How much is your garage dehumidifier costing/using?

[White-Noise]

I recently picked up a Meaco DD8L junior. Some good threads around the forum with advice for which to get. But I want to ask about energy use others experience, not just for this model.

However I've been quite surprised at how much work it's doing(and costing). I have a garage of roughly 3x8x2.5m.

I have sealed it up as best I can, there are some remaining small gaps I need to try and close, say around the edge of the side door but they only exist as it rattles a few mm.

Yet so far, a few days it's running all the time. It will cost around £50 for the month assuming 350w at a guess.

I'm hoping it's drawing moisture out of all of the surfaces and contents, and will settle down, but it seems excessive. It's not attached to the house, no insulation, corrugated roof, usual garage door with a timber side door.

What is your setup, how much power is it using and how much does it cost you to run for the month? Thanks

[RicksAlfas]

I have mine on one fan/one drop. It keeps the garage reasonably dry and kicks in and out when it's needed. I have no idea of running costs. (Not helpful, sorry). Make sure you're not running yours on continuous if you are worried about it.

[kambites]

My EcoAir DD1 is rated at 300w, but in practice seems to average around 75w throughout the year keeping my 7x7m garage damp-free. That's something like £200 a year at current prices.

[Hereward]

I think the desiccant-type dehumidifiers (which yours is) consume much more power than the compressor types.

[RicksAlfas]

Hereward said:

I think the desiccant-type dehumidifiers (which yours is) consume much more power than the compressor types.

They do. But they don't freeze up so it's worth the extra for me.

[kambites]

Hereward said:

I think the desiccant-type dehumidifiers (which yours is) consume much more power than the compressor types.

Condensing dehumidifiers are certainly more efficient at higher temperatures, but once it drops below about 20 Celsius there's not much in it and under about 15 degrees, desiccant units are more efficient. Under about 3 degrees, condensing dehumidifiers basically don't work at all because the heat exchanger starts to ice up.

If you have to start heating your heat exchanger unit to defrost it, the energy consumption is horrific. Having used both, over the course of a year in the UK, I've found the desiccant units to be more efficient on average.

[OutInTheShed]

I don't run mine 24/7, I try to run it when it will be most needed and most effective.
Today's wind and rain means I'll probably run it today and tomorrow.
Later in the week, the weather is colder, so the garage will retain enough warmth to avoid condensation.

No two years are the same, but I reckon under £100 a year.

[rfsteel]

I've been running a DD8L in my unisulated, single brick skin garage for the past 8 years, with a max usage of just under 5kWh in a day in the past week.



This is yesterdays usage, humidity and temps


This is the last 7 days usage, humidity and temps


For a comparison in usage, back on the 8th Decemeber I changed the mode on the DD8L from 60% down to 50%, from the graph below;

[Drogo]

Love the graphs.

What tech are you using?

[Hoofy]

Wow! That's next level stuff. I just run mine and don't think about it.

Oh, if there are any areas that are wetter or damper because of rain or whatever, you could have a small fan blow over that area to get air movement.

[2Btoo]

Drogo said:

Love the graphs.

What tech are you using?

Looks like Home Assistant. And that's a really nice example of how to use it well!

[gotoPzero]

Desiccant here in the garage seems to use about £1-£1.50 per day when on fixed rate.

Its costing less now though as run it overnight on cheap electric and only put it on in the day when I know its going to be very damp / humid.

I estimate now its more like 50p a day on average.

[rfsteel]

2Btoo said:

Looks like Home Assistant. And that's a really nice example of how to use it well!

Correct Home Assistant along with a TAPO P110 plug to monitor energy usages and a Govee H5075 to monitor temps and humidity.

[White-Noise]

Ah some fellow home labbers! I have the same govee and tplink plug as it happens.

Thanks for the details rfsteel. I like the dashboard I may have to try and get that setup going in the future. I tinkered with homeassistant but not gotten far as of yet.

Thanks for the feedback folks. I did find another thread from years gone past which confirmed my suspicions on drying it out up front. That's nice to see as its running a lot on the high mode.

• * quote

I found that it took two solid weeks of my unit running flat out almost constantly to dry out the walls, woodwork - the very fabric of the building being the main issue - before things got under control and now the unit cuts in and out happily perhaps running for 10 minutes every hour or so. If I make the garage warmer (which is more expensive than running the DH so I don’t! unless I’m in there) then it runs hardly at all.

• *

Here's the humidity of the last month you can see when I started using it and been tinkering with the settings...