Anyone have a Aprilaire Dehumidifier?

[LifeLongWNYer]

I have an old house, ( built 1880's, mostly stone cellar walls, about 33% concrete floor and 66% dirt floor ) with a very damp cellar. But today was the last straw. I went down to pick up a few things, found my dehumidifier running like normal, but my little thermometer/humidity meter said it was 99% humidity at 66 degrees.

A local home improvement radio program has frequent ad's for a firm selling Aprilaire dehumidifiers, specializing in the model 1850. They tout them highly, and often have a guy on the show who says his dehumidifier ran 100% of the time, like mine does, then he bought an Aprilaire unit, and in 2 hours it removed enough moisture that his old unit cycled off. IS the Aprilaire unit THAT good, or is the hype nothing more than good advertising?



.

 

[Climatecreator]

Have an 1830 I installed for a customer in July of 2015. He LOVES it. I just was at his house last Saturday and it's still going strong. We have it ducted into his HVAC system and it runs on its own to dehumidify the basement and first floor. Fully automatic and trouble free. Aprilaire is fantastic with their support AND warranty.

CC

 

[8mpg]

Also check out Ultra-aire. They are supposed to make a nice unit. Matt Risinger on Youtube uses them a lot. TeddyBear on the hvac forums is also a big fan of Ultraire

 

[Ole Slewfoot]

My friend sells those at his Hydro store, but the freestanding ones. That's pretty much a worst case environment for a dehu, so they can't be all bad.

 

[danski0224]

I have an old house, ( built 1880's, mostly stone cellar walls, about 33% concrete floor and 66% dirt floor ) with a very damp cellar. But today was the last straw. I went down to pick up a few things, found my dehumidifier running like normal, but my little thermometer/humidity meter said it was 99% humidity at 66 degrees.

A local home improvement radio program has frequent ad's for a firm selling Aprilaire dehumidifiers, specializing in the model 1850. They tout them highly, and often have a guy on the show who says his dehumidifier ran 100% of the time, like mine does, then he bought an Aprilaire unit, and in 2 hours it removed enough moisture that his old unit cycled off. IS the Aprilaire unit THAT good, or is the hype nothing more than good advertising?



.

Yes, there is a difference between a dehumidifier sold at a home improvement store, and a dehumidifier made to operate in a basement.

You need to look at the operating conditions in your home (mainly temperature) and then verify the specs for the equipment you are looking at.

 

[LifeLongWNYer]

Okay, I guess I should have the salesman swing to take a look. I KNOW the cellar is a problem, but there isn't a lot to be done. My parents bought the house in 1954, and ever since, when it is wet weather, there are varying amounts of water in the cellar, anywhere from a trickle running through to an inch of water, but when things dry up, the water goes away quickly. There never has been enough to ruin anything, but we never set anything on the floor/ground. Dad spent a lot of time working on improving the gutters and grading the ground to slope away from the house, but it didn't improve much.

My goal is to dry the cellar out a little when the water ISN'T there, which is most of the year. Like now.... Humidity in the 90's in June is pretty damp.



.

 

[yeldogt]

The better units remove more water per KW and have the capacity to actually get the job done in a larger space -- the homeowner units run continuously and never finish.

I have used the units from Therma-Store. The santa-fe line is stand alone the Ultra -air line has the ability to be ducted. make sure you understand -- some need a wall controller.

I buy them online at Sylvane. Have had a couple issues with them over the years -- but thermal-store has always had great customer service. One died two years past the warranty and they sent me a new one .. two more needed parts (same relay) .. they sent me the part.

 

[6768rogues]

Hi, neighbor.
I, too, have a old house with a stone foundation but I have a full concrete floor. 25 years ago I broke up the concrete a foot and a half from the wall all the way around, dug down, put in drain piping and crushed stone, then patched the floor with concrete. I put in a sump crock with both ends of the pipe going in and a sump pump. It helped a lot but in heavy rain water still came in and ran across the floor to the crock. Even with 10 foot leaders on the gutters I got water in. A few years ago I bought a small tractor with a backhoe and to use it for something, I dug across the yard and ran piping from my gutters to 50' away from the house to a daylight opening. Now I rarely have water in the cellar.
Can you put heavy plastic on the dirt floor or finish the concrete?

 

[LifeLongWNYer]

Hey, neighbor, it is nice here, now! I've often wished the cellar COULD have a full concrete floor, as did my Dad. The problem is that the cellar is not a "full" cellar, substantial parts of it still have the dirt which was inside the foundation walls. I've often wondered how deep the foundation is in those places, whether there is a footer, and how deep it is, or if the foundation is simply on the dirt. Even though the house was built on the 1800's and nothing has sagged, I am scared to start digging.


.