HOME DEHUMIDIFIERS | BASEMENT DEHUMIDIFIER

A few years back when my dad was still flipping houses in the real estate industry, he had a few houses that had a lot of character and could be sold for quite a lot, but they always seemed to have two main problems  mildew and mold. This is kind of odd considering we had such hot weather where we lived, but for some reason all of these homes had these same problems. One house was particularly bad.

Of course, my dad decided he needed to get rid of this problem before selling the homes on the market. You can’t exactly sell a house like that. Not only is it less than businesslike, but prospective buyers can tell when a house has mildew or mold.

Mildew and mold are two separate entities, but the two problems are very much alike. Mildew often occurs in rooms with too much moisture in the air. The moisture causes bacteria to fester and leads to a really, well, mildewy smell. It’s hard to explain the smell, but if you have mildew it’s obvious.

Alternatively, mold does not produce a notable smell, although it is composed of bacteria. Black mold can actually make a person very sick if they are around it too much. The particles in the black mold can be breathed into your lungs and can cause all sorts of respiratory problems.

Mildew and mold are simply not things you want in your home. However, there is one simple way to take care of both of these problems: dehumidifiers. GE and Frigidaire dehumidifiers ultimately are going to suck the moisture out of the air and place it into a little pan beneath the machine. If your moisture problem is really bad, you might need to empty this out three or four times a day. Over time you will need to empty your Frigidaire or GE Dehumidifier less frequently, because you will have less moisture in the air.

These GE and Frigidaire dehumidifiers will have to be left on almost constantly. You can turn the machines off when you leave the house, but experts suggest that you leave them on for at least a few hours a day. Also, make sure you empty the filters. There’s no sense in having a Frigidaire or GE dehumidifier if you aren’t letting it do its work! If you have several rooms with this problem you can either buy one for each room or just alternate between machines and rooms.

These GE and Frigidaire dehumidifiers can be found right online at any other store that sells other products for your home such as Genesis Weber grills, Weber Summit grills, or Weber BBQ grills. Heck, you can even buy refrigerator models at these stores.

In the end, my dad got rid of the mildew and mold problems in the house and sold it for a really nice price. Would this have happened if he had left the mildew in the home? Probably not. Mildew has a really wicked smell. You can tell it’s there as soon as you walk into a home. Get rid of your problems now by using GE and Frigidaire dehumidifiers in your own home and live a much healthier and happier life!

It seems almost everyone has basement dampness problems. Where does all that water come from?

Humidity can enter your house naturally in the air, in warm weather through open doors and windows, and through air leakage when the heat or AC is on, such as poorly sealed windows and doors, cracks in exterior wall plaster in older houses, cracks in upstairs ceilings, or attic hatches that lack proper weatherstripping. Anything that draws air out of your house, such as a woodstove, exhaust fan, or a low- or mid-efficiency furnace, will also pull outdoor air in.

So one way you can reduce moisture is to restrict the flow of fresh air, especially during humid weather.

Water can enter through your basement walls from outside. You need to direct surface water away, seal the outside of the foundation, improve drainage below the foundation, and you may even need to seal the inside of the masonry wall as well.

Aspects of your own daily life such as breathing, sweating, showering and cooking, can also create moisture when the house is closed up. The daily activities of inhabitatns can add as much as 20 gallons of water a day to your house.

Rain collecting in your driveway, or pouring out of an eaves trough, makes its way downhill. If the soil is porous around your foundation, or if there is a gap between the pavement and the house, the water will percolate through the ground or the crack until it meets the water table or is otherwise halted. Once it can’t flow down, it flows across, which is when it starts seeping through your foundation walls.

So keep surface water away from the walls of your house. Keep eaves troughs cleaned out and properly angled, and downspouts in working order with their outflow running away from the house. Your driveway should slope away from your house, or you can run a line of mortar along the gap between the driveway and the house to keep water that accumulates in the driveway from working its way down along your foundation walls.

Gardens, lawns, and other surfaces should also draw water away from your home, and if you have a sump pump it should drain far from the house as well.

Protecting your basement from groundwater is a bit more challenging and can be expensive. A basement contractor can dig a trench to your foundation walls from outside, and apply a sealant to the exterior below-ground walls. They should also backfill the trench with gravel and sand to improve drainage, and they can put in drainage tile at the bottom to draw groundwater down below the floor of your basement.

A more affordable option, if you have exposed masonry in your basement, is to scrub down the masonry to a hard, clean surface free of grit or mineral sweat, and use a parging compound to add waterproofing on the inside of your walls. This works for minor humidity problems but won’t solve serious basement moisture problems.

Any moisture you can avoid producing indoors will help cut down on humidity problems. You can’t stop breathing, but you can cook with lids on, and turn on the range hood when boiling water; you can cut back on showers or run the bathroom fan when showering; and be mindful of aquariums, decorative fountains, and other possible humidity sources.

If winter humidity is a problemIf you have humidity problems in the winter and your home is recently built and well insulated, it is possible that your home is sealed too well. A well sealed home cuts your heating costs, but if it’s too well sealed moisture will build up, as will off-gassing from synthetics, woods, carpets, and other materials that may harm your health. You might consider buying a heat exchanger rather than a Dehumidifier if this is your problem. Heat exchangers let air flow in and out of your house, while keeping the heat in as the exhaust air is blown out.

Before go out and buy a dehumidifier to solve moisture problems that can’t be solved by the tips above, you should understand how humidifiers work, their rankings, how ENERGY STAR dehumidifiers are ranked, and how to choose the best model for your situation.

Dehumidifiers remove moisture from the air using a compressor, condenser coils, and fan. They work the same way a refrigerator works, except that their cooling power is used to condense water out of the air. Dehumidifiers have a humidistat that keeps them on until the moisture reaches a set lower level, or until the tank fills up, whichever happens first.

Dehumidifiers are grouped based on extraction capacity — how much humidity they extract from the air per day — and by tank capacity — how much water they hold. In the United States, extraction capacity is rated in pints per day and capacity is measured in quarts. In most other countries, extraction capacity is rated in liters per day and capacity in liters.

Once your tank fills up, the dehumidifier will not extract any water from the air until you empty the tank. If you place your dehumidifier near a basement floor drain, you can run a hose from the tank to the drain, so that you never need to empty the tank. (Most dehumidifiers come with an opening for a hose.) If you can’t do this in the room where you’re putting the dehumidifier, make sure you buy a unit with adequate tank capacity.

The energy factor for dehumidifiers is the number of liters or pints of water removed from the air per kilowatt hour (kWh) of electricity used. The higher the energy factor value, the more efficient the dehumidifier is.  So bigger is better — unlike the efficiency rankings for most other types of appliances.

ENERGY STAR dehumidifiers have energy factors ranging from 3.56 (excellent) to 1.2 (marginally efficient) with a median rating of 1.62. Only two companies, Therma-Stor Products and Munters Corporation, make dehumidifiers with an energy factor better than 2.2.

But bear in mind that an ENERGY STAR rating does not mean the dehumidifier is all that efficient — just more efficient than some others in its class. For example, ENERGY STAR rated dehumidifiers can have an energy factor of as little as 1.2, while the best score is 2.02 and the worst for a non ENERGY STAR dehumidifier is 1.0.

Always buy a dehumidifier that can handle the amount of humidity in your house. You probably do not require a pints-per-day rating above 25 unless your basement is sopping wet and at least 1,200 square feet in area, wet and at least 1,500 square feet, or usually damp and mildewy (but not wet) with at least 1,800 square feet.

On the other hand, ENERGY STAR units that can withdraw more moisture are typically more energy efficient because of the different capacity thresholds used to rate dehumidifierS. So don’t skimp and buy too low a capacity unit — overestimate rather than underestimate.

If your basement is very cool, buy a dehumidifier built to handle lower temperatures. Otherwise, the cold basement will cause frost buildup on the coils, which reduces their efficiency and may cause the motor to short cycle. If notice this short cycling, turn the dehumidifier off until the ice has melted and fallen into the tank. If the behavior persists you may need to replace the unit with a unit built for cooler temperatures.

Assuming you do own or buy a new dehumidifier, you’ll want to reduce your energy costs with whatever dehumidifier you own.

If your basement is humid, and the dehumidifier is on, keep the doors to the basement closed so damp air doesn’t creep in from upstairs.

Keep your dehumidifier coils and fan clean and free of dust. Some dehumidifiers include a washable air filter you can clean to get rid of dust build-up; if you have one, keep it clean.

If you replace an old dehumidifier with a new, properly sized energy efficient dehumidifier, and you tackle your moisture sources as best you can, you could reduce your electricity use by half or even two thirds over what you were paying before for the same level of comfort. But more likely, you’ll use a little less energy with a new and improved dehumidifier, while controlling your humidity more effectively, or you’ll use more energy (if you didn’t have a dehumidifier) but you’ll be far more comfortable and won’t be spending a fortune on electricity.

With all the news surfacing about the health effects of indoor dampness and the resulting mold and mildew, you’ll definitely benefit from addressing your humidity problems and buying an energy efficient dehumidifier. You’ll save money and be healthier.

Robin Green runs Green-Energy-Efficient-Homes.com, a website that helps people save energy in their homes. Go to this website for help on reducing your energy use on heating, cooling, lighting, and other household activities. For more on solving your humidity problems, see the energy efficient dehumidifiers section on Green Energy Efficient Homes.

When a Dehumidifier Can Help

Too much humidity in your home can affect the health of anyone who is living there. If allowed to build up, over time, too much moisture will create serious problems in the home: Condensation on windows, staining, musty odours and mould, especially in the bathroom. Possibly causing irreversible damage to your house, and it’s contents. It can be difficult to keep a good balance between heat and ventilation, especially during the winter months. Even on a hot day the air can become damp, and the humidity of a room will need to be controlled. If you’re planning on a good night’s sleep that is! Dehumidifiers can take away all the discomfort.

Health Issues

Without a dehumidifier, inadequate ventilation and a whole host of other things will raise the humidity levels in the home. Dangerous fungi, moulds and mildew, which can promote disease, can form as a result. These moulds are becoming of increasing concern. Research suggesting these fungi and moulds can produce gases. Gases which can invoke various allergic reactions and breathing problems. Including asthma and similar respiratory conditions.

Too much humidity has long been thought to cause allergic reactions, causing problems with dust mites. Believed a major contributory factor, with regards to various respiratory diseases and conditions. Dozens of children suffer permanent colds throughout the winter, breathing problems and allergies. Many experts believe the true problem really lies at home. A dehumidifier might seem expensive, but even the experts believe it’s usually worth it.

Old and New Problems

More often than not, humidity is seen as a ‘summertime problem’. However, many professional believe people are making are actually making their homes too ‘weatherproofed’! Incredible as it sounds, an old house tends to be a touch more on the ‘draughty side’. Therefore, when you turn up the heat in winter, you have a ‘natural ventilation system’ in place to save the day! Although it far from means old houses are immune. Today, the consumer demands a house be virtually impenetrable to the elements! Sealed windows and doors, wall and loft insulation, even the exteriors of the wall’s themselves. Literally, nothing is entering or leaving the building! This is when a dehumidifier can save the day.

Recommendations

Dehumidifiers can keep your home at the recommended level of humidity. This being between forty and fifty percent for inside the home. A dehumidifier with a built in humidity metre is perfect for keeping those figures on target.

Just give the command and the machine will obey! Lot’s of factors contribute to a build up in humidity, in the home. We produce moisture in just about every action we take: Showering, making the dinner, washing the dishes, even breathing! Dehumidifiers are available for the basement, the whole house or for a single room.  There are even ‘Closet Dehumidifiers! The best dehumidifier for you will much depend on your needs. Certain features will suit your purpose more than others. Humidity is not to be taken lightly, choose your model with care!

Baron Albert is an expert author who writes on various topics. He is constantly involved in writing valuable and informative articles with an interesting pitch that makes readers know more about the things. Keep an eye or scribe to read more from Baron Albert.

Number of people suffering with some sort of allergy problem is not very small.  They exist not in hundreds and thousands but in millions across the globe.  Many of these allergy problems are related with the humidity levels in the atmosphere around them.  While maintenance of good humidity level is essential for creating a user friendly atmosphere, high level of humidity could bring up several problems like allergy attacks.

Reduction and balancing of humidity levels could be achieved through a good Dehumidifier just as the humidity levels are maintained with the humidifier.  Best dehumidifiers could help you in fighting out mold, moisture as well as mildew quite effectively.

Features of the best dehumidifier

With the expansion of atmosphere related problems in the highly industrialized society to day, perhaps no household is complete without a good dehumidifier.  Especially the houses that are prone to moisture and mold affecting the indoor air quality require such dehumidifier more than any one else.

A good dehumidifier can bring back the balance by evaporating the moisture in your home, keeping the atmosphere dry and at the humidity level low while not allowing dust to enter home. This will be essential for those who suffer from allergy as dust is the main reason for allergy sufferings.

Dehumidifiers for your basement, home and room

It is not only your room that needs to be immune from mold and moisture to save you from allergic spree.  You also require your basement, and home to be free of such characteristics.  To this end you can use different dehumidifiers for different purposes.  The Basement Dehumidifier will vary from the whole house dehumidifier. 

Similarly, the commercial and industrial dehumidifiers would be vastly different from the closet dehumidifier.  Each one has its own merits and demerits.  Hence have a careful look at their comparative features before opting for one of them.

Required features for basement dehumidifiers would be that they should be able to absorb maximum amount of moisture.  Your basements would be the most vulnerable to moisture and mold.  On the other hand your room would be comparatively drier and the dehumidifier will have to maintain the humidity level at such point that the dusts do not enter and cause allergic problems for you.

Size is a critical factor in determination of quality of dehumidifiers

If you are not a technical man it would be prudent to use some expert services to determine the exact quality of your humidifier.  The expert can guide you step by step and help you reach your desired objective with ease and convenience. Some factors will be vital to your choice.  For example, the size of the dehumidifier is vital as wrong sized machine won’t prevent mold.

Even the dealers may not have idea about the proper size of dehumidifier to work smoothly for the location.  Buying one with too high capacity will be extravagant spending while buying one with too low capacities may render the machine useless for your purpose. 

It does not help you when you get a reply from the stores salesman that the difference between two models of dehumidifiers is around $50.  What you require to know is their performance variances to know their real use for your work. You also would like to know whether you are getting portable dehumidifier or a static one.

For such devices having bearing on humidity in the atmosphere around you, “tailor made” is what you need for your specific requirement.

Amber Smith is an eminent otolaryngology practitioner who has practiced treating ailments of ear, nose and throat for over 25 years and is an expert on the use of dehumidifiers. She has been working for humidity affects in public, private, with indoor patients, outdoor patients, and operation theaters from time to time.