The last 5 dehumidifiers I have purchased (3 Kenmore dehumidifiers and 2 Frigidaires) have all failed within 5 years of purchase and 2 of the 4 have failed within a year of purchase. In my experience the reliability of dehumidifiers in general has diminished greatly over the years. So every time I have to purchase another, I do the research all over again and I find myself going in circles. All brands seem to have similar complaints having to do with longevity.
Consequently, I always purchase an extended warranty now. For the $40 or so that they cost, it gives you some peace of mind that at least you will be able to get a replacement if the dehumidifier should break down outside of the manufacturers warranty period.
My first Frigidaire dehumidifier was the FAD704TDP, purchased in April 2011. That lasted just slightly over a year before breaking down. The compressor failed. I was in luck because even though the 1-year warranty had just expired, the compressor was warrantied for 5-years. Whew, dodged a bullet there.
I had read elsewhere that Frigidaire was notoriously difficult to deal with regarding warranty repair/replacement. In my experience, what Frigidaire does instead of sending you a new unit is to "buy back" your old unit. You don't return it to them, they just send you a check. Fortunately Frigidaire "bought" my defective unit back from me and using the proceeds I was able to replace it with the FAD704DUD. Contrary to some peoples hassles with Frigidaire warranty issues, I had no problem whatsoever with my interaction with Frigidaire. The check was sent to me promptly and with no problems.
I did a lot of further research and decided that all manufacturers had their share of disgruntled customers so I decided to give Frigidaire another chance and purchased my second Frigidaire dehumidifier, the FAD704DUD 70 pint dehumidifier to replace the defective. That one was purchased June 2012 and is still working. However, I live in the North East and right now it's the tail end of winter so the dehumidifier, although it is plugged in and turned on, hasn't actually had to operate since the Fall of 2012. I'm assuming it will work just fine come spring and the ensuing damp weather. But given the history I've had with dehumidifiers, they seem to work no longer than 3-5 years before breaking down, I had an opportunity to get this FAD704DWD and did so even though the dehumidifier I bought last year seemingly still works fine.
The outward appearance of this dehumidifier is identical to the FAD704DUD. The only differences between this 2013 model: FAD704DWD and the 2012 model: FAD704DUD are some minor changes in the specifications:
FAD704DWD (2013) FAD704DUD (2012)
Amps (Cool): 7.8 vs Amps (Cool): 7.2
Horsepower (Cool): 1.00 vs Horsepower (Cool): 1.03
Watts (Cool): 745 vs Watts (Cool): 765
So as you can see, the FAD704DWD uses 20 less Watts of electricity. But as you'll also notice, the Horsepower has been reduced slightly so I'm not sure if the operation of the unit will be quite the same. I do noticed a very minor change in the tone of fan blower. It sounds like it might be running just a touch slower than the last years model. Very minor, but maybe that's all it takes to reduce energy consumption by 20 watts.
When I received the new dehumidifier and removed the tape that secures the collection tank to the unit, I discovered that the float assembly was not attached where it was supposed to be attached and was just flopping around in the bottom of the tank. There was also a broken piece of clear plastic that I still haven't quite figured out where it came from yet. But I plan to take the entire thing apart to find out where it broke off from. I carefully reattached the float assembly and was good to go.,
I like the profile and appearance of this dehumidifier. It's exactly the same dimensions of last years model. It is not very deep nor wide, but it is somewhat tall. It measures roughly 16" wide, 11" deep and 24.5" tall.
The cord length is 6' 6" and there is a cord wrap on the back of the unit. The plug is a 3-prong grounded plug.
The fan is not exceedingly loud but it's not whisper quiet... perfectly tolerable though. If it's in your basement and not in your direct earshot, you probably won't ever hear it operate at all. The fan blows the exhaust out of the top of the unit which I feel it circulates the air better than blowing it out the side which is where some units have the fan output.
The collection container hold 16.3 pints and has a handle to help you carry it over to a sink. However, It just does not have a decent way to tip the bucket easily to pour the water out. I am always sloshing and spilling water all over the place when I try emptying the full bucket. It's awkward. Plus, 16.3 pints may sound like a lot of capacity but it fills rather quickly in my climate so I use the "continuous operation" method. My dehumidifier is located near my sump pump in my basement. I attach a hose to the dehumidifier and route that right into the sump pump. It's a great way to do it because I do not have to be bothered with emptying the dehumidifier and it is able to run continuously.
Overall I'm very pleased with the Frigidaire FAD704DWD 70-pint dehumidifier. I withold 5 stars simply because of the longevity issues I've discussed. Should this prove to be long-lasting, I will update my review and provide an update.
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I decided to do a quick initial review of this 70 pint dehumidifier since everyone will be looking at getting one for the summer season soon. I will update durability in future months. I received this May 2013. It came delivered in its original box very quickly (2 days) shipped UPS. It says on the box not to lay on its side. I recommend upon receiving this unit to leave it sit for 24 hours before plugging in when you get it in its final resting spot just in case someone along the way shipped it on it's side to let the compressor oil drain back down. The shipping box seemed sufficient, however It did come with a crack in the plastic back due to an impact. The box appears to be able to flex on the backside enough and there is only foam protection on the ends. Amazon of course took care of me on this. On to the initial review. The design of the cabinet is tasteful and has a few features I liked over my past Fedders unit. Thoughtful features like an integrated handle that hides away at the top when not in use. The unit rolls easily on its caster without tipping. The bucket has a red ball in it to show you water level and a flip down handle to assist in the emptying process. I also liked the way the hose outlet was molded into the cabinet with a screw on plug. Past units I have owned seemed the hose connection was an afterthought. The only feature I thought was oddly placed was the reusable filter which can only be accessed when the bucket is removed. The control panel is nicely layed out and includes power, fan speed, humidity control and a handy timer function in which you can program it to come on in so many hours from now when the energy costs are lower. Very legible 2 digit readout for humidity and can be adjusted in increments of 5% down to 35, or continuous operation. When you are adjusting the levels the readout reflects your setting and when you release the buttons it then reads the room humidity. There is also a filter reset on the top panel. After so many hours of operation it will remind you to clean it.I set the humidity to 50 and turned the fan on high. The compressor does not start right away and seems to take 5 min to kick in. I played with the high low fan speed. There is a noticeable lower noise between the two, but not enough to make me want to leave it in low. On to the energy use. When the unit is plugged in with nothing running it appears to use about 2 watts of power, but not continuous. I noticed it reads 2 watts intermittently, maybe coming on to check the humidity level. If this is the case, it would only need to do this once every couple of minutes instead of every 20 seconds or so like it does. When the fan is in the low position with the compressor off, it uses 58 watts and when it is in high it uses 66 watts. Not a lot of energy savings, but a bit of payoff (slight) in noise. The air is sucked in the front and ejected out the top vents. When the compressor kicks in the noise does not increase by much at all and can hardly be heard over the fan noise. Initially with the compressor running and the fan on high the wattage consumed was between 630 and 591, fluctuating. As the unit ran for a couple of days this seemed to drop to a steady 578, well below the wattage in the spec, possible the compressor breaking in?. Instead of water dripping continuously out of the hose connector, it seems to be ejected at regular intervals. This interval initially was every 16 seconds. The amount of water ejected was 7.5ml. The water being pulled out was well over the 70 pints a day, somewhere just over 90 pints. This continued for the first couple of days and now seems to be ejecting about 7ml every 35 seconds. I will continue to monitor this as time goes on. It may just be that the humidity was so high it was taking more out than the rated average.
Overall I am satisfied with it so far. I highly recommend using the hose end as you will be dumping that 16.3 pint bucket a few times a day. If you do not have a floor drain, maybe look into a model with a built in pump for a few dollars more to pump it up to a sink. Something notable about the noise. I did find it quieter than my fedders model and since it is in my basement I don't care much. If you are watching TV beside it you may be annoyed. Thanks to John M Yelton, I can now confirm that the fan DOES shut off when the dialed in humidity has been reached. On average it takes about 7 minutes after the compressor shuts off for the fan to go off. This is a bit annoying, but perhaps it will eliminate rust issues I noticed my fedder unit had after a few years as the coils get a chance to air dry after they start to go back to room temp. I did notice though that the unit doesn't stay off for long. Between the 7 min fan cycle it give the sensor a bit of time to activate the compressor so it seems that it just shuts off, then the compressor kicks in again 5 min later to take some more moisture out of the room and it just repeats itself. Mind you, I am drying a 2000 square foot basement and this will probably slow down as it drys out. Keep in mind this is the first few days of operation, and since I am on "time of use" hydro billing, it has been off much of the day since that is the expensive time to operate.
I have an idea for mine to be turned on only when my hydro is at its cheapest (7pm to 7am) For those of us with home automation you could say run this unit 7am to 7pm Monday to Friday, and all weekend (cheapest energy rate times). This unit could be controlled remotely by utilizing the bucket full contact switch.
UPDATE May 11 -2013. The wattage consumed continues to drop. I monitored it again for an hour and it has dropped below 500 watts, in the 480 range (A far cry from the 745 Watts they rate it for) so this is a pleasant surprise. I will continue to monitor this. It could be the compressor loosening up an not having to work as hard (hopefully) and not something else.
I also noticed the time between moisture ejects has increased from 7.5 ml every 16 seconds to 7.5 ml every 60 or so seconds. A sign my basement is getting drier I suppose.
Happy so far.
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