Daily Home Renovation Tips

Today we begin to look at the installation of my new energy conservation product.

Now, I thought I would save a few dollars and go pick up the unit in our family van. So I went to Clarke Basement Systems, the closest Basement Systems franchise to me, and when I arrived I started to talk with someone named Don who was out walking what could not have been more than a 3 month old Golden Retriever (I think) puppy.

After talking with Don for several minutes I learned that this was no ordinary Don; this was Don Clarke himself, the owner!

When he looked at my van he raised a concern that the inside of my van might not be sufficiently large  to hold the SaniDry unit upright ( which is its recommended shipping position). We measured and found there was approximately 40 inches of height inside our van. While this was sufficient height for the unit out of it’s shipping crate, to keep it within it’s protective shipping crate required a vertical height of 42 inches.

Once Don learned where I lived he said that several of his employees lived in the same town. So, he volunteered to have the unit sent to my home (and the duct kits of course which I had also ordered) in one of his trucks in a few days. He also volunteered to have his employees install it for me as well.

This was very kind of him. I was planning to install it myself, but who am I to refuse free installation by people who do it for a living!

So, a few hours after I returned home I received a call from Don advising me that his folks (who I came later to learn were Noel, Kevin and Rob) were just about to leave his facilities with the unit. As well, they were also going to install it that same evening.

In no time at all Rob in his car while Noel and Kevin in the truck arrived at our home with the unit shortly thereafter.

After quickly removing the packaging they proceeded to take the unit and the duct kits into the area in our basement where we wanted the installation to occur. By the way, I should mention that they took all of the packaging back with them when they left, leaving me no mess to deal with on my own. Very nice.

OK, where to put the unit?

Well, I wanted the unit out of the view of the guest area of our basement recreation room, pictured below. In fact, I wanted the unit on the other side of the wall. That’s why the SaniDry duct kits were to be used, so the air from the open recreation room in the basement would be pulled into the SaniDry dehumidifier, dehumidified (if that is even a word) and then returned to the main open finished area of the basement.

In fact, I wanted the ducts between the door on the right and the hanging picture in the middle on the wall. 

Sure, 80%+ of the customers for homes where Kevin has installed the unit simply place it in an unfinished open area of the basement close to the floor drain or the sump pump. However, because I wanted it installed in a relatively closed area it was suggested to me that I use the duct kits which would allow the dehumidifier to directly take the air from the large open area of the basement and then return the dryer air directly to the same area.

Tomorrow, the installation begins.

To continue to the next article in this series, simply select this link to Part 4.