dehumidifiers

[25v6turbo]

Just bought an electric dehumidifier for the garage to keep the Safrane nice and dry,i have used the stand alone round salt type of setup before that collects the damp and drips into a tray underneath,works well but adds up with the refills,so with the new one I have its all fine,but my question is when and how long should I run it for?

Only on damp days?a few hours a day or not even every day,the garage is a very nice  its built partly into my house and has the boiler in there aswell,is about 19 foot long by 9 wide and 11 foot tall.

[burraston2006]

Depends on if you can plug it in to next doors electric.

[steveo3002]

can you seal the garage well?  otherwise you be trying to dry the air from outside that gets in around the cracks etc

[pshome]

Doesn't it have a humidity sensor and goes on /off as needed? I thought they all have it, have a look at the manual.

[lisbon_road]

I have one in a similar garage. Just run it when it is damp. Works well and makes loads of distilled water. Proportion of the time it is running is tiny.

[dollywobbler]

Definitely keep the water. Great for screen wash and coolant. Far better than tap water.

[Asimo]

I have one in my otherwise damp workshop which has a "humidistat" so it only runs when humidity is above a certain level. It is an ancient old thing but still works fine and certainly doesn't cost a lot to run. In a wet winter I get about two gallons of water most weeks.

 

I recently bought one for my daughter and was surprised that most dehumidifiers now sold did not have humidistats, they were fitted only on the more expensive ones. Her's is on a time switch to just run at night on cheap electricity.

 

Definitely deal with draughts first, don't forget the boiler needs air though if it isn't a balanced flue type. If your dehumidifier doesn't have a humidistat, useit with a time switch set for a few hours a day and see how much water you get. 

[25v6turbo]

Cheers for the advise,its a DP tools one that has a dial with 30/50/80% etc and certainly does draw the damp,

its one of thesehttps://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwj3x7T9it_PAhVCUhQKHTFNBB8QjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gumtree.com%2Fp%2Fother-household-goods%2Fdp-tools-pd3500-dehumidifier%2F1176340533&psig=AFQjCNGyIFr5BI3IrLZfNltP5wG75FIYbw&ust=1476699096693542

[pshome]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/301565824956

[toejam]

Mine pulls half a gallon to a gallon a day when i first switch it on, about this time of year.  12X12 FT  t&g shed reasonably airtight !   .After a week everything is bone dry ,warm and crispy . It does have a humidistat . Can't remember how much juice it uses  but its  watts not kilowatts  and as already said , its not working all the time..

[pshome]

If it goes on and off by itself, then it must have some sort of humidity sensor to tell it when to do so.

[pshome]

Cheers for the advise,its a DP tools one that has a dial with 30/50/80% etc and certainly does draw the damp,

its one of thesehttps://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwj3x7T9it_PAhVCUhQKHTFNBB8QjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gumtree.com%2Fp%2Fother-household-goods%2Fdp-tools-pd3500-dehumidifier%2F1176340533&psig=AFQjCNGyIFr5BI3IrLZfNltP5wG75FIYbw&ust=1476699096693542

certainly has a sensor, otherwise the humidity level selection wouldn't make any sense.

[Bobthebeard]

Hmmm. If the garage isn't totally sealed then the de humidifier is just trying to dry out the world. It will collect moisture from the atmosphere around it but not actually create a drier area for the car as damp air is just sucked in from outside.

[purplebargeken]

Shouldn't there be some kind of through draft in a garage?

[pshome]

Hmmm. If the garage isn't totally sealed then the de humidifier is just trying to dry out the world. It will collect moisture from the atmosphere around it but not actually create a drier area for the car as damp air is just sucked in from outside.

[Alusilber]

Shouldn't there be some kind of through draft in a garage?

 

I think there are two opposite approaches to this, one is to ignore the humidity and maximise ventilation, the other is to use a dehumidifier which (as mentioned before) necessitates minimising the ventilation.

 

By the way, if you are concerned about humidity, something like this is useful

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00ZEHLQOS

 

though they're not fantastically accurate (+/-5% RH)