Most helpful customer reviews
406 of 409 people found the following review helpful.
Perfect arrival, installation, effectiveness
By Dave Tennis
I spent a night reviewing dehumidifiers at Consumer Reports, amazon, and elsewhere to understand what I should use for a damp basement after the 2010 east coast winter. I realized, finally, by plowing through all the hype, that the “70 pints” does not refer to the volume of the bucket, but the rate at which the dehumidifier can remove water vapor from the air: 70 pints per day, but the buckets are all the same, about 2 gallons. That needs to be made clearer in the review and advertising. For a block-wall basement, with French drains, in an area with high water table, or for any room where liquid water appears, you need the highest rate so the unit cycles on and off. Otherwise, you seriously waste power.
This unit (Frigidaire FAD704TDP) was not reviewed by Consumer Reports, but by others who were concerned with drying rates and noise. This unit is almost silent! It filled a 2-gal bucket in just a few hours in a 40×60 foot basement with no liquid water but with damp block foundation. Overnight, the difference was remarkable; in two days time, it was dry and liveable without further odors. It cycles in 1-3 hours, depending on rainfall, when set to 40% humidity, and I would suppose that higher or lower settings may be needed at other times of year.
I built a clear vinyl hose from parts at hardware store, and piped the water to the small sump attached to the house HVAC. The unit had to be placed on an 8″ box (wooden), with casters to keep it from rolling off. Being able to see the hose water was important as grunge will appear; when not hosed out, this eventually blocked the hose and defeated the dehumidifier. The built-in air filter is not designed to remove mold spores to prevent this problem.
A very good product, confidently recommended.
152 of 153 people found the following review helpful.
Worked great, but didn’t hold up.
By David Snyder
I really liked this dehumidifier for the season and a half that it lasted. I used it in a basement and connected a drain hose for continuous operation. It had no trouble keeping my basement at 50 – 60% humidity and I really never had to do anything except check and clean the filter every few weeks. I felt the noise level was reasonable for a basement. The bucket was a little tricky to remove, but since I had it hooked up to a hose that didn’t bother me too much.
Unfortunately it seems like no one can build a dehumidifier that lasts anymore. This one didn’t fail completely, but it appeared that something went wrong with the humidistat or electronics. After the problems started the unit always displayed the humidity as 95% and ran continuously. I checked the hose and there was still plenty of moisture being removed so I think the compressor was still going strong. Since I had an extended warranty (I bought this from HH Gregg) I returned for repair but they decided it was too expensive to fix and now I must replace it. I may take a chance on another Frigidaire, or perhaps the Soleus 70 pint model.
I am giving this three stars because although it worked well at first, I think an appliance like this should last for 5 years at a minimum, and also if something does go wrong these should be repairable. That energy star rating means nothing if there are a stream of these headed to a landfill because they don’t last.
UPDATE 06-02-2010: I decided to go with this unit as a replacement for my previous Frigidaire 70 pint unit. Just a warning, the unit I got looks slightly different… more like this one: http://www.amazon.com/Frigidaire-70-pint-Dehumidifier/dp/B001UH91OI/ref=sr_1_20?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1275532106&sr=1-20 I originally thought this might be old stock, but the date of manufacture was 3/10 so I must be mistaken. Hopefully my warranty will transfer because I have a feeling I will be going through this all again in a couple years.
50 of 52 people found the following review helpful.
Great dehumidifier
By P. Comeau
I bought the 70pint version last year after my old dehumidifier died and I started getting mold and mildew in my basement. I have a 200 year old home with a basement approximately 5 feet below ground depth so fairly damp. This unit’s been great so far and I love the fact you can set the humidity level (I keep at 50%). With all the rain we had in the northeast this past March it’s been running steady for over 4 weeks but without issue. I have it drain direct to my sump.
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