Large, powerful, and very heavy. They’re called ‘whole home dehumidifiers’ for a reason. For one, these things are often powerful enough to control humidity over your entire home (depending upon the square footage). Also, there are just so many places you can install them in your home.
In Your Crawl Space
Why install a dehumidifier in your crawl space? The answer to that one depends on what you need it for. If you’re wanting to make the air in your home less humid, you could insert a dehumidifier into the ducts of your crawl space HVAC system. Or, if what you need to control is not the humidity of the air in your home but the humidity of the air in your crawl space, you can simply place a free standing dehumidifier in your crawl space so that it can condition the crawl space air.
In Your Basement
You can install your dehumidifier in your basement for the same reasons as you might install your dehumidifier in your crawl space. For one, the air in your home might be too humid. In this case you could install a dehumidifier in your basement – hooking it up to the air ducts of your HVAC system. Air passes through the system and is conditioned by your dehumidifier, which pulls moisture out of the air. Or perhaps your issue isn’t the humid air in your home but humid air in the basement. In this case you could set up a free standing dehumidifier to pull moisture out of the basement air.
In Your Garage
The garage can be another convenient place to put a whole home dehumidifier. Perhaps you need to condition the garage air and just need a free-standing unit, or you just want to connect the dehumidifier to some of the air ducting running through the garage. The garage is one of those nice out-of-the-way places where an unsightly appliance can be placed and kept out of sight.
In Your Home
People living in wet climates where the air is packed with moisture know that humid air in the home can cause big problems if not kept in control. For example, in many parts of Florida it’s considered good sense to keep the AC running even when you’re away on vacation to keep mold from growing on or inside of the walls. HVAC units and air conditioners have some dehumidification ability but if you require a higher degree of control you should consider a whole home dehumidifier. These can be placed in various spots around the home, and even inside the home. You could have a free standing unit in an out-of-the-way spot like the utility room, or you could hook it up to parts of the HVAC air ducting running through the home.
In a Closet
One potential place to put your dehumidifier is the closet. Of course this is only really an option if your closet is size-able. Humid air from the home can still pass into the closet through seams around the closet door so it’s still technically possible to control your home’s humidity this way. Naturally, a single dehumidifier in a closet won’t work to control your home’s humidity if your home is very large. In this case you may need two or three units.
In Your Attic
The attic could be an idea place to put a dehumidifier if you have no basement or crawl space, or garage and have little space in the home. You can place the dehumidifier free standing to condition the air in the attic, or you can hook it up to the air ducts passing through your attic.
Bottom line, there are endless configurations in which you can install a whole home dehumidifier. You can place a dehumidifier in your crawl space, basement, garage, attic, in the home, and even in a closet. And remember, depending on how large your home is you may need multiple dehumidifiers to effectively pull the moisture out of the air and control the humidity. So pay attention to the capacity (square footage) indicated in the manual of your dehumidifier so that you know whether your dehumidifier can effectively service the space you hope to install it in.
Don’t have a dehumidifier yet? You can browse and even order them online on our DIY store. We sell an awesome brand called Aprilaire. Check them out by clicking the link below.