FYI at 20:44 we did retest the dehumidifiers in a higher ambient temperature so that the Amana wouldn't freeze up and would have a fair chance versus the modern options. Many people apparently missed this so wanted to point it out. :)
Isn't the arctic kings number flawed since it shut off at some point in the middle of the night? So because the big one had more capacity it could keep running, if the king had more capacity it would have kept running. If they both had run for 48 hours, then you'd have more accurate numbers.
@@idontno0 the KW measurement also stopped so I think that would still be an accurate measurement, but, I agree, they should have emptied the bin to keep them all operational, since they were lowering the humidity in the room over the time of the test.
Wow. I had a Sears from 1980 that ran almost constantly. I never had a problem for 29 years. I gave it to my sister in 2008; don't know how much longer it lasted and would not be surprised if it was still going strong.
Older dehumidifiers worked for 10-20 years sometimes. I often see them working being made in 80s ...Unfortunately newer work from 1 month to a year even though they supposed to be better and more economical to run. I saw all newer brands fail miserably... So not so clear if new stuff worth it. At this rate of fail and headache it causes thus cost per year of having one power consumption is negligible factor. My advice would be keep your old one if it is working. At least keep it just in case. You would be glad you did in no time..:)
Great video. Would have been interesting to go one step further and compare the electricity bill for both the units and when the bigger one overtakes the smaller one based on running the bigger one at the smaller one's rate (reaching a humidity level then shutting off).
The worst thing about the new plastic models is you basically can't clean them without significant time consuming dismantling, these cases are not made to be opened up for cleaning, that old unit, and an old one I have that is all steel- you can take a hose to the open backside and hose the coils out to get the dirt, lint etc out, these plastic things I had one suddenly start leaking all over the floor, I wound up having to open the case and that took probably 3/4 of an hour to completely open it all up, remove the control panel screws to separate the halves of the case etc., and there were different sizes and lengths of screws too. What I found in side causing the leak was the condensed water dripped down off the coils, and had to run along a little "trough" inside to reach the bucket fill outlet, and what happened was because water stagnates in that trough- a slimy mold or whatever it was started growing and that blocked the flow of water and it leaked all over the floor. There was no way to FIX that, you clean it and it will simply do it again, I wound up getting a Frigidaire, so far it seems better. Another issue is- electric, hot compressor, motor and flammable plastic cases, I NEVER liked the idea of using flammable plastic cases on ANY appliance.
If you can work out a way to somehow get a little bit of bleach into there , you can stop the mold/algae from forming. Maybe fit a plastic tube somehow, and have it's end coming out the side, (drill a hole?) so you can direct some bleach into it every now and again?
I have a Monkey Wards old school unit that was recently given to me because it was freezing up. The old units can be safely hosed out with a pressure nozzle on a garden hose after some disassembly. The fins were pretty dirty and the unit now works great in my basement with no freeze up. I'll bet the old Amana just needed a cleaning and could have kept up with the other units. It will definitely outlive both of those Chinese models.
> could have kept up with the other units Very unlikely... it's missing two crucial features that modern dehumidifiers have: fins on the evaporator coil, and automatic deicing.
@@morebloomeffect I've used a killawatt on old and new units. There is not much difference and as long as the evaporators/condensers are clean and there is adequate airflow, the thermal transfer and efficiency will be in the same ball park. The old units will last decades longer than the new ones.
If it had more fins, it would cool the air more but not dehumidify more. If it was running too strongly it would freeze instead. And if it does freeze up, you're purposely pulling too little air due to being plugged up with decades of dust, or its low on refrigerant. I've got an old one that's low on freon and I think I'll charge it with some.. European approved freon12 replacement. Butane and propane.@@morebloomeffect
I'm looking at having to buy another new dehumidifier this summer. Bought a Soleus at Menards, it died after a year, next year bought a Midea at Sam's Club, it lasted less than 12 months. They still look brand new but won't operate. I'm sick of all this cheap plastic crap. The old timer's built stuff to last decades but now for some reason manufacturers are baffled as to make any appliance last a year before it's scrap. What a shame! I can remember my grandparents having a metal dehumidifier in their basement and it ran for decades no problem. Consumers are being scammed!
I had a GE digital dehumidifier for about 10 yrs and used it constantly during the spring and summer months. My house was built in 1870 and has a red stone foundation and there’s a lot of moisture during those months. Just this past week the unit stopped condensing water. I am not a electrical technician and figured the unit would cost more to have it checked then buying a new one. $$ Thanks for the video
Thanks for the video. I had a Dehumidifier in my basement in Maryland for many years otherwise my tools would start to rust. Now I am living in Southern Louisiana and recently bought a Midea Dehumidifier at Costco Wholesale. This model is for up to 4,500 square feet and has a bucket plus 2 ways to drain. Took me a little while to figure out one uses a garden hose for gravity draining and to use the pump use the smaller hose included. Right now testing it to go into the 2nd sink in my hall bathroom. The Midea Dehumidifier has an app for it that works with 2.4GHZ WiFi. Doesn't work with 5.0 GHZ WiFi 👍😎👍
Thx for the great report. I put a Hisense unit in my SE Wisconsin basement for the summer and in one day it took a lot of the moisture out of the area. I should have done it the year before. I believe it is a healthier environment to inhabit. I don't mind emptying the bucket on a daily basis.
I bet you that in a long term test ye old Amana will be still running in 10 years vs. the others which will be long dead 🙂 Nothing new is built to last anymore 😞
I used to run a dehumidifier in my basement until I upgraded my hot water heater to a hybrid model Super efficient that runs an air conditioner to heat water , dehumidifies the basement summer and winter 5° differential between ceiling and floor, it's awesome saving 50% on propane after switching over no dehumidifier needed. Low electric bills... Putting a dehumidifier on a timer where it might be prone to freezing that gives it a guaranteed off cycle for defrost works perfect..Peace.
Need to replace my water heater anyway. Great suggestion. I had shied away from the idea of the extra complexity of the efficient water heater up until now.
Great video posted about 4 days late 😁 Just bought my first dehumidifier after we had a water leak in our basement. I'll have to plug in my Kill-a-watt to see how it compares to your examples.
Results are in!! Definitely not apples to apples comparison, but here are the results from the 22-pint (per day) GE purchased at Home Depot: Finished basement is climate controlled and stayed around 68~70 deg Humidity (59%) didn't drop overnight, but I expect it to soon since the carpet is dryer. It was around 70% a couple days ago. - 10 hour run time - 2.92 kWh used - 17 cups collected ** 5.82 cups per kWh ** This unit doesn't have a pump, but it does have a hose attachment so it can run continuously as long as the drain is down hill. Once I see the humidity drop a bit more I'll probably move it closer to the utility room and connect a hose.
When we had our crawlspace encapsulated the company put in an AprilAire dehumidifier. It drains to a sump pump. It keeps the crawlspace at a good humidity level. 53% in the middle of August right now. The company changes the filter each fall and checks the status of the dehu.
@@JeanPierreWhite Well, that sounds better than the 1 or 2 years everyone else seems to be saying consumer dehumidifiers last. So you would buy that brand again?
Most of these you can hookup a garden hose to and run into a separate container. This would help show how much they can remove without getting full. Plus many of us have sump pumps so you run that discharge hose right to it and just let it go. No more forgetting to empty the try.
5:27 There are two reasons for this. The first one, is that your AC heat exchanger ist probably too big and thus won't get cold enough during normal operation. The second is, that the dehumidifier heats up the place and basically every extra degree reduces the relative humidity by 5%. Not exactly, but there are calculators out there and the results will shock you😉
YES… High Humidity in my attic is killing my Furnace controller board and igniter. I think… I have replaced them both 2x this winter. Going to try using a dehumidifier or wicking filter in the system next year. 🤞
@@donaldmasters9642 My furnace is in a basement. I got the Dehumidifier because of rusting tools. But a benefit was less corrosion in the furnaces P.C. Board.
That Amana was outside its operating range, so what it collected don't count as a comparison. I'd like to see this done at 60F, my bet is the Amana isn't as bad as you think. Try running them outside on a 60 degree day with 70% humidity, that would be a fair test, because humidity would be more even and more at night.
My GE DH looks a lot like your Arctic King but has the built in water pump too. It sits in my basement in the laundry area near the laundry sink which it drains into. I keep it set to 50% R.H. even though my basement walls don’t leak. It’s nice to have the automatic pump so I don’t need to keep going downstairs to dump the bucket like I did with my old DH that finally bit the dust. Thanks for your test. I should have replaced my old dehumidifier with this new Energy Star model much earlier instead of waiting for the old one to die.
Instead of having a space heater in my basement i use a dehumidifier to heat it 😅 So for me efficiency isn't really important but if it doesn't dehumidify it's pointless . I had to empty the 5L bin 1.5 times a day to keep it from turning off, now have a direct hose to the drain. And it really impoves the feel and smell in the basement, doesn't smell basement at all just clean and wood that I'm storing. I would like it a little more dry but it's average for whole basement is 50% at about 18°C. No more calcium leaching in the concrete walls (have to redo exterior drain/waterproofing and insulate the outside soon)
Always need to run them when it is at least 70 degrees. Minimum 60-65. Warm air also holds more moisture. The old unit doesn't have auto defrost so it will freeze up when it is colder than 60. Issue with new models is poor quality. I had an old Sears from 1972 that ran for almost 30 years before it lost charge and froze up. Not as high capacity or efficient but we got our money out of it. None of the ones after lasted much more than 5 years. Most died just after warranty was up. The Danby I have now is a little over that but it is a replacement for a unit that died under warranty.
How much energy did you use to defrost the old Amana? This amount of defrost energy should be added to Amana's energy usage. Need to add energy used to run CH's water pump
I knew that would come up! Decided not to add that since it already was at a huge disadvantage. Plus I think it was mostly the low ambient temperature that was causing it to freeze up as when we retested it at Reuben's it didn't have that issue.
The old Amana reminded me of the Emerson dehumidifier I inherited from my dearly departed Uncle Matt. Even looked Ike your Amana, only mine was colored blue. I acquired this old dehumidifier back in 1980. Toward the end I was running it to drive up my electric bill. But that's OK because I own stock in the electric company and, thus, my old dehumidifier helped to contribute to my quarterly dividend payment.
In reality that unit should have been shut off, the low temp was not realistic, it should be retested when the temperature is normal, over 50-60F which would represent warmer weather like a summer month when humidit will be high anyway.
Night and day. Most window shaker air conditioner units have published specs on dehumidification capability. I don't think I've ever seen higher than single digit pints per day on those specs..
Unfortunately most residential portable dehumidifiers these days are cheaply made in China, regardless of the brand name on the unit. Poor quality, no safety features such as automatic shutoff due to low pressure ( as in refrigerant leaked out), etc. I've owned several over the years, with different brand names, and they all failed within one to three years. Two were actually involved in recalls because many had caught fire when the refrigerant leaked out and the unit kept running until it became hot enough to ignite. Don't fall for the brand name scam; many things these days that have old American brand names are actually made in China and are not worth taking home.
Both the C&H and Artic King are probably Midea manufacturing with different badging. Midea makes about 90% of dehumidifiers globally for all brands. So find the cheapest priced unit that meets your usage needs for dehumidification.
yes either Midea or Gree. a lot of current Midea made units discharge air out a port on the side, whereas the Gree built units discharge out the top. I have some newer 50(70-2012)pint units by both manufacturers (a Tosot - made by Gree, a homeLabs made by Midea, and an actual Midea ). They all run basically the same . Main thing is to keep the dust screen clean and to use the direct drain hose wherever possible. Using the direct drain bypasses the bucket completely. The bucket gets really dirty , even for units with the automatic pump (because it still fills the bucket, and empties it with the pump whenever it gets full). The bucket is a royal pain to clean..
@@rondail5675 I would recommend buying the largest size units (50pint/[70 2012]) for the cheapest price you can find. There will be some crazy deals in a few days for the Amazon prime day event. Target price: 200 dollars or less. Brand is somewhat unimportant as you are getting either a Midea or Gree unit with near certainty, regardless of brand. I have had a trouble free two years so far with my units, but as far as I can tell from my research it appears these things just don't seem to last. Even the expensive ones from Santa Fe and Aprilaire - a lot of folks only get a few years on those and then are furious. So I have decided to just use a bank of multiple lowest possible cost consumer units and replace them as they fail. Dehumidifiers are constantly dripping wet inside and corrosion happens. They run R410A refrigerant which is higher pressure than the R22 or R134a of older units. So they corrode and then leak out refrigerant more prematurely it seems. Try to keep them clean and well filtered.
I just found a one very similar to that Amana in my basement I need to drag it out and see if it actually works. As if it does I'll have to put it to use.
Benjamin, How did you get so smart at such a young age. Your video is helping our family find the best Dehumidifier for our home here in south east Louisiana (Baton Rouge). Recently our weather has provided high heat and high humidity (yesterday was 90 percent) Our air conditioner has been out for 8 days, so our indoor humidity equals outside. early evening before reaching dew point temperatures outside we close up the hose and run multiple fans. To combat the heat I have dropped down the attic latter to allow the heat to rise and exit the roof. The high humidity has made it very difficult to breath. I put a large fan in up in the mouth of the attic opening, however there is no real circulation of air because all windows and vents are closed. The reason I close up the house is to keep the humidity from getting worse. After loosing power after hurricane Gustav, we left the windows open for air flow. Humidity was so bad our ceramic tile started separating from the foundation. Now, with closing off the house, we are experiencing soar throats, ear aches and sinus issues. Tonight I will keep one or two windows open for air flow. I'd rather lose the tile than our health. Thank you for your time making videos and sharing your knowledge on TH-cam. Any misspelled words are due to lake of sleep and heat delirium.
Consider a big window AC unit as a backup to central AC. When my central went down I ran a 25,000 BTU frigidaire unit 24/7 and a bunch of fans throughout the house to move it around. It couldn't get the temperature as low as the central AC, but it was still very comfortable because the dehumidification effect of having it run 24/7 was very significant . So look for a deal on a big 24-25k BTU window unit. Maybe amazon prime day deal or something, or big box store etc...
Can you add an external automatic condensate pump (to the other units) to pump the collected water up and away to the outside? That old unit might also have a slight Freon leak that is causing very low, low-side pressure that makes the evap coil temp run so low that it quickly freezes up. I miss the days of R12 and those sweaty, 34 degree return lines.
Yea, R12 pressurized correctly could pull temperature into the 30's and really cool fast and efficient. Too bad is was such a detriment to the ozone layer. We used to say those old GM A6 compressor systems would really "blow ice cubes" on a hot summer day.
Hi, I watched your video about how to disconnect the AC external unit, it is really great, thanks! You said if you have 410a coolant they results could be iffy, do you have a video where you elaborate more? I happened to have exactly 410a and not not really sure if I can just follow your instructions and need to do extra steps.
But the Artic King turned off when it filled up while C&H kept going. I'm sure the end result would've been similar if that didn't happen. Larger capacity tank is definitely a must.
Once coil iced up, dehumidification stopped, and these where designed to operate down to 60F. Redo this outside when 60F+ and 70% humid, even at night. Even r12 Amana will be within 20% of others....you'll see.
I wonder if it had a clogged up evaporator coil that prevented the air from blowing over it fast enough, or maybe it was slightly low in charge. Lower pressure refrigerant makes for lower temperature. @@BenjaminSahlstrom
The conversion of cups to energy was interesting. I’m playing with a scenario in which I need to produce 16 cups, aka 1 gal in 5 hours with 2000 wh. According to your test, the best unit would need 3kwh to get that result. However, my test climate is also different. Imagine low of 75°, high of 90°, with humidity over 70%, aka south Florida. Would love to see a retesting for that environment.
that water coming through those bricks on your right is damaging the blocks and mortar. you should consider very soon adding drainage tile on outside before the wall collapses.
Its not so much about the level of humidity as it is keeping it consistent. I have a small machine shop in my basement and before Installed a small dehumidifier all of the bare metal machined surfaces and tooling would rust but now that I control the humidity from high or low peaks I do not get any rust. Slowing down the changes in humidity throughout the day is your best bet at controlling it.
I have new house and needed a dehumidifier, 1st one lasted 1yr 4 m , second one 1 yr 3 months, 3rd one just stop dehumidifing after 1 yr all past warranty, their must be a better way? This is also with not being needed in the winter.
great test thanks but our old machine like the amana beats all the new ones we got! so we keep the old ones ! if basement is warm enough they are the best
Wouldn’t the larger one have a more powerful fan/surface space therefore pulling more? Also I’m curious about the initial test because even though you ran the heater , weren’t the other dehumidifiers running , and wouldn’t bc the heat cause some water to evaporate? I think if you could chunk the ice off and throw it out you’d be okay
You have a good point. It appears he was running all three units at the same time in the same space. Perhaps their performance would be better if they didn’t compete with each other
By having the Amana constantly run it wasn't able to operate efficiently. That is why not much water was collected. That is also why it used more electricity. Running it at 80% would provide a vastly different outcome.
@@BenjaminSahlstrom Thanks. I stopped at what I perceived as the outro. I have a newer model that replaced my older Amana, because of the cost of running it. When it "kicks in", it kicks like a mule, but mules last a lot longer.
Great video, I thank you for that. However, when did the Artic stop running before the test? Im sure it wasn't long but might have changed the outcome of the overall results.
Just a comment on the Cooper & Hunter unit. After doing some research I pulled the trigger and bought one. The first one I received was dead out of the box, so the vendor sent another one right away. That one lasted about a year and a half and stopped working (the compressor never turns on). So I called the company and after a bit of a run around, they agree to send me a replacement, but I have to pay the shipping…..$108! That unit lasted three months and now they won’t do anything else for me. I still have three months left on the original warranty so am I wrong to expect a unit to last more than three months? So after I going round and round, they tell me they can’t send me another unit because this model has been discontinued……. That’s their way to get out of handling my warranty. Thanks for reading my rant. Buyer beware.
Good afternoon Benjamin…I’m thinking of purchasing the Cooper and Hunter dehumidifier…It covers 2,500 sq ft…My wood shop is 384 sq ft…Is that over doing it if I purchase the Cooper and Hunter?
The problem is dehumidifiers only last a couple years at most. Seems like no matter what brand I choose, 3 years is about the max. I live in Michigan, and my basement is fairly dry. They don’t run a ton but still die within 3 years.
So if your central air conditioner is sucking up 4000W, does it make sense to also have a dehumidifier at 200W so that AC doesn't run as often? Cost efficient...?
If it's humid. 75F @ 40% humidity is just as comfortable as 70F @ 60% humidity. A ~10% power saving from the central AC is expected. In your example, a net saving of ~200w ( ~$300 per year ). Depending on the house/environment, some people claim they can save ~$100 per month running a dehumidifier(s).
@@rob4197 Your math forgets that a dehumidifier puts heat into the house while an AC provides cool air. A dehumidifier is simply a window AC with the hot parts indoors.
@@dmiller9786 It's more like an art to get the proper size. No two houses are the same. Rule of thumb is to double the capacity? The fix/upgrade cost is a few thousands more. Getting the humidity down from 70-80% to just 50% in an 85F space is equivalent to lowering the temp by 7F (heat index/feel temp) with a fan(s) running. The dehumidifier may increase the room temp by 3F (room size is a factor of course ). Central air cost to raise a hot and humid room temp by 7F?
This is not a fair test, because it was done in continuous mode. The new dehumidifiers may be more efficient steady state, but they also have the sensor too close to the evap coil and cycle on very shortly after turning off, then shut off a couple of minutes after due to sampling the real humidity level, not really pullout out any moisture. The machine is typically sized for extremes and the rest of the time cycles. The mechanical humidistat with a wide swing that just shuts the compressor/fan off at once is superior, reducing part-load cycling loss. As well, the new units are poor quality, they last 2-3 years -> they develop leaks fast lose their charge and some have been recalled for going up in flames. The new units are shipped all the way from china and you can be sure at end of life, the plastic casing is not recycled. If the old one has a fire, the metal cabinet contains it - unless it is the cord that burns. I would take a vintage one over new any day, the short lifespan of new probably means old produces less pollution and has a total lower cost of ownership.
Good points! I definitely could have tested them in intermittent mode and maybe I'll do that sometime. Seems unlikely that the new ones would be less efficient than the old one but it would be worth investigating! Pretty amazing that the Amana is still working!
@@BenjaminSahlstrom Would be interesting to see the results. Window a/c units suffer from a similar short cycling problem but due to pulling the cold air right back into the return where the sensor is - but the solution in that case is to buy an external plug in thermostat or a unit with a follow-me style remote that gets accurate reading.
@@BenjaminSahlstrom I've found over the years, the only thing that goes wrong with the older units is the fan. The fans have bronze bushings instead of bearings and once they wear , the bushings overheat and freeze up. If you can find a replacement motor, it's an easy fix. If it's a strange size, shape, or rotation, it's near impossible to find a replacement. So the unit is dead just because of a fan motor.
For some purposes the extra energy consumption isn't important. Our old machine probably isn't efficient. The "wasted" energy goes to heat raising the temperature of our basement. At least for us that's a good thing.
I think you need more than a dehumidifier my friend! But if they are working....by all.means keep up what you're doing. Is there any ventilation in that basement?
I would like to know the effects on the humidity if you just use a small vent fan to remove the air for 24 hours. like one of those dryer vent fans which is inside the vent. set it on low or whatever for 24 hours and see how the humidity level and cost is effects.
The middle one looks like it weighs a lot more. The smaller one on your left would be my choice as a result. How big was the water collection container? You used a pump and hose which can be a pain. So i assume the weight of carrying it and doing it manually would be heaviest of them all. Women do not want to lug heavy.
I Bought The Smart Power Strip Strictly To See and Monitor My Appliances & Dehumidifier Energy Usage. I Bought the 3 Outlet Version and I Don't have the Energy Section Like you Did and I Can't See The Energy Usage. It Only Give Me (Schedule, Timer, Away and Runtime) Options.and None Of Those Options have Energy Usage Display... .
It's likely your dehumidifiers' compressors were cycling on/off at high frequency. When the compressor kicks in, it may draw +1500 watts initially. Buy one with a good in-store warranty (extend the in-store warranty if you can ).
Actually, i agree that the Amana didn't get a fair test. Once it iced up, the efficiency went way down to near zero. It simply was too cold for it to operate efficiently. 41F is just about refrigerator temperature. I have two Kenmore dehumidifiers that I purchased new in 1982. I have a real humidity problem in my 2000 square foot basement caused by a super wet summer and a leaking Bilco door. These dehumidifiers each produce about 5 gallons of water per 24 hours. That's 40 pints / 24 hours. These do not ice up. They have deep buckets which hold about 2 gallons of water before the unit shuts off. I empty them 3 times a day. I have not measured the power consumption for these units, but I probably will after viewing this video.
The Cooper Hunter and Arctic King units will probably last you 5 years at most, while the old Amana will keep on working as long as you keep it clean. The new stuff is awful. You'll spend more on replacing new crap over and over than you'll spend on electricity, running the old units.
It seems all these new portable units that use to be covered by a 5yr warranty, are now 1 yr... yet same price. But earlier throw aways.. they don't last! p.s. that basement is a huge anxiety creator 😅
I just had one delivered yesterday and the device is not collecting the water. I called the company. Supposedly I was supposed to leave the unit in the box in an upright position for 24 hours before I turned it on. Not knowing this when the box arrived I rolled it into the foyer because the unit was heavy. Now it is sitting up right - waiting? The unit is working more like an air conditioners and I don't feel anything warming up. Now the device is setting in cold wet environment.
"Thomas Edison himself made this." "Serial number 3." XD XD XD Thanks for the info! I live in a modular home in New Orleans, where Summer humidity goes up to 99% every night. To top that off, despite our A/C being the correct match for the size of our home, it can't keep up with our extreme Summer heat and humidity. I've struggled mightily to get the house down to 68% humidity in the Summer, but is clearly not enough, as I'm still having problems with mildew and mold. After copious research on the subject, I now know that our dehumidifier is WAYYY too small for the job. Going to get a bigger one, and have additional options that will also help.
Those older (Amana like) dehumidifiers do not blow as much air and only have one speed. Checking the fan speed of the motors and settings on each unit should have been included in the calcs. May not have affected much, but the Amana was at a big technology disadvantage.
It's crazy to run that old one at 41 degrees F ! They shouldn't be run below 60 . If they haven't got a frost detector where they cut off and wait when the coils are frozen, then these evaporator coils will just get colder and colder until the refrigerant doesn't evaporate. So liquid refrigerant ends up going into the compressor and it dies. Sad. I'm amazed you're running these things at 41 deg!
i'm a little confused why you measured things in "cups" instead of pints like the machines use for ratings. Also, the little unit stopped running once it got full, so stating total amount of water in 30 hours was 13 cups wasn't really fair. I'm sure it would of been a lot more then that had you emptied it when it was full.
Haha good point! Only reason I used cups was because it was a tad more convenient since cups were marked on my measuring device. Probably should have used pints though! The small unit stopping before the others likely didn't affect the test much since the unit shut off and therefore shouldn't have affected the efficiency ratio.
@@BenjaminSahlstrom - you had 750 watts of dehumidifiers running. The room temperatures during the last half (~12 hours) of the test were much warmer ( 6-8 degree celsius warmer on average). Humidifiers can pull in a lot more water in warmer temperatures. The Artic King is likely no more than 25% less efficient.
Technically it should have been measured in liters. Watts is a metric unit defined as 1 Kgm^2/s^3 (kilogram* meter square per second-cubed) If you're gonna do cups/pints then use BTUs. Since people all over the world watch this, liters would be better understood. That's actually how they are officially rated for efficiency. (in L/kWh) A good efficiency rating is >1.5 L/kWh, however this is achieved under optimal conditions. >60% humidity and >80degrees....errr i mean >27C.
FYI at 20:44 we did retest the dehumidifiers in a higher ambient temperature so that the Amana wouldn't freeze up and would have a fair chance versus the modern options. Many people apparently missed this so wanted to point it out. :)
Isn't the arctic kings number flawed since it shut off at some point in the middle of the night? So because the big one had more capacity it could keep running, if the king had more capacity it would have kept running. If they both had run for 48 hours, then you'd have more accurate numbers.
@@idontno0 the KW measurement also stopped so I think that would still be an accurate measurement, but, I agree, they should have emptied the bin to keep them all operational, since they were lowering the humidity in the room over the time of the test.
i was gonna say this was pointless at that temp, other to say it won't work in low temp.
I have a older one running , continually since 1946 a Victor made in St.Louis Missouri, running today !
Wow. I had a Sears from 1980 that ran almost constantly. I never had a problem for 29 years. I gave it to my sister in 2008; don't know how much longer it lasted and would not be surprised if it was still going strong.
Older dehumidifiers worked for 10-20 years sometimes. I often see them working being made in 80s ...Unfortunately newer work from 1 month to a year even though they supposed to be better and more economical to run. I saw all newer brands fail miserably... So not so clear if new stuff worth it. At this rate of fail and headache it causes thus cost per year of having one power consumption is negligible factor. My advice would be keep your old one if it is working. At least keep it just in case. You would be glad you did in no time..:)
Sad but true.
Then I must have one that must be the exception.
By far the best "in the field" dehumidifier review that I've come across.
Great video. Would have been interesting to go one step further and compare the electricity bill for both the units and when the bigger one overtakes the smaller one based on running the bigger one at the smaller one's rate (reaching a humidity level then shutting off).
That Amana may also need to be taken apart and cleaned. I run a 30+ year old dehumidifier in my basement and it does great
It's just the design, things have gotten much better, albeit less reliable
The worst thing about the new plastic models is you basically can't clean them without significant time consuming dismantling, these cases are not made to be opened up for cleaning, that old unit, and an old one I have that is all steel- you can take a hose to the open backside and hose the coils out to get the dirt, lint etc out, these plastic things I had one suddenly start leaking all over the floor, I wound up having to open the case and that took probably 3/4 of an hour to completely open it all up, remove the control panel screws to separate the halves of the case etc., and there were different sizes and lengths of screws too.
What I found in side causing the leak was the condensed water dripped down off the coils, and had to run along a little "trough" inside to reach the bucket fill outlet, and what happened was because water stagnates in that trough- a slimy mold or whatever it was started growing and that blocked the flow of water and it leaked all over the floor.
There was no way to FIX that, you clean it and it will simply do it again, I wound up getting a Frigidaire, so far it seems better.
Another issue is- electric, hot compressor, motor and flammable plastic cases, I NEVER liked the idea of using flammable plastic cases on ANY appliance.
That plastic should be self-extinguishing and meet UL 94 requirements.
If you can work out a way to somehow get a little bit of bleach into there , you can stop the mold/algae from forming. Maybe fit a plastic tube somehow, and have it's end coming out the side, (drill a hole?) so you can direct some bleach into it every now and again?
I have a Monkey Wards old school unit that was recently given to me because it was freezing up. The old units can be safely hosed out with a pressure nozzle on a garden hose after some disassembly. The fins were pretty dirty and the unit now works great in my basement with no freeze up. I'll bet the old Amana just needed a cleaning and could have kept up with the other units. It will definitely outlive both of those Chinese models.
> could have kept up with the other units
Very unlikely... it's missing two crucial features that modern dehumidifiers have: fins on the evaporator coil, and automatic deicing.
@@morebloomeffect I've used a killawatt on old and new units. There is not much difference and as long as the evaporators/condensers are clean and there is adequate airflow, the thermal transfer and efficiency will be in the same ball park. The old units will last decades longer than the new ones.
If it had more fins, it would cool the air more but not dehumidify more. If it was running too strongly it would freeze instead. And if it does freeze up, you're purposely pulling too little air due to being plugged up with decades of dust, or its low on refrigerant. I've got an old one that's low on freon and I think I'll charge it with some.. European approved freon12 replacement. Butane and propane.@@morebloomeffect
I'm looking at having to buy another new dehumidifier this summer. Bought a Soleus at Menards, it died after a year, next year bought a Midea at Sam's Club, it lasted less than 12 months. They still look brand new but won't operate. I'm sick of all this cheap plastic crap. The old timer's built stuff to last decades but now for some reason manufacturers are baffled as to make any appliance last a year before it's scrap. What a shame! I can remember my grandparents having a metal dehumidifier in their basement and it ran for decades no problem. Consumers are being scammed!
wow, huge step up in editing quality! totally cool 😎
That's thanks to Josh! He definitely is way better with editing than I am.
I had a GE digital dehumidifier for about 10 yrs and used it constantly during the spring and summer months. My house was built in 1870 and has a red stone foundation and there’s a lot of moisture during those months. Just this past week the unit stopped condensing water. I am not a electrical technician and figured the unit would cost more to have it checked then buying a new one. $$ Thanks for the video
Whoa! Excellent tests Ben and gentlemen. Finally a tutorial measuring Kwh and humidity extraction efficiency of dehumidifier unit(s). Thank you.
Thanks for the video. I had a Dehumidifier in my basement in Maryland for many years otherwise my tools would start to rust. Now I am living in Southern Louisiana and recently bought a Midea Dehumidifier at Costco Wholesale. This model is for up to 4,500 square feet and has a bucket plus 2 ways to drain. Took me a little while to figure out one uses a garden hose for gravity draining and to use the pump use the smaller hose included. Right now testing it to go into the 2nd sink in my hall bathroom. The Midea Dehumidifier has an app for it that works with 2.4GHZ WiFi. Doesn't work with 5.0 GHZ WiFi 👍😎👍
Another thing to consider in buying your dehumidifier is the right size for your space. Nice content. 👍
Thx for the great report. I put a Hisense unit in my SE Wisconsin basement for the summer and in one day it took a lot of the moisture out of the area. I should have done it the year before. I believe it is a healthier environment to inhabit. I don't mind emptying the bucket on a daily basis.
I bet you that in a long term test ye old Amana will be still running in 10 years vs. the others which will be long dead 🙂 Nothing new is built to last anymore 😞
You're probably correct!
Agreed
Exactly, I’ve gone through 5 over the last few years purchased at Home Depot
Still using an older Westinghouse unit from late 60's. Works great. Just leave it alone to do it's job with an occasional fin cleaning. 🎉🎉
But with the energy savings from the newer one you can afford to buy the latest, even more efficient one. 🤷♂️
Pretty cool analysis with Ben's dry humor.
I used to run a dehumidifier in my basement until I upgraded my hot water heater to a hybrid model Super efficient that runs an air conditioner to heat water , dehumidifies the basement summer and winter 5° differential between ceiling and floor, it's awesome saving 50% on propane after switching over no dehumidifier needed. Low electric bills... Putting a dehumidifier on a timer where it might be prone to freezing that gives it a guaranteed off cycle for defrost works perfect..Peace.
Can you share the brand name and model of this water heater? Sounds like a very efficient way to do this.
@@miamiracer there's more than one brand.
Need to replace my water heater anyway. Great suggestion. I had shied away from the idea of the extra complexity of the efficient water heater up until now.
Great video, you give us data, important information and numbers that show a big difference between high quality equipment and other options.
Great video posted about 4 days late 😁
Just bought my first dehumidifier after we had a water leak in our basement. I'll have to plug in my Kill-a-watt to see how it compares to your examples.
Results are in!! Definitely not apples to apples comparison, but here are the results from the 22-pint (per day) GE purchased at Home Depot:
Finished basement is climate controlled and stayed around 68~70 deg
Humidity (59%) didn't drop overnight, but I expect it to soon since the carpet is dryer. It was around 70% a couple days ago.
- 10 hour run time
- 2.92 kWh used
- 17 cups collected
** 5.82 cups per kWh **
This unit doesn't have a pump, but it does have a hose attachment so it can run continuously as long as the drain is down hill. Once I see the humidity drop a bit more I'll probably move it closer to the utility room and connect a hose.
Great video Thanks ! You inspired me to install my standby generator awhile back . God bless
That's great!
Interesting about the Mice. No wonder my Mice are healthy.👍
Very good job. It was so good I subscribed. Thank you so much. You have an adorable daughter. Best to you and your family.
When we had our crawlspace encapsulated the company put in an AprilAire dehumidifier. It drains to a sump pump. It keeps the crawlspace at a good humidity level. 53% in the middle of August right now. The company changes the filter each fall and checks the status of the dehu.
How many years have you had the AprilAire running?
@@jeffa847 6 or 7 years I believe
@@JeanPierreWhite Well, that sounds better than the 1 or 2 years everyone else seems to be saying consumer dehumidifiers last.
So you would buy that brand again?
@@jeffa847 Totally.
Most of these you can hookup a garden hose to and run into a separate container. This would help show how much they can remove without getting full. Plus many of us have sump pumps so you run that discharge hose right to it and just let it go. No more forgetting to empty the try.
Dear Ben and Josh, greetings from Nova Scotia, Canada. Thank you for this excellent video. So appreciated!
20:46 love the Menards shirt.
5:27 There are two reasons for this. The first one, is that your AC heat exchanger ist probably too big and thus won't get cold enough during normal operation. The second is, that the dehumidifier heats up the place and basically every extra degree reduces the relative humidity by 5%.
Not exactly, but there are calculators out there and the results will shock you😉
YES… High Humidity in my attic is killing my Furnace controller board and igniter. I think… I have replaced them both 2x this winter. Going to try using a dehumidifier or wicking filter in the system next year. 🤞
I think you have something there. I got one because my tools were rusting. When I got a new furnace it was already there, no trouble with the board.
You have a furnace in your attic or you are in a high humidity zone in the summer, or both?
@@donaldmasters9642 My furnace is in a basement. I got the Dehumidifier because of rusting tools. But a benefit was less corrosion in the furnaces P.C. Board.
That Amana was outside its operating range, so what it collected don't count as a comparison. I'd like to see this done at 60F, my bet is the Amana isn't as bad as you think. Try running them outside on a 60 degree day with 70% humidity, that would be a fair test, because humidity would be more even and more at night.
Again, 20:44.
My GE DH looks a lot like your Arctic King but has the built in water pump too. It sits in my basement in the laundry area near the laundry sink which it drains into. I keep it set to 50% R.H. even though my basement walls don’t leak. It’s nice to have the automatic pump so I don’t need to keep going downstairs to dump the bucket like I did with my old DH that finally bit the dust.
Thanks for your test. I should have replaced my old dehumidifier with this new Energy Star model much earlier instead of waiting for the old one to die.
Instead of having a space heater in my basement i use a dehumidifier to heat it 😅
So for me efficiency isn't really important but if it doesn't dehumidify it's pointless .
I had to empty the 5L bin 1.5 times a day to keep it from turning off, now have a direct hose to the drain.
And it really impoves the feel and smell in the basement, doesn't smell basement at all just clean and wood that I'm storing.
I would like it a little more dry but it's average for whole basement is 50% at about 18°C.
No more calcium leaching in the concrete walls (have to redo exterior drain/waterproofing and insulate the outside soon)
Always need to run them when it is at least 70 degrees. Minimum 60-65. Warm air also holds more moisture. The old unit doesn't have auto defrost so it will freeze up when it is colder than 60. Issue with new models is poor quality. I had an old Sears from 1972 that ran for almost 30 years before it lost charge and froze up. Not as high capacity or efficient but we got our money out of it. None of the ones after lasted much more than 5 years. Most died just after warranty was up. The Danby I have now is a little over that but it is a replacement for a unit that died under warranty.
That's my issue with old units - I need to use them in cool weather.
How much energy did you use to defrost the old Amana?
This amount of defrost energy should be added to Amana's energy usage.
Need to add energy used to run CH's water pump
I knew that would come up! Decided not to add that since it already was at a huge disadvantage. Plus I think it was mostly the low ambient temperature that was causing it to freeze up as when we retested it at Reuben's it didn't have that issue.
The old Amana reminded me of the Emerson dehumidifier I inherited from my dearly departed Uncle Matt. Even looked Ike your Amana, only mine was colored blue. I acquired this old dehumidifier back in 1980. Toward the end I was running it to drive up my electric bill. But that's OK because I own stock in the electric company and, thus, my old dehumidifier helped to contribute to my quarterly dividend payment.
@@clifforddicarlo9178 Haha, that's awesome!
In reality that unit should have been shut off, the low temp was not realistic, it should be retested when the temperature is normal, over 50-60F which would represent warmer weather like a summer month when humidit will be high anyway.
@@HobbyOrganist Agreed, the temperature is far too low to be using a dehumidifier
Thank you! Very interesting.
Do you have any idea how much these compare to A/C units for dehumidification? Thanks.
Night and day. Most window shaker air conditioner units have published specs on dehumidification capability. I don't think I've ever seen higher than single digit pints per day on those specs..
Unfortunately most residential portable dehumidifiers these days are cheaply made in China, regardless of the brand name on the unit. Poor quality, no safety features such as automatic shutoff due to low pressure ( as in refrigerant leaked out), etc. I've owned several over the years, with different brand names, and they all failed within one to three years. Two were actually involved in recalls because many had caught fire when the refrigerant leaked out and the unit kept running until it became hot enough to ignite. Don't fall for the brand name scam; many things these days that have old American brand names are actually made in China and are not worth taking home.
Great video!!!
I'm here because of older dehumidifiers vs new conversations, longevity, and my crap hOme brand that died.
Both the C&H and Artic King are probably Midea manufacturing with different badging. Midea makes about 90% of dehumidifiers globally for all brands. So find the cheapest priced unit that meets your usage needs for dehumidification.
yes either Midea or Gree. a lot of current Midea made units discharge air out a port on the side, whereas the Gree built units discharge out the top. I have some newer 50(70-2012)pint units by both manufacturers (a Tosot - made by Gree, a homeLabs made by Midea, and an actual Midea ). They all run basically the same .
Main thing is to keep the dust screen clean and to use the direct drain hose wherever possible. Using the direct drain bypasses the bucket completely. The bucket gets really dirty , even for units with the automatic pump (because it still fills the bucket, and empties it with the pump whenever it gets full). The bucket is a royal pain to clean..
Do you recommend any around $500.
I now have 3 units from Home Depot that have failed in the last 4 years.. Present Toshiba unit just went bad.
@@rondail5675 I would recommend buying the largest size units (50pint/[70 2012]) for the cheapest price you can find. There will be some crazy deals in a few days for the Amazon prime day event. Target price: 200 dollars or less. Brand is somewhat unimportant as you are getting either a Midea or Gree unit with near certainty, regardless of brand.
I have had a trouble free two years so far with my units, but as far as I can tell from my research it appears these things just don't seem to last. Even the expensive ones from Santa Fe and Aprilaire - a lot of folks only get a few years on those and then are furious. So I have decided to just use a bank of multiple lowest possible cost consumer units and replace them as they fail.
Dehumidifiers are constantly dripping wet inside and corrosion happens. They run R410A refrigerant which is higher pressure than the R22 or R134a of older units. So they corrode and then leak out refrigerant more prematurely it seems. Try to keep them clean and well filtered.
I just found a one very similar to that Amana in my basement I need to drag it out and see if it actually works. As if it does I'll have to put it to use.
Benjamin, How did you get so smart at such a young age. Your video is helping our family find the best Dehumidifier for our home here in south east Louisiana (Baton Rouge). Recently our weather has provided high heat and high humidity (yesterday was 90 percent) Our air conditioner has been out for 8 days, so our indoor humidity equals outside. early evening before reaching dew point temperatures outside we close up the hose and run multiple fans. To combat the heat I have dropped down the attic latter to allow the heat to rise and exit the roof. The high humidity has made it very difficult to breath. I put a large fan in up in the mouth of the attic opening, however there is no real circulation of air because all windows and vents are closed. The reason I close up the house is to keep the humidity from getting worse. After loosing power after hurricane Gustav, we left the windows open for air flow. Humidity was so bad our ceramic tile started separating from the foundation. Now, with closing off the house, we are experiencing soar throats, ear aches and sinus issues. Tonight I will keep one or two windows open for air flow. I'd rather lose the tile than our health. Thank you for your time making videos and sharing your knowledge on TH-cam. Any misspelled words are due to lake of sleep and heat delirium.
Consider a big window AC unit as a backup to central AC. When my central went down I ran a 25,000 BTU frigidaire unit 24/7 and a bunch of fans throughout the house to move it around. It couldn't get the temperature as low as the central AC, but it was still very comfortable because the dehumidification effect of having it run 24/7 was very significant . So look for a deal on a big 24-25k BTU window unit. Maybe amazon prime day deal or something, or big box store etc...
Can you add an external automatic condensate pump (to the other units) to pump the collected water up and away to the outside?
That old unit might also have a slight Freon leak that is causing very low, low-side pressure that makes the evap coil temp run so low that it quickly freezes up. I miss the days of R12 and those sweaty, 34 degree return lines.
Yea, R12 pressurized correctly could pull temperature into the 30's and really cool fast and efficient. Too bad is was such a detriment to the ozone layer. We used to say those old GM A6 compressor systems would really "blow ice cubes" on a hot summer day.
Hi, I watched your video about how to disconnect the AC external unit, it is really great, thanks! You said if you have 410a coolant they results could be iffy, do you have a video where you elaborate more? I happened to have exactly 410a and not not really sure if I can just follow your instructions and need to do extra steps.
Great test Ben!! I think you’re gonna have to hire a team that handled the Chernobyl incident to take care of that old Amana
Looking to buy a dehumidifier qnd your video was extremely informative. Thanks!
But the Artic King turned off when it filled up while C&H kept going. I'm sure the end result would've been similar if that didn't happen. Larger capacity tank is definitely a must.
Appreciate the good information man. I feel smart after watching this video
Once coil iced up, dehumidification stopped, and these where designed to operate down to 60F. Redo this outside when 60F+ and 70% humid, even at night. Even r12 Amana will be within 20% of others....you'll see.
We did retest in higher ambient conditions at 20:44.
@@BenjaminSahlstrom I missed that, I still like my 90s 50 pint R22 whirlpool built like a tank. I think the amana should've had coil fins.
I wonder if it had a clogged up evaporator coil that prevented the air from blowing over it fast enough, or maybe it was slightly low in charge. Lower pressure refrigerant makes for lower temperature. @@BenjaminSahlstrom
Great content as usual
The conversion of cups to energy was interesting.
I’m playing with a scenario in which I need to produce 16 cups, aka 1 gal in 5 hours with 2000 wh.
According to your test, the best unit would need 3kwh to get that result.
However, my test climate is also different. Imagine low of 75°, high of 90°, with humidity over 70%, aka south Florida. Would love to see a retesting for that environment.
that water coming through those bricks on your right is damaging the blocks and mortar. you should consider very soon adding drainage tile on outside before the wall collapses.
Fantastic gathering of information brother. Great work on this video. -
Mini dehumidifiers are all made by the same overseas companies.
Where is the Cooper and Hunter manufactured?
Its not so much about the level of humidity as it is keeping it consistent. I have a small machine shop in my basement and before Installed a small dehumidifier all of the bare metal machined surfaces and tooling would rust but now that I control the humidity from high or low peaks I do not get any rust. Slowing down the changes in humidity throughout the day is your best bet at controlling it.
bro, forget the dehumidifier, you have MAD unadressed structural damage in that foundation
I have new house and needed a dehumidifier, 1st one lasted 1yr 4 m , second one 1 yr 3 months, 3rd one just stop dehumidifing after 1 yr all past warranty, their must be a better way? This is also with not being needed in the winter.
great test thanks but our old machine like the amana beats all the new ones we got! so we keep the old ones ! if basement is warm enough they are the best
Wouldn’t the larger one have a more powerful fan/surface space therefore pulling more? Also I’m curious about the initial test because even though you ran the heater , weren’t the other dehumidifiers running , and wouldn’t bc the heat cause some water to evaporate?
I think if you could chunk the ice off and throw it out you’d be okay
You have a good point. It appears he was running all three units at the same time in the same space. Perhaps their performance would be better if they didn’t compete with each other
By having the Amana constantly run it wasn't able to operate efficiently. That is why not much water was collected.
That is also why it used more electricity.
Running it at 80% would provide a vastly different outcome.
If you watch to the end we retested it for that very reason!
@@BenjaminSahlstrom Thanks. I stopped at what I perceived as the outro. I have a newer model that replaced my older Amana, because of the cost of running it. When it "kicks in", it kicks like a mule, but mules last a lot longer.
Great video, I thank you for that. However, when did the Artic stop running before the test? Im sure it wasn't long but might have changed the outcome of the overall results.
Just a comment on the Cooper & Hunter unit. After doing some research I pulled the trigger and bought one. The first one I received was dead out of the box, so the vendor sent another one right away. That one lasted about a year and a half and stopped working (the compressor never turns on). So I called the company and after a bit of a run around, they agree to send me a replacement, but I have to pay the shipping…..$108! That unit lasted three months and now they won’t do anything else for me. I still have three months left on the original warranty so am I wrong to expect a unit to last more than three months? So after I going round and round, they tell me they can’t send me another unit because this model has been discontinued……. That’s their way to get out of handling my warranty. Thanks for reading my rant. Buyer beware.
How hot was the air coming out of the big dehumidifier? If you use it in the summer inside wondering if it will heat the house back up
Love this. awesome! Great content
Thanks!
Good afternoon Benjamin…I’m thinking of purchasing the Cooper and Hunter dehumidifier…It covers 2,500 sq ft…My wood shop is 384 sq ft…Is that over doing it if I purchase the Cooper and Hunter?
so is the dehumidifiers still running I have killed another dehumidifier in only 4 months last year a new record up to 5 now in 30 years
The problem is dehumidifiers only last a couple years at most. Seems like no matter what brand I choose, 3 years is about the max. I live in Michigan, and my basement is fairly dry. They don’t run a ton but still die within 3 years.
I want to paint those basement walls lol
So if your central air conditioner is sucking up 4000W, does it make sense to also have a dehumidifier at 200W so that AC doesn't run as often?
Cost efficient...?
If it's humid. 75F @ 40% humidity is just as comfortable as 70F @ 60% humidity. A ~10% power saving from the central AC is expected. In your example, a net saving of ~200w ( ~$300 per year ). Depending on the house/environment, some people claim they can save ~$100 per month running a dehumidifier(s).
So you answered my question thank you!
No, A properly sized AC is much more efficient than a dehumidifier when sufficient heat load is present.
@@rob4197 Your math forgets that a dehumidifier puts heat into the house while an AC provides cool air. A dehumidifier is simply a window AC with the hot parts indoors.
@@dmiller9786 It's more like an art to get the proper size. No two houses are the same. Rule of thumb is to double the capacity? The fix/upgrade cost is a few thousands more. Getting the humidity down from 70-80% to just 50% in an 85F space is equivalent to lowering the temp by 7F (heat index/feel temp) with a fan(s) running. The dehumidifier may increase the room temp by 3F (room size is a factor of course ). Central air cost to raise a hot and humid room temp by 7F?
Quality video excellent job keep up the good work.
What about Sante Fe and Aprilaire?
I have a crawlspace, dehumidifier, can you tell me about the settings what it should be set it to go on
This is not a fair test, because it was done in continuous mode.
The new dehumidifiers may be more efficient steady state, but they also have the sensor too close to the evap coil and cycle on very shortly after turning off, then shut off a couple of minutes after due to sampling the real humidity level, not really pullout out any moisture. The machine is typically sized for extremes and the rest of the time cycles.
The mechanical humidistat with a wide swing that just shuts the compressor/fan off at once is superior, reducing part-load cycling loss.
As well, the new units are poor quality, they last 2-3 years -> they develop leaks fast lose their charge and some have been recalled for going up in flames. The new units are shipped all the way from china and you can be sure at end of life, the plastic casing is not recycled.
If the old one has a fire, the metal cabinet contains it - unless it is the cord that burns.
I would take a vintage one over new any day, the short lifespan of new probably means old produces less pollution and has a total lower cost of ownership.
Good points! I definitely could have tested them in intermittent mode and maybe I'll do that sometime. Seems unlikely that the new ones would be less efficient than the old one but it would be worth investigating! Pretty amazing that the Amana is still working!
@@BenjaminSahlstrom Would be interesting to see the results. Window a/c units suffer from a similar short cycling problem but due to pulling the cold air right back into the return where the sensor is - but the solution in that case is to buy an external plug in thermostat or a unit with a follow-me style remote that gets accurate reading.
The work-around for the short cycling due to the stupid sensor location is to aim a box fan at the front of the unit.
@@BenjaminSahlstrom I've found over the years, the only thing that goes wrong with the older units is the fan. The fans have bronze bushings instead of bearings and once they wear , the bushings overheat and freeze up. If you can find a replacement motor, it's an easy fix. If it's a strange size, shape, or rotation, it's near impossible to find a replacement. So the unit is dead just because of a fan motor.
Thank you very much for all the information!
For some purposes the extra energy consumption isn't important. Our old machine probably isn't efficient. The "wasted" energy goes to heat raising the temperature of our basement. At least for us that's a good thing.
WELL DONE!
I think you need more than a dehumidifier my friend! But if they are working....by all.means keep up what you're doing. Is there any ventilation in that basement?
It wasn't my basement and yes, it does need additional help with the foundation and ventilation issues. Was a great place to do the test though!
I would like to know the effects on the humidity if you just use a small vent fan to remove the air for 24 hours. like one of those dryer vent fans which is inside the vent. set it on low or whatever for 24 hours and see how the humidity level and cost is effects.
Great extra info. Thanks
The middle one looks like it weighs a lot more. The smaller one on your left would be my choice as a result. How big was the water collection container? You used a pump and hose which can be a pain. So i assume the weight of carrying it and doing it manually would be heaviest of them all. Women do not want to lug heavy.
At the very least, keep the Amanda as a backup. You will need something every time a newer unit fails. LOL
Hi I have a Danby humidifier and started to blow cold air what Should I do
I Bought The Smart Power Strip Strictly To See and Monitor My Appliances & Dehumidifier Energy Usage. I Bought the 3 Outlet Version and I Don't have the Energy Section Like you Did and I Can't See The Energy Usage. It Only Give Me (Schedule, Timer, Away and Runtime) Options.and None Of Those Options have Energy Usage Display... .
Ben,
I now have 3 units from Home Depot that have failed in the last 4 years.. Present Toshiba unit just went bad.
Any units under $500 that you like?
It's likely your dehumidifiers' compressors were cycling on/off at high frequency. When the compressor kicks in, it may draw +1500 watts initially. Buy one with a good in-store warranty (extend the in-store warranty if you can ).
Actually, i agree that the Amana didn't get a fair test. Once it iced up, the efficiency went way down to near zero. It simply was too cold for it to operate efficiently. 41F is just about refrigerator temperature. I have two Kenmore dehumidifiers that I purchased new in 1982. I have a real humidity problem in my 2000 square foot basement caused by a super wet summer and a leaking Bilco door. These dehumidifiers each produce about 5 gallons of water per 24 hours. That's 40 pints / 24 hours. These do not ice up. They have deep buckets which hold about 2 gallons of water before the unit shuts off. I empty them 3 times a day. I have not measured the power consumption for these units, but I probably will after viewing this video.
Love it thank you ❤
Shouldn't those units be plugged directly into a wall for safety reasons?
Thanks for sharing
The Cooper Hunter and Arctic King units will probably last you 5 years at most, while the old Amana will keep on working as long as you keep it clean. The new stuff is awful. You'll spend more on replacing new crap over and over than you'll spend on electricity, running the old units.
It seems all these new portable units that use to be covered by a 5yr warranty, are now 1 yr... yet same price. But earlier throw aways.. they don't last!
p.s. that basement is a huge anxiety creator 😅
I just had one delivered yesterday and the device is not collecting the water. I called the company. Supposedly I was supposed to leave the unit in the box in an upright position for 24 hours before I turned it on. Not knowing this when the box arrived I rolled it into the foyer because the unit was heavy. Now it is sitting up right - waiting? The unit is working more like an air conditioners and I don't feel anything warming up. Now the device is setting in cold wet environment.
The old one would work better if you turned down the humidity level little by little. That way it can got through defrost of the frosted coil.
"Thomas Edison himself made this." "Serial number 3." XD XD XD
Thanks for the info! I live in a modular home in New Orleans, where Summer humidity goes up to 99% every night. To top that off, despite our A/C being the correct match for the size of our home, it can't keep up with our extreme Summer heat and humidity. I've struggled mightily to get the house down to 68% humidity in the Summer, but is clearly not enough, as I'm still having problems with mildew and mold. After copious research on the subject, I now know that our dehumidifier is WAYYY too small for the job. Going to get a bigger one, and have additional options that will also help.
Great job
Does the fan speed affect efficiency? My dehumidifier has three fan speeds, and I'm not sure which one is most efficient.
Those older (Amana like) dehumidifiers do not blow as much air and only have one speed. Checking the fan speed of the motors and settings on each unit should have been included in the calcs. May not have affected much, but the Amana was at a big technology disadvantage.
Emptying that big capacity unit (poor pump). would be a bear?
Actually the pump is really fine as it doesn't need to be fast once the line is ran to a suitable discharge location.
@@BenjaminSahlstrom Thank you.
It's crazy to run that old one at 41 degrees F ! They shouldn't be run below 60 . If they haven't got a frost detector where they cut off and wait when the coils are frozen, then these evaporator coils will just get colder and colder until the refrigerant doesn't evaporate. So liquid refrigerant ends up going into the compressor and it dies. Sad. I'm amazed you're running these things at 41 deg!
The amana would last longer but these are more efficient and better for your 💰
By the looks of that basement your energy would be better spent fixing the exterior drainage of your house.
True! Was just a good spot for the demonstration.
shouldn't you be running them one at a time instead of at the same time?
I'm on my fourth dehumidifier in 7 years. That Amana is laughing at me.
That's ridiculous. You would think you should be able to get at least 5 years out of one.
I get about 5 years.
i'm a little confused why you measured things in "cups" instead of pints like the machines use for ratings. Also, the little unit stopped running once it got full, so stating total amount of water in 30 hours was 13 cups wasn't really fair. I'm sure it would of been a lot more then that had you emptied it when it was full.
Haha good point! Only reason I used cups was because it was a tad more convenient since cups were marked on my measuring device. Probably should have used pints though!
The small unit stopping before the others likely didn't affect the test much since the unit shut off and therefore shouldn't have affected the efficiency ratio.
@@BenjaminSahlstrom - you had 750 watts of dehumidifiers running. The room temperatures during the last half (~12 hours) of the test were much warmer ( 6-8 degree celsius warmer on average). Humidifiers can pull in a lot more water in warmer temperatures. The Artic King is likely no more than 25% less efficient.
@@BenjaminSahlstrom When I was a kid, before metrics and computers, 2 cups equaled 1 pint.
Technically it should have been measured in liters. Watts is a metric unit defined as 1 Kgm^2/s^3 (kilogram* meter square per second-cubed) If you're gonna do cups/pints then use BTUs. Since people all over the world watch this, liters would be better understood. That's actually how they are officially rated for efficiency. (in L/kWh) A good efficiency rating is >1.5 L/kWh, however this is achieved under optimal conditions. >60% humidity and >80degrees....errr i mean >27C.