Dehumidifier, who runs one?

Welcome to Iowa! LOL.  Since an AC is just a glorified dehumidifer I'm not sure how much you would save by running a standalone unit.  The dehumidifers I've used in the past have been power hogs.  If you decide to use one I would definitely not use it in the tank room.  With the AC running the evaporation from my tanks is as bad or worse than during the winter.  We use a setback thermostat that allows us to bring the room temp down at night for sleeping and then let things warm back up during the day.  We also keep the curtains on the south side of the house closed during the day to reduce heat gain.
I have or had a dehumidifer sitting unused in the basement.  If it's still there I'm willing to let you try it and see if it helps before you spend your frag money.   Don't know yet if I'm going on the tank tour this weekend or not.  If not I'll be in Ames for the spring scrimmage.  Worse case if those don't work is we can meet someplace.  I'm in Ankeny and generally make it to Ames a couple of times a month.
I'll check on the dehumidifer and let you know if we still have it.

 

I run a dehumidifier in my laundry room that is unfinished (concrete floor) just to keep the humidity down in there, but other than that I don't run it in the whole house tho.

-Justin

 

We run one in the basement. In the summer the combination of the tanks and our natural moisture can make our basement pretty damp.

 

For us it's not a feel issue so much as a dry issue. Without it you can really see a lot of moisture on the floors.

 

I don't think running a dehumidifier with all your windows in the house open is going to to a dang bit of difference.  The dehumidifier is actually going to create more heat and more than likely never shut off because of the never ending supply of hot humid air. 
If you wanna suffer to save a few bucks go for it.  Around here we usually just leave the windows open until it starts to get 85-90, once it gets that hot we shut the windows and run the AC set at 72 until the temps come back down.

 

We run one in our basement beacause of the normal basement dampness and the fish tanks. I run it all summer, I would suggest getting an energy star one at Menards. They have a digital setting so you set the humidity where you like it. They say to oversize the unit a bit(as far as pints per hour) so it wont run as much, something about them using alot of power on start up. Where are you from in Arnold's state?

 

I found the dehumidifer.  It's been sitting around for awhile and is dusty but it turned on when I plugged it in.  Looks like I'm going to the scrimmage on Sat so I can drop it off if you want to try it.  I'll PM you.

 

I am having some AC duct work done on my old (1925) home and the HVAC owner told me that it is better to run the fan constantly. This does two things, catches all the particles in the air that otehrwise we just breathe in and it also allows the air to continuously circulate not allowing the dampness to set in as badly while keeping the vent tubes pre cooled/heated. I did that during the winter and it really made a difference. Just having the fan blowing all the time is equivalent to a 45w light bulb, and what is another 45w light bulb when we are in this hobby! Just a thought!

 

PM sent - let me know if this one doesn't go through.

 

I run a dehumidifier in my apartment but the only reason is because I have over 400 gallons of water running in my apartment with my saltwater tank and my stingray tank and all this water causes a lot of moisture in such a tiny place.. But I haven't been paying attention to the electricity. Now since its warmer out the dehumidifier has been turned off and the windows are all open. But Idk if it would help your electricity bill compared to AC it does shoot off a good amount of heat so I think you would be making your place more unconfortable running that on a hot day with no AC.

Trevor

 

2nd what nucca tree said about running your furnace fan to the "on" setting. I'm from San Rafael myself, north of the golden gate. Mine was sized by the square footage I was trying to control.