I have a nice unfinished basement and run a dehumidifier just to knock the humidity down a bit. The dehumidifier quit and a new one is 200 - 300 dollars. I was thinking about upgrading and installing a mini split system instead of buying another dehumidifier. The upgrade would be that I might finish the basement or part of it before I move to increase the living space for resale. Though for the immediate future I just want to keep the humidity knocked down and not so much for temperature. Does anyone have any experience with these systems and are they effective at lowering humidity? The space I am planning on using it for is open and measures 28' by 30' with 9-foot ceilings. About seven feet of the walls is below grade with the remaining 2 feet above grade. Thanks all, Robert
I love mine (Mitsubishi)...removes plenty of humidity while cooling. Quite efficient....uses no more than a 100w light bulb...I was told.
...do you run an electric hot water heater in basement? If so, consider a heat pump hw heater. 500W instead of almost 5K, with side benefit of basement cooling and dehumidification. I still use dehumidifier (basement entirely below grade and mostly finished), but it runs way less now. Heat pump hw heater downside if you run exclusively on heat pump is slower recovery, which means you have to manage hot water use or run in hybrid mode. Not good solution for large family and/or high use. I would have used natural gas if utility were available, but for us this was a great energy alternative...
