De-Humidifiers?

[wooslehunter]

Anyone got any recommendations? There was a thread a couple of weeks ago talking about a deal at B&Q for about £100 for a compressorless unit.

B&Q warehouse to me has a compressor type for £75. They all seem to have similar specs.

I need to keep a Centaur a bit dryer especially above the 1/4 berths where the ventillation isn't too good

 

[Roy]

I bought one from B&Q or Argos last springtime. About £70. Has the frost stat.External hose option and high/low speed with settings speed. Fairly heavy mind you, but on castors. Anyway, works a treat and boat is dry as a bone. Also use a little tube heater too. By the way, we used the dehummer in our holiday home over new year as it was a bit damp. Took out about a half gallon of water from it after only 24 hours. Amazing machine.

 

[stretch33]

Bought the B&Q one about 6 weeks ago, £70 and worth every penny, takes about 1 litre out of mine every 3/4 days or so, set to midway position. Also have tube heater and sml B&Q Oil filled rad. What a difference.

 

[roberth]

B&Q here also. About £80, autodefrost. Also bought small 700W oilfilled rad for £20 from same outlet to keep temp up to optimise dehumidifying. Seems to work really well.

In swindlers cheapest similar spec dehumidifier was £130. You pays your money....

Robert

 

[andyroo]

Bought a B&Q £75 dehumidifier about two months ago now. Can't fault it. Has defrost setting, can be used continuously and is really drying the boat out well. It is also cheaper than most!

The B&Q dehumidifier was recommended from this site, and I have only heard good things about them. Would definitely recommend it.

 

[Anwen]

Yep, very pleased with our B&Q jobbie. Sits on the worktop in the galley and drains via a hose to the sink. The boat has been bone dry this winter; in fact based on the free flowing nature of the sugar in a Tupperware, the boat is dryer than last summer!

 

[jrt]

Had one for yonks. Used it at home before bought a boat. Hang the washing out and it dries very quickly without the flat getting damp. It's on the boat now, drying it out beautifully. A very good bit of kit. You should have the anti frost option and the pipe option for continuous running. Put the hose in, put dehumidifier on the gally sink, tie in place (in case the boat rolls), switch on and leave. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

 

[Lance]

I recommended the B&Q £75 unit on this forum back in October (not sure I was the first to do so)
3 Months on and and I can report that it works a treat and worth every penny.

Lance

 

[FrayBentos]

Its worth also putting a small fan on the boat with a time clock. 5 minutes every few hours just to get the air circulating in the nooks and crannies of the lockers makes a big difference.
Once the boat is dry after a few weeks with the dehumidifier you can use a time clock to only turn it on every other day or even 2 day a week if the boat is well sealed

 

[Anthony]

I second (or is that 27th ;-) ) the B&Q unit. I noticed however that it was not mentioned in teh PBO review of dehumidifers a few months agoi, only swinadlry ones, but of course I wouldnt want to speculate why....

Ants

 

[enterprise]

I posted some weeks ago about Amberdry dehumidifiers.

These were the compressorless alternative.
See previous posts(Amberdry Dehumidifiers) for details but in brief they are excellent for low temperature locations.
The process involves heat transfer by the unit which has the added benefit of not needing external heat sources to provide optimum conditions.

I have left the unit aboard with it piped to the galley sink, at worked very well at home but I have been unable to vissit the boat since it went aboard to compare results.

This too was bought from B&Q for £100 a saving of £99 on it's previous ticket price, I don't know if anyone else managed to buy one as they understandably sold very quickly.

will update after vissiting boat next weekend.

 

[QuietFlight]

Another one here that went for the £75 B & Q model - just brilliant! The boat has never been dryer, simple to use and small enough to store away while sailing. I also run a couple of tube heaters as well, you really do feel the difference when you enter the boat. I guess those with no access to shore power there is not much you can do?

 

[wooslehunter]

Well, that's it then. It's off to B&Q tonight.

Thanks everyone,
Dave

 

[aidancoughlan]

How does the hose attachment work ?

Did the hose come with the B&Q unit?. I bought a unit from B&Q recently too for about €120 euros (around £80) which was the most compact one in their range in the local shop here in Dublin. There is a hose attach ment at the back (a large cap screws off by hand to expose it), but when I attached a piece of hose to it, the machine it still cuts out when the container is full. Someone at the boatyard suggested you have to leave the container off and put a piece of tape over the micro-switch that the container presses.... doesnt sound right to me though.
Anybody had any problems getting the hose to work ?

 

[Anonymous]

Like many others, I am a great fan of dehumidifiers and used one for five years on my Centaur with brilliant results and we now run two round the clock as liveaboards on a Nauticat 42. However, there can be risks in over-drying wood, particularly in older wooden vessels and with fine woods. I was shown round a 1930s gentleman's motor cruiser this afternoon that had been lovingly restored but the effect of a dehumidifier post-restoration was to cause severe cracking of the wood. They have removed the dehumidifier and now use only heating and ventilation.

If one does use a dehumidifier round the clock, one should monitor the humidity and check the wood carefully.

 

[msimms]

Re: How does the hose attachment work ?

Did you remove the little rubber bung that's revealed when you unscrew the large screw cap?

I wouldn't do the tape suggestion otherwise the water would just drain straight out of where the bucket fits. On mine it did fill the container once, even with the bung removed. Since then I've stored the bung in the water entry point for the bucket. From memory remove the bucket and look to the upper left side for the opening. Replace bucket after fitting the bung.

I leave it on constantly with the humidistat set to just below half way. This coupled with a small heater seems to keep the humidity level in the boat about right.

Had to purchase the drain hose separately.

 

[Piers]

Re: How does the hose attachment work ?

Yesterday, I bought the £74.95 B & Q unit. Lightweight and neat, it's doing a grand job. If you want to drain everything direct without using the internal water bucket, you must buy a length of hose, remove the small rubber bung from the drain, and it's away. Seems to have everything - frost stat, auto-off when the bucket is full, quiet....