Kenmore Dehumidifier - Keeps the Creeping Funk at Bay

We were lucky to get a roughly "finished" basement when we bought our more than 100 year old home a few years ago. Many houses of that era in our area have dirt floor basements. We were even luckier to have not one or two, but three sump pumps installed in said basement. Winter or summer, precipitation can be heavy where we live, and we've seen the value of those pumps many times. But even with the sumps, we found the humidity in the basement could be high enough to produce a musty, moldy atmosphere. So we bought our Kenmore 54501 Dehumidifier a little over a year ago.

This appliance is perfectly suited for our purposes, and it has turned in a hassle-free performance since we purchased it. We simply leave it in the basement where it toils away at reducing airborne moisture day and night, with no tending required by us.

The Kenmore's controls can be set so that it will strive to maintain a given maximum humidity level, anywhere from 35% to 70%. The setting is easily adjusted in 5% increments, by using the up or down arrows on the control panel. We usually leave it at a relatively high 50%, so that it's not running all the time. We don't need bone dry conditions; we just don't want things getting funky or moldy down there. We've found that keeping the dehumidifier at that setting noticeably freshens the air in the basement. If we have especially heavy rainfall or snow melt, we can decrease the maximum humidity setting. This helps reduce the chance of us finding standing water on the concrete floors, and keeps any errant mold spores from setting up shop down there.

The dehumidifier can be set so that it either fills an internal collection bucket that must be emptied, or else just drains out a little tube. Since we have sump pumps, we simply situate the Kenmore over one of the sump covers and make sure the drain tube empties directly into the sump. This means we don't have to do anything at all to keep the humidifier running as it should. A standard garden hose can be attached to the drain tube if there's nowhere to drain the water near where the dehumidifier is operating.

On a few particularly hot and humid summer days, we've used the dehumidifier in the upstairs parts of our home. In those cases, we need to let the appliance fill its internal storage bucket, and then empty it regularly. The bucket holds about two gallons of water, and it can fill up quickly if conditions are exceptionally damp. Although that's a lot of weight when the bucket's full, this wasn't a hassle for us as it's only an occasional task and the water bucket has a good handle. Also, there's an indicator light on the display panel that tells us when the bucket is full and needs to be emptied. The dehumidifier automatically stops working when it senses the bucket is full, so as to not overflow. Even though it wasn't too onerous, I'm glad we most commonly use this appliance on a fully automated setting.

The blowers in the dehumidifier ensure that the air in the area where it's running gets well stirred up. So even though the unit is fairly small, it can effectively reduce the moisture in a large room. The Kenmore 54501 is designed for very damp spaces as large 2000 square feet. Our basement is much more modestly sized, consisting of three fairly open rooms. We can definitely sense the reduced humidity even in the room farthest from the one where the humidifier runs.

To conserve some energy, the Kenmore Dehumidifier has both high and low fan speeds. We leave the fan on low unless there's some serious precipitation. It can also cycle on and off, following either a 3-hour or 6-hour rotation. If a timed rotation is not desired, the dehumidifier can be set to run full time until the indicated humidity level is reached. We keep the dehumidifier on one or the other of the timed rotations. I haven't really seen any difference in the effects of either the 3- or 6-hour rotation, and I'm not sure which one is supposed to be more energy efficient. With both settings, the humidifier will run 12 hours per day.

The Kenmore Dehumidifier has caster wheels on the bottom, so that it's easy enough to roll around from room to room on a given level. But if you need to pick it up to move it upstairs or down, it's pretty cumbersome even though it's not really heavy. Be sure the bucket's empty if you need to move the unit.

Cleaning and maintenance of our dehumidifier have been easy. Though the owners manual recommends monthly cleaning of the air filter and occasional cleaning of the condenser coil, I haven't done it more than twice since we bought it. I haven't had any problems or noticed any significant build up of crud on the filter or the coil when following this desultory schedule. The water bucket is supposed to be cleaned every few weeks, but I've assumed this isn't necessary so long as we're using the direct drain. We've had no issues to contest this reasoning.

I was surprised to read the experiences of other reviewers here at epinions who reported poor performance and quality of this model. That certainly has not been our experience. We've been happy with this dehumidifier and would not hesitate to recommend it to others looking for a no-hassle appliance for reducing dampness.