Single room DE-humidifier

[Pitar]

Key points to shop for are understood but get consumer feedback when available. I bought mine because it matched all others and was rated the quietest. Remember, they're air conditioners that bring the air down to the dew point allowing the room air to condense [turn from water vapor (RH) to a fluid state] on the evaporator coils where it drains off into the reservoir. This process requires an onboard compressor that's not only noisy, it also gives up a lot of heat because the condenser in also built into the unit. That heat is vented back into the room and will indeed bring the room temp up a few degrees.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j...00919718201358

The block diagram shows both coils. The evaporator is cold, the condenser is hot and it's the condenser's hot air that's returned to the room. The compressor and the condenser fan noise can get pretty loud so look for reviews.

[Raf702]

I was able to figure out solution so far as of yesterday. Which I shared with another informative helpful member.

I just got a mini dehumidifier Eva-Dry E333. Along with silica packs and weather stripping.

The hard case seems to seal fine, the case without the mini dehumidifier went from 70% down to 63% in roughly ~2 hours.

The mini dehumidifier sits perfectly in the guitar case accessory compartment. Then after ~5 hours I checked the hygrometer and the RH went from 63% to 49%, without the weather stripping or additional silica gel packs.

Then I waited till the next morning another ~5 hours later and checked it again the RH was at 45%.

Seems that within ~10 hours or so it went from 70% down to 45% using the mini dehumidifier, without the weather stripping and silica packs.

I think I will hold off with the weather stripping and silica packs. Hopefully it stabilizes within that range of 45-55%. I won't be able to check again till another 16 hours when I get home from work. But that's good though, so the guitar can reach optimal RH in a slow gradual amount of time.

I will buy a second E333 soon so I can rotate it whenever it needs to be recharged/reactivated.

This method seems to work perfect so far without having to buy a full size dehumidifier.

Hope this helps others who have high RH issues.

God bless,
Ralf

[jrs146]

Originally Posted by Raf702

I was able to figure out solution so far as of yesterday. Which I shared with another informative helpful member.



I just got a mini dehumidifier Eva-Dry E333. Along with silica packs and weather stripping.



The hard case seems to seal fine, the case without the mini dehumidifier went from 70% down to 63% in roughly ~2 hours.



The mini dehumidifier sits perfectly in the guitar case accessory compartment. Then after ~5 hours I checked the hygrometer and the RH went from 63% to 49%, without the weather stripping or additional silica gel packs.



Then I waited till the next morning another ~5 hours later and checked it again the RH was at 45%.



Seems that within ~10 hours or so it went from 70% down to 45% using the mini dehumidifier, without the weather stripping and silica packs.



I think I will hold off with the weather stripping and silica packs. Hopefully it stabilizes within that range of 45-55%. I won't be able to check again till another 16 hours when I get home from work. But that's good though, so the guitar can reach optimal RH in a slow gradual amount of time.



I will buy a second E333 soon so I can rotate it whenever it needs to be recharged/reactivated.



This method seems to work perfect so far without having to buy a full size dehumidifier.



Hope this helps others who have high RH issues.



God bless,

Ralf

Good advice here.

I actually have an Eva Dry E333 in my gun safe. Maybe I'll throw it into each guitar case to assist removing humidity.

While my smaller dehumidifier is being shipped I borrowed a large room dehumidifier. It dropped the humidity from 71% to 55% in about an hour. BUT it raised the temp in the room by a LOT and it's noisy. I hope the small one I ordered is a good compromise.

[rlb9682]

Originally Posted by jrs146

This has been a VERY wet summer here in Western PA! Even with my AC going my humidity levels have been reading a bit high dying the rainy days. I've had periods where the humidity within my house gets up to about 70%. When it's not raining it seems to stay in the 55-65% range during the summer.

I've been trying to avoid having any type of humidification system within each guitar case as I just don't truly trust them and I think I can control the humidity of my home just as well.

I have a humidifier built into my furnace which seems to work pretty well during the cold dry months.

I just bought a pretty inexpensive dehumidifier on Amazon which I'm hoping can lower the humidity just slightly in the one room I keep my acoustics. It's not a large room, maybe 15x15. This Pro Breeze PB-02-US model got pretty good reviews on Amazon and if it ends up not working well it was not that expensive.

Has anyone else had success using a small dehumidifier like this? Again, I'm not trying to go from 100% down to 45% in my entire house but if I can get it from 70% back down to 45-55% in one small room I'd be a happy camper!

I tried that one and it didn't do diddly

Then again, the humidity when I tried it was as 93% outside and 78% inside. It never got that one room below 70%.

I'm sure this would vary depending on if the overall humidity level was lower but for me this thing didn't work at all. I ended up getting a 30 liter dehumidifier which is larger and louder, but it does the job.

[jrs146]

Originally Posted by rlb9682

I tried that one and it didn't do diddly



Then again, the humidity when I tried it was as 93% outside and 78% inside. It never got that one room below 70%.



I'm sure this would vary depending on if the overall humidity level was lower but for me this thing didn't work at all. I ended up getting a 30 liter dehumidifier which is larger and louder, but it does the job.

Thanks for the feedback. I'm tempted to go ahead and buy the next step up and just return one depending on how well they work.

[SongwriterFan]

The issue with these is that the water still sits inside the room until you empty it. Also, the units HEAT your room, too (probably not what you want in the summer).

They do make portable versions of these that do a better job of venting the heat/moisture out of the room (through a window).

Some also allow for at least the WATER to be directed into a drain, rather than you having to empty the water yourself.

If it's a constant issue for you, I'd look into a mini-split heat pump type solution, instead. A lot more costly, but far more effective.

[Judson]

I own that model de-humidifier you showed in your original post. I have it in a small room 11' x 11' and the little machine struggles mightily to make any difference in the overall humidity level in the room. When the RH is high, I find that the machine might extract 5-6 ounces of water over a 24 hour period. Not a lot. You might be able to put your guitar(s) inside a closet with this machine and it could do some good.

[jrs146]

Originally Posted by Judson

I own that model de-humidifier you showed in your original post. I have it in a small room 11' x 11' and the little machine struggles mightily to make any difference in the overall humidity level in the room. When the RH is high, I find that the machine might extract 5-6 ounces of water over a 24 hour period. Not a lot. You might be able to put your guitar(s) inside a closet with this machine and it could do some good.

My room is about that size. I think I'll order the next size up then and return this unit. Thanks for the feedback.

[jrs146]

I ordered this unit instead. It's double the price but still only $100 and pretty small. It can do twice the space. Daily removal of almost triple the water. Has an auto feature and a larger tank.

[Raf702]

Please keep us updated on how that Ivation room dehumidifier works. I've read that some produce more heat than others from the exhaust vents. And motor/fan noise is subjective. Some say no louder than a wall a/c, others have said a tad louder.

I plan to invest in a full size one in the future when I move to a bigger apartment.

[BernebeM50]

My RH is usually near 50% but we had some rain a couple days ago and the humidity in the house right now is 66% with a temp of 77 F and outside is 65% and 81 F on my Davis weather station.

I haven't noticed too much difference in the playability of my classical guitar. Perhaps it makes less difference for classical than steel string guitars?

[Vol46]

I have a stand alone unit called Hisense from Lowes. I keep it in our finished basement, directly beneath my music room and close to the cold air return for our HVAC unit. Cost was north of $200. I don't know what size it is, but it does a remarkably good job of keeping the RH in my music room in the low 40's as long as I empty the reservoir daily. Here in East TN, summertime humidity in that room is high 50's or low 60's with the AC on & the dehumidifier turned off, so I feel confident that the dehumidifier lowers the RH by 8-10% when it is running.. I only need/ use it in the summer months. I will guesstimate that I dump a gallon or two of condensate out of the unit daily when it is in use.

[jrs146]

So the Ivation unit is going back. It's a nice little unit but just doesn't get enough airflow to really make a difference. I have been borrowing a pretty big dehumidifier so my RH was around 42%. After 12 hours with the ivation it was back up to 65%.

I've decided to just order a mid-size unit and deal with the noise and added heat. It's really only needed for the wet summer months.

[Mandobart]

Originally Posted by jrs146

While my smaller dehumidifier is being shipped I borrowed a large room dehumidifier. It dropped the humidity from 71% to 55% in about an hour. BUT it raised the temp in the room by a LOT and it's noisy. I hope the small one I ordered is a good compromise.

Simply raising room temperature will lower RH. I find in my house a change of 3 F lowers RH by 7%. You can read my observations on this post. The reason is RH is the ratio of moisture the air actually contains to the the moisture it is capable of containing, for the temperature and pressure. So if "raised the temp in the room by a LOT" means 10 F or more, that could by itself result in a RH drop of 20%.

Currently my finished basement is 72 F and 55% RH. The max I've seen this summer is 63 % RH

[wristwatchb]

I have used this Frigidaire dehumidifier in my finished ~1100 sq. ft. basement the last couple of summers. It gets pretty hot and muggy during the summers here in my neck of the woods. It easily keeps the RH between 45 and 50%, even with the door open between the basement and our upstairs living area. It sits in a corner, and the fan runs on low. I can hear the fan, but I usually forget that it is running. It shuts off automatically when the RH reaches 45% and comes back on at 50%. I drain about 3/4 gallon of water out of it each morning and evening. I have been well-pleased with it so far.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00UWP07LK/