this post was submitted on 22 Jun 2023
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So, I was interested in the same thing to save energy not running the unit, but as I understand it they don't dehumidify quite as much as a dedicated dehumidifier. I believe it only runs when I need hot water, so I'm not sure how often it would run on average for our water usage and if that would be sufficient to dehumidify the basement
So we installed a heat pump water heater a few months ago. We don’t need dehumidification in the basement but it does provide that as well as essentially free AC down there (letting us close all the vents and it’s still cooler than the rest of the house). It does produce condensate of course, Rheem says to fit it to a drain or a pump that can handle at least two gallons per day. Its essentially a window AC unit on top of a tank as a comparison. I wouldn’t consider it a great choice just for dehumidification though, ours really doesn’t produce that much condensate and it really only circulates air in the area it’s installed (the fan isn’t really designed to move a ton of air through the room).
That said, as a water heater it’s great. It does kick on and off a bit throughout the day, but it isn’t constant, maybe 30 mins every two or three hours. It then runs for a bit after a shower or the dishwasher runs to heat up the cold water coming in.
Hey thanks for chiming in with your experience! Sounds like I won’t be able to rely on it as an end-all solution. Like the other post above, I also have a heat pump upstairs and a boiler in the basement, so there are a couple other devices I’d like to play with to play with balancing the humidity to save the dedicated dehumidifier for only times it’s really needed