New Machine for the shop comes today...not exactly a gloat.

[Peter Quinn]

The most important machine in my shop died last weekend and I am finally stepping up and getting a real one. No more consumer grade stuff for me. No, its not a tool, but without it my shop ceases to be inhabitable by iron. Its a dehumidifier! Other basement shop dwellers may know my situation. Spring rains are starting to add up, humidity is pushing towards 60% in the shop and the fifth 90 pint dehumidifier in four years has ceased to operate. It froze up, then it gave up. So I got a Sante Fe on a recommendation from a friend with a similar problem. Not where I wanted to spend money right now, but I told myself the last cheap unit would be my last as the cumulative cost was adding up.

This one does 110 pints under real conditions, not saturation as many are listed (meaning they never really deliver that performance), has a condensate pump and can be ducted for multiple rooms or remote operation. It does 2500SF, twice my shop space. Joy. Good by swamp. Good by rust. Not the most exciting purchase but man is it important if you work wood underground.

[Chris Harry]

I got a Santa Fe as well, for my basement (which is also where my shop is).

Probably some of the best $$$ Ive ever spent on my house. Makes those dehums at HD and WalMart and Lowes seem like Fisher Price toys. Its quiet and has NO problem keeping the area at set humidity (no matter how low I set it).

I have the ducting kit but never actually hooked up any ducts, yet it can keep my whole basement dry, even with a wall and a door in the way. Very impressive unit.

[Cole Dunlay]

I have a unit called the EasyBreathe. It was installed as part of a total basement drying out solution which included an outside barrier, and inside drainage. The basement is bone dry, wood stays stable, and rust isn't an issue. You'll save a fortune on paste wax.

Cole

[Chris Harry]

BTW Ive read/heard that its senseless to keep the RH level lower than 50-55%, at least for worries of dampness and mold. Not sure about woodworking reasons, but even at the height of summer humidity in CT, Ive never had any surface rust on cast iron tools with the RH set to 50% or so.

[Frank Drew]

I installed airconditioning when I found myself dripping sweat onto a piece I was finishing; we only have one life to live and contolling the environment makes a huge difference in your workplace.

Does your dehumidifier add a significant amount of heat, Peter?

[Chip Lindley]

Peter, the return-air ducting from your basement to a central A/C unit, should remove *normal* moisture from the air. But, if you do not have central air, nevermind!

If you have *abnormal* moisture in your basement shop, perhaps your whole dwelling could benefit from accessing how and where the moisture enters through the foundation.

I installed new guttering years ago, and my water problems disappeared below grade! Guttering that runs over, clogged runoff lines, or dysfunctional French drains could be a cause of water accumulating around your foundation and wicking through your basement walls. A dehumidifier only treats a Symptom. Erradicate the Disease!

[Peter Quinn]

Frank, it doesn't seem to add a significant amount of heat. I have been running it for just over 24 hours, and it has dropped the RH to 55%, ten percentage points. The old dehumidifier failed this weekend and we had several days of rain. It did add a significant amount of heat. It may take several days for this unit to remove all the water the old foundation is capable of transferring to the interior before I reach some equilibrium. Temp in my shop oscillates from 55 degree low in the winter to 72 degree high in the summer. I rarely sweat down there though I occasionally shiver!

Chip, I have installed gutters on this old Bungalow, and with 4' soffits even on the rare occasion that they back up the water drops 4' from the foundation. All are piped to drain away from the house, and the grade is good away from the foundation on all sides. No HVAC, just an old forced hot water system whose pipes give me some heat in the winter months.

I am on a slopped lot in a 105 year old house with 12" thick poured concrete foundation walls. I have added shallow swale drains to divert runoff at the high side of the house near the basement entry door which has solved the ground water runoff problem except during all but the most ferocious rain. The interior walls are parged with Thorocrete, all voids were filled with hydraulic cement, and the walls are painted with a vapor permeable water resistant epoxy to allow the surrounding earth to relieve hydrostatic pressure but mitigate its rate of transfer to that which a dehumidifier can process.

I think the fact is that concrete is a sponge. It absorbs water from the dirt, it aspirates this water into the basement environment where it becomes trapped. French drains are not a realistic possibility given the age and location of the structure. Like an unwanted dinner guest, water comes in, I let it in then invite it to leave politely without making a stink at the door! And in New England in the summer the RH can hover in the high seventies to low nineties for several months which doesn't help either. I have managed to keep things from rusting by keeping the RH below 60% but th echeap consumer dehumidifiers are getting expensive. This unit is built like an HVAC unit and MAN does it move some air!