Dehumidification - The Anti-Mold

Besides fixing a water leak, which is imperative to preventing the growth of mold in your home, removing moisture from the air is necessary to make your home mold and mildew free.

Basement Humidity & Crawl Space Humidity
Whenever the outside air is warmer than the inside air, and especially when the outside air is humid, we are likely to have a condensation problem in our basements or crawl spaces. This is because the Relative Humidity of air goes up 2.2% for every one-degree you cool it. Our basements and crawl spaces are always cool because they are below ground. And we know that a house is like a chimney air flows upwards, allowing air to escape the upper levels, with new make-up air being sucked in at the lower levels.

So when it's hot and humid in the summer, rain or not, our basement may be the wettest it has been all year!

Relative Humidity
If its an 80-degree day with Relative Humidity of 80%, and we suck this air into our basements and cool it to 68 degrees, the Relative Humidity goes up by 26.4% (12 degrees x 2.2%). But wait a minute, 80% plus 26.4% is more than 100%, and we cant have more than 100%. So instead, as the air becomes saturated it gives up its moisture on your cold basement or crawl space walls, floor, water tank, pipes, and other cold things. This is called condensation.

Even without condensation, we still get high relative humidity levels, which allow mold and mildew to grow and cause stinky basement syndrome. And dust mites thrive as well (More on dust mites later).

In order to eliminate condensation you need to either heat the air (ridiculous in summer), or take water out of it (easy to do). Correction. I should say take water out of it efficiently and effectively (not so easy unless you have the right equipment to do it with).

Not Just Any Dehumidifier
A dehumidifier is the plain answer. But not just any dehumidifier. I have been dealing with this issue intensely for nearly 20 years. The only machine that will get you the results you need is one called a SaniDry Basement Air System. And it's awesome.

SaniDry is a high-capacity, high-efficiency dehumidification system, with air filtration, in a single unit. The SaniDry takes up to 100 pints of water per day out of your basement air, while using the same energy as a 40 pint dehumidifier. And it filters particles out of the air to less than an incredible two microns in size which is smaller than any mold spore or dust mite dropping.

The SaniDry Basement Air System wrings your air dry, and its powerful blower moves that dry air out into and around your basement space. This dry air then dries your building materials and basement contents, which makes the damp smell and damp feeling go away!  What a huge difference a SaniDry can make in condensation season. People really love their dry basement environments after having a SaniDry installed.

You'll also never have to empty any buckets on your SaniDry system because it automatically drains into your WaterGuard system or sump. Having a groundwater-free basement is one thing. Adding a SaniDry is like putting the cherry on top of your dry basement program. It makes it complete. I haven't seen many basements that don't need one. Picture the concrete in your basement turning white because it is so dry!

How does it perform so incredibly well with the same amount of energy that less-effective 20-pound-weakling dehumidifiers use?

1. The SaniDry blows air over a huge cold coil. It looks like a truck radiator instead of the little squirrelly spiral coil of dinky dehumidifiers.
2. The SaniDry runs the exiting dry cold air through a special heat-exchange core that pre-cools the incoming wet air and recaptures energy.
3. The SaniDry's powerful 200 cfm blower not only grabs more air in to dry faster, but moves the dry air out around your basement to dry the contents of your basement.

There are other component reasons SaniDry wins the dehumidifier battle, but these are the main ones.

To further prove its mettle, SaniDry is Energy Star rated a rare achievement for a dehumidification system.
Another big benefit of the SaniDry system is that it doesn't have to be located in the space it's drying. You can locate it in a utility room and duct the wet air in and dry air out to the main room of your basement.

With no water leaks and dry air, materials stay dry and you can finish your basement or use it for storage. No smell, no mold, no property damage.

Why Household Dehumidifiers Just Don't Do the Job

• They are too small.
• The cold coil (the actual thing that takes the water out of the air) is too small.
• The fan is too small (it has to be so it doesn't blow the air past the dinky coil too fast, otherwise it wouldn't take any water out!).
• The fan doesn't circulate the dry air around your basement because it's too small.
• They usually aren't drained automatically, so the bucket fills up and they shut off.
• They are rated (25 pints, 30 pints, 40 pints, etc.) per day at 80 degrees air temperature. Warm air holds a lot more moisture than cold air. Put them in a 68 degree basement and their effectiveness goes way down below this number.

There is simply no comparison between a SaniDry Basement Air System and any dehumidifier you've ever seen. I am usually a bit conservative and always realistic about what a product can do. The SaniDry Basement Air System is one product where I let all the performance promises hang out.

Basement Dehumidifiers & Crawl Space Dehumidifiers
Eliminate damp, musty odors in your basement or crawl space once and for all, by drying and filtering the air with the SaniDry Basement and Crawl Space Air System.

SaniDry Basement & Crawl Space Dehudifier and Air Filter
The SaniDry Basement & Crawl Space Air System is a powerful and effective dehumidifier big enough to do the job. It will dry the air and automatically drain the water out of a hose, so you never have to empty it, like a conventional dehumidifier. The SaniDry will take three times the water out of the air as a typical dehumidifier, yet uses the same energy.

The SaniDry has a powerful blower to draw the damp musty air in and move the dry, clean air back out into the basement. The SaniDry unit can stand alone in a finished or unfinished basement. Here the unit is ducted into a finished area, with the air returning via existing air pathways connecting the spaces.

Basement Dehumidifier and Crawl Space Dehumidifier Models
The SaniDry Dehumidifier and Air Filtration System comes in two models -- a 100 pint model and a 90 pint model. These two units do not use buckets to collect the water removed ffrom the air, but rather drain from hoses (at 90 and 100 pints these units would need constant emptying)to a drain, sump pump, or condensation pump. Both come installed from your local Basement Systems Dealer or CleanSpace Installer.

The SaniDry Basement and Crawl Space Dehumidifier and Air Filter keeps humidity down, so odors go away and mold will not grow.

Mold and Dehumidification
Mold is a growing concern and a basement is a great place for mold to grow. Mold and mildew are musty smelling fungi that thrive in moist conditions. We cannot make claims about mold before or after the SaniDry is installed, but one thing is for sure keeping humidity down reduces the chances for mold to grow. In general, mold will not grow at less than 50% relative humidity! The SaniDry will keep your basement or crawl space below 50% relative humidity! Of course, any groundwater, plumbing or other leaks should be fixed, as part of a strategy to eliminate mold.

Allergens: Dust Mites and Mold
Mold spores will certainly irritate someone with allergies. The number one allergen however, is the fecal matter of dust mites. Dust mites don't drink water, but absorb it out of the air through their skin. In order to live, dust mites need relative humidity over 50%. The SaniDry unit will reduce the relative humidity below 50% and dust mites will die off.