Santa Fe Dehumidifiers vs. Humidex – Forum conversation and Comparison

Conversation about Humidex vs. Santa Fe continues here.

Humidex basically pulls air from the outside to bring into the home. This causes some pressure changes in the basement that draws air from the outside and the first floor. This actually switches the natural flow of the air in the home causing more moisture and humidity to possibly build up in the basement.

This can lead to more humidity and increased dampness, which in turn leads to increased run time and electricity cost to run air conditioners in the rest of the home. They say you can run it for pennies a day, when in reality you're throwing your cooling and heating costs right outside by increasing the amount you heat in the winter, and air condition in the summer. (these can also be vented directly out of the home via the fan of the humidex, so you're systems will run more. )

Santa Fe Dehumidifiers only deal with the moisture and air that currently exists in the basement. This allows the airflow of the home to continue uninterrupted and be added to with moisture free and filtered air from the basement.

Air naturally moves through soil, slowly through the foundation and into the basement. From there it naturally rises through the home, 1st floor, 2nd floor, and eventually through windows or the roof of the home. This is known as Stack Effect.

Since moisture naturally moves with the air through the foundation anyway, the Santa Fe is designed to deal with the moisture as it migrates into your basement. The Humidex doesn’t deal with the moisture level in the basement and in fact can actually increase the moisture and humidity to unsafe levels by bringing air from the outside.

Sadly Humidex has sparked many debates on the proper techniques in venting basements and crawlspaces and mostly because of negative results with the product.

Venting a basement or crawlspace isn’t recommended and can actually introduce more mold, humidity and moisture.

Indoor Air Quality; Affected by Basmenet

General studies suggest that over 40% of the air that we breathe in the rest of the house comes from the basement. In a cascading effect called Stack Effect. The air joins the rest of the air circulating in the home and eventually finds its way up and out.

However, having an untreated water issue in your basement, or uncontrolled moisture in your basement space can invite more serious matters to affect your Air Quality.

Using quality materials in moisture and water mitigation is so critical now, more than ever. Whatever you do in your basement can have health ramifications upstairs. And if you're subjected to a poor choice by someone who just wanted a check, it can harm you over a long period of time. Open back systems can actually increase the amount of Radon in a home. They can also invite bugs and other small animals to come, eat, live and defecate. Insanitary conditions this day'n'age are totally avoidable and you don't have to live with a bad choice off of someone else's ignorance.

Closed systems don't have any of these effects. There is no open aspect to them. They don't allow moisture or water through, and having a full concrete floor over the drain, small animals and insects can't find their way through. Now that you have full control over your basement moisture and water, a dehumidifier will run more effectively and efficiently. This will save you time, effort, and money, not only down stairs, but upstairs as well. Having less moisture cascading up into your living space will enable your air conditioners to work better.


Your air conditioner actually has to heat the air it takes in, which allows moisture to be removed, and then it cools the air and pumps it back into the house. The less moisture it has to remove from the air, the better it can drop the degree in the room. All of the energy can go into actually cooling the space rather than having to deal with removing moisture first. That's what makes a solid dehumidifier so important to a moisture control system in your basement. You're not only taking care of the space in the basement but minimizing the ramifications of that moisture on the money you're spending on heating and cooling the house upstairs.

A SantaFe Dehumidification Unit is a key element in any basement waterproofing or basement finishing project that you want to have done.