Dehumidifier made in USA

[Mike Cutler]

Sub-Zero, Viking, and the like make good stuff, but I could probably replace all of my appliances every two years for a long time for what the high end stuff costs. All of my appliances are 10 years old now and none are in need of replacement yet. I bought mostly middle of the road appliances. Not cheap junk, but nothing too expensive either.

If I actually liked cooking and did a lot of it I could possibly justify the high end appliances. Buying high end because you like to cook and the high end stuff works better makes sense to me. It doesn't make sense to me if you buy high end appliances just for fewer repairs and longer life. Most of the people I know with high end appliances tend to remodel their kitchens fairly often and replace the appliances long before they need replacement because they want new with a new kitchen.

Brian
Within all of those product lines there is a wide range of price difference, and lets just say that I am at the bottomish end of the range.

What's funny is that as we were looking at appliances we knew that were certain things we didn't want. I didn't want any electronic controls that weren't absolutely necessary. I didn't want an ice maker, a juice dispenser, a water fountain, TV or another clock, and I especially did not want any membrane touch pads on anything. Take away these feature and you eliminate more than a few complete product lines out there for the consumer,and you find that you are limited to the cheap appliances that Sears usually stores next to the bathrooms, in that oh so attractive white, or stainless steel commercial units that need three phase 480 to run. In between are the lower ranges of Sub Zero's Vikings, Wolfes. Appliances with knobs, that are too heavy for one person to carry up a set of stairs. (I'm sorry, but one person shouldn't be able to pick a washer, dryer, stove, or refrigerator by themself and carry them.)
I guess I'm a dinosaur.

[Zach England]

Brian
Within all of those product lines there is a wide range of price difference, and lets just say that I am at the bottomish end of the range.

What's funny is that as we were looking at appliances we knew that were certain things we didn't want. I didn't want any electronic controls that weren't absolutely necessary. I didn't want an ice maker, a juice dispenser, a water fountain, TV or another clock, and I especially did not want any membrane touch pads on anything. Take away these feature and you eliminate more than a few complete product lines out there for the consumer,and you find that you are limited to the cheap appliances that Sears usually stores next to the bathrooms, in that oh so attractive white, or stainless steel commercial units that need three phase 480 to run. In between are the lower ranges of Sub Zero's Vikings, Wolfes. Appliances with knobs, that are too heavy for one person to carry up a set of stairs. (I'm sorry, but one person shouldn't be able to pick a washer, dryer, stove, or refrigerator by themself and carry them.)
I guess I'm a dinosaur.

I agree with all of this except the ice maker part.

[Brian Elfert]

Brian
Within all of those product lines there is a wide range of price difference, and lets just say that I am at the bottomish end of the range.

What's funny is that as we were looking at appliances we knew that were certain things we didn't want. I didn't want any electronic controls that weren't absolutely necessary. I didn't want an ice maker, a juice dispenser, a water fountain, TV or another clock, and I especially did not want any membrane touch pads on anything. Take away these feature and you eliminate more than a few complete product lines out there for the consumer,and you find that you are limited to the cheap appliances that Sears usually stores next to the bathrooms, in that oh so attractive white, or stainless steel commercial units that need three phase 480 to run. In between are the lower ranges of Sub Zero's Vikings, Wolfes. Appliances with knobs, that are too heavy for one person to carry up a set of stairs. (I'm sorry, but one person shouldn't be able to pick a washer, dryer, stove, or refrigerator by themself and carry them.)
I guess I'm a dinosaur.

I guess if you're dead set against clocks, membrane panels, and the like you're stuck with the higher end products. I looked at the website for a local appliance store and they charge $2,400 for the cheapest gas range I could find that is from one of the high end manufacturers. I paid $600 for my gas range so I can replace a lot of parts for $1,800. I suppose if you have had a lot of repairs in the past that you might think the $1,800 is worth it. Zero repairs on my range in 10 years so far knock on wood. One advantage of the high end gas ranges is I bet they don't need power to work. I was at a Scout camp last year and the staff cabin I was staying in had a really old propane range. It still needed power to run the oven at least so I couldn't use it when the power went out one day.

I know I sure as heck can't carry my 10 year old washer by myself. Two of us could barely carry it up the stairs.

[Larry Edgerton]

Ditto Mike's comments on the merits of simplicity. I always figure that parts generally break by percentage, so the more you have....

Anyone here ever owned an Elmira stove? I am thinking that it will fit in real well in my schoohouse, but at $5k it had better be dependable as a stone.

Larry

[Harry Hagan]

My brother is using a Kenmore dehumidifier our dad bought back in the late 50s. That’s over 50 years and still running strong with no repairs other than cosmetic. The last time I bought a Kenmore dehumidifier I purchased two—one to use while the other is sent away for repairs for three weeks so they can tell me a month later that it can’t be repaired.

I just unboxed the second unit after about five years and took the other one in to be declared dead. Usually they die after about six to eighteen months. Dehumidifiers were one of the few appliances I thought justified an extended warranty. Now most stuff is junk made in China.

[Terry Quinn]

I may be forced to buy a new dehumidifier, after my 36 year-old Emerson Quiet Kool recently started to malfunction.

I know of two other experiences with "modern design" consumer dehumidifiers. A friend had one that failed in about 3 years. My daughter had a Soleus (made by Gree, a Chinese manufacturer that makes most ofthe consumer market units sold today), and it failed a little after 2 years (1year warranty).

I was at Menards (where we bought the Soleus) and asked if they had anything better. Surprisingly,they offered to exchange it for a new one, even though it was out of warranty. That reinforced my thinking that the short life must be widespread, and Menards is managing customer dissatisfaction.

Does anyone know of any "modern design" consumer dehumidifier that has lasted longer than 3 years? If that doesn't exist, the idea of buying an Aprilaire at $1,000 plus makes sense.

I am going to a friend's house today to see if adding some more refrigerant will revive my old one. I'll let you know what happens.

Terry

[Harry Hagan]

I may be forced to buy a new dehumidifier, after my 36 year-old Emerson Quiet Kool recently started to malfunction.

I know of two other experiences with "modern design" consumer dehumidifiers. A friend had one that failed in about 3 years. My daughter had a Soleus (made by Gree, a Chinese manufacturer that makes most ofthe consumer market units sold today), and it failed a little after 2 years (1year warranty).

I was at Menards (where we bought the Soleus) and asked if they had anything better. Surprisingly,they offered to exchange it for a new one, even though it was out of warranty. That reinforced my thinking that the short life must be widespread, and Menards is managing customer dissatisfaction.

Does anyone know of any "modern design" consumer dehumidifier that has lasted longer than 3 years? If that doesn't exist, the idea of buying an Aprilaire at $1,000 plus makes sense.

I am going to a friend's house today to see if adding some more refrigerant will revive my old one. I'll let you know what happens.

Terry

I've had better luck with the Whynter brand when purchased through Costco using Costco's is lifetime guarantee: https://www.costco.com/Whynter-70-pi...100167998.html

[Terry Quinn]

I've had better luck with the Whynter brand when purchased through Costco using Costco's is lifetime guarantee: https://www.costco.com/Whynter-70-pi...100167998.html

From the outside, that looks a lot like the Soleus, which is one of the ones that has short life. See http://www.homedepot.com/p/Soleus-Ai...kaAopdEALw_wcB

But if you can get a Costco lifetime warranty, that might be a good solution.If it fails in 3 years, does the lifetime Costco warranty extend to thereplacement unit(s)?

[Terry Quinn]

I may be forced to buy a new dehumidifier, after my 36 year-old Emerson Quiet Kool recently started to malfunction.

I am going to a friend's house today to see if adding some more refrigerant will revive my old one. I'll let you know what happens.

Terry

We added some R12, and the old dehumidifier is running fine again. We'll see for how long.

[Marc Jeske]

Did not read entire thread, probably already mentioned, but check out Santa Fe brand dehumids.

VERY good reputation. Marc

http://www.santa-fe-products.com/

[Sam Murdoch]

What concerns me is how safe it is to leave these things running unattended? My kenmore DH is still going strong after 16 summers. I don't worry about leaving it running if we are out of the house but these new ones you are discussing would cause me concern.

[Stan Calow]

Sam, I would have never given safety a thought, until the big recall they had in last few years over fire hazards from several dehumidifier brands. I got a $135 check from Frigidaire for mine (which was fairly new). It was hard to replace it with something with a familiar brand name.

[Terry Quinn]

Did not read entire thread, probably already mentioned, but check out Santa Fe brand dehumids.

VERY good reputation. Marc

http://www.santa-fe-products.com/

I was happy to see your post indicating that there might be another high quality (albeit high cost) dehumidifier. And it does seem like it does make it to 3 years, unlike so many others.

But skim/read these 23 owner comments. Seems like the Sante Fe is a mixed bag.

https://www.amazon.com/Santa-Fe-Dehumidifier-Basement-Dehumidification/product-reviews/B008D7HZ6O/ref=cm_cr_getr_d_paging_btm_3?reviewerType=all_rev iews&pageNumber=3

[Terry Quinn]

Sam, I would have never given safety a thought, until the big recall they had in last few years over fire hazards from several dehumidifier brands. I got a $135 check from Frigidaire for mine (which was fairly new). It was hard to replace it with something with a familiar brand name.

Here is one of the recall notices for the dehumidifier fires. If you look down the list, you'll get the impression that nearly every dehumidifier made is produced by the Chinese company Gree.

This fire problem has been resolved, but there is no way to tell whether or not Gree still makes so many of what is on the market. I suspect that they are still the prominent supplier.

https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2014/Gree-Reannounces-Dehumidifier-Recall/

[Marc Jeske]

I was happy to see your post indicating that there might be another high quality (albeit high cost) dehumidifier. And it does seem like it does make it to 3 years, unlike so many others.

But skim/read these 23 owner comments. Seems like the Sante Fe is a mixed bag.

https://www.amazon.com/Santa-Fe-Dehumidifier-Basement-Dehumidification/product-reviews/B008D7HZ6O/ref=cm_cr_getr_d_paging_btm_3?reviewerType=all_rev iews&pageNumber=3

Obviously, personal due diligence is to be applied to anybody's suggestion.

Good info you got there. Marc