Energy Star
Energy Star rated dehumidifiers are efficiently designed to keep utility bills low. Many dehumidifiers can draw a lot of energy and cost more than your average refrigerator to operate if they need to operate for a long time. It is important to check the energy consumption very carefully as large area dehumidifiers like the WhiteWing Defender dehumidifier may save you a significant amount of money in your energy bills long term, besides having a much longer lifespan than many other dehumidifiers.
Automatic Restart
Automatic restart restarts a dehumidifier after a power outage. This option is useful in a 2nd home or any location where you are not always present. While it’s convenient even in a home or location that you’re usually at, it’s not always necessary.
Continuous Drainage
Dehumidifiers by themselves are very useful, if they can be even more so, if they can continuously drain. Many people don’t know that their current dehumidifier may be easily retrofitted with a condensate pump. These pumps can lift water upwards up to 15 feet while pushing it horizontally over 100 feet into a drain, sink, washing machine out-flow pipe, out a window, through a wall, or even to a different floor. It is not typical but some dehumidifiers have built in pumps, especially the higher volume commercial dehumidifiers. The key benefit of having a condensate pump is not having to carry and empty a bucket of water on a daily basis.
Temperature
Some dehumidifiers will only operate at temperatures of 65 degrees and above which can lead to ice forming on the coils if the temperatures falls below this level. Frozen dehumidifier coils can result in the dehumidifier shutting itself off. There are dehumidifiers designed to operate below 65 degrees and they are called low temperature dehumidifiers which are recommended for most basements and are a necessity in northern and eastern parts of the country where basement temperatures drop below 65 degrees. Dehumidifiers such as the Fral have built in “frost guards” or “freeze guards” designed to turn off the compressor as soon as freezing is detected and leave the fan running to blow warm air over the coils.
Noise Level
Many people are unaware of the high noise levels in dehumidifiers. Low temperature dehumidifiers tend to be noisier than regular temperature units. All dehumidifiers make some noise, but the newer models have the noise recede into the background with a low hum noise level. The quietest low temp basement dehumidifiers tested by AllergyBuyersClub.com are the Danby dehumidifiers.
For more information, visit AllergyBuyersClub.com for dehumidifier ratings, reviews and comparisons on top rated dehumidifiers.