Dehumidifier Suggestions...

[2manyrocks]

I'd guess 60-70% of the basement is below grade. The other thing I've wondered is how to exploit the natural basement cooling? There isn't any ductwork in the property, but there was an oil fired furnace in the basement that had a largish 2-3' square vent to the first floor. Do you see any advantage to trying to recirculate the basement air into the first floor living space?

 

[Chewwy]

I'd guess 60-70% of the basement is below grade. The other thing I've wondered is how to exploit the natural basement cooling? There isn't any ductwork in the property, but there was an oil fired furnace in the basement that had a largish 2-3' square vent to the first floor. Do you see any advantage to trying to recirculate the basement air into the first floor living space?

If the first floor is very well insulated on all exterior surfaces including windows and doors, you may be able to lower the temperature somewhat by circulation the basement air to the first floor. But the fact it has an oil fired furnace would indicate that level of insulation is unlikely. Most likely, circulating the basement air to the first floor will just heat up the basement. IMO the heat gained in the first floor will exceed the cooling available from the below grade space.

 

[Richard]

Well.... with egg on face.....here's the rest of the story!

You can digitally set the desired humidity range on this. We get power outages every now & then. I don't know what the deal was but yesterday, I thought 'Gee.... let's turn the humidity indicator DOWN...."

Doin't you know it kicked in and has been working fine since then.

So the upshot is, the humidity selector was on say, 55 but the humidity level must have been at say, 50 so it didn't kick in.

So, egg on me, machine is working fine BUT, we all got to yack about dehumidifiers for 2-3 days so that's ok!

 

[dstig1]

It's the other way round. "Sensible" cooling is cooling you can sense -- making the air colder. Latent cooling is removing humidity from the air. The thermostat on the air conditioner only measures sensible cooling, the temperature. If you need more latent cooling than is provided you will be uncomfortable because it will be cool and clammy.

See? I told ya I didn't know this well!

 

[Gem99ultra]

We just bought our first dehumidifer. What would you suggest as the ideal humidity level?

 

[Chewwy]

We just bought our first dehumidifer. What would you suggest as the ideal humidity level?

Ours is set at 50% RH. That’s about as low as it can be set. During cooler months the RH is typically less than that, but 50% RH is comfortable and the paper in my printer in office downstairs does not swell and jam the priter.

 

[Gem99ultra]

Ours is set at 50% RH. That’s about as low as it can be set. During cooler months the RH is typically less than that, but 50% RH is comfortable and the paper in my printer in office downstairs does not swell and jam the priter.

Thanks! That's what we'll use then.