Bulbs & Fittings Ideas

Bought this for the basement, which used to sit around 70% humidity in the summer. Arrived on time and in great shape.

Pro’s:
1. It works extremely well to remove the humidity. I was advised to get the biggest unit I could. This was indeed good advise. It brought the large basement down to 50% humidity in short order and is keeping it there.
2. The pump function is super. Very well thought out. Exit is from the back, which is great. You push the special fitting (with hose) into the back of the unit and it automatically senses you want it to start pumping. No settings to fiddle with, it just knows. So nice to not have to empty the bucket.
3. The unit is attractive
4. The digital readout of temperature and humidity is great to have.
5. The controls are easy and intuitive.

Con’s:
1. It cycles way too often. I don’t understand why it does not wait until the humidity has increased to a certain level, say 5% above your setting, then run till it is 5% below. That way it cycles less. Right now, it turns on when its just barely above the setting and turns off when just below. It cycles about every 3 or 4 minutes, runs for about 4 minutes, then shuts off, only to turn back on 3 or 4 minutes later. Since the fan is loud, its really distracting. No way to adjust this setting that I can find.
2. The fan is quite loud. Not much you can do about this and every other unit I have owned suffers the same issue. I would guess since that is the basics of a dehumifier. i.e.run a big fan over a coil. Just be aware you are not going to be able to listen to mozart while this thing is on.
3. Even if you turn the fan to the low setting, it does not remember that the next time it fires back up. Right back to hurricane strength.

On the whole, its a good unit.

Followup – September 2013:

The unit suddenly stopped working after about 12.5 months. Bucket full light/alarm was on, even though I don’t use the bucket. Nothing I could do to make it realize the bucket was empty. I called customer support and they were great (yes real people, located in the USA). After confirming that, indeed, nothing could be done on my end and that there was no service techs in my area, they agreed to give me a little grace on the 12 month warranty window and sent me a new one. It arrived about two weeks later and I was up and running again. This is a class outfit folks. I can’t recommend more highly.

Friedrich Dehumidifier D70BP 70 Pint – Answers and Thoughts

(1) BUILT-IN PUMP

Though a well-regarded dehumidifier in its own right, this is considered by many as the one to beat if you need to not just gravity drain into a drain nearby but drain to a drain farther away or up a few feet into a sink (both vs. using the bin).

(2) BRAND

Friedrich doesn’t have a lot of brand recognition compared to the heavily advertised ones, so I thought I should point out they have a great reputation for quality design and customer service, to an extent due to reviews for their products from a consumer magazine over the years.

As they make changes to their sourcing model for such a complicated product it remains to be seen if their brand rise continues or falls into the rut of so many other formerly great brands, only time will tell.

(3) THE FAN

One reviewer doesn’t like that the fan never stops, however another doesn’t like that the fan cycles on and off as needed! 🙂 .. so I checked which is the case with the company. It turns out that the AP/BP (The BP is the one with the built-in pump) 70 pint models fans cycle on and off as needed, the other models have a fan that never shuts-off, according to support.

(4) MADE IN..

One reviewer noted these are made in the USA.. I checked if this is the case, most are made in China and one is made in Mexico.

(5) LIKE SNOWFLAKES AND FINGERPRINTS :)..

You should consider all dehumidifiers individually hit or miss, while I would buy a Friedrich product gladly, be sure what your exit/exchange strategy is should you get a lemon .. local availability of service .. is the reseller’s extended warranty no-fault .. do you have to pay for return shipping .. etc. This may be 10x more valuable to your satisfaction with the product than its features.

Friedrich, to their credit, actively tell folks on customer sales support to think about these things. Some resources for this research include their website, their great support line 800 541-6645, and Amazon customer service.

I also highly suggest buying a NO-FAULT EXTENDED WARRANTY for 2-3+ years for any dehumidifier, even though I rarely bother with extended warranties for most products.

(6) WARNINGS/NOTES IN GENERAL..

– If you have a medical/allergy, anti-mold, archival, or otherwise serious reason to maintain a humidity range you need to get something SEPARATE TO MEASURE HUMIDITY. Dehumidifier humidistats are often 15-25 RH off from the actual ambient RH, or don’t even show you what they assume it is.

– You MUST have a 3-PRONG OUTLET for each dehumidifier you get, NO 2-prong with adapter shortcuts, you want this kind of appliance grounded, like a refrigerator or air conditioner. If necessary hire an electrician to make it happen where you need it/them.

– Running big dehumidifiers non-stop can cost up to hundreds of dollars per year each and doing so may only bring the humidity lower than you need for comfort, medical, or archival purpose. Consider targeting to JUST BELOW YOUR TARGET HUMIDITY, for example 55rh to keep below 60rh rather than continuous running to get as low as possible. Of course, if it takes you continuously running to get to your target, ignore this suggestion:).

The product arrived timely and was very easy to set up. Also, the unit is much quieter than I expected and very efficient.

The first 10 days I emptied the pan effortlessly every day and then decided to try the automatic pump. The pump mechanism was a very pleasant surprise as it was very easy to start using, simply plugged into the back of the unit and it distributes the water through a 15 foot tube into the sink which is about 4 feet higher than the unit.

An excellent choice for our finished basement of about 1500 s.f.