Do dehumidifiers Just go bad?

[simple_john]

last month, my electric bill more than doubled...

its usually always around 60-65$ month in and out...year in year out..
(no AC, gas dryer,oven,oil heat & hot water)

so ive been arguing with the electric company.. nothing in my house changed.. same appliances same everything... but my electric bill doubled..
i had them check my meter and they said its fine...

I verified the water pump is ok and not running constantly...


finally a month and a half later.. it appears its my dehumidifier.... The thing is, ive had the thing since i moved here.. always on the same setting..

my KWH usage per day went from 14 (average every month) to 28...

to verify or see what it could be.. ive been reading the meter every day and not using an appliance to see if i can see what can be causing it..

well i shut the dehumidifier right off and the last 24 hours i only used 8 kwh...

so im leaning toward the dehumidifier being bad?

Id understand it sucking extra juice if it was always running.. but it does not.. it cycles on and off as it has always done... i cleaned out the little filter on it.... do you think something could go wrong with it that would cause it to just suck extra energy while its running??


The only other change is i got a big laser color printer (behemoth) and i printed a ton of stuff last month.. but i cant believe that a printer could effect electricity usage THAT much...

[bontai Joe]

A dehumidifier is like a little refrigerator compressor and they suck up some serious watts. If the compressor is going bad, or the motor is going bad it will increase the load. These things do have bearings that as they wear will drag on the drive line. It also could be that even though you hear it cycle on and off, it is simply staying on longer than normal because of the high heat and humidity. Most operate on a temperature control just like a fridge or air conditioner, figuring that cooler air has less moisture in it, so the hotter the air, the more it runs if at the same setting as before.

[sixchows]

I was searching for a natural gas/propane conversion carb for generators yesterday and stumbled onto a forum about generators and alternate power sources. There was a very interesting thread there about how when the voltage coming into your home drops due to overloads on the power co. or just that the power co. drops the voltage to avoid an outage that your kw usage goes through the roof! Seems that the kw needed to run the same appliances at say 90 volts rather than the normal 115volts was almost double. One poster there was looking into exposing the local electric co. on the evening news. His thinking was they were doing on purpose to boost the bill!

[Archdean]

"SJ, my KWH usage per day went from 14 (average every month) to 28..."

This will make you feel a whole lot better, perhaps that little girl could even plug in the polisher once in awhile as she is so adroitly shining your Simplicity!!

Mine..

Average daily Kwh 122
Average daily cost $9.59
Cost total for July $293.74

[msmithla]

A dehumidifier should work the same as air conditioner. I believe the dehumidifier pulls air from the coil where as an a/c unit blows across the coil.

If the coil is dirty or low of freon, the head pressure will come up, resulting in more labor being added to the compressor, (more amp draw). Thus not working as effective and running longer.

Don't really come across those in Louisiana but should be the same concept as an a/c unit. If I'm way off, someone please point me in the right direction.

[Archdean]

A dehumidifier is simply an air conditioner that has both its hot and cold coils in the same box. A fan draws the room's air over the cold coil of the air conditioner to condense the moisture (which normally drips into a bucket). The dry air then passes through the hot coil to heat it back up to its original temperature. That's all there is to it! If you have a room that is air conditioned, it should not need a dehumidifier -- the air conditioner should be doing the dehumidifying for you.

You got it right as far as I'm concerened!

[simple_john]

ouch 293 for electricity? a lot of AC running?

I only have the dehumidifier in the basement.. just to keep it from getting musty...

[Archdean]

ouch 293 for electricity? a lot of AC running?

I only have the dehumidifier in the basement.. just to keep it from getting musty...

It's really not as bad as it seems I run two A/C's ( a 4 ton down and a 3 ton up 24/7) plus pump 50 gallons a minute for 3 hours a day!! Not to mention the normal stuff, outdoor lighting and 4 to 5 computers buzzing all the time!! If I lived in your part of the country SJ I'd have to mortgage the damn place!!ROF

[Ken in NJ]

Yes they do .. same for AC units ... Myself being an electrical contractor for the past 10 years and working in the field for a total of 25 years, I have had many calls from customers wanting me to come and check there service to see why their power useage has gone way up for no reason. When in fact there is always a reason .. bad compressor motors, lose connections, voltage drop as sixchows said.. with lower then normal voltage.... motors work harder ..make more heat ..and often burn up prematurely.. MAKE sure if using a long cord .. its heavy duty. I have seen lots of tools and equipment die a very young age because of people using 100' 16 gauge cord with a 20 amp draw tool on the other end.

I would check the voltage at the receptacle your dehumidifers plugged into, and if you have an amp probe .. check the amp draw, starting and running amps .. see if it is in line with the spec plate on the unit .. If it is old ..may be time for a new one..

Good luck
Any other questions .. please feel free to ask :hatsoff:

[Mickey]

I have a decent sized dehimidifier, 40 pints/day. Rated power usage is 7.5A which is about 850W. A little over 20kw a day IF running full time.

SJ, you know better than us how much the unit is running. Can the duty cycle be so much greater than before to use this much additional power? I don't think so. Lazer printers use a LOT of power as compared to inkjets.

Maybe increased duty cycle of the dehimidifier and the large use of the lazer printer you mentioned might add up to the increased power usage.

Oh, dehimidifiers do NOT have thermostats. They do use humidistats that sense the moisture in the air. The humidistat in my dehimidifier is just a nylon band. Nylon is very hygroscopic and the band grows/shrinks with the change in humidity and this in turn acuates a snap action switch.

[jdkubotamurray]

Ouch archdean, I'm running 6 tons total here in nearly 100 degree weather with humidity close to that sometimes and the whole electric house and shop and outside light bill is just over $100. Won't last though as I'm certain TVA is being gradually morphed from a Government Agency to For Profit Investor held provider

[Archdean]

Ouch archdean, I'm running 6 tons total here in nearly 100 degree weather with humidity close to that sometimes and the whole electric house and shop and outside light bill is just over $100. Won't last though as I'm certain TVA is being gradually morphed from a Government Agency to For Profit Investor held provider

It is really eaten up (if that makes any sense) by the electric range (canning)/Dishwasher(cleaning all the canning Items)/and 2 irrigation pumps (to grow all the damn stuff in the first place)!! And some wise acre once said save money plant a garden!!ROF ROF ROF

[guest]

"SJ, my KWH usage per day went from 14 (average every month) to 28..."

This will make you feel a whole lot better, perhaps that little girl could even plug in the polisher once in awhile as she is so adroitly shining your Simplicity!!

Mine..

Average daily Kwh 122
Average daily cost $9.59
Cost total for July $293.74

Holy cow Dean! Do you keep the A/C set on 60 degrees and run the well pump round the clock? I am maintaining two households right now and my electric bill is not that much for both. OK must have some serious high electric rates or you need to check out what is drawing so much power.

[Argee]

It is really eaten up (if that makes any sense) by the electric range (canning)/Dishwasher(cleaning all the canning Items)/and 2 irrigation pumps (to grow all the damn stuff in the first place)!! And some wise acre once said save money plant a garden!!ROF ROF ROF

How big of a garden do you have that it requires two irrigation pumps?????

[Archdean]

How big of a garden do you have that it requires two irrigation pumps?????

Randy,/Chief (Randy)
It's not so much the garden but I do water the lawn area acre + twice a day for 1/12 hours each cycle with a 1 horse feeding into a 2 horse Irrigation pump that does it, about 50 gal. a miniute!! Nothing wrong Electricaly speaking, and the rate did jump some due to the coop having to purchase about a third of their power rather then meet the need entirely from the Lake Dam at (purchased power.01075 per KWH. last month June the purchased power rate was .00774 per KWH that increase alone added close to $50.00

It's really not that bad .. the water is free and I use a bunch of it!!

[guest]

That still seems like a high electric bill for running your water system for 10 minutes a day. Granted a 1 horse and 2 horse pump will use a good but of juice but it still seems high. That would be only 500 gallons per day. Doesn't seem like an excessive amount. I would suggest you do an inventory of what gets used in and around your home that draws so much power. You may be surprised at what you find. In my old home, the monthly electric bills went from around $250 a month to around $125 average after insulating the attic with R-34, the floors with R-19, wrapping thermal blankets around both water heaters and upgrading to twin separate 13 SEER heat pumps. (one for each side of the house & running only one unit at night) This was with my house and the neighbors both running off of my well with 1 hp pump.

[Archdean]

That still seems like a high electric bill for running your water system for 10 minutes a day. Granted a 1 horse and 2 horse pump will use a good but of juice but it still seems high. That would be only 500 gallons per day. Doesn't seem like an excessive amount. I would suggest you do an inventory of what gets used in and around your home that draws so much power. You may be surprised at what you find. In my old home, the monthly electric bills went from around $250 a month to around $125 average after insulating the attic with R-34, the floors with R-19, wrapping thermal blankets around both water heaters and upgrading to twin separate 13 SEER heat pumps. (one for each side of the house & running only one unit at night) This was with my house and the neighbors both running off of my well with 1 hp pump.

Some where we disconnected with the numbers Randy!! My fault I meant 1 and 1/2 hours x twice per day for a total of 3 hours!!
My pumps run 3 hours a day and put out 50 gallons a minute which amounts to around 9000 gallons a day at approximately 45 PSI...

Now the bill seems more in line with the numbers!! No??

[guest]

In your post, you typed 1/12 hours. I thought you meant one twelth of an hour which would be 5 minutes at 50 gallons per minute. I didn't think you ran it for so long. That is a LOT of water! I can see why your bill is so high now.

[Archdean]

In your post, you typed 1/12 hours. I thought you meant one twelth of an hour which would be 5 minutes at 50 gallons per minute. I didn't think you ran it for so long. That is a LOT of water! I can see why your bill is so high now.

Your exactly right I did that unintentionaly, on a previous post I explained (Garden thingy something or other) where I explained how much water and what type of pump set-up I used!!! The all above is why we learned to repeat back all communications to ATC!! Any way you caught me with the sharp eye and no harm done!!:trink39: In any event they are on now and the cooling effect is delightful!!:fing32:

Note! Tonight is a swim night to celebrate the all most completed patio!! All are welcome!!