Do you have mildew? Whirlpool Dehumidifier took care of my problem!
by CyndiA - Written: Oct 22 '00 (Updated Aug 14 '01)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Durability: |
 |
|
| Ease of Use: |
|
|
| Effectiveness: |
|
|
|
Pros: Better features than other brands--see review notes
Cons: This is a big job model--try a smaller one for easier jobs
The Bottom Line: Does the job. Do clean the dehumidifier out though as it can get mildew inside and then shot out that nasty stuff into the air.
|
|
|
| CyndiA's Full Review: Whirlpool 50 Pint per Day Basement Dehumidifier AD... |
When I moved into a house, I had a lot to learn. One of the first lessons came when I got the Halloween decorations out of the basement last year and discovered that they were even scarier than when I put them away. They were coated in really gross black fuzzy stuff (which turned out to be mildew).
My brother who reworks older homes told me that I needed a dehumidifier. I wasn't familiar with dehudidifiers at that point, but basically I needed a machine to suck the extra moisture out of the basement.
After much reading and talking to the Lowe's man, I settled on the Whirlpool basement model. This is NOT the correct model for upper levels, small spaces, or lower moisture areas. If you have a big area and grow mildew, then you want the big guns like this model. If not, then buy a cheaper machine (as this one runs close $300).
The big difference with this whirlpool model is that air is pulled in from the front and measured for moisture content before dehumidification. With other models, the air is dried out and then the moisture contect measured. Result: you could overdry the air which is hard of anyone with allergies and with colds/flu etc.
Another nice feature with Whirlpool is the de-icer. When the floor area gets cold (like around 65 degrees F), then the water starts to freeze up and the machine does not work. Whirlpool has the de-ice feature as an option which means that the air is dried down to 50 degrees. This is not that important in NC as it does not get real cold, but it would be in colder areas or for humidity in an unheated work shop.
Those would be the big differences between Whirlpool and other brands. Otherwise a dehumidifier does basically the same thing but the different models are built a little different.
First, Whirlpool is rounded in design, so it looks kind of high tech. I didn't really care with it in the basement, but this one would look OK in any room of the house.
The water bucket is in the front. That means that it is easy to get to and empty. My parents have to empty every day, so this was an important feature for them. Mom says that she gets a bucket full every day (about a gallon). The machine does have a sensor so that the bucket does not overfill and run water on the floor.
I have a drain for the washing machine in the basement, so I just ran a hose from the machine to the drain. I don't have to empty my bucket which is terrific. The only problem with that is that I had to punch out the hole for the hose, so if I want to use the bucket in another room, then I would have to get a new bucket as it has the hose hole now.
The machine cycles on and off depending on whether water needs to be pulled out of the air (which is good since these use quite a bit of electricity--upped my bill about $15 per month). If the machine is off, then don't worry unless the light is on. That is a little reddish light on top which is easy to see. That means that the bucket is full (for my parents) and in my case with the hose hooked up that I have a prob with the drain.
One thing that I did miss was about cleaning the machine. When I began to have trouble with the light coming on, I just bumped the machine and it came back on. After a while, it began to grow mold on the outside of the box. Yuck. More mildew to deal with. To make matters worse, I discovered that I was blowing mildew air through the house. That is worse than having it in the basement according to my doctor who saw me for a sinus infection.
Now I clean the dehumidifier once per month with Clorax which kills mildew. When I open up the bucket, I can see that the water is dirty looking and the area around the hose hook up gets black goop around the hole (which is what made the machine turn off). I just take the bucket out and rinse with about 2 gallons of water and 1 cup of Clorax or until it's clean. I always wipe the outside off really good with a damp cloth with some Clorax.
Clorax can also be used to clean anything that mildewed before you get the dehumidifier. It worked well on the Halloween things that were made of plastic. I wiped them off and then rinsed and dried. Cloth items (costumes) had to be thrown out. Clorax takes the color out of cloth and if you don't get all the mildew killed, it will grow and mildew other things.
You probably know more than you ever wanted to know about dehumidifiers, but if you're thinking about getting one--be sure to get the correct one (you can talk to the salespeople at Lowe's or visit home pages on the web to check size), consider Whirlpool due to the extra features mentioned above, and be sure to clean the dehumidifier or you'll end up with a sinus infection.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 300
Battery Life: N/A
Noise Level: More quiet than most
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
