Whole Home Dehumidifiers in Smithville, ON — Drying Out a Basement That Never Dries

If you are emptying a bucket in the basement every other day from May to September, a whole home dehumidifier in Smithville is the thing that ends that job. It sits in the ductwork rather than on the floor, and it drains instead of filling. This page covers where the damp is coming from, what to hold the humidity at, and why opening the basement windows makes it worse.

Why a Smithville Basement Stays Damp All Summer

The water is coming through the wall, and it is coming in as vapour rather than as a leak. The soil air against the outside of a basement wall sits at or near saturation. For most of the year the water vapour pressure out there is higher than the pressure inside, and vapour moves from high pressure to low, so it travels in through the wall. (5)

Older Smithville and Grimsby houses feel this most. Block and stone walls with no insulation on the outside give the vapour an easy path and a cold surface to arrive at.

Now the part most people get backwards. Opening the basement windows in hot, humid weather makes the problem worse rather than better. Warm outdoor air holds a great deal of water, and when it meets a cool wall or a cool floor that water comes straight out of it. The National Research Council’s own recommendation is to limit basement ventilation in warm weather and dehumidify instead. (5)

Late spring and early summer are when it starts, which is also when the basement first feels cool compared with the air outside.

What Health Canada Says to Hold the Humidity At

Between 30 and 50 percent, and a dehumidifier is what Health Canada names as the way to get there. (3)

Above 50 is where the trouble starts, and the mechanism is the same one as the open window. Excessive humidity condensing on cold surfaces is one of the named causes of mould growth. (4) So the number is not a comfort preference. It is the line either side of which a cold wall is wet or dry.

There is one more thing worth saying, and it costs us a service we could have sold. Health Canada states that an air test for fungi cannot be used to assess the risk to occupants. (4) If the basement smells damp, the money goes on fixing the moisture rather than on testing the air.

How a Whole Home Dehumidifier Fits Into Your Ductwork

The federal definition is the clearest one: a whole home dehumidifier is designed to be installed in an air duct. (1) That single line is what separates it from the box in the basement corner.

Natural Resources Canada puts the difference plainly. A portable unit dries one room, while a whole-home unit uses the ducts the house already has and is usually a permanent installation. (2) It drains away to a floor drain or a pump, which is why nobody is emptying anything.

Mike Peddle holds a TSSA Heating Contractor registration, which is what opening a duct plenum beside a furnace calls for.

Original ductwork is the constraint in an older Smithville or Grimsby house. The unit needs a place in the duct run, and the drain needs somewhere to go from wherever that place turns out to be.

What a Whole Home Dehumidifier Costs to Run in Smithville

Canada regulates how much electricity these units may use, and the measure is Integrated Energy Factor, the litres of water a unit removes per kilowatt-hour of electricity. (2) A bigger number means more water out of the air for the same power.

For models built on or after 13 June 2019, a whole-home unit over 8.0 cubic feet has to reach 2.41 litres per kilowatt-hour, and one at 8.0 cubic feet or under has to reach 1.77. (1)

Put that in a day of running. A unit at 2.41 that pulls 10 litres out of the air used about 4 kilowatt-hours doing it, which is roughly what a clothes dryer uses in half a cycle.

ENERGY STAR certified models use nearly 15 percent less energy on average than a standard model. (2) In a Smithville basement the unit runs from about May to September rather than year round, so the saving is on five months of running, not twelve.

What Affects Whole Home Dehumidifier Cost in Smithville

Five things about the house and the ductwork move the quote:

• where the unit can sit in the ductwork you already have
• how far the drain has to run to reach a floor drain, and whether a pump is needed instead
• the size of the basement and how wet it is now, since Natural Resources Canada says to oversize rather than undersize (2)
• whether the ducts actually reach the part of the house that is damp
• how far the property sits from the office, out toward Caledonia and West Lincoln

The first and fourth move together in an older house. Ductwork laid out for the furnace of its day often does not run where the damp is, and that changes both where the unit goes and what it can reach.

Whole Home Dehumidifier Questions From Smithville Homeowners

What month should I start running a dehumidifier in a Smithville basement?

Late spring. That is when the National Research Council says basement condensation starts, because the ground stays cold while the air outside warms up. (5)

Will a whole home dehumidifier cool the house?

No. It takes water out of the air rather than heat, and a drier house feels more comfortable at the same temperature without actually being cooler.

Should I open the basement windows to dry it out?

No, and this is the one most people have backwards. Warm humid air coming in condenses on the cool walls and floor, so the National Research Council recommends limiting ventilation in warm weather and dehumidifying instead. (5)

Do I still need one if I already run a portable unit in the basement?

It depends on whether one room is damp or the whole house is. Natural Resources Canada splits the two that way: a portable dries one room, and a whole-home unit works through the ducts. (2)

Book a Whole Home Dehumidifier Visit in Smithville

Call the office with the age of the house, whether the basement is finished, and where the nearest floor drain is. Environmental Heating & Cooling has been family-owned in Smithville since 2014, and we cover Grimsby, Beamsville, Caledonia and West Lincoln as well.

If the damp turns out to be only half the story, the category page covers the filters, purifiers and duct repairs in the same house.

References

1. Natural Resources Canada, Dehumidifiers (portable and whole-home) — energy efficiency regulations, natural-resources.canada.ca
2. Natural Resources Canada, Choosing the right dehumidifier, natural-resources.canada.ca
3. Health Canada, Mould, canada.ca
4. Health Canada, Residential Indoor Air Quality Guideline: Moulds, canada.ca
5. National Research Council Canada, Moisture and Thermal Considerations in Basement Walls, Canadian Building Digest CBD 161, nrc-publications.canada.ca