Dehumidifiers?

[MrTube]

I'm curious if anyone else has humidity problems where they store their tools and or "A" and if so how do you control it?

I just started running a dehumidifier with a pump in my basement as I am concerned about my tools. Without the dehumidifier I was seeing around 85% RH down there. With the dehumidifier I've got it as low as 45% but am trying to maintain 50-55% now.


The dehumidifier draws around 580W and runs quite a bit everyday but I don't see any other option if I want to make use of the space. 85% RH seems like it would damage almost anything over time.

I'm assuming many out there have to deal with damp basements and garages?

 

[CHuDWah]

High RH also encourages mold growth and that is at least as much a concern as rust.

We have homes in FL and IN - both can get pretty muggy and, yes, it will rust stuff quick. In FL, we have a humidistat that turns on the AC when the RH exceeds whatever % we set.

In IN, we have a 45-pint dehumidifier in the ~900 sq ft basement. It's probably oversize as it will get down to 35 - 40%. I tried setting it at 50% but it kept constantly turning on and off, so I just let it run continuously. We haven't had it long enough to tell if it makes much difference in our electric bill - but you're right, there's not much choice.

I did quite of bit of research on dehumidifiers before we bought this one. Seems like most die within a year or two - we'll see.

 

[jrelliott]

Could you send some of that humidity here. RH here is less than 10% on a high day and sometimes single digits. Have not seen moisture for several months. Forest Service has closed all of Tonto National Forest due to high fire danger. $500.00 fine if they catch you in the forests. All of the west could use some rain.

 

[Rich in Tucson]

In DE it was more economical to run dehumidifiers during the cool months and air conditioners in warm months. In GA, it was more economical to run air conditioners when needed and rarely a dehumidifier. In both I plumbed drains to carry the water outside so no tedious water hauling necessary. There are some extremely efficient air conditioner options available today but I do not think home dehumidifier technology has advanced much at all in terms of efficiency. Also, you can control the cooling level of an air conditioner and put its waste heat outside (or keep it in in the winter) but you cannot easily dump the waste heat output of a dehumidifier.

Her in Baja AZ with an energy efficient house I am in heaven with regard to humidity and I can leave my garage-to-house door open most of the year to include the garage in the cool, dry space.

 

[Benson]

Mr. Tube,

When we lived in Michigan 1950-1961 we ran a dehumidifer all summer in the basement and kept the door to basement closed. I do not remember the humidity numbers but a side effect was that it was very comfortable with the lower humidity.

Luckily there was enough space down there that in hot humid weather (most of the time!!) we all stayed down there. Airconditioners were too expensive. The unit we had used about 550 watts with the waste water piped to a drain.

I still have the Sears dehumidifier ... 60 years later, works fine to dry out the basement when water is spilled for instance. This one has a tank on back the collects the water.

We learned in Michigan that if you cover the tank with a sheet of plastic with a small hole in the center ... it makes it more effective as less water evaporates out of the tank!

I used it last winter when a heating pipe for the boiler broke under the concrete ... lost thousands of gallons under the slab and took a long time to dry out the concrete before replacing the linoleum.

Not so much a problem with humidity here in the desert but I still use it to cool down the basement.

Right now it is 104 with 4% humidity ... outside that is!

Yesterday it was brutal ... 104 with 12% !

 

[ronn]

High humidity basements are just not the place to store your car-period.

 

[Benson]

Benson, living in the 'Central Highlands' as your avatar indicates, I'd be a lot more concerned about Charlie giving me trouble than a little humidity problem

Yes that was very true 44 years ago ... Victor Charlie were regulars and NVA at times. The Koreans were on our side but when they got drunk it got "very interesting" in a hurry.

Humidity was MUCH higher there for a longer period of time.

 

[Napa Skip]

"...but I don't see any other option..."

Well, let's see, should I say this or not? What the heck; The other option is move to California. We have our problems, but (generally speaking, and costal salt air in some areas notwithstanding) high humidity isn't one of them.

Plus, the more Model A's in California, the better. Come on out...

 

[Tom Wesenberg]

I quit using my dehumidifier due to the cost, and it isn't too bad most of the time. I do store a lot of my parts in the basement and the distributor caps and other plasitc and bakelite parts do have a mold problem. I'm not sure if there is anything I can spray on them to stop it.

 

[jrelliott]

Tom, believe Northern Hydrolics use to sell desicant in bags that you could reheat to drive out the moisture they had absorbed. Place your parts in a large plastic bag with one of these desicant bags and should absorb all the moisture.