School me on standing DEHUMIDIFIERS.

[AirgunSavant]

I have about a 2800 sq ft basement.
I bought a dehumidifier and it cost me about $70 a month to run.
It would not handle the basement and would not get me to the desired HL. I was looking for.
I bought a EZ Breathe unit and installed it myself. However others have came on the market since and they are easy to make and
cheaper now. It is absolutely ideal for my situation and cost me under $3 a month at 8 cents a KW.

It simply pulls damp air from the floor and has solved all my issues. The dehumidifier was a waste of time and ineffective in my application. Has a 10 year warranty and that is simply just a fan that is subject to failure and cheap to replace.

 

[HemiHawk]

Originally Posted By: Pop_Rivit
First thing you should do is figure out why the basement is abnormally humid. In a properly designed basement humidity isn't an issue. Once you fix the cause, then the dehumidifier function of the central air should be enough to keep the humidity at reasonable levels on hot, humid summer days. If you have humidity issues this early in the spring then you need to figure out why and fix it right.

Right now the humidity in my basement is about 45% and there is no mechanical dehumidifier operating. It stays pretty much the same as the rest of the home.


Can you expand on what to do for a humid basement? I've only ever heard "Get a dehumidifier". For instance my house is located at a point where the ground to one side is sloped slightly downward, so water comes towards the house. We have a french drain, and fairly large dehumidifier that runs all the time, set at 50%. I have no idea what could be done to reduce the need for it.

 

[supton]

I read of one (costly) method, which amounted to letting the water drain into the house, and into a perimeter drain, which then drains into a sump. Which is then emptied by a sump pump.

Then you can have an interior wall. If there is an air space then moisture isn't likely to go through that wall; water comes in as a liquid but then drains away. [I say interior wall, the picture I saw looked like cinderblock, with the holes in them used for drainage. Been a while since I looked into this.]

The premise is that french (French?) drains can plug up. Plus, moisture likes to move from high moisture to low moisture. A drain helps with lots of water, but in the end, the foundation is in... wet dirt. And on the other side of the wall you're removing moisture as fast as possible, setting up a gradiant across the wall. Water wants to flow, no matter what.