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List Price: $199.00
Sale Price: $180.07
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While this product is a great midsize dehumidifier, the bigger story is the creative applications enabled by the PerfectAire that the user didn't conceive when buying the product. That being said, PerfectAire 30 Pint dehumidifier possesses a nice balance of weight, compactness and performance. As the unit has four wheels and weighs 30 pounds empty, it is rather portable, allowing the owner to relocate it for different applications. The two downsides of the unit, which are somewhat unavoidable, include the 400 watt electrical consumption and the noise it generates (50-52 dB).
Even in air-conditioned environments, the humidity can be higher than ideal, making residents uncomfortable and leading to slow bathroom towel drying and mold buildup. As someone who lives in the prewar high rise building with a mediocre HVAC system, I purchased the PerfectAire 30 Pint dehumidifier to provide more granular control over the humidity both during the day and while I am sleeping. While its dehumidification capability is excellent, the unit's blower may be a noisy for light sleepers. It registers 50-52 DB at about 8 feet away, which is equivalent to a relatively loud window air conditioning unit.
Another "downside" to this dehumidifier and any similar model is that it uses a sizeable amount of electricity and generates a substantial amount of heat. Depending on the setting, this dehumidifier consumes ~330 watts to ~420 watts, which generates heat directly. But this electrical consumption is only one source of the heat generation.
Just as water evaporation cools ambient temperatures, condensation generates a net positive amount of heat. For air conditioners, the excess heat is vented outside of the building. For a standalone dehumidifier, both the electrical heat generated by the motors and heat of water condensation, which can be equivalent to hundreds of additional watts of thermal energy, are exhausted directly into the residence. The one upside to this heat generation is that it can be utilized to both warm and dehumidify a bathroom. This reduces mold growth and makes the bathroom warmer when the user exits the shower, making it logical to use in the winter if placed in an enclosed bathroom.
The portability of this unit enables myriad creative uses beyond directly improving human comfort through dryer ambient air. With both its drying capability and heat generation, the unit can be used in:
1) Drying clothes such as those that should not be place in a dryer
2) Accelerating the drying of the carpeting after cleaning
3) Dehumidifying and heating a bathroom
4) Prevent air conditioning systems from freezing over
For item #4, I have seen this dehumidifier prevent A/C units from freezing over both in central systems and large window units. For the latter, it is possible to channel the dehumidifier exhaust directly into the intake of the air conditioner. This arrangement has enabled temperatures below 65 degrees without ice formation. At the same time, the PerfectAire knows if its own coils have frozen over and will stop the compressor and blow air to melt the ice.
In terms of performance, I have tested this dehumidifier in various environments in medium and low humidity, monitoring both the water generation and electrical consumption. In medium humidity environments (40 50%), it generates between 17 and 23 pints per day. On a per gallon basis, it requires about $0.47 to $0.61 worth of electricity per gallon of water condensed by the unit. In one test of a cold, dry basement (~35% humidity, 67 degrees), the PerfectAire consumed over $1.17 of electricity to generate one gallon of water. In this application, however, it was placed there to reduce A/C coil freezing, not necessarily to dehumidify.
The PerfectAire 30 Pint dehumidifier is a solid value for those seeking a somewhat portable dehumidifier. Potential buyers might want to consider the noise it generates if they plan to use it in close proximity to where they are sleeping.
Pros
Hose attachment for continuous usage
Easily portable
Determines if its own coils have ice formation and initiates a melting process
Cons
Too loud for some applications
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Where I live we get a lot of fog from the ocean.
The house is old and the windows produce a lot of moister inside the window sills.
I get a bucket full of water every other day just from my bedroom, even during most of the summer months. (I couldn't believe how much moister was in my bedroom I was buying for the bathroom but because I found some mold by the window of my bedroom, I tried it in my room and ended up buying more when I saw how much it collected from the bedroom alone)
It also helps with reducing some of the staleness of the air since it is not a trustworthy neighborhood and my windows don't have security/bars, the windows aren't opened enough to get all the staleness out.
I have had them for almost a year I bought them from a local hardware store. Of the 3 I bought one had to be exchanged because it was faulty it would turn off and on only when it felt like it mostly off. But the replacement has worked fine and I have had no problems with any of the 3 I have now.
Best Deals for PerfectAire 30pt Dehumidifier, PA30
I was expecting a bit more from this unit. I have it in my 700 sq ft basement and it seems like it runs constantly to keep the humidity level at 50%. Our basement is finished and the concrete walls were covered with Dry Lock before it was then framed, insulated, and drywalled. I have the unit set on Turbo mode and it definitely does get excess moisture out of the air, but it is quite loud and as I said seems like it runs almost constantly. Also, I think for the money a cheap hose 6-12 ft hose could have been included. I purchased some tubing from my local Home Depot and I will say it was a pain to initially get it attached to the unit (be prepared to have pliers or a vise grip handy to ensure a complete fit to the unit).
Also, maybe it's just me, but I expected when I hooked up the hose that I wouldn't have to empty the pan, but it still fills up. I've noticed that water in the hose tends to just build up and sit there so every night I try to make it a point to slightly lift it up to let it drain. The hose is only 6 ft long max, but perhaps I need to put the unit up off the ground a few feet so that gravity will properly drain the hose which in turn may keep the pan from filling up (I assume it's doing this because the hose is getting backed up).
Overall it's a decent unit, but for the money and the size of my basement (
