Dehumidifier Recommendations

[Rowdy Rat]

I'm in the final stages of finishing my garage and would like to install a dehumidifier.

I looked at several units that were sized to handle my garage and was leaning toward this unit...

http://www.thermastor.com/Santa-Fe

...until I saw the price which is around $1000.

Is there anyone out there that can recommend a good dehumidifier that they have experience using? I do have some criteria that I need to meet.

The unit needs to be:

- Sized appropriately for my garage (1300 sq/ft with 12 ft walls)
- Quiet
- Reliable

Also would be nice if it could be:

- Located remotely
- Ability to set the humidty level

Any thoughts on this one? Any help or feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,

Stan

 

[Torque1st]

A heater in the winter and AC in the summer will bring down humidity levels. They keep the area more comfortable for the tools and their owner also.

 

[2LTim]

An air conditioner is just an overgrown dehumifier. And a great selling feature for the better half is that, "It is a much more efficient machine, and will do a better job of keeping the moisture off of all of the nice tools that YOU have given me over the years!"
You can control one with a humidistat, but a thermostat is less expensive and works well.
Have fun with it,
Tim

 

[Rowdy Rat]

Thanks for the responses guys.

I actually have a garage that is heated and air conditioned and yes, I know that the a/c will do a passable job during the summer when it is running.

I guess my big issue is what to do in the winter when I want to wash the cars inside? I really don't want to keep all that moisture trapped in the garage (for obvious reasons) and turning on the a/c isn't really an option when the temperature is below freezing... I guess that was my primary reason for wanting to use a stand alone dehumidifier.

Any thoughts?

Regards,

Stan

 

[Torque1st]

I guess my big issue is what to do in the winter when I want to wash the cars inside? I really don't want to keep all that moisture trapped in the garage (for obvious reasons) and turning on the a/c isn't really an option when the temperature is below freezing... I guess that was my primary reason for wanting to use a stand alone dehumidifier.

A heater as I mentioned before. A dehumidifier won't work well in a cold area anyway.

 

[Dawgfan]

Look at the ductless mini-split heat pumps. They have dehumidifier modes. I'm going to put one in our new shop.
I have a Soleus CFM-25E approx. $160. I use it in our travel trailer and in our house when conditions don't call for heat or air conditioning. It works good.

 

[Iron-Iceberg]

There was a thread on here before on removing condensation. One guy if I remember right used a bag full of salt rock hanging over a pan.
Search some old threads.

 

[Torque1st]

In cold or hot weather the regular heating or AC equipment will probably do just fine. For those "tweener" times a small dehumidifier may help. The small dehumidifiers I have had experience with required regularly dumping the catch container. There may be some that have condensate pumps but then you would need a drain to connect to. I also saw a lot of corrosion on the coils after a couple seasons of use.

 

[snorky18]

see
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=17229&showall=1
for previous thread
---------------
my opinion copied..

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00009RAVO/?tag=atomicindus08-20

We have this in our basement and love it, been running continuous for longer than I can remember. It's extremely quiet, even on high. Pulls a maximum of ~2.7 Amps, so it's cheap to run as well. The fan runs all the time, but it has different humidity settings and the dehumidifier part kicks on and off as needed

 

[Rowdy Rat]

see
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=17229&showall=1
for previous thread
---------------
my opinion copied..

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00009RAVO/?tag=atomicindus08-20

We have this in our basement and love it, been running continuous for longer than I can remember. It's extremely quiet, even on high. Pulls a maximum of ~2.7 Amps, so it's cheap to run as well. The fan runs all the time, but it has different humidity settings and the dehumidifier part kicks on and off as needed

Thanks for the link... I just saw it now as it was the lead topic in that section.

Regards,

Stan