Dehumidifiers ...

[Lightweight_911]

.
Rather than side-track Gary's restoration thread I thought I'd bring the subject/related questions to a new thread.

as have I , it runs all the time in a timber garage that isn't even sealed ... but it does work well, never any discolouration of brake discs & all the paper documents & files that are also stored in there stay dry & crisp.

.. this was after a less than happy experience of using a carcoon

Would you mind sharing what model of dehumidifier you have? Thank you

As mentioned in that thread I've used a dehumidifier for the past ~12+ years - originally in a rented brick-built double garage & for the past 10 years in a double wooden garage at home.

During that time it's been running more or less continually (in the autumn/winter months) & has worked perfectly.

The model is an EMC 520HB which can extract up to 20L water per day.

This is the only picture of it that I could find (on the lhs) in a quick search :

[anglophone1]

That’s great- just what I’ve been looking for- is on Amazon but not available right now.....

[Sam]

I wasn’t very good at science at school and that was a while ago, so feel free to call out my silliness, but isn’t it the case that if you’re removing water from air it has to be replaced by something else? What is that other thing when you dehumidify a garage? If it’s not an air tight garage isn’t it just drawing in equally wet air from outside?

Wouldn’t it be better to heat the garage to increase the amount of water the air can accommodate and decrease the likelihood of condensation rather than try to extract all the moisture from the whole world?

[hot66]

Dehumidifier has worked well for me for the past 15 years in a timber garage which has airflow through it ( not sealed)

The airflow is important as you don’t get rapid temp changes that lead to condensation ( this is the theory behind carcoons etc )

As mentioned in the other three, I also store paper documents in the garage and these stay dry

I use an ‘ecoair’ dd3 classic , that vents the water down a tube to the outside. It runs 24hrs a day

I know that in theory I’m dehumidifying the planet , but in practise it does work

[Darren65]

Always plenty of good industrial dehumidifiers on Ebay, I have a couple of these which are very good. The first was a manual version which I used on a timer to run overnight although this one is better as you can set a level and it'll kick in and out to maintain a constant humidity level which I set at 55% being the recommendation for storing books etc. When the temperature is very low I use a heater in the garage as they don't work in near freezing temperatures. I do have to empty it every couple of days but you can plumb in a drainage pipe to the outside which I'll get around to one day......



....I also keep a few of these inside the car which capture moisture and can be dried out in a microwave every now and again to keep them efficient....



....obviously you don't want things too dry but little chance of that in our climate!

[Ian Comerford]

Useful thread. I’ve been looking recently and found this advice regarding which type to choose for garages, normal ones without heating. The advice seems to buy a desiccant type rather than a refrigerant as they handle lower temps better.

https://choosedehumidifier.co.uk/garage/

[inaglasshouse]

Useful thread. I’ve been looking recently and found this advice regarding which type to choose for garages, or Mal ones without heating. The advice seems to buy a desiccant type rather than a refrigerant as they handle lower temps better.

https://choosedehumidifier.co.uk/garage/

I have tried both (in an unheated, but well insulated, garage). I do not agree with that advice.

The dessicant one worked fine for a while, but the performance degraded after a couple of years, and its power consumption was huge (600+ watts all the time). It was one of these: https://www.dry-it-out.com/dry/cellars/ ... ifier.html

In the end, having just returned from a humid trip to Tokyo and observed what every single hotel, restaurant, shop and small office uses (nearly all Mitsubishi), I bought a relatively expensive Mitsubishi unit, which is conventional refrigerant but has a "low temperature" mode. Works much better overall and uses about 1/3 of the power. Unlike the first one it's a quality item. Still working perfectly 5 years on.
I have it plumbed in, and it is controlled it via a home automation system... so to help out a bit the algorithm automatically runs a separate fan heater when the temperature in the garage is very low and the humidity is very high (less often than you might think - round here it seems the properly cold nights are mostly dry, and above about 8C the dehumidifier seems efficient enough for the space). I use the automation system to switch it off automatically when I'm working with the door open, since there's not much point trying to dehumidify the world.

My little algorithm also allows the relative humidity to be higher when the ambient temperature is higher (eg summer rain). If I could be bothered I could use weather forecast data to decide whether it's worth lowering the RH with the dehumidifier or whether things are about to warm up and or dry out anyway (as is often the case in summer). But because I can't be bothered, I tend to use 65% RH target in summer and 60% in winter, which approximates to what seems to work nicely (dew point never reached in the garage), and saves a bit of power compared with leaving it on auto all the time.

(...and this is one of many reasons why my car projects take so long... I get sidetracked...)

[Ian Comerford]

Useful thread. I’ve been looking recently and found this advice regarding which type to choose for garages, or Mal ones without heating. The advice seems to buy a desiccant type rather than a refrigerant as they handle lower temps better.

https://choosedehumidifier.co.uk/garage/

I have tried both (in an unheated, but well insulated, garage). I do not agree with that advice.

The dessicant one worked fine for a while, but the performance degraded after a couple of years, and its power consumption was huge (600+ watts all the time). It was one of these: https://www.dry-it-out.com/dry/cellars/ ... ifier.html

In the end, having just returned from a humid trip to Tokyo and observed what every single hotel, restaurant, shop and small office uses (nearly all Mitsubishi), I bought a relatively expensive Mitsubishi unit, which is conventional refrigerant but has a "low temperature" mode. Works much better overall and uses about 1/3 of the power. Unlike the first one it's a quality item. Still working perfectly 5 years on.
I have it plumbed in, and it is controlled it via a home automation system... so to help out a bit the algorithm automatically runs a separate fan heater when the temperature in the garage is very low and the humidity is very high (less often than you might think - round here it seems the properly cold nights are mostly dry, and above about 8C the dehumidifier seems efficient enough for the space). I use the automation system to switch it off automatically when I'm working with the door open, since there's not much point trying to dehumidify the world.

My little algorithm also allows the relative humidity to be higher when the ambient temperature is higher (eg summer rain). If I could be bothered I could use weather forecast data to decide whether it's worth lowering the RH with the dehumidifier or whether things are about to warm up and or dry out anyway (as is often the case in summer). But because I can't be bothered, I tend to use 65% RH target in summer and 60% in winter, which approximates to what seems to work nicely (dew point never reached in the garage), and saves a bit of power compared with leaving it on auto all the time.

(...and this is one of many reasons why my car projects take so long... I get sidetracked...)

Great, it’s good to get practical knowledge of both types. What model is your Mitsubishi?

[anglophone1]

Useful thread. I’ve been looking recently and found this advice regarding which type to choose for garages, or Mal ones without heating. The advice seems to buy a desiccant type rather than a refrigerant as they handle lower temps better.

https://choosedehumidifier.co.uk/garage/

I have tried both (in an unheated, but well insulated, garage). I do not agree with that advice.

The dessicant one worked fine for a while, but the performance degraded after a couple of years, and its power consumption was huge (600+ watts all the time). It was one of these: https://www.dry-it-out.com/dry/cellars/ ... ifier.html

In the end, having just returned from a humid trip to Tokyo and observed what every single hotel, restaurant, shop and small office uses (nearly all Mitsubishi), I bought a relatively expensive Mitsubishi unit, which is conventional refrigerant but has a "low temperature" mode. Works much better overall and uses about 1/3 of the power. Unlike the first one it's a quality item. Still working perfectly 5 years on.
I have it plumbed in, and it is controlled it via a home automation system... so to help out a bit the algorithm automatically runs a separate fan heater when the temperature in the garage is very low and the humidity is very high (less often than you might think - round here it seems the properly cold nights are mostly dry, and above about 8C the dehumidifier seems efficient enough for the space). I use the automation system to switch it off automatically when I'm working with the door open, since there's not much point trying to dehumidify the world.

My little algorithm also allows the relative humidity to be higher when the ambient temperature is higher (eg summer rain). If I could be bothered I could use weather forecast data to decide whether it's worth lowering the RH with the dehumidifier or whether things are about to warm up and or dry out anyway (as is often the case in summer). But because I can't be bothered, I tend to use 65% RH target in summer and 60% in winter, which approximates to what seems to work nicely (dew point never reached in the garage), and saves a bit of power compared with leaving it on auto all the time.

(...and this is one of many reasons why my car projects take so long... I get sidetracked...)

Great, it’s good to get practical knowledge of both types. What model is your Mitsubishi?

Beat me to it Ian! Your link good but the only one still available “ does not deliver to Ireland”!!

[Bootsy]

You should see the kit I’ve got in my house after our Christmas Eve flood!

[inaglasshouse]

Great, it’s good to get practical knowledge of both types. What model is your Mitsubishi?

MJ-E16VX

[rhd racer]

You should see the kit I’ve got in my house after our Christmas Eve flood!

Oh dear. Everything ok Thomas?

[bjmullan]

I feel for you Bootsy Hopefully all will be sorted.

[Bootsy]

It’s been better to be honest.

We had a big flood on the night of the 23rd/morning of the 24th

3 inches of water across our entire ground floor

4 rooms no go areas. Industrial dryers etc now in situ so sounds like you’re
Living in an aircraft hanger.

The good news is the moisture in the walls is minimal and will dry out so it’s a process
of replacing floor coverings, damaged items etc

It’s been a nightmare few days but we are getting through it and there’s people a whole lot worse off than us

[Sam]

shite. Sorry Tombo.

We’ve had a number of floods in houses we look after over the years. You’ll be dry and arguing over flooring choices in no time.