ALORAIR Duct-able Version Basement/Crawl Space Dehumidifiers 198 PPD Commercial Industrial Dehumidifier with Pump and Drain Hose, Energy Star Listed, Auto Defrosting

we were buying the Frigidaire brands that you get at the big box stores and they would last a year. This time we bought this heavy duty / commercial looking one and we are thrilled. The basement has never been this dry - which we wanted. It works like a champ. So glad we upped our game.

This machine has been whirring in my 900 sf basement for a month now, and has effectively reduced the humidity level to 49%. It has three settings to regulate the humidity level, is easy to set up and operate. I have it set up on a table, taped the hose so it has a good continuous slant, and have it dripping into a bucket. I do have to empty the bucket frequently, however. Testament to the machine! I highly recommend this dehumidifier.

After about an hour of run time I came to check and a steady drip of water is coming out of the hose. One thing I looked for was a unit that was already setup for a hose. This unit comes ready to connect the hose for gravity draining.I live in a temperate rainforest, rains 9 months a year. My property is at the bottom of a hill and needs to stay drier than it can on it's own. We read about these units for a long time before buying this one. We looked for the following items before buying this unit.Noise, this is quiet, sounds about like a summer box fan. You can hear it but it's not an unpleasant amount of sound.Size, this is a good size unit that would fit in just about any crawlspace. Packs a lot of punch for it's small size. It is not light weight so if you plan to mount this up to your joists make sure you buy adequate brackets.Humidity level settings seemed really important to us to try and ensure it didn't run all the time, however this unit also comes with a continuous run setting which we also liked because in our crawlspace it might need to be run continuously.The build quality seems good. Metal case feels like steel plates are all pinned together using nice rounded top screws. The handle on top seems adequate for occasional wear and tear, I could imagine that daily movement would eventually wear this handle out but it's very thick and comfortable. You can tell a lot of thought went into the machine to make the user experience more comfortable and easy.There are no duct connectors on this unit which do often come on these higher grade units. That was a concern for us but since we do plan to set this unit permanent in the crawl space to dry out the undersides of the house we felt it was a good fit for our needs.We also looked significantly at the units abilities. This unit is capable of drying out a smaller space or keeping a small issue at bay. Our issue is significant moisture not small, but the area itself is very small. We hope that the unit will meet our long terms needs.Based on initial testing run the unit in my climate will meet or exceed the manufacturer's claims. My home without dehumidifiers runs about 70% humidity. So anything would be better than that. Our little cheap little GE made for a 1200sq ft house can get the house to 35-45% humidity with less than half the capacity this unit has.As for value, anyone looking at these knows none of them are cheap. This one is a budget model cutting some frills for price point.

Performance:Not as advertised. In a 12 hour run test it inly removed half of the rated water. Hence the product rated 4stars.It removed 8 liters (a little less than 2 gallons) in 12 hours and used 3900w (power consumption rated at 325wh) that is almost 17 pints in half a day or 35 pints per day. Conditions of my test: RH=89%. Dew point= 59degrees F.Overall efficiency:2 kw to remove ~one gallon,2 kw to remove ~ 4 litersNoise: 3 stars65db in 1 foot radius.59 db in 6 feet radius.45 to 50 db (barely noticeable) behind a wall or when the unit is in crawl space, and you’re measuring in the room.Quality: 5 starsSolid piece of equipment. Low profile, perfect for crawl space.Value for money: 4 stars. Even though the actual performance is half the advertised value, an actual 35 ppd is good enough for a crawl space of 1500sqft if it’s run 24/7 and there is proper air circulation in the crawl space so the humidity is evenly distributed/removed.Ease of use: 5 stars. it has only one knob! Perfect for crawl space where you only need dehumidification function. It’s a set it and forget it short of installation.Speed: I think the fan speed is at the appropriate level to avoid louder operation.Pro tip 1:Install the unit at an elevated level. Connect a small hose to the drain hole, and place a tray or a catch can underneath. Install a separate water pump from the tray to outside.Peo tip 2:Install the unit and the water pump on smart wifi plugs so you can control them in your phone and don’t have to crawl in for power on/off.Pro tip3:Install a smart wifi humidity & temperature sensor behind the unit where the air is feeding in to constantly see the humidity level and how it changes over time on your phone.Pro tip4:If you have security cameras such as Blink, install a wifi camera and point it at your unit/tray so you can see the whole setup on your phone.Pro tip5: (I still haven’t done this but will install it): install a water leak sensor near the unit and place the probe on the floor where a possible water leak may occur.OR place it to the max level of your catch can so that when the water level gets to point, you will get a notification, or you can program your Alexa to turn on your water pump, or turn off your dehumidifier. Of course this is optional but it adds one more level of robustness to your setup so the water removed from the air doesnt go back accidentally to the crawl space.

Straight forward easy setup. Shove the drain hose in the drain port, ran it to my little giant pump that is set up for my HVAC. Works great so far. A few of the condenser fins looked like it was bumped during production. Doesn't seem to have affected it, I just straightened them out with a toothpick. Set it to 50%. My wireless humidity sensor sitting on top of the unit hasn't even gone above 44% that I have seen.I already contacted and spoke with the company (which was easy enough)to resolve an issue with a promo that didn't apply on Amazon when ordered. Amazon told me to contact the company to get the promo items. Not Alorairs fault, but they made it right and sent it right away. So far so good.As with all seemingly bad dehumidifier machines this day and age, only time will tell if it's a worthwhile device. I will update if anything changes.