Basement Dehumidifiers - Getting the jump on Humid Summer Weather.

A dehumidifier is a great way to keep the relative humidity down in the basement. This helps keep it cool, dry, and helps to circulate and filter the air in the basement. As I've mentioned before, over 40% of the air you breath day-to-day comes from the basement. The healthier the air, the better it is for the rest of the home.

Excess dampness and moisture in the basement air can cause smells to occur in the summer. This is typically the work of the dampness allowing mold to grow somewhere in the basement, but the moisture itself has a smell. This odor and moisture can and will travel into the first floor of the home. Covering up the odors isn't dealing with the problem, and if you're experiencing this on your first floor, it's time to address the issues causing them in the basement.

Dehumidifiers actually remove the moisture from the air and replace it with dry air. Removing the moisture isn't just good for your health, it's also good for your electricity bill. Too much moisture in the air will actually make it harder for your Air Conditioning units to cool the air in the home. The harder they have to work means they run longer and increase your electricity bills.

When buying a dehumidifier for your basement look for a few key things:

*Filters - if they can filter the air to clean out dust mites, mold and other spores, then go with that. You get more from a unit that can clean the air as well as remove moisture

*Drainage options - Some units, like the Santa Fe Classic and Compact units, come with condensate pumps, and others can be hosed right into an existing sink or drainage system - make sure that your unit can do this to limit the amount you have to empty the machine.

*Ducting - Some dehumidifiers can be ducted to other parts of the basement (ideal for finished basements) to force air circulation and filter and clean the air from other sections of the space.

Related Reading and Links
Read about the Top 6 Basement Mistakes that contractors and homeowners make. See what other readers have asked in Safe'n'Dry Basement Blog's Reader Questions Section
Ask Jacob A question Directly on Pioneer Basement's Help Forums!

Basement Mistakes pt 2 – Not having a dehumidifier and/or not emptying it regularly.

Home depot and other improvement stores carry droves of dehumidifiers that thousands of consumers by a year. Some homeowners even have two or three of the same kind, cracking’ away in the basement, attempting to level out the humidity. Typically, someone who’s looking for something better will call Pioneer Basement and say something like “I have a dehumidifier but it doesn’t seem to be doing what I need.” – here in lies the issue.

The “Not emptying it Regularly” part of the mistake.
A little background: The consumer grade dehumidifiers are designed to be cheaply built and mass-produced to get as many units out to the public as possible. This mass production created a design flaw for the sake of creating a compact unit.

Every dehumidifier has both a heating element and a cooling element as part of its’ process. Damp air is drawn into the unit and the moisture is separated from the air by rapidly cooling it. The water then forms on the condenser coils and the air is filtered out through the dehumidifier as dry. However, to collect the now semi-frozen water off the coils, the dehumidifier now needs to warm it up so that the moisture drips into the collection pan (oh, the famous and hated collection pan).

This is all well and good, however, the close proximity of the heating element to the collection pan then mutates this dehumidifier into a Humidifier…in a sense turning the unit on it’s own purpose for existing! The dehumidifier now adds humidity and then has to work AGAIN to pull that moisture out of the air and into the pan.

Here in lies the problem of “Not Emptying it enough” – By allowing the water to sit in the collection pan for long amounts of time you give the unit more time to heat that pan and place more humidity back into the basement. A good solution for this is to by-pass the collection bin and force the water drain out of the unit and into a sink, outside, or into a sump location.

The mistake of “not having a dehumidifier” in the first place.
Most basements have natural levels of 45-66% relative humidity year round. Mold and mildew only need levels of 50% or higher to grow and become an issue. Venting might be a temporary fix to add new air to the basement, but it can’t be done year round because of letting in moisture from out side, allowing critters to get in, rain to flow through, or having the basement get too cold in the summer.

The dehumidifier is designed to remove the dampness of the humidity in the basement and pump out dry warm air in the process. This not only helps circulation of the air in the basement but it contributes to healthier basement air quality.

By not having a dehumidifier you allow humidity levels to go unchecked. Thus, allowing your chances for mold, mildew, moisture damage, and smells to increase. Too much humidity in the basement can also cause damage to your insulation, make wood floors buckle, or potentially cause mold to start on the first floor of the house (yes, the basement affects the rest of the home too!)

A dehumidifier is a good first step in controlling moisture in the basement, which is why it’s part of the Top 6 Most Common Basement Mistakes that homeowners and builders make.

If you’re looking to purchase a dehumidifier, take a minute to read my tips on Buying the Right Dehumidifier for your Home.

Image thanks to http://www.remodelguide.com/