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Hot , humid summer and cool , damp wintertime are part of living here in Georgia . The plentiful moisture can impact health and the household by create an idealistic environs for mould , mould , white ant , and cockroach to prosper . To prevent that from happening , I have always used a basement dehumidifier in my home . In my up-to-the-minute campaign to control the humidity in my basement , I discovered theGE 50 - Pint Portable Dehumidifierand put it to the test .
General Electric has been one of the most trust home appliance brands for generations . As of this writing , the GE dehumidifier has received ordinary military rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars from 547 reviewers on GE ’s website , and 4.2 out of 5 star from 440 reviewers on Amazon . I am happy to say that the brand repute and one C of positive reappraisal aligned with my firsthand experience . In the critique forwards , I will share my observations after using this dehumidifier in my cellar for a calendar month . brushup of other dehumidifiers our team has researched can be found inThe Best Dehumidifiers for Basementsguide .
Photo: Debbie Wolfe for Bob Vila
GE APEL50LZ 50-Pint Dehumidifier: At a Glance
Rating:9.6/10
SPECS
PROS
CONS
Get the GE dehumidifier for basement atThe Home Depot for $ 306.90 .
What is the GE 50-pint dehumidifier?
This dehumidifier is a portable unit capable of remove 50 pints of water supply per day in spaces up to 4,500 solid feet . It comes equipped with a humidistat to accurately detect and control humidity levels , and it boasts a three - focal ratio fan that moves line at rates of 147 , 165 , or 200 cubic feet per minute . substance abuser have the option to let weewee collect in the 15 - dry pint bucket or bond the included drainage hose and route it to a floor waste pipe or sump for nonstop operation . Thanks to the onboard pump , the dehumidifier can be configured to drain into an grand drainpipe as well .
Several feature make this dehumidifier a various option that ’s well - become for a variety of preferences . For representative , the automatic defrost arrangement keeps the coils from freeze in insensate basements . The automatic restart organization boots the unit up after a power outage , mechanically revert to the antecedently saved setting . Generous flow of air and moisture - removing capabilities make it a good option for big undetermined spaces , let in those in mellow - humidness locations . And it manoeuvre atlow noise levelsbetween 47 and 51 decibels , which makes it worthy for bedroom consumption . hearable alarms sound when the water bucketful fill and when the air filter needs to be cleaned .
Is the GE 50-pint dehumidifier easy to use?
TheGE 50 - pint portable dehumidifierarrived ready to use right out of the box . After remove the backpacking materials , I take out the drain hosiery , which was nest inside the pee pail . Then I simply punch the unit in , press the power button , and watched as it begin to take out moisture from the air like a shot . Without any adjustments , it reduced the humidness level in my 1,200 - square - groundwork basement from 67 percent to 61 percent in 3 hours . I then emptied the part full bucket and arrange the humidistat to 40 percent .
The controls , which are place out plainly on the top of the unit , are bare and intuitive . The controller board includes a power on / off button , a button to take high / average / down in the mouth fan hurrying , minus and plus buttons to select the targeted humidness level , a timer button , and a button to initiate the heart . The humidity level is display on an LCD silver screen in the heart and soul , and it swank incessantly when the bucketful is full . When the ambient humidness draw near the target area humidity level , the fan automatically slows , finally stopping when it reaches that target area . If the ambient humidness increase , after a violent storm , for instance , the whole can notice this and increase the fan speed mechanically .
Does the GE 50-pint dehumidifier work in cold basements?
Since I tested the unit during the autumn , I had a fairly wide of the mark range of temperature to work with . During a cool patch of atmospheric condition , when temperature hover in the 60 - point Fahrenheit range during the daylight and the 40 - degree Fahrenheit range overnight , I left my basement roll - up threshold and windows open to chill the blank space as much as possible . Then , I close up the basement and set the dehumidifier to target 40 percent humidness , starting this trial with a humidity level of 72 per centum and a temperature of 48 degrees Fahrenheit .
For this run , I installed the drainpipe hose on the dehumidifier , drain into my basement cesspit , in guild to keep it run ceaselessly . Due to the relatively warm soil surround the basement , the temperature inwardly quickly increase to 62 degrees Fahrenheit , which is still cool enough for a dehumidifier to immobilize . With the temperature increase , the humidity minify quickly to 55 percent , then slow minify until reaching the 40 percent prey .
The temperature in my unwarmed basement normally fluctuates from the mid-60s to the low fifty degree Fahrenheit during the winter . When the ambient humidity level in space is high and a dehumidifier run nonstop for an extended period , there ’s a high risk of the coils freeze out up . The coils did n’t freeze during my test , and the automatic defrost was not spark . I can not utter to how the dehumidifier would perform in wintertime conditions in colder region , but I sense confident that it will tolerate my soft wintertime area with no trouble .
Photo: Debbie Wolfe for Bob Vila
Does the GE 50-pint dehumidifier need to be drained?
Yes , one elbow room or another the dehumidifier postulate to be drained , but this theoretical account offer two options . substance abuser can opt to manually dump the H2O bucket when it fill up with moisture , or they can configure the dehumidifier to automatically debilitate water using the include drainage pump .
Those who opt for ditch the water bucket manually may have mixed touch about this dehumidifier . On one hand , the pail is capable of holding 15 pints of water , which is pretty telling . In my cellar , this allowed the dehumidifier to operate more than 8 hours at a time without filling up completely , which was slap-up for maintaining my hope humidity level overnight and during the workday . I could check and empty the bucket if needed in the morning , after body of work , and before bedtime . Other dehumidifiers with smaller buckets fill up in as trivial as 6 hr , causing them to sit idle for hour at a metre until they can be drained .
But absent the bucket was a little awkward , even though it was position on the front of the simple machine . And 15 pint of water librate a picayune more than 15 British pound sterling , so some degree of durability is required . That ’s where the drain pump came in handy . I could urge and bear the push button to engage the heart and drain the pee into a sink drainage or other raised drain without needing to remove the bucket . It worked big .
Photo: Debbie Wolfe for Bob Vila
Still , my pet configuration was the continuous drain option . To enable this , I connected the include hose through the drain port on the back of the machine and rout it to my cellar cesspit . If enough water pooled inside the sump , which it rarely did , the cesspool pump promptly dispatch the water .
Is the GE 50-pint dehumidifier worth the money?
TheGE 50 - pint portable dehumidifiersits around the heart of the toll range of a function for 50 - pint portable dehumidifiers . Those who shop purely on price without regard for comfort station element can find oneself more affordable models that are capable of hit a comparable amount of moisture from the zephyr in the same amount of time . But these more low-cost options usually lack a drain pump , auto defrost , auto restart , and other helpful feature . shopper who want top - of - the - line functionality , including phonation control and removed access via a mobile app , can pay more for those alternative in higher - end model . Considering the options it let in and those it lacks , this GE dehumidifier is priced moderately .
Is the GE 50-pint dehumidifier right for you?
Some shopper may be in search of a bargain or a high - end manikin with a outback control , in which case they might favor something dissimilar . For a cheaper price , thehOmeLabs 50 - pint dehumidifierwill save some cash and still get the job done , and it is also capable of a uninterrupted drain setup . At the other end of the spectrum , for exchange premium functionality , the sleek , roving app - controllableLG PuriCare 50 - dry pint WiFi - enabled dehumidifiercomes equipped with a Robert Frost detector , auto restart , timer , and is compatible with both Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant .
But for a damp , unheated basement like mine , the GE 50 - pint dehumidifier worked really well . After set up the uninterrupted drain into my cellar cesspit , I really only needed to ensure on it once every daytime or two to ensure proper operation and to monitor the “ change filter ” apprisal . It reduced the humidness to the aim horizontal surface within 24 hours , and it maintained that level with minimum noise , no fuss , and low power draw . I did n’t even notice a difference in my electricity circular . The price was militant , and I ’ve had no problem with it to date . Consider me another satisfied client .
Meet the Tester
Mark Wolfe is a writer and product tester with an extensive background in the nursery and landscape gardening industry . For more than 20 years he cut down , butt , embed , pruned , naturalize , water , and renovated beautiful landscape . Now he tests and writes reviews about the late outdoor power equipment , hand tools , lawn care ware , and other DIY and home good .
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