Tag: Coils

Whole House Dehumidifiers

Whole house dehumidifiers work just like any other single room dehumidifier does except they help remove excess moisture from your whole house, not just one room. Excessive moisture, or humidity, is just plain uncomfortable. It also encourages the growth of mold and mildew.

Mold and mildew, along with other allergens like dust mites, can make an allergy sufferer downright miserable. No one should have to be miserable in their own home. Keeping your house a little drier could help those allergy symptoms and if the excess moisture is throughout your home then this is the time to look into whole house dehumidifiers.

The first thing you need to do before you start shopping for your dehumidifier is to measure each room and add up the total square footage of space you need to have dehumidified. Then either shop online or in a retail store to find a dehumidifier to handle that square footage.

The dehumidifier you buy will not look like any of the smaller portable units that you can easily set in one room or another. The dehumidifier you will buy is much larger and heavier and will sit in one place near your heating and/or cooling system so it can be connected directly into the ductwork of your house.

Do some comparison shopping and find one that is powerful enough to remove the most amount of moisture. Most have settings so that you can program them yourself and give you a nice range. Moisture levels in your home should be around 50% at all times. make sure to buy a unit that has been Energy Star rated so it is energy efficient and won’t cost an arm and a leg to operate.

One nice thing about installing a dehumidifier of this type is that the water it removes from your house gets drained into a floor drain so you do not have to worry about emptying a heavy bucket full of water everyday. No more spills to wipe up.

Ever wonder how they actually work? Well, I can tell you that a dehumidifier works just like your air conditioner. There are coils inside the unit that have a refrigerant inside and when the warm, moist air passes over them it creates condensation. The condensation drips down into a collection pan, or bucket and is then drained into the floor drain or emptied, by you, into a sink or even outside.

The difference between your air conditioner and your dehumidifier is that the air conditioner cools the air and does not remove any moisture from the air it sends into your home, the dehumidifier warms the air back up before releasing the drier air into your home.

Whole house dehumidifiers will give you a more comfortable home and reduce mold, mildew, and other allergens so you and your family can rest easier. And since excess moisture can affect the materials used to build your home, your home will not rot from the inside out as well.

Sani Dry Dehumidifier

The Sani Dry dehumidifier is made by Therma-Stor exclusively for a company called Basement Systems. Basement Systems is a company that supplies and installs dehumidifiers with their own licensed contractors. They also offer basement finishing and repair services.

The Sani Dry dehumidifier model called the XP Dehumidifier works well in a large area up to 2,500 square feet. It can remove 109 pints of water, per day, from the air of your home making your home much more comfortable to live in and reducing the amount of damage that can be caused by excess moisture.

This unit is also capable of functioning at low temperatures down to 40 degrees. What this means is, if your basement is cool the coils have an auto-defrost feature to keep the unit from freezing up and shutting itself off. It will continue to operate at these low temperature and keep your home moisture free.

The unit can either be used as a free standing unit or can be installed directly into the ductwork of your home. If you are the handy type you could probably manage the installation on your own but if not then they will install it for you.

The XP is Energy Star rated so it is energy efficient and will not increase you energy bill by any significant amount.

The convenience of the unit is also a plus. There is no bucket to empty every day, the XP drains directly to a floor drain. If there is no drain in the floor, you will need to drain the water up and out by purchasing what is called a “compensate pump” separately and installing it in the unit.

The XP has an adjustable “humidistat” as well, allowing you to set the desired relative humidity of your home anywhere from 20% to 90%. Those settings are most extreme and you most likely will set the XP unit in the range of 35% to 50% to be comfortable in your home.

If you suffer from allergies you will notice a big difference in the severity of your symptoms once the XP is installed and begins to remove the excess moisture in your home.

Once the XP is installed, it will run until it achieves the level of humidity in your home that you have set then it will maintain that level by cycling on and off. It might take 24 hours or more to reach the level you want for your home.

Once the XP is programmed by you with specific data for your home, it will always remember it. Even if there is a power outage the XP will restart automatically and remember the settings you programmed into it.

As I stated earlier, the unit can handle up to 2,500 square feet. So, if the entire square footage of your house does not exceed that number then you can install the unit directly into the ductwork of your home and dehumidify your entire house.

The Sani Dry dehumidifier is solely capable of maintaining the moisture in your home to reduce allergens and keep the excess moisture from causing structural damage.

Dehumidifier Specs

Dehumidifier specs differ from one model or brand name to the next but all dehumidifiers are relatively the same. They all will help reduce the moisture level in your home and make your home more comfortable to live in and save you money on heating and cooling costs.

The first dehumidifier specs you need to know before you buy one is the amount of square footage the unit will cover. Measure the size of the room or area that needs moisture reduction and keep that number in mind when you go buy the dehumidifier.

Next, check the range of the humidity the unit can remove. A good range should be around 35-70 percent. You should be able to manually program the unit to an optimum 45-50% humidity in your home. Find a unit that, once set, will remain at that setting, and turn itself back on, even if the power goes out.

Also make sure at what temperature the unit will start to freeze up. If your basement area is the area of your home that needs dehumidification and temperature of the area is below 65 degrees you need to buy a unit that will operate under these conditions.

If the temperature of the area goes below the specified maximum operating temperature of the unit, the unit will freeze up. The coils will condense and this condensation will freeze up due to the refrigerant used to draw the moisture from the air.

A low temperature unit will maintain maximum operating efficiency at temperatures down to 40 degrees before frost forms on the coils. Once frost does form on the coils the unit must be shut down and allowed to defrost before starting up again.

Another aspect of buying the right dehumidifier is the size of the bucket. How much water does the dehumidifier hold and will it shut itself off when it gets full. Measurement is usually in pints and can range from 40 pints to 65 pints to over 100 pints depending on the size of the unit.

Some units can be hooked to a hose or come with a drainage pipe that can be run to a floor drain so there is no need to empty a full, heavy bucket of water everyday. If you are not able to buy a unit like this then you will be subjected to lifting that bucket out of the machine every day to empty it. The unit will shut itself off when the bucket is at capacity.

If the square footage allows, you can buy a model that can be ducted to other rooms so the humidity level can be managed throughout your home and not just in one area.

You may need to take the weight of the unit into consideration if you are planning to place the unit on anything but the floor. An average unit may weight as much as 90 pounds or more at full capacity. Do not ever place the unit on anything that cannot safely hold this kind of weight.

These dehumidifier specs should help you buy the right type of unit for your specific needs.

Dehumidifier Size

If you are in the market for a dehumidifier you will want to make sure you get the correct dehumidifier size to effectively decrease the moisture in your home or work space.

Dehumidifiers decrease the moisture in your home that comes from the humidity outdoors when windows and doors are opened, cooking, showering or bathing, and using your clothes dryer. This moisture can get trapped in areas that have little or no ventilation, like your basement.

A dehumidifier works almost exactly like your air conditioning unit works. Warm, moist air is drawn into the unit and is passed over refrigerated coils. The warm moisture condenses on the cold coils much like when you leave a cold can of pop outside and soon see condensation on the outside of the can.

The condensation drips down and is collected in a tank or bucket. If it is collected in a tank, that tank is probably connected to a drain hose that can be drained into a floor drain of your basement. If it is collected in a bucket you will need to be the one to empty it. Usually once every twenty-four hours.

If you know the square footage of your basement then you will not have to measure. If you don’t know the square footage then you need to find your tape measure and measure length by width and then do the math. This is the exact square footage of your basement.

Determining the square footage of your basement will dictate the dehumidifier size you need to buy. It is also advisable that if you choose a dehumidifier with a range of square footage that you choose one at the upper end of the range. If you should buy one that is too small for the area then you will risk burning up the unit in short order because it will not be able to handle the area.

Once the dehumidifier gets the moisture level down to the setting you choose and program into it it should not run continuously, it should cycle on and off. The first couple of days though it may run continuously as it works to control the level of humidity. It also may run more when the humidity outside is higher because then more moisture is coming into the house.

When you bring your dehumidifier home, read the instruction manual carefully and place it in the middle of the area that needs it. Be sure to check on the level in the bucket every few hours so it does not ever flow. Some units will automatically shut off when the bucket is full so you may not have to worry about overflow like on older units.

Depending on how much moisture the area has will also determine the dehumidifier size. A moderately moist environment about 1500 square feet will require around a 30 pint per hour removal rate. An area that is wetter than that may need a larger unit that will take 70 pints, or more, of moisture out of the air.

A good rule of thumb is that if you need to remove moisture from the air of three or more rooms it would be a better idea to invest in a whole house dehumidifier.