Your Questions About Dehumidifiers For Home Basement

Are my electronics safe in the basement?

I have moved into a new home and have decided to make my basement a home theatre. However, after running a dehumidifier in the basement for a day, I found it is quite wet down there. I have to remove and empty the dehumidifier probably every 18-24 hours as it fills up the 1 gallon trey in that time period.

I am wondering if I should reconsider putting my electronics down there as it may not be healthy for them. I have a projector, several speakers, receiver, and computer.

Just to clarify, there is no visible moisture anywhere. I am probably going to buy a second dehumidifier just to see if that yields the same result of need of refill after one day.

So do you think it is safe for my electronics down there as long as i keep one or two of these dehumidifiers running?
Thank you for the response detailing Dry Lock. This is a good solution… But, I am renting the house so I cannot modify the basement and wouldn’t really to since it will be wasted money. It rained today, and no leaks, so I think I am in the clear there. Any other ideas without modifying the basement?

We were never informed that the previous owner of our home constantly used a dehumidifier in the basement?

We purchase a 3 year old home that the real estate man called like new. Our problem is that the previous owners had a dehumidifier running all the time and we were not made aware of it from the previous owner or the real estate man.

We became aware of it a year after we purchased the home and we had a lot of rain which caused and the basement to have a mildew scent. There is also a sump but no pump in the basement and I don’t know if the previous owner took that or not. I am quite upset because now this beautiful basement which was a big selling feature has a mildew scent and I am not aware of what has to be done to it so the mildew goes away if in fact it will go away.

When I looked at this home the few times before we closed there was no mildew scent at all and the basement just smelled new and fresh. I never noticed the dehumidifier so possibly the husband took it out before we even looked at it.

Of course, we immediately got a dehumidifier when the basement started to smell like mildew. It is now a year later and the scent is still there. I am really upset at the real estate man and the previous owner for not sharing this information as I now have a mildew scented basement. If we were informed we would have immediately purchased a dehumidifier and would not have the problem with a mildew scented basement.

I feel we have been cheated out of doing things the correct way because information was not shared with us that was of vital importance. We are in the house about 1 year and 10 months now. . Can the previous owner or the real estate man be held responsible for the damage to our basement?

The real estate man represented both the seller and buyer but he certainly didn’t represent us as he made light of everything that was wrong with the house telling us that the seller would sue us and get to keep our down payment. There was so much not corrected in a like new house like a broken window, missing screen door, hole in wall, two doors looked like someone tried to break in and the plaster is missing on the two doors on one side, no hardware on the kitchen window, one shade missing in garage where window was broken, leaky shower, rain pipe off, broken banister outside, etc. The fence in the back yard is too high for my dog and he isn’t tiny but a large Cocker Spaniel.

If anyone has any advise for us, please let us know as any bit of information may be all we need.

Thank you so very much.

My basement is 40X22…whats a good sized dehumidifier for a basement that size?

I recently purchased my home with a finished basement…After a heavy rain and an abundance of melting snow, a pool of standing water was formed in a backroom area…I have a company coming to fix this problem, however in the meantime, I have a Danby dehumidifier that holds 30pints. Is this sufficient enough for the basement size that I have?

Home remedies for moldy smell in basement laundry room.?

Hey we are renting an older house with rudimentary design flaws, but too busy (and, like I said we don’t own the house) to start at square one to fix it up.

There’s a moldy smell omnipresent. Dehumidifier helps only a little. In the summer, it’s fine to leave the window open, but the smell is still there. When winter comes (and we’re in Atlantic Canada so it comes soon and hard), an open window would be ridiculous.

So, home remedies ONLY, anyone have thoughts. I.E. an open box of baking soda or something?

Thanks