Unfinished basement.
At first the humidity was... Fine, ish, down there. Around 55, not great, but it came down to 50 when the AC ran. Upstairs was similar.
But the last few weeks have been much cooler outside, and more humid. Even though we keep the windows closed when the humidity is high, the AC still hasn't been running much. Especially since we keep it set pretty warm to save energy. The basement got to 73 degrees at 71% humidity! Yikes!
I knew I needed a dehumidifier, I had looked a few times before, but the options all suck, and everyone complains that they don't last long anymore.
They say if it lasts 6 months or a year, that's not uncommon. If it lasts 2 years, you lucked into a good one. If it lasts 3 or more years, go buy a lotto.
People are out there buying ones and returning them on warranty if they die early enough. And doing it over and over again, every couple years.
Very disheartening.
You get slightly more success if you pay a premium. But then comes the next problem: most these units are all computerized now, with buttons to turn them on. And not all of them will turn back on after a power outage. And I definitely don't want to sign up for another online account to access features that should be free.
So, I started looking for industrial models. They're VERY very expensive. Again, disheartening.
But then I found the alorair HD35P, which was only slightly more expensive than the fancy consumer ones with the fancy control panels etc etc. But with no tank to take up space, and auto power recovery. Plus a built in condensate pump to pump the water away to a drain. And a 6 year warranty. I almost bought this, but then I found its little brother.
I bought the HS35 instead.
It's the same unit, but just with a knob instead of a control panel. And no condensate pump (but people were having trouble with the screen clogging on that pump anyway).
I do lose granular control of the exact humidity I want. And I lose GPP mode, but I probably didn't want that anyway?
Who knows. We'll see. I'll try to report back if it dies on me.
In the meantime, my basement is now down to 49% humidity. I thought about going to 30, but we have wood floors upstairs, so I'm worried getting it too dry down there will do bad stuff.
On the other hand, I should probably get it extra dry for awhile and check my stuff for mold ๐