Daily Home Renovation Tips

23 responses so far ↓

• 1 brian // Jun 10, 2009 at 1:28 am

  hello,

  How noisy is the unit and how much electricity does it consume? thanks.

• 2 Dan // Jun 10, 2009 at 1:48 am

  Hi Brian,

  Thanks for visiting our site.

  Regarding ‘how noisy it the unit’, I don’t have any volume measuring instruments…..I’m just a simply home owner.

  However, what I can tell you is that the location we have placed it is the other side of where one of our daughter’s basement bedroom sits. When I mentioned it to her on one of her trips home from college, her response to me was that she didn’t even notice that it was on.

  As far as how much electricity it consumes, well that’s going to depend on how long it runs based on the humidity % in the home, the % humidity you have it set at, etc. We have it at the recommended humidity percentage of 50%. The other two dehumidifiers we had in the basement were constantly on throughout the summer. So far, it’s early yet, but this one by itself shuts off fairly quickly. Per the ENERGYSTAR.org web site (http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=search.showResults&output=xml_no_dtd&oe=UTF-8&ie=UTF-8&q=sanidry), it has an Energy Factor (L/kWh) of 2.65 which seems to be the lowest of the ‘high capacity’ dehumidifers on their list.

  I hope that helps,
  Dan

• 3 cannon_fodder // Jun 15, 2009 at 12:32 am

  Dan,

  I didn’t see a mention of the price of the Sanidry unit. Are we talking $500? It’s been a while since I looked at portable humidifiers but I reckon they are less than $200. So, have you been able to project payback from being able to reduce electricy draw from humidifiers plus A/C loads?

• 4 Dan // Jun 15, 2009 at 1:04 am

  Hi, again, Cannon,

  I can’t really calculate a pure financial payback based on electricity reduction because in our case those two smaller dehumidifiers were constantly running … and I mean constantly running, throughout the summer and yet the basement (and the entire house) was still uncomfortably humid….with parts of the basement a little musty.

  So, I really don’t know how many of those smaller units I would need to place in the other areas of the basement not covered by the two we already had.

  Plus, it was enough of a nusance having to manually empty the one small unit which was not hooked up to the drain….I know I would not have the patience to manually empty two or three additional units.

  So far, the SaniDry has run a bit here and there, but nothing like what the other two units used to run. True, we have not yet hit the dog (really humid) days of summer.

  Dan

• 5 Sandy // Jun 19, 2009 at 6:16 pm

  I’ve been seriously thinking about installing one of these, our basement is very musty some days and I’m tired of buying 50 pint models that burn up in a year. How do you like it so far? Does it really help with “basement smell”? I’m trying to compare it to the Aprilair system but I can’t even find a Db rating for this system. thanks

• 6 Sandy // Jun 19, 2009 at 6:18 pm

  I was also wondering if this sytem would qualify for the new “energy star tax credit”?

• 7 Dan // Jun 20, 2009 at 4:26 am

  Hi Sandy,

  So far, it continues to work great. I have to admit that our basement ’smells’ better than it ever has. And the unit does not run constantly compared to the 2 smaller units we used to use which did (run constantly).

  As far as whether it qualifies for the new energy star tax credit, I honestly have no idea. You would be best to ask the Basement Systems dealer through whom you would inquire about purchasing this unit.

  Kind Regards,
  Dan

• 8 John // Jul 27, 2009 at 4:15 pm

  Dan,

  The humidity has finally hit in the GTA over the past week or so and my basement is now getting that musky smell.

  I’m looking into the Sani Dry, but trying to figure an approximate cost savings.

  I’m wondering if you can estimate how many hours per day the Sani Dry unit runs?

  I know others have asked about sound level and you said it’s hard to say. Can you compare it to your old portable units?

  Thanks,
  John

• 9 Dan // Jul 27, 2009 at 4:57 pm

  Hi John,

  I was home this weekend (yes, with all that rain!).

  I would say that it ran about 50% of the time whereas the other two smaller units we used to use would be running 100% of the time, even on lower humidified air situations.

  As far as the sound, I can now say (after having the unit for a while) that it is ‘just a bit’ to no noisier than our other two units. As you have seen with our installation, we have it vented, which dampens the sound. I was told by the installers that most of their customers do not use the venting and in that case it is noisier, although there is a noise dampening kit available.

  I hope that helps.

  Dan

• 10 John // Jul 27, 2009 at 6:34 pm

  Thanks for the info Dan.

  I can use the 50% vs. 100% duty cycle to get a rough estimate of operating costs. I guess in your case where you had 2 smaller units you are saving even more since each of the small units uses almost as much as 1 of the Sanidry units.

  I’m wondering if you used your a/c at all this weekend which would have helped remove some moisture as well?

  Thanks for the information.

  John.

• 11 Dan // Jul 27, 2009 at 6:50 pm

  Hi John,

  Yes, the A/C unit ran dor a couple of hours between 9 and 11 pm. I can’t tell you, however, if the SaniDry was on during that time as it is installed in the basement and can’t hear it from the main floor.

  I hope that helps,
  Dan

• 12 Chris // Aug 27, 2009 at 9:04 pm

  I saw the question asked about the cost of the unit…how mush did the unit actually cost? My basement is at a constant 80% or high Humidity level. No water just damp. was considering a unit like this or maybe just a radon vent type set up. Thoughts?

• 13 Dan // Aug 27, 2009 at 9:16 pm

  Hi Chris,

  Sorry about that. Been quite busy lately. As I write this I am also trying to cook dinner for the family.

  It costs around $2,100. It is not cheap. However, it really does the trick for us, much better than two smaller generic units which rall all the time in the summer and still did not get out the humidity or musty smell.

  Dan

• 14 Joe // Sep 1, 2009 at 2:24 am

  Dan,right on your daily home renovation tips page is a link to the Wave Ventilation system. Can you compare that with the SaniDry Humidifier system. Thanks, Joe

• 15 Dan // Sep 1, 2009 at 10:33 am

  Hi Joe,

  That must be an ad appearing on our site. Sometimes the ads are localized by Google and it could be that this company is going through them to advertise on our site rather than approaching us directly.

  I don’t know that system and cannot comment on them.

  You would need to go to their web site to find out information thereon.

  Dan

• 16 jen // Sep 9, 2009 at 5:09 am

  I have had a system for almost a year and find it to be very loud (my finished basement serves as a family room) and it is also very expensive to run. YES the air is dry and smells clean but it keeps the basement like a hothouse. I am now looking for a solution that woold at least make the basement usable temparture wise. Any suggestions? I don’t have central air in my house which is located in the Northeast.

• 17 Dan // Sep 9, 2009 at 10:19 am

  Hi Jen,

  When you say you have ‘a system’, which system is it?

  We are very pleased with our SaniDry unit, it is not loud with our installation as described in this series of articles and it is not expensive to run.

  If you do have a SaniDry, perhaps you need to have the company who installed the unit look at it to figure out why it is making your basement so hot. Perhaps you haven’t replaced the one air filter and / or cleaned the re-usable air filter? Not properly maintaining any piece of equipment would cause it over the long term to work harder and in this case might make the unit work so hard to pull the basement air through the dirty air filters that it is causing the air to become hot???

  Dan

  Dan

• 18 LJ // Nov 7, 2009 at 2:01 am

  Dan, good info; I have a somewhat similar sit. as you..below ground; non-walk-out-no water problem or basement drain; no sump pump needed. So use two pump-based DL small units; one (finished-side with air circ unit) draining to a water filter room/w gravel and the other (unf-side) pumping up 9′ and exiting though wall to exterior ground..this last pump busted after 12+ months. Can Sani-Dry pump up 9′ and to the outside? thx LJ

• 19 Dan // Nov 7, 2009 at 2:25 am

  Hi LJ,

  I would hesitate to use the term ‘pump’.

  The water exits the SaniDry unit using gravity to go into the drain in our baesment floor which is also used to drain the water in the winter from our humidifier which is connected to the central furnace.

  Now, it is about eight feet or so from the position of the SaniDry unit to the drain in the basement floor, with only the last 3 feet or so being down hill. This setup has been working fine for us.

  My suggestion is that if you are interested in this unit to contactd your nearest Basement Systems dealer (who sells the SaniDry units) and ask them to pay a visit to you to advise for sure.

  I hope that helps, LJ,
  Dan

• 20 perryeh // Apr 3, 2010 at 12:50 am

  Dan,
  This makes no sense on an energy website of any kind. The title should be “how I got rid of that musty odor in my basement”. A dehumidifier is nothing more than an AC unit with the cooling coils placed in front of the heat exhaust. Motor heat alone would make it a net energy negative compared to a conventional AC unit, which expends most of its energy dehumidifying the air anyway, which is why AC units have water drains. Simply put, your dehumidifier plus AC unit method to, as you say, “enable me to turn down our AC unit” will waste energy, not save it. Sorry to be so blunt, but I’m a physicist. Nice article though!

• 21 Dan // Apr 3, 2010 at 1:21 am

  Hi Perryeh,

  I have to disagree.

  I believe it saves us electric bills because we can keep the central A/C running less often with the less humid air plus this unit it not running constantly compared to the two smaller units we had previously.

  As for ‘motor heat’, not sure where that is coming from as we don’t feel any from our unit.

  Dan

• 22 gc // Aug 29, 2010 at 7:44 pm

  Dan,
  Our basement is around 80% humidity, it’s unfinished, and very dusty. Do you think the SaniDry unit will help clean the air and odor, while also helping the air quality of our main floor?

• 23 Dan // Aug 29, 2010 at 8:06 pm

  Hi GC,

  First, if you have a poured concrete floor it should be sealed afer a year or so from when it is poured with any widely available concrete floor sealer. This should drastically reduce the dust.

  Second, the odor is, with 80% humidity, possibly cased by mold growth. Using any dehumidifier with a sufficiently large capacity for the area will bring the humidity level down to below 50% which will prohibit mold growth.

  As well, as this unit has its own two filter system, it should help to get rid of the excess dust in the air.

  I hope that helps,
  Dan

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