How big for a dehumidifier for basement

My basement has been very humid this year and I want to get a dehumidifier. Started to notice white mold on items left on storage. Should I get the big 50 pint or a 30 pint is enough? SQ feet total is 1100, but it’s segmented in rooms, so it will be used in an area of only about 500 or less. I don’t want to overheat or overuse electricity and save money if possible. Thoughts?

rwood

in General Discussion 1 year and 8 months ago

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justinromeu26 | 1 year and 8 months ago

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keep in mind these do have humistats (not sure if that is a word) on them so if you oversize, it will not keep running but will run to a point and shut off for longer periods. also, it is not like oversizing a/c where you develop other issues.

I am with Bobjbk but i did recently recommended that a customer get two smaller units and place them apart from each other. also in so far as a big unit (or any unit for that matter), you may find that once you run it for 3 or 4 days that you get it to a point that a smaller unit could manage it depending on what is causing the high humidity. Obviously is you are sitting in the way of or above an artisan well, it is going to take more capacity.

try to keep the humidity at or below 50%. this will keep the moisture content of the joists down around 10% give or take which makes it hard for wood destroying organisms to thrive.

If anyone has more questions or concerns about basement humidity and termites or damage to joists or if anyone planning a reno would like to have their joists checked by a licensed WDO (wood destr oying organism) technician before they begin a reno, i can do that and am seeing joists that should have been changed as reno’s began and were not and it causes problems when people put tile down on floors supported by those compromised joist.

Steve
Brownstone Home Inspection LLC

shahnandersen

in General Discussion 1 year and 8 months ago

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For a cellar, you want the 50 pint model. Make sure it’s Energy Star rated. If you have a floor drain the dehumidifier can drain directly into it. If not, get a model with a built-in pump to remove the water without having to empty the bucket manually.

eg66 | 1 year and 8 months ago

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We have the big 50 pint for our basement, which has traveled with us to three different houses in NYC. Even with segmentation it will dehumidify generally, unless those rooms are pretty airtight. Which seem ok — storage or no, it’s helpful to not have a dank basement. You are going to be shocked at how much water comes out when you start dehumidifying, and the rate limiting step is going to be how often you remember to trek down and empty the tank. To avoid thinking about it too much, we set the desired humidity level and have the contraption pump to a drain.