Official Luthiers Forum!

Something has changed this spring in the environment of my basement where I do my builds and store my woods. Probably has something to do with the high efficiency system I put in this past winter. The last two years I never got above 50% humidity - but now I'm sitting at about 55%.

Looks like I need a dehumidifier.

I need some recommendations please.

Something quiet as this is also my office.

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P A U L B U R N E R
Burner Guitars

I run 2 of these in my basement shop.
http://www.amazon.com/LG-65-Pint-Black-Dehumidifier/dp/B002GBLC44/ref=sr_1_20?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1275925570&sr=8-20

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

It got only fair reviews on Amazon, and they are right, it is a little noisy, but they work great and I have had 0 performance problems with them. I would not count on their built in hygrometer to regulate the humidity. I just adjust mine using my Abbeon. However in the summer they pretty much run for me non-stop. I have to empty them once a day.

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

I only de-humidify a 10' X 12' room in my shop. A cheap Sears dehum has been doing the job just fine for more than 5 years now.
Brock; Interesting that you can use your dehums in the summer. I put a small AC in the window in the warm months. The dehum heats the room up way beyond the comfort zone.
Sometimes I need to run both the AC & the de-humidifier.

Out of 3 new LG 65 units all have been repaired under warranty over the last 4 yrs.
one needed a compressor and was exchanged for a new unit
the other 2 needed fans
All was taken care of under warranty at no cost to me even the shipping was covered.
Now I must say living in Florida these guys run 2 at a time about 50% of the time 10 feet off the floor
where it is hotter than the lower elevations. 5 yr solid service guarantee i'm happy.

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Keith MacKenzie
Location: Florida
"To err is human to really screw up you need tools"

Move to New Mexico!

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Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

Santa fe Classic. Bombproof reliability.

I use a Dayton brand dehumidifier. It is in my sunroom with a 7'X14' endless pool. I set the desired % and it does the rest. Reliable since purchased 4 years ago..
Depending on outside % I may need to dump pan every 3-4 days. It is also set up for drain attachment so you never need to dump the pan. I circulate that sunroom air through my home and shop and keeps it around 40%. So....I'm able build/store wood and keep finished products all at the same consistent %.
KB

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Wood Creations by Kent A. Bailey
EXCELLENCE IN SCULPTURE, CARVING, LUTHIER, ARCHITECTURAL MILLWORK AND DESIGN

http://www.kabart.com

Sears...running 9 years.

I have a 50 pint at work and another one at home. Both are from Sears. First one I have had for about 6 years the second for 5 years. The only problem I have had is the tube that runs from the coils to the tank has clogged in a dusty environment. Easy to clear once I figured out what the problem was.

Tim

Just recently got a Frigidaire 70 pint model at Lowes...

Seems to work pretty good in the basement -- It said the basement was 65% humidity when I switched it on....

I dumped 5 gallons of water in 2.5 days before I decided to hook up the drain hose instead of emptying those stupid buckets.

45% in the basement feels like heaven -- especially with our humidity lately!

Thanks

John

i have a very small shop in the basement, so same problem as you.

i have two dehumidifiers - one is ancient and has only a dial control (low to high). the other is a newer, fancier digital model. problem with the digital one is that it has an internal humidistat and shuts itself off before i want it to. so that one isn't even in the shop any more. it's the old unit that does all the work, and still does it well.

my suggestion would be to get on kijiji or craigslist and buy an old one (or two or three). remember, it's going into a workshop.

phil

I have an LG unit purchased at Home Depot. I returned the 1st unit and the second unit works well. I really need two units running to keep at 45 to 50 with the air conditioning set at 74. I took the advice of someone here on the OLF and piped the output outdoors to keep things on auto. In west central Illinois emptying the unit would be a full time job in July. I got mine on sale at a good price and they took the 1st one back with out hassle.

Danny R. Little

I've got a Whirlpool that's doing fine after 6 years. I run a hose out to a floor drain so it works fine if I'm gone a few days. A bigger problem is the sensor, they are pretty inaccurate. Getting this thing was huge, both for the humidifier and de-humidifier. I've had if about 8 months and it seems very reliable and accurate.

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

Made in USA-around $125 + shipping -how accurate is the sensor? I recently invested $90 in a sling psych; and I am emptying a 2.5 gallon container every day- twice. This is a repeat of last summer in Iowa. Ought to be good for sweet corn-lousy for wood. It could be darn near heaven in my basement if humidity could be well controlled. I have central air and a planned vent cools the basement. I'll skip meals to pay for AC. Heck, I'll skip smokes for AC.

When you are money stupid like I was, memory impaired and 64 you learn about the new choices; living on Social Security and a small partial state pension. My new build plans got put on hold when my S-10 pickup(1994) blew out and totally delaminated the right front tire(super HD 4wd tread) at 70mph-trashed the right side of the truck and raised my laundry bill-if I had not driven racecars on dirt for many years, I'd be dead-I was boxed in by 3 semis on I-80 when it let go. The trucks gave me room when the shrapnel started flying and I kept the rim from digging in and flipping me.

I have two final Iowa Supreme Court briefs to complete and then , I'm a struggling "luthier"(using the term quite generously)--struggling to be merely adequate-and building the occasional infill plane.mt sorry for ramble; I don't get out much.

After 8 months it's much more accurate than the ones on my humidifier and dehumidifier. I'll report back in a year.

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.