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Tiny Dehumidifiers

23K views 49 replies 22 participants last post by  therapy23 
#1 · (Edited)
I've been using DampRid bags and canisters over the last 2 months to suck as much moisture as I could out of my Catalina 250. I plan to continue this on an ongoing basis, especially on the hard in winter when I don't have continuous shore power available.

But today I found an interesting little 4 pint/day electronic "small room" dehumidifier at Home Depot for under $50. I bought it out of curiosity, but have not opened the box yet. The brand name is "Perfect Home," apparently a house brand that HD uses for sundries like furniture casters. They don't even have it listed on their website, so I can't get full specs. But the display unit had a 12 v brick adapter (didn't bother to check wattage). This unit looks similar to some other Peltier dehumidifiers available online.

If I do decide to keep it I will use it at the dock, and use the DampRid on the hard.

Have any of you tried any of these little dehumidifiers? Are they just junk, or do they have usefulness for a confined space like found in a 25' boat?

I realize that conventional wisdom is to buy two of the Nicro solar vents (on blowing in, the other blowing out), but on such a small boat I really don't have much horizontal cabintop space to locate them.
 
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#5 ·
We used a mini dehumidifier (though looking more substantial than this one) and it worked for a while but had to be replaced under warranty.. when the next failed in a relatively short time we gave up and now run a Sears unit through the winter and shoulder months - impressively dry below (here on the wet coast), books and paper still crisp.
 
#7 · (Edited)
That thing looks supiciously like a HUMIDIFIER, not a DE-HUMIDIFIER...
It's not. The label was too tall to fit on my scanner. Something about the words "small room dehumidifier," printed above the part that I scanned, suggests that it's probably not a humidifier.
 
#8 ·
I opened the box & tested in my garage last night. Fan a little noisy, but not too bad. This morning it had a couple oz of water. I'm taking it to the boat tonight. I'll try to get some pics at some point.
 
#9 · (Edited)
EVA DRY Eva-Dry® Petite Electric Dehumidifier (EDV-1100)

AVAILABILITY: In stock, leaves warehouse in 1 - 7 full bus. days. - (details)
STORE AVAILABILITY: Your neighborhood Ace stocks thousands of products in the quantities you need. Check with your local Ace for availability. (find your local Ace)
Detachable tank that holds 16 oz. of water
Whisper Technology (no compressor) which makes it light and quiet
Small and easily portable- weighs less than 5 lbs.
Automatically shuts off when full
Great for closets, storage rooms, nurseries, bedrooms, and other locations where humidity is a problem
1 year manufacturers warranty from any manufacturer defects
UL and CE listed
Product dimensions: 8.5"H x 6"W x 4.5"D

Review Snapshot® by PowerReviews
Avg. Customer Rating: 3.8 stars
(based on 4 reviews)
75% of respondents would recommend this to a friend.
Customers most agreed on the following attributes:

Pros:Compact (3), Effective (3), Lightweight (3)
Primary use:personal (4)Already own it? Write a Review
closeReviewed by 4 CustomersSort by:Newest firstOldest firstHighest ratings firstLowest ratings firstMost helpful firstLeast helpful firstDisplaying Reviews 1-4 of 4Back to Top
[2 of 2 customers found this review helpful]

nice little machine
By Brad from Des Moines, IA on 9/12/2009
Comments about EVA DRY Eva-Dry® Petite Electric Dehumidifier (EDV-1100):

I bought this dehumidifier for a basement room with carpet that is approximately 12x15 feet. It does a good job of keeping the room dry, even when the rest of the basement is not. It takes about two days to fill, and I find emptying to be very easy. The small size is nice because I can tuck it out of the way.
I wouldn't call it whisper quiet, but it's not bad. We also have a space heater/fan that we run during the winter, and this dehumidifier is quieter than that.

Pros:Compact, Effective, Lightweight
Best Uses:Dank Basement, Summer Humidity
Primary use:personal
Bottom Line:Yes, I would recommend this to a friend
Was this review helpful to you? Yes / No- You may also flag this review.

[2 of 2 customers found this review helpful]

Works Great!
By George from Portland, OR on 12/1/2008
Comments about EVA DRY Eva-Dry® Petite Electric Dehumidifier (EDV-1100):

Unit is just the right size for the forward cabin. Maintains humidity at about 45%. If your boat is over 25 feet or so a larger or second unit will probably be required.

Pros:Compact, Effective, Lightweight
Cons:Noisy for living space, Power light is bright
Best Uses:On a sailboat
Describe Yourself:Boat owner
Primary use:personal
Bottom Line:Yes, I would recommend this to a friend
Was this review helpful to you? Yes / No- You may also flag this review.

[3 of 3 customers found this review helpful]

Small but useful
By Susan from Oakland, CA on 1/19/2008
Comments about EVA DRY Eva-Dry® Petite Electric Dehumidifier (EDV-1100):

This dehumidifer has been very useful and it's working great.
The water tank fills up quickly in my basement so I have to continue to
empty it out. Probably would be better for smaller spaces.

Pros:Compact, Effective, Lightweight
Best Uses:Bathroom, Dank Basement
Describe Yourself:Homeowner
Primary use:personal
Bottom Line:Yes, I would recommend this to a friend
Was this review helpful to you? Yes / No- You may also flag this review.

[1 of 7 customers found this review helpful]

One word -- worthless
By Whitebird from SW FL on 12/25/2007
Comments about EVA DRY Eva-Dry® Petite Electric Dehumidifier (EDV-1100):

I was very disappointed. This sounded liked the perfect product for my closet. However, it proved to be absolutely useless and I returned it.

Pros:Quiet
Cons:Ineffective, Very ineffective.
Best Uses:Summer Humidity, Used in walk in closet.
Describe Yourself:Homeowner
Primary use:personal
Bottom Line:No, I would not recommend this to a friend
Was this review helpful to you? Yes / No- You may also flag this review.

Displaying Reviews 1-4 of 4Back to Top
 
#10 · (Edited)
I went to the boat for the first time in a few days. I checked the dehumidifier, and the reservoir was about half full - about a pint of water. This thing has no humidistat - it just runs constantly. I am quite pleased with this, as it is a little more than the DampRid canister was accumulating. And it's pure water instead of the DampRid's corrosive brine that I don't like having anywhere near my galley hardware. Plus, it seems to be sized to hold about a week's worth of condensate. It's too early to tell about long-term durability, and of course whether the amount is actually enough to make a difference vs. a "drop in the bucket" (so to speak). But so far it is meeting my expectations for a little $50 accessory.

No pics yet. It is a tall, skinny device (see specs on scan above), so potentially prone to tipping on a boat. I have it wedged between the front bulkhead of my aft berth and the berth cushion so that it will not tip. There still is no listing on the Home Depot website, so you need to go to the store to see it.
 
#11 ·
The dehumidifier has been in for a few weeks, and continues to remove about a quart of water per week. I have removed all the Damp-Rid stuff - glad not to have the corrosive liquid leaking out from the countertop canister, and the awful perfume smell from their closet hangers.

Someone asked for some pictures, and I finally got a couple. The first shows what the front of the unit looks like. But since the water reservoir and on-off switch are both on the back, I velcro-ed the thing, facing backwards, to the forward fiddle of my galley storage shelf (see second pic):



 
#13 ·
The cord in the pic looks like a 120v cord, but it's actually carrying 12v from the power brick. If you wanted 12v operation, I suspect that you could easily tap into that cord with a 3-way switch (A-B-off) to provide a selectable power source. That would be much more efficient than using an inverter to go 12 VDC → 120VAC → 12 VDC.

I have no interest in 12v operation at this time. Either I'm at the dock with shore power, or I'm sailing with the companionway open. If you're at a mooring ball I can see how you might run this off a solar cell, although the power brick is rated at 60w IIRC, so you'll need a hefty cell.

Be aware that the internal fan is a little noisy, and the thing puts out some heat, so operating while you are in the cabin for an overnight might not be preferable. I just use it for while I'm away during the week.
 
#15 ·
I have a similar unit (the Eva Dry) as mentioned above. It's been working fine for the past several months and the container can fill in several days here in the PNW. It's very, very quiet, so I guess better than the Home Despot brand above. I'm going to rig up a tube at the top of the container so it will just pump the moisture into my sink drain and also use a timer so it won't be running 24/7.
 
#16 ·
RD—

Just curious, why don't you leave it running in the sink... it looks like if you removed the tank, it would just dump water directly into the sink. ;) Or if that makes you nervous....rig a hose to the output pipe that appears to be inside the tank, and then leave it sitting on the counter with the hose in the sink.
 
#17 ·
Would it be possible to put it over or in a larger bucket that could be drained out of the boat. That would be perfect for those of us that don't get down to the boat every weekend during the winter?

Harris
 
#18 · (Edited)
The dehumidifier has both a sensor to ensure that the tank is in place, as well as a float switch to turn it off when the tank fills up. So the best way to drain directly into the sink would be to install a tiny "through-hull fitting" in the back of the tank and attach a tube to run to the sink (or just put it in the sink).

I had been planning to do this, but it is way down on my very long list of more important safety improvements. Plus, lately I've been there to empty it out at least a couple times a week.

My basement dehumidifier is rigged to empty into a sump so I don't have to empty the tank. Unfortunately I have had two of them fail in the last 5 years, and they ran for [weeks? months? years?] before I noticed. (I discovered the most recent failure when I stuck it in my boat and got no condensation in the pan for a couple weeks.) So I try to run everything off the tank for at least a couple muggy weeks out of the year so I can gauge the rate of moisture removal.
 
#19 ·
RhythmDoctor

I have been running a small dehumidifier much like yours in my 26 foot sailboat here in Melbourne, Florida for the past two months. The temps and humidity here have been terrible for the past month or so. I drilled a hole about 1/3 up from the bottom in the plastic reservoir and put it in the sink. I figure I can put a cork in it if I need to. Anyway, it is running like a champ! I closed off the nicro vent and the bilge has been dry for a while now. I think this was one of my "way better" ideas. Good luck with your unit.
 
#20 ·
I have been wanting to put in a nicro vent for awhile, and this was my stop-gap measure while I figure it out. I have a good place to put one vent, but you need both in and out vents to make it work right. I do not have a really good place to put a second vent - unless I remove a redundant bulkhead compass (shown in the upper left of my profile pic) and replace it with a cowl vent. But this stopgap measure may be better anyway. My bilge has always been bone dry, but I have an outboard, so no packing gland to worry about.
 
#22 ·
I am not an expert, but I would think that this is the case. You're bringing in new air from the outside anyway (and that is a good thing), and that would probably overwhelm any dehumidification that you did.
 
#23 ·
The reason you put Nicro vents in place is to help prevent boats from becoming moisture pumps. As a boat heats up during the day, the air absorbs more moisture—since hotter air can hold more water. When the sun goes down, and as the air cools, then the additional water can condense out. By keeping the air flowing, the air doesn't tend to act as a moisture pumps, since it keeps the boat from heating up as much and moves the heated air, which holds more water vapor in it, out of the boat.
 
#24 ·
The reason you put Nicro vents in place is to help prevent boats from becoming moisture pumps. As a boat heats up during the day, the air absorbs more moisture-since hotter air can hold more water. When the sun goes down, and as the air cools, then the additional water can condense out. By keeping the air flowing, the air doesn't tend to act as a moisture pumps, since it keeps the boat from heating up as much and moves the heated air, which holds more water vapor in it, out of the boat.
I agree for the most part. But if the boat is well-sealed, and there are no pools of water to evaporate in the heat (i.e., bone dry bilge), then there is no source of moisture for the air to absorb when it gets hot, and thus no condensation when it cools.

So there are two extremes, both better than the alternatives:

  1. Good ventilation that prevents condensation when the boat cools
  2. Seal off the boat and dehumidify the stagnant air aggressively
I agree that option 1 is preferred, but if like me you do not have a good location for a second vent (yet), then option 2 may be a viable alternative

This is a similar argument to the settee locker condensation issue in a separate thread that I started. And by the way, I checked for condensation in my settee lockers last week and they were still completely dry.
 
#25 ·
#27 ·
Still works great for my boat, which is pretty water tight and only 25'. A larger boat may need more than one of these.
 
#28 ·
RD,
I'm torn between dehumidification and the Nicro vents. The dehumidification seems a good way to solve the problem of moisture in the cabin. However, unless I rig the dehumidifier to empty into the sink or another container (which then re-introduces the water into the air), it sounds like I'll have to make a weekly trip out to the boat to empty the tank. Knowing my personal schedule, I don't think that's likely. So, I'm stuck having it empty into a bucket (again, with the potential evaporation issues that brings with it) or empty into the drain. Not exactly a deal breaker, but it seems somewhat counterproductive. I'm OK with the shore-power only issue; I'll mostly be doing day sailing and occasional overnights, and most of the overnights will be at the dock, so that's not a big deal. The dehumidification should also make the air in the cabin feel cooler, which is good for the shore in the summer.

By contrast, the Nicro is solar powered and runs (essentially) constantly. I don't know that you need a second Nicro (on my C25, the companionway cover has vents, and the pop-top and hatch have areas where the air can easily enter), though I can certainly see where having a second one would make things even more efficient. The Nicro helps encourage air flow through the cabin, thus allowing the humidity levels inside and outside the cabin to remain relatively equal, which in turn reduces the condensation within the boat. There's nothing to empty, and I don't have to worry about float switches that don't trigger (not that a pint of water is really going to be a killer). The Nicro will also help move dryer air into the cabin, thus allowing for more effective evaporation of any water that may be in the bilge. Of course, unlike the dehumidifier, the Nicro won't make the air feel cooler (it doesn't move enough air to be a true "fan"), and it only ever dries out the cabin to the point where it is in equilibrium with the outside air. One Nicro is about $160, so about 3x the cost of the dehumidifier. That makes the dehumidifier very attractive, but I'm still not completely convinced. Can you help convince me? [:)]

Also, what do you do over the winter? Are you back to Damprid?
 
#29 ·
DampRid is what I use in the winter. Even if I had a Nicro vent, I'd need to do DampRid in the off season because my boat cover would block the sun.

For the dehumidifier, you can just drill a hole in the back of the pan and put it in your galley sink. Then you don't need to check it weekly. If you want to be a little fancier, glue a small hose barb into the pan and attach a Tygon hose into the drain - then your sink won't even get wet. I have not done this because so far I've gone to the boat frequently and wanted the water available to top off the battery if it needed it. But I will probably drill the hole next season.

I actually ordered a Nicro vent from WM but the order never come in due to a recall due to defect. I read around a little and learned that their batteries wear out pretty frequently. Then I remembered that when shopping for boats, the ones that had Nicro vents were never operating. I came across this Peltier-type dehumidifier by chance and decided to try it instead, and I've been happy with it ever since.

You are correct, I would not need a second Nicro vent. Since I posted that, I've realized that my boat has enough "little leaks" that there would be enough fugitive exhaust if I had one Nicro vent blowing in.
 
#30 ·

As i am on a mooring electric is not gonna happen

dorade boxes and hatch boards with water proff vents move a lot of air

My Nicro spins a LOT but moves nothing compared to the dorade boxes

The Cal 29 has a deep section in the bilge and it allows the boat to have a tiny amount of standing water to make smells
 
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