At Home In The Woods

[PAGUY]

Obed - I solved my basement moisture problem by having a stoker stove that blows "hot air" and keeps the basement toasty. It has its own thermostat set at 70°. In the summer I use the dehumidifier. The stoker stove actually helps keep the house warmer and not needing my gas furnace to run as much. This is my way of solving the problem a cold basement in the winter and a damp basement in the summer.

 

[brin]

Obed, we built our house 7 yrs. ago and have been through 2 dehumidifiers for the basement...believe it or not our first one stopped working a week before the warranty expired so we got a new one under the warranty and so far so good with it...So be sure to fill out your warranty and email or mail it in...it may come in handy. I have mine set up with a plastic hose and emptying outside and it is cooler in the basement . I figure the dehumidifier costs at least $50.00 a month to operate in electricity...see if yours is the same...if your bill goes up.

 

[clemsonfor]

I finally bought a dehumidifier for the basement. I paid $320 including shipping for this Winix dehumidifier. I started looking for dehumidiers over a year ago but couldn't find anything that seemed worth buying. The reviews were really bad for most dehumidifiers. I got the impression that often they don't last much more than 2 or 3 years so I couldn't justify paying a lot of money for one. Finally I saw that Winix dehumidifiers got really good reviews by buyers online, something quite unusual for dehumidifiers.

My unit arrived 3 days ago. This unit is almost filling up its bucket twice a day. I estimate it is removing about 3 gallons of water a day from our 2100 SF unfinished basement. I will soon hook up a hose in order to gravity drain the water into our one of our basement floor drains so I don't have to empty the bucket twice a day. However, I wanted to use the built in bucket for a few days so I could see how much water it collects.

So far I'm happy with the dehumidifier assuming it keeps working. My wife has expressed that the dehumidifier is making the basement feel colder; she's not thrilled about aspect.

It will go down over time i think as the moisture in the room is lowered.

 

[clemsonfor]

Obed, we built our house 7 yrs. ago and have been through 2 dehumidifiers for the basement...believe it or not our first one stopped working a week before the warranty expired so we got a new one under the warranty and so far so good with it...So be sure to fill out your warranty and email or mail it in...it may come in handy. I have mine set up with a plastic hose and emptying outside and it is cooler in the basement . I figure the dehumidifier costs at least $50.00 a month to operate in electricity...see if yours is the same...if your bill goes up.

This is why i only run mine occasonally when the humidity goes up in my tv room, which is up on a slab instead of a crawl. It also only has one vent that is ducted into the room so really its not heated or cooled by central unit and thus gets humid in here.

 

[Obed]

Obed - I solved my basement moisture problem by having a stoker stove that blows "hot air" and keeps the basement toasty. It has its own thermostat set at 70ｰ. In the summer I use the dehumidifier. The stoker stove actually helps keep the house warmer and not needing my gas furnace to run as much. This is my way of solving the problem a cold basement in the winter and a damp basement in the summer.

PAGUY,
What is a "stoker stove"?
Obed

 

[Obed]

Obed, we built our house 7 yrs. ago and have been through 2 dehumidifiers for the basement...believe it or not our first one stopped working a week before the warranty expired so we got a new one under the warranty and so far so good with it...So be sure to fill out your warranty and email or mail it in...it may come in handy. I have mine set up with a plastic hose and emptying outside and it is cooler in the basement . I figure the dehumidifier costs at least $50.00 a month to operate in electricity...see if yours is the same...if your bill goes up.

Bob,
I'm really hoping it doesn't raise our bill $50/mo. If it does, it might justify putting an HVAC vent and return in the basement. In the long run that might be cheaper once I consider the electric bill and the cost of replacing dehumidifiers. I believe EEPete recommended running the HVAC system in the basement.
Obed

 

[Obed]

It will go down over time i think as the moisture in the room is lowered.

clemsonfor,
Tonight for the first time since I started running the dehumidifier, I noticed it was finally not running. It has been running continuously until now for the best of my knowledge. It will be interesting to see how much water is in the bucket each day for the next few days.
Obed

 

[PAGUY]

Obed - A stoker stove is a hot air furnace that can run on coal (rice or pea) or wood pellets. It has a 100lb hopper on the back and requires electricity to run. It has three small motors - one runs the feeder, another the blower that keeps the fire lit and another that operates the hot air blower. They do NOT run all the time only when called for to do their specfic function. It has its own thermostat to control area temperature. It can be located anywhere in a home. Mine happens to be in the basement where my washer/dryer is located along with a large shower stall. The basement is a livable area which I believe you mentioned may be in your future use for your basement. It doesnot require a chimney like most modern heating units. Just the use of out the wall sources for exhaust and fresh air intake. Mine cost $2K but I'm sure I have already recouped that and saved more off my main source of heat which is a natural gas hot water furnace. I burn 2 ton of rice coal per winter season.

 

[Obed]

Obed - A stoker stove is a hot air furnace that can run on coal (rice or pea) or wood pellets...

Thanks PAGUY. That's very interesting.
Obed

 

[Obed]

I have a neighbor who said I could borrow his plow to turn over our garden. Today after work I started up my tractor with intentions of driving it to the neighbor's house and picking up the plow. My tractor ran for about 30 seconds just fine then quickly died. It then would not restart and didn't sound like it wanted to even fire. After looking for some obvious things like a loose wire, I tried starting it again. The tractor finally started again and seemed to run fine.

I decided not to go pick up the plow tonight because I was afraid my tractor might stall on the road and then I would be in a pickle. I'm going to have to check the filters, etc. and see if I have water in the bowl that needs draining. I'm definitely not a mechanic but will have to make due.