The Framers Forum

Following on from the Framer's post about insulation I'm looking for a dehumidifier for my garage.
Does anyone have any recommendations, or any that I should avoid?

I would wait until you get it finished. You may not need one.

I'm not working on the garage, not yet anyway. So I reckon I need one just to make sure the equipment , boards etc are all okay.

Check out the Dessicant range of dehumidifiers

http://ecoair.org/Dehumidifier.html

Look good John, any idea which model and how you know which size to get?

This is the one I have.
http://www.ecoair.org/DD322FW-Simple.html

We had it in the shop for 18 months before moving.

I have no complaints at all about it.

I got my one from here:
http://www.meaco.com/default.asp
If you give them a ring they will advise want you need,
Its one of the best things i have purchased,
Regards
Dave

We bought this Meaco following a recommendation and have never looked back

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Meaco-DD122FW-M ... B001FCMHU8.

It is quiet, efficient and takes up very little room. It is big enough for our shop and workshop which is very damp because it has no dpc so it should easily keep a garage clear. It has been replaced by a newer model now which I think is the DD8L

http://www.meaco.com/proddetail.asp?prod=DD8L.

Good luck with whatever you purchase.

Just to let you know, on the strength of this post I got a Meaco DD8L this week and was shocked by the amount of water recovered in my workshop. I am now thinking of bottling the water as I think I could make more money than framing

Brilliant, well impressed.

Glad to have been of help and of course this is why the forum was created so that we could help each other. The water still appears to be crystal clear in mine but I'm not sure I'd want to drink it Good luck with the framing.

I've been thinking along the same lines however I'm sure my workshop is so draughty I'd be trying to dehumidify the whole of the village rather than just the workshop! How air tight does the space to be?

Yes, I've often wondered that as well Alan.

Our shop has large windows that were misting up with condensation, which is what prompted us to buy ours. There is a large gap under the front door but the dehumidifier clears the windows very quickly.

Normally though we have it in the central room, the workshop, where the mountboard is stored and it is large enough to look after the whole premises. Possibly if the drafts were stopped if would be even more efficient.

I spoke to the good people at Meaco, and like others on here my workshop is fairly open to the elements - I have big shutter doors that have a space top and bottom. My humidity levels will be consistent with whatever is in the natural environment and I was advised I would have to seal it off at least to some degree before a humidifier would make sense. I've now got a sensor in so I'll keep an eye on the humidity levels. Any idea what would be a decent humidity level for the boards / equipment?

I have used a D122 for over two years now, and it has transformed a damp, chilly Victorian shop into a dry comfortable working area. It has also got rid of any extra heating beyond one of those swivelly electric things that is on usually for an hour or so to heat up the,dry,air. I wouldn't say the shop is at a temperature you could sit in shirtsleeves, but is perfectly comfortable for a framers purposes. One thing that was emphasised to me by Meaco was the necessity to keep the filter clean-these models are not really meant for commercial use, and I was advised to clean it far more than suggested in the manual. I hoover it almost daily- there is a lot of dust around in a framers- and every now and again give it a damp wipe, which usually results in a quite grubby cloth, but I would reccommend the use of a dehumidifier in all situations. We also have two at home, where they also do their magic on a daily basis.