Humidity in crawl space

[nolanselkirk]

I don't have a basement and have little storage space in my small, one-story home in upstate New York.

I've been storing a lot of things in the crawl space under the house but the humidity down there has been taking its toll. The crawl space "floor" is just dirt (covered by plastic sheeting) -- there is no floor as such. The crawl space is mostly below ground level, but there are two small windows near the ceiling of the space.

I want to buy a dehumidifier, but would face the problem of having to carry buckets of water (while doubled over) through the crawl space and up several steps to ground level.

I guess I need some sort of device to pump the water out of one of the windows, but need advice about what to get to do the job.

Can anybody help?

Thanks.

[Speedy Jim]

A "Condensate Pump"

(probably at BigBox too)

The dehumid "bucket" likely has a knockout or cap to permit attaching a garden hose for draining.

If you order a pump with a "safety switch", it can sound an alarm if the pump fails or, with a relay, shut off the dehumid.

Jim

[ransley]

Be sure it has a drain built in hook a hose to it, and I bet the temp down there is often below 68f be sure to get a Low Temp unit, most freeze at about 68f

[nolanselkirk]

Whirlpool has a more expensive ($81.70 at ABT.com) pump kit that includes 25 feet of plastic tubing and which Whirlpool claims can pump "up to 18 vertical feet." I don't see any tubing or hose in the picture or description of the pump that you linked to -- do you know if it has such tubing and if it can pump high enough to get the water through a window that's almost five feet off the floor?

Many thanks.

Nolan

[nolanselkirk]

The Whirlpool dehumidifiers that I'm looking at supposedly don't freeze when it's 38 degrees or warmer.

[Speedy Jim]

The one I linked to has a maximum lift of 15 ft, so should be OK. Just buy 3/8" tubing by the foot to suit your needs.

I wasn't pushing that brand or model; it was a convenient link :-)

Whatever you do, make some provision for the event when the pump fails for any reason.

Jim