Your Questions About Dehumidifiers

admin answers:

Dehumidifiers don’t freeze (if they’re working properly), so no, they don’t defrost.
Water condenses on the cold coils and runs into a hose or bin.

How is that water supposed to be removed from the machine? If it’s a hose, you have a clog or leak. If it’s a bin, you have a leak.

Even if it did freeze, when it thawed, the water should run into the bin.

EDIT: Possible problems
The bin is not placed correctly.
You have a leak in the bin.
The auto shutoff is not working when the bin fills up.
The water’s not running correctly into the bin. Is it out of level? Turn on the unit with the bin removed, depress the safety switch and wait until water starts dripping.

admin answers:

The size/type dehumidifier you need is usually based on how large an area you want to keep dry. If you are talking about a simple gun safe/box, one or two of the small dehumidifiers should be plenty.

70 years?!!

You then need as air tight a box as you can possibly find. No dehumidifier will last that long. So, you dry out the air and seal the container. Let me rephrase. . ., get the airtight box. Put in guns. Put in dehumidifiers, seal the hell out of the box.

Be sure to tell your heirs where you buried the box. . .

admin answers:

Look at the label with the particulars of your dehumidifier. It is essentially the “guts” and principles in use a refrigerator or a freezer, or air conditioner for that matter, and it will put a measurable amount of energy on your billing statement.

That label information will tell you the power dissipation/consumption of the unit when it is in operation. A kill A Watt meter will give you an accumulated usage or cost for the period it is attached to the unit with a good degree of accuracy for estimating.

If a good nights’ sleep is worth it to you- run the dehumidifier, especially if you have allergies.

You can trim the amount of time the unit is on during the day by putting it on a timer and cycling it every 6 hours or so depending on the humidity level of the room. I have mine run on 12 hours cycles, where it works out to be 6 hours on, 6 hours off and I adjust it as needed. Some things to help keep the humidity out, weatherize windows and keep them closed and locked (this helps hold the seals in place) Put weather seals under the cover plates of all electrical outlets you can get at, and if you are below grade, or partially below grade, paint the walls with a product designed for application over concrete walls, cinder blocks, etc. I did this in a wet basement and it made a dramatic improvement in the space.

Most dehumidifiers are requiring periodic cleaning of the fins on the evaporator coil as well as the condensor coil. Especially if you have the unit ice up on you completely blocking the air flow. Unplug it when you do this as you are usually needing to open up the cabinet of the machine.