Dehumidifier Installation for Crawl Spaces

If you working to improve your crawl space humidity and searching for the best crawl space dehumidifier, we have some tips. With over 15 years of experience and hundreds of dehumidifier installations, our recommendations are solid and backed by a lifetime warranty.

Do I Even Need a Dehumidifier? Doesn't Encapsulation Work?

Many homeowners believe that crawl space encapsulation alone will control humidity. Crawl space vapor barrier, french drains, and sump pumps are needed to control humidity. But a crawl space dehumidifier is the key to making sure the humidity is kept low all year long.

A dehumidifier works like your homes heating and air conditioning thermostat whereas your crawl space encapsulation is like your homes insulation. Insulation alone will not heat or cool your home just as plastic in the crawl space alone will not lower humidity. Crawl space dehumidifiers work with crawl space encapsulation to keep your home consistently dry.

What Size Dehumidifier Do I Need for My Crawl Space?

There are many factors to consider when properly sizing your dehumidifier to your crawl space. If you have no intention of encapsulating your crawl space, you will need a larger capacity dehumidifier. Loose laid vapor barrier installed on the ground will help, but covering walls, pillars, and overlapping and taping is recommended.

If your crawl space is cut up by additions to the home or HVAC ducts or foundation walls, you may need several smaller capacity dehumidifiers. If your crawl space sub-floor is not properly air sealed and the dry air escapes to the living space rapidly, you will need a larger capacity dehumidifier. If the door of the crawl space is not air sealed or all the vents are open, this affects capacity too.

When Crawl Space Ninja installs a dehumidifier we consider all these factors. The Ninja Crawl Space Encapsulation System is designed to utilized the smallest dehumidifier based on size of the crawl space.

Dehumidifiers for Under 2,000 Square Feet Crawl Spaces

A 1,000 square feet crawl space typically uses a 70-pint to 80-pint capacity dehumidifier. The Aprilaire E070 (formerly 1820) is our preferred crawl space dehumidifier for spaces smaller than 2,000 square feet. The Aprilaire E080 (formerly 1830) dehumidifier processes 10 more pints per day than the E070 and is a little quieter but the cabinet is larger.

The E080 is a good choice for high crawl spaces or basements under 2,000 square feet and the homeowner wants it a little quieter. The decibel rating difference is only 8dBa. The E070 is 53 dBa and the E080 is 45 dBa when ducted.

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Dehumidifiers for Over 2,000 Square Feet Crawl Spaces

Based on the crawl space layout, the Aprilaire E100 (formerly 1850) dehumidifier is a great choice for larger crawl spaces. We install the E100 for crawl spaces between 2,000 and 3,500 square feet. When a crawl space is larger than 3,500 square feet, multiple E070 is a better way to go for us.

The reason behind going to multiple dehumidifiers over 3,500 square feet is simple. Large crawl spaces have big duct-work systems and other obstacles that limit air flow. Again if your crawl space is chopped up, multiple dehumidifiers may be needed even in smaller crawls paces.

When you get into massive crawl spaces and basements you have another dehumidifier option under Aprilaire. The Aprilaire E130 (formerly 1870) dehumidifier is a 130 pint per day monster. Homes with wide open crawl spaces that do not restrict air flow can use the 1870. Basements of large homes or whole home dehumidifier setups will also benef it from the Aprilaire E130.