Dehumidefier question

[Dave]

I have my woodshop in my basement. I live in Illinois. Do you recommend that I leave it on all winter long, or just in the spring, summer, and fall? Thanks

[DonkeyHody]

Doesn't it have a humidistat that will turn it off when the humidity level gets low enough? If so, I'd leave it on year 'round. Otherwise, buy a hygrometer to monitor humidity levels to make your decision.

DonkeyHody "Give a hungry man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him to fish and . . . he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day."

[rickluce]

How does your dehumidifier work in such a large space? Does it increase the cost of your electricity by much? I get quite a bit of moisture in my garage workshop and was wondering if this would be a good solution. I only get moisture in the winter, summers and fall is quite dry.

[Dave Hinz]

Keep in mind, that even if it does cost you in electricity, you get those BTUs as heat, so it cuts down on the heating bill. In some places, at some times, electricity is cheaper than other fuels.

[George]

If you're heating the house, turn it off. The drop in RH from cold outside air being heated is significant. If your humidistat wants to keep it running, it's a good bet it's broken.

Then there's the fact that a dehumidifier in colder air freezes up and just wastes electricity - assuming there's enough moisture in the air to freeze up on, that is.

As to garages, rickluce - I would no more attempt to dehumidify the neighborhood than I would to air condition it. Which by the way, dries the air. Takes a fairly intrusion-controlled space before either is worthwhile.

[rickluce]

I have noticed they put out quite a bit of heat.

[Dave]

It does have a stat and I can hear the compressor kick on and off occasionally. However, the fan runs all the time.

[Dave]

I am in Ohio (couple states east of you) and in the winter, I am having to run a whole house humidifier to keep the humidity to a decent level and reduce static electricity build up on the carpets and cat...

Usually the air > I have my woodshop in my basement. I live in Illinois. Do you recommend that

[Andy Dingley]

Turn it off (you can rig a thermostat for this) if the air temperature in the room drops within a few degrees of freezing. You can sometimes achieve this with a timeswitch too.

Humidifiers work by dropping the air temperature to just below freezing. This causes moisture to precipitate as frost on the humidifier evaporator. However if the air is already near to this temperature, they are increasingly less effective.

In Illinois I'd expect that your winters are pretty dry and you wouldn't need the dehumidifier in winter anyway. My winters are damp and I need it most just now, sadly when its least effective.