com/pd_416568-39269-GL-DEH-70EIP-6_4294620974__?productId=4595905&Ns=p_product_price|1&pl=1&currentURL=%3FNs%3Dp_product_price%7C1%26page%3D1&facetInfo=

 

works great, is ultra quite on the low setting and it actually has a pump so you're not restricted to gravity lines.  We run it about 25 feet away into a drain and have had zero issues, would buy again even though they are a bit pricey.

[GuitaRx]

I have a Whirlpool AD50USR1 50 Pint in my garage.. It was here when I moved in, and I know it works because I ran it to see..  and you can have it!

[R_Bert]

I have a Whirlpool AD50USR1 50 Pint in my garage.. It was here when I moved in, and I know it works because I ran it to see..  and you can have it!

 

Thanks!

 

I wish I was a few hundred miles closer, but appreciate the offer

 

I will probably go ahead and get a 70 pint unit this evening.

Edited October 28, 2013 by R_Bert

[GuitaRx]

yea, I knew you were in Oak Ridge.. just thought if you happened to be up this way...  I ran this thing for a couple of days to see if it worked, and it works great, I just don't have a need for it.

[R_Bert]

I looked at mine a few minutes ago.  there was a small (~1/4"x2") amount of ice on one corner of the condenser, but more significantly the filter was clogged.  cleaned and now thawing.  Will see if it decides to work again for a while.

[seez52]

I've been thru about 4 or so these small units. They are all made in china and usually last just longer than the warranty. Most repair shops won't fix and are considered throw away units. I've had 3 LG units 70 pints and a may tag unit. I regassed the may tag unit and its still going but it uses r22 which is sky high now so when it goes I'll probably just throw it out. New ones use 410a refrigerant.

By far the best deal is to get one off Amazon and also purchase a Square Deal extended warranty. I bought a 45 pt. Frigedair unit and a 36 mo warranty. I'm not usually into extended warranties, but for these Chinese junk items its really the only way. When the unit dies, and it will, Square Deal refunds your purchase price, nothing to return nothing to get fixed. Edited October 29, 2013 by seez52

[R_Bert]

Square Trade ?


http://www.amazon.com/SquareTrade-3-Year-Appliance-Protection-Plan/dp/B003V5EUK2/ref=pd_sim_hg_5

[Hozzie]

I agree, square trade is good for some items. Check square trade directly and look for promo codes. You should be able to get 20 or 30% off the warranty price most of the time.

[seez52]

yep, sorry Square Trade. Before I purchased this last Frigidaire unit I read through a bunch of reviews, and adding the ext. warranty from square trade was really the only way to go on a dehumidifier. I've not had to try out the warranty yet, but according to others it was worked pretty smooth for them. I couldn't decide whether to get the 3 year or 4 year, but I've never had one last past three years so I chose that one. I keep my units plugged in most year round and with direct drain connection so they see pretty good usage.

 

I didn't look around at the time for any discount codes on the square trade warranty, but that's a good idea. At the time I thought you had to get the warranty and item at the same time and it was an Amazon deal, but I guess that's not the case.

 

I also settled on the Frigidaire unit as opposed to the others, a lot of them are made by the same company with just different names on them. This one works great. It has a better hookup for the constant drain hose than some of the others I've had. The only thing I didn't really like about it is that the fan runs a lot without the compressor running. I've got mine in a storm room so it's pretty blocked off and I don't hear it, but would probably be annoying if it were in a living space. When you think about about it, it probably needs to have the fan run a lot in order to monitor the humidity level.

 

PS. When the freon gets low they start freezing up even with clean filters.

 

On a positive note, the last LG unit I bought had a 5 year warranty. They don't offer that anymore. It was about three years old, maybe less when it went belly up. I think it sat in my basement 6 months before I tried to submit a claim.  I submitted a claim to LG and they sent me a refurbished one pretty quickly. It came out of Huntsville. Was surprised at the quick response. The last time I dealt with them on one it was a nightmare, but finally got a replacement one then as well (the replacement went bad about 18 months later). These are all just cheap Chinese junk. I've gotten to where I just tape the receipt directly to the unit so I can easily find it when it goes bad.

Edited October 29, 2013 by seez52