Dehumidifier

Rennie Heuer

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
11,607
Location
Constantine, MI
After 22 years of living in a high desert climate I've become rather spoiled, always feeling sorry for those of you that battle rust and swollen lumber. Now, I have those issues. All the items I built with drawers and brought with us need a bit of tuning as they stick...a lot. Every time I walk out to the garage I check to see if my equipment is beginning to feel the effects as well.

I was wondering if any of you blessed to live in more humid climate utilize a dehumidifier in the shop. Are there plusses or minuses to having one in the shop? Once the shop is complete I will have a small AC unit but it will not run except when I am working there. So there needs to be some other way to keep the humidity in check.

Been looking around and see that there is a rather large range of units available. Most are measured by the number of pints they are capable of removing in a single day. Some have circuitry that prevents freeze ups and still others have a pump that can remove the water so you do not have to dump the collection pan.

What are you all using? What size or options are worth having?:huh:
 
I have a hard concrete floor with a coating on it that is also hard and very sealed.

When I open the doors in Mid summer high humidity the floor get wet. No not wet - it puddles. You would think I hosed it down.

I will use a dehumiditor on those days, because the floor is very slippery.
 
My shop isn't heated/cooled so I keep things waxed and oiled frequently. I've also started using my dad's technique of keeping a sheet of luan/plywood cut to size on top of my TS and other metal tables. He did a light waxing once a year, but mostly to help keep plywood/boards sliding across the top smoothly. I had picked up his table from my BIL's shop a couple of years ago and being stored with that ply on top it looked as shiny as the day he stored it 15 years ago, where other exposed parts had gotten some surface rust.

Since most of the tools aren't really exposed to rapid changing hot/cold conditions they typically don't get condensation on them anyway.
 
Well I live 500 yards off the Atlantic ocean and less than 50 yards from the Gulf of Mexico (the Keys are kind of narrow). The humidity right now is 74 and dew point is 77 (good and sticky). I've been using Bostik Top Cote for years. Spray it on let it dry and polish off. I do this regularity in summer months and not just floor tools but any tool with an unpainted surface or bear surface (hand saws, saw blades, etc.). Unlike what Darren said, if I leave a piece of wood on the table saw, I can expect to have light surface rust under the wood in just a day or two. I never leave wood on any of my floor tools for that reason. I also A/C my shop when I am working in it but a little cost prohibitive all the time. As for a dehumidifier in my location it would be a waste of time do to the humidity. It would be working flat out all the time. I generally do not have as big a problem as you would expect. When it gets hot it stays hot and cools in the winter very slowly. The lack of rapid temperature changes is what is all about. It really is those rainy days with extra high humidity that take the toll. One thing I do know is a I build drawers / doors tight because once the furniture is in the A/C they will loosen up.
 
Last edited:
There is a lot of similarities between an AC and a Dehumidifier. (fans, coils, compressors.)
Are they that much different in cost to run?

(ie: I can't help wondering if you're getting the AC, why not just give it a modest set point and leave it on? )
 
No dehumidifier, but one of the great reasons I like my basement shop is that I have central air in my house so free air and humidity control in the shop, just checked and it is 72 upstairs and 64 in my shop, no wonder I like being down there:D
 
I've always had a portable dehumidifier in the shop for the worst days of the summer. Not only for the contents, but for me. I've also had a window A/C, and it doesn't seem to be any more expensive to run it versus the dehumidifier....the problem is that on some of the worst days, it isn't hot enough to make the AC run long stretches to dehumidify. In any case, I find them (dehumidifiers) indispensable, my problem has always been with their life expectancy; at least for the box store models. I think I had one last 5 years, but more typically it's 3 years +/-. I consider them a disposable appliance. There are some very good ones available, but they run 3-4 times the cost of the box store stuff.
 
I have a hard concrete floor with a coating on it that is also hard and very sealed.

When I open the doors in Mid summer high humidity the floor get wet. No not wet - it puddles. You would think I hosed it down.

I will use a dehumiditor on those days, because the floor is very slippery.

We had a warehouse floor in Houston that did that... it was really fun trying to take a forklift with a load across that floor without sliding off the dock...:eek::eek::eek::D
 
I don't have a dehumidifier, other than the window unit A/C I use during Summer. Even on a really humid day, a few minutes of operation makes my shop more comfortable.
 
.the problem is that on some of the worst days, it isn't hot enough to make the AC run long stretches to dehumidify.
This was my thought. Mornings here can be oppressively humid and around 65 degrees. AC would not help, but I assume the dehumidifier would. I have noted that some of the more expensive units will continue to function down to 41 degrees.
 
Case in point...
17ff26d3f541570fa3cc3aead4a112b5.png
 
This was my thought. Mornings here can be oppressively humid and around 65 degrees. AC would not help, but I assume the dehumidifier would. I have noted that some of the more expensive units will continue to function down to 41 degrees.

True, and I may wind up having to get one of them. I understand they are also more efficient, though, so there are some side benefits.
 
This was my thought. Mornings here can be oppressively humid and around 65 degrees. AC would not help, but I assume the dehumidifier would. I have noted that some of the more expensive units will continue to function down to 41 degrees.

They'll also pull out so much moisture that the tanks fill up in less than a day. If you can, get one with a hose adapter that you can run to a sump pump, floor drain, or outside. The one I used to have in the basement would fill its two gallon tank overnight on humid days/nights. I ran its drain line to the sump pump pit.
 
Top