Does anyone make a decent dehumidifier?

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hdwhit said:
Do you have fan forced ventilation or is the only air exchange infiltration around the door and/or passive vents?
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Passive vents. A dehumidifier works well as long as it works. It seems that the ones I buy run out of refrigerant after a few months as everything else works fine; fan blows air, electronics control fan speed and display looks fine...it just no longer fills the bucket with water.

Update: I bought two dehumidifiers from Menard's a few weeks ago. Their policy sign above the service desk said that they will give you your money back for anything they sell within 90 days if you have a receipt. It then says that after 90 days they will only give store credit with a receipt.

I confirmed with the manager that if the dehumidifiers stop working after 90 days and I have a receipt they will give me store credit. I even asked if there was a time limit: if it breaks after ten years (longer then 90 days) and I have the receipt can I take them back? He said yes.

I took a picture of the sign.

IMG_1127.JPG

I put the receipts in a plastic bag and taped them to the dehumidifiers. If the damn things stop working like the others at least I can get them exchanged for store credit.
 
Flechette said:
I confirmed with the manager that if the dehumidifiers stop working after 90 days and I have a receipt they will give me store credit. I even asked if there was a time limit: if it breaks after ten years (longer then 90 days) and I have the receipt can I take them back? He said yes.
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Flechette, ok like this very much.... thanks dirt
 
Silica gel is cheap and effective, what exactly is the issue with having 2X what you need and cycling it through the oven periodically? Works for me in Houston, although I usually just replace it rather than try to recycle it in "her" oven and endure the grief from doing so.

Seems to me the cost of a dehumidifier and the electricity to run it would buy a lot of silica gel.

Edit: reading a later post, perhaps you need to reduce your ventilation, air flow is not really your friend in high humidity environments -- stagnet dry air is better than fresh wet air.
 
I live in Lexington, SC and it's incredibly hot and humid here. We actually get about 10" more annual rainfall than Seattle, WA! My wife and I moved a few years ago and our new home's master bath is really big with a walk-in shower, so when we take our morning showers the humidity really builds up. Couple that with keeping our interior temperature around 78 in the hot months (read, 8 months a year...) and I decided to get a small humidifier to run while we are using the shower in the mornings. It dropped the relative humidity in our house by about 10% which is good for me (between 55-65% normally, usually around 80% outside).

All that to say, in February of 2015 I bought a Frigidaire FAD301NWD from Amazon.com and it's been rock solid ever since. It smells kind of mildewy now when I first turn it on (I probably should figure out how to clean it), and it rattles and is noisy but it works. I have to dump the water bucket constantly. I recommend it and hope mine lasts another almost 3 years!
 
Flechette wrote:
Passive vents. A dehumidifier works well as long as it works. It seems that the ones I buy run out of refrigerant after a few months as everything else works fine; fan blows air, electronics control fan speed and display looks fine...it just no longer fills the bucket with water.
Click to expand...

Without going into a lengthy exchange to try and diagnose the problem, I'm going to make a few assumptions and suggest you get a timer switch (like one of those Intermatic things you plug into the wall and program by sticking the black and red clips into the appropriate slots in the dial) and set it to run the dehumidifier twice a day for 30 minutes at a time. I know the unit has all sorts of controls on it, but they were not designed to work properly when the dehumidifier was operating in a small enclosed space. You'll gamble about $10 and if I'm right your dehumidifier will run for several years.
 
That sounds like a pretty good idea by hdwhit.
I know the Fridgidaires cycle on and off a lot when it's humid.
 
For guns, whether in a safe or another enclosed space, like an unplugged refrigerator or such, a simple incandescent light bulb on an extension cord would work. Just be careful that the bulb doesn't touch paper (or other potentially flammable substance), and the cord doesn't bind or break in a too tight enclosure (door, etc.). The results could be shocking! :eek:
 
Like so many other replies, I wonder where and what the OP is buying.
I have a house in the mountains that is/was constantly humid. 20+ years ago I installed a Frigidare dehumidifier- worked well for 19 years and just replaced it with a similar model. I suspect I will get a similarly long life from it, too.
The unit runs 12 months a year and keeps the levels at 45 %

Either he is buying el cheapo Chinese junk or used-either way, spend a few bucks more and get one that will give you long life.
 
gary0529 said:
Like so many other replies, I wonder where and what the OP is buying.
I have a house in the mountains that is/was constantly humid. 20+ years ago I installed a Frigidare dehumidifier- worked well for 19 years and just replaced it with a similar model. I suspect I will get a similarly long life from it, too.
The unit runs 12 months a year and keeps the levels at 45 %

Either he is buying el cheapo Chinese junk or used-either way, spend a few bucks more and get one that will give you long life.
Click to expand...
I am willing to spend twice as much on one that will last. Every dehumidifier I looked into had parts made in China (some "assembled" in the USA). The only USA made dehumidifiers I could find on-line were huge units for office buildings. o_O
 
I live in Arkansas and between AC in the humid summers and central heat in the winters and a goldenrod dehumidifier and a desiccant canister I've been good to go in my safe. Even w/o the goldenrod and desiccant canisters my stashed household pistols have been fine.
 
I have an Edison 25 that I got cheap from a local hardware store that was going out of business. It has been going strong for 16 years. I only use it from May to September, but it's always on during those months, and it hasn't skipped a beat.

There is no % control for humidity -- just an analog dial, so you have to trial-and-error it. I found the optimum setting and just marked it with a red pencil.
 
I have an LG dehumidifier that has worked pretty well for the last 8 or 9 years. My only complaint is that if the bucket isn't in there just right it will overfill and leak on to the floor. Perhaps mine has lasted as long as it has because I keep it around 65% so that it doesn't run so much. I use it in the same room as my safe, with a golden rod in the safe and all of my firearms in bore stores (silicon treated storage cases). With all of that going, I have not had any issues.
 
We've got a DeLonghi dehumidifier from the 90s that still works - it's a bit noisy, the humidistat no longer functions, and I've got some doubts about how much refrigerant is left in the coil, but it works.

But it's from a different time, designed by different engineers, with different laws to follow and different materials at their disposal. No idea what things are like now.
 
I live in Florida and we have our share of humidity. After getting 2-3 years out of several new GEs, I started watching for used like-new dehumidifiers in the $50 range.
I'm currently using two Haiers that work pretty well in my garage.
I keep a tub of Damp-Rid in my safe.
 
Flechette said:
Thanks!

I must note that the "commercial" units cost thousands of dollars. I wonder why?
Click to expand...

Good question, I'd guess a smaller market, built to a higher standard (maybe), configured to be installed in a duct system, need to be wired in and may have a higher capacity. I know from experience disaster recovery services have some monster portable units that will take so much moisture out of the air your house will feel like the desert. They also make so much noise you cannot sleep without ear plugs.
 
gary0529 wrote:
Either he is buying el cheapo Chinese junk or used-either way, spend a few bucks more and get one that will give you long life.
Click to expand...

What evidence do you have to support this spurious conclusion?

The OP could take the best dehumidifier made, use it inappropriately and have it fail within months.
 
1MoreFord wrote:
I live in Arkansas and between AC in the humid summers and central heat in the winters...
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I lived in Northern and then later in Southeastern Arkansas for many years. None of my guns suffered any damage or degradation from rust or corrosion during the time I was there. But, I did keep them cleaned and oiled.

But what the OP is dealing with here is someone is a walk-in safe with only passive ventilation that thus becomes a "sink" for moisture and humidity. The remarkably simple answer is, of course, to supply conditioned air along with a dedicated return to the air handler and then keeps the guns clean and lubricated and they'll be just as fine as your pistols have been.

Of course, adding all that plumbing and all those penetrations compromises the security of the OP's walk-in safe, so he is left with is using a dehumidier to try and keep the safe from becoming a condensing environment. I suggested that the dehumidifier be operated on a timer independent of its own internal electronics to prevent it operating in conditions that would cause the unit to damage itself. I think that's probably the best result the OP can achieve without drilling a bunch of forced-air ventilation holes in his safe.
 
Wonder what the pioneers/frontiersmen did ?:confused:
Keep your guns lubricated while you decide.:cool:
Maybe some "Wonder Earth", in the meantime ?
Your guns will love you for it, and you will like the results, too.:)
 
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They didn't get wrapped around the axle over a spot or two of surface rust on a tool. They had bigger problems to deal with.
 
I have my walk-in crawlspace dehumidified by a Lennox (re-badged AprilAire unit) that took my crawlspace from a disgusting, moldy, water dripping off of the air handler place to a dry 50-55% humidity area. I ran a dedicated circuit to the area and had the installer set it on the concrete blocks. He ran some flex duct around down there to spread out the dry air. I had the AC guy install it because it made the warranty longer. Cost about $1200 total. Worth it for sure.
 
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