[Editor’s note: Please see end of post for the latest updates on popular dehumidifiers]
If you live in the midwest and have a basement, a dehumidifier is a must. The downside is that they are expensive, usually costing $200 for the 70-pint version and often don’t last more than a year. The old saying “they don’t make them like they used to” holds true when it comes to dehumidifiers. I still remember the brown one we had growing up and it worked year after year.
My goal for this post is to keep a running log of my latest experiment, figuring out how to optimize a dehumidifier purchase, ensuring that I don’t spend $200 every year. The dehumidifier I currently use I purchased from Amazon with a 3-year warranty (outlined below). First, a few points I’ve found in my research:
- No manufacturer makes a consistently long-lasting dehumidifier. Reading the reviews on Amazon is a great way to see just how prone to failure dehumidifiers are.
- I haven’t found a company that warranties their dehumidifiers over 1 year, making these virtually disposable machines after 1 summer of use.
- Dehumidifiers are heavy to ship, but Amazon
still offers competitive pricing compared to my local hardware store.
still offers competitive pricing compared to my local hardware store.Dehumidifier #1
In the summer of 2015 I purchased a Soleus Air dehumidifier. It worked great for the first year, but when I went to plug it in for the summer (2016) it wouldn’t pull any air. It was past the one year mark which meant the manufacturer was unwilling to warranty the product. I eventually wrote to the store I purchased it from and received a $40 gift card to my local hardware store from Soleus Air. It was a nice gesture, but keep in mind that these things usually cost around $200.
Dehumidifier #2
Last year I did more extensive research on Amazon and purchased this Frigidaire 70-Pint dehumidifier
When I went to plug it in for the summer of 2017, I received a “F0” error. Knowing I was approaching the 1 year mark I immediately emailed Frigidaire and provided them the information on my unit. They quickly acknowledged it needed to be replaced after a few questions about my setup. After a few weeks I received a voicemail stating they couldn’t find a local dealer for me to receive a replacement and would be sending a letter outlining the steps I should take to receive a gift card in the amount I paid for the unit. As of writing I am just waiting for my gift cards to arrive in the mail.
Dehumidifier #3 (and the extended warranty)
For my current dehumidifier I took a different approach. My goal was find a reasonably priced 70-pint dehumidifier and purchase the extended warranty offered by a third party. This is my first experience with purchasing a warranty plan through a third party on Amazon. For most purchases I avoid any extended warranty, but given the track record of dehumidifiers it is in my opinion money well spent. I purchased this Keystone 70-pint dehumidifier
Clicking on the protection link will tell you who is offering the warranty. In my case it was a company called Asurion, but there are other companies that offer this on Amazon. Based on my experience Amazon will offer the third party protection plan on the side through whichever company is offering it at the cheapest price. Digging into Asurion online it appears that they specialize in phone insurance but obviously they have expanded their warranty plans in conjunction with Amazon. Based on my quick research, they appear to be a reputable company and for $20 I thought it was a worthwhile experiment.
Note that if you click Learn More you’ll find that they offer a 3-year warranty which I then added to my cart with the dehumidifier. Protection actually begins after the 1-year manufacturer warranty meaning in theory I should be able to get a replacement if it ever breaks for a total of 4 years after purchase. I searched for “dehumidifier” on the Asurion reviews and found 2 cases where purchasers used the warranty successfully on a dehumidifier purchase which gave me some confidence in testing this out.
So far the dehumidifier continues to function properly so I haven’t had to test out the warranty or Asurion itself just yet. For others looking to buy a dehumidifier with a long warranty this seems like a good option to look into. I’ll continue to update this post on my experience.
Note: This post contains Amazon affiliate links. If you click a link and end up buying a dehumidifier (or any other items), I will receive a commission. Thanks!
Update #1 (7/17/17):
I received my prepaid visa gift card from Frigidaire. Working with their warranty department was painless. The 70 pint Keystone dehumidifier continues to work well.
Update #2 (5/16/18):
It seems as though the Keystone dehumidifiers are no longer shipped and sold by Amazon and there are much cheaper options than those linked above. This hOmeLabs 70 Pint dehumidifier has over 1500 reviews on Amazon. At time of writing the 3 year protection plan is just $6.17. The Frigidaire 70 pint dehumidifier I purchased above and subsequently had issues with remains available albeit at a higher price.
Update #3 (5/24/19):
It appears that the price of the protection plans have increased in price as of late but still provide a good value given how frequent dehumidifiers can breakdown. Besides the h0meLabs dehumidifier linked above there are some other economical options like the 30 and 70 pint variations from Vremi which are priced at $160 and $199 respectively on Amazon. The 4-year protection plan is priced at $29.99 which is cheaper than the protection plans on other dehumidifiers. If you want to stick with a name brand dehumidifier I still think the ones from Frigidaire are still worth checking out although the price point is a bit higher. These Danby dehumidifiers are also reasonably priced currently on Amazon. I still have 1 year left on my warranty for my Keystone dehumidifier and am happy that it continues to work well.
Update #3 (4/11/20):
The best priced options when buying a dehumidifier on Amazon continue to be the ones from Vremi and h0melabs. The 4 year warranties are now around $45 which I think is still a good value. The Frigidaire dehumidifiers seem to be more expensive and it is hit or miss on the Keystone dehumidifiers.
Update #4 (Summer 2020):
This post about dehumidifiers has garnered a lot of attention, even from manufacturers themselves. Meaco, a UK company recently sent me a dehumidifier to test out. I will be reporting on my experience to see how it holds up over time.
09/03/18:
I echo your experiences, but my 5th unit in 4 years(!) has *just* failed.
As with home air conditioners, mechanical refrigeration type dehumidifiers used to use R22 “Freon” (Freon is a brand name of R22), but now have to use a more environmentally friendly gas, R410a. However, R410a is a smaller molecule and has to be used at almost twice(!) the operating pressure as R22, to achieve similar performance. Bottom line, R410a is *much* more prone to leaking… ie, manufacturing quality is the critical issue. (In past, where piping joints could be soldered or mechanically connected, to stay gas tight, now have to be high-quality brazed.)
Diagnosis:
If refrigerant gas leaks out, first you’ll get bands of ice forming across the evaporator coils & dehumidifier runs all the time. Turn off, let defrost, turn back on… if bands of ice form again, refrigerant has leaked out.
Pressure now reduced, unit will still chill evaporator, but ice will form; condensate won’t drain.
A tell-tale scum may also form on surface of water in bucket, &/or form a scum-ring around inside of condensate bucket… this is compressor oil residue, from within refrigerant gas.
My litany:
Sunpentown
Sunpentown
Danby (with 2 yr warrantee)
Danby (still, 2 yr warrantee)
Danby (now 1 yr warrantee)
While all 5 failed within a yr, all actually failed after only ~2-5 mo’s actual use. (Ie, no use in central NJ’s dry winters.)
Details:
My very first unit the OEM paid to have it shipped to California. When their replacement unit failed, they wanted me to pay return shipping. Expecting only a few months use, I refused & got most of purchase refunded thru my credit card’s extended warrantee (a pain, but doable).
Meanwhile I bought another brand. When it failed the OEM simply had me cut off cord & deface UPC code label & take pix of same… they shipped me new one. Same thing 2nd time. Presuming they warrantee this current failure, will be my third replacement from them.
Addendum:
Both above brands best & high rating from Consumer Reports. I’ve written CU to try to see IF CU would like to examine the failed units’ failure mode. NO reply from CU.
I’ll try to write CU again. [sigh]
Thanks for sharing, interesting to hear your experience. I did not know some of the history and the switch over to R410a. Also, good point about warranties through credit cards. I hadn’t thought about that. Is there a specific card you like for this?
Our use of the extended warrantee on our credit card was the first and remains the only time we have used that ‘feature’. We used it as applied specifically to this case. Frankly, I’m not sure we will ever use this feature again… not that we wouldn’t, it just hasn’t been applicable before.
As to your question then, is there a specific card we ‘like’ for this… no. This is not a technique to be used… it’s a feature to be utilized if & only if some specific case warrants.
I am currently under discussion with Honeywell regarding the failure of the 3rd unit since 2014.
That is very frustrating. It would be great if you could share your experience with warranty replacement on Honeywell dehumidifiers. I haven’t yet turned on my Keystone dehumidifier for the season just yet but will update this post on my experience.
Thanks for the excellent post and idea of using extended warranties to not go broke replacing dehumidifiers.
Another approach (maybe) is to buy from Costco and rely on their unlimited satisfaction guarantee. From the Costco web site:
“Risk-Free 100% Satisfaction Guarantee
On Merchandise: We guarantee your satisfaction on every product we sell, and will refund your purchase price, with the following exceptions:
Electronics: Costco will accept returns within 90 days (from the date the member received the merchandise) for Televisions, Tuner-Free Displays, Projectors, Major Appliances (refrigerators above 10 cu. ft., freezers, ranges, cooktops, over-the-range microwaves, dishwashers, washers and dryers), Computers, Touchscreen Tablets, Smart Watches, Cameras, Aerial Cameras (drones), Camcorders, MP3 players and Cellular Phones (return details will vary by carrier service contract).”
This great for Costco members. Sam’s Club, unfortunately, does not offer this policy.
Good point, I don’t have much experience with Costco but I suppose this could be a good option. Unless the price is far better though I do like the comfort of knowing I at least have the extended warranty. So far I haven’t been able to test the return process with Asurion or SquareTrade (and hope I don’t have to).
What is the duration of Costco’s 100% satisfaction guarantee. I doubt its a lifetime guarantee, so if Costco 100% guarantee is only for 1 – 2 years, then I prefer to go with Quietly Crushing It suggestion of getting a 4yr extended warranty, to potentially extend the life of the dehumidifier to 5 years.
I have a GE unit from Home Depot. At 2 year mark and still humming. Empty 70pt unit at least daily. Gave it a good cleaning (tank gets nasty) about 6 months ago. Looked into 1000.00 commercial units but they seem to have similar fates as well.
Has anyone looked into the comparative longevity of full-size household-grade dessicant dehumidifiers? I’m liking what I’ve read about them so far on dehumidifierbuyersguide.com, but accumulating an army of dead, more environmentally-friendly dessicant dehumidifiers year after year isn’t *much* better, imo, than accumulating an army of dead compressor-style dehumidifiers. Apparently all modern compressor DH’s break in a year or two, regardless of make, model, or price — is this also true of dessicant dehumidifiers?
Dessicant dehumidifiers seem to be reliable. I have one I have had since 2014 that still functions without issue. the big problem with this type dehumidifier is that is produces a lot of heat (used to rejuvenate the dessicant), and this heat draws 6-7 amps. Unit dehumidifies at little less than a 30pint compressor type, so it runs continuously – not efficient and produces heat that the whole house a/c has to get rid of, so more inefficiency there too. But it is reliable. I might try an ebac dehumidifier that runs on r134, which is much lower pressure than R410
Good to know about Dessicant dehumidifiers. I was previously not familiar with that brand.
I bought a garrison 50 pint in 2016. Unit is not dehumidifing any more. Canadian tire does not repair units .warranty expired. No one repairs these units .
That is frustrating. This is one of the reasons I recommend buying a dehumidifier on Amazon and purchasing a warranty.
Having an issue with 70 pint Frigidaire dehumidifier and their customer service. “FO” error message, unit is just at two years now and only runs 4 months out of year…..Have left two emails over past three weeks and have yet to receive response. Due to Corona, they are not answering phones. Never again with Frigidaire…going to try the warranty route I guess…..
Sorry to hear that – so frustrating. I recently had a good experience with Asurion (with cell phone insurance) which is the company behind some of the warranties offered by Amazon. That makes me more confident when buying a dehumidifier on Amazon with a warranty from them.
Similar issue with Frigidaire unit that died at a little over a year with F0 error. Best way to communicate with them is through the chat feature on their website. Took about 20 minutes. After completing forms they provided and emailing them back, they promised a replacement in a week to ten days. New one showed up on my doorstep about five days later.
Now the warranties start at the same time as manufacturers so if you buy a 4 year item and it has a 2 year manufacturers warranty you will only get an additional 2 years, not a total of 6, sounds like common core math to me.
That is unfortunate. I know when I bought my last one it was on top of the manufacturer warranty. I guess it is still worth it if the manufacturer warranty is only a year.
Been there, done that. Went through more units than I care to remember since they only last a year. Here’s the core problem. The vast majority of the units are all made by Gree in China. when they had their big fire recall I found a big list of their brands and it included all the big brands listed above and probably at least 30 others. So you can keep trying but you are just buying the same product from the same unreliable manufacturer with a different name. I finally bought an Aprilaire. They are expensive, but it does a great job, I’m on season 3 and it still looks/runs like new so I’m ahead money wise. They are also made in the US so if you have a problem you’re dealing with a onshore company.
No I don’t have any connection to the company, just another person disgusted with the awful quality. BTW Gree also makes these companies window AC units and they are of the same terrible quality, ask me how I know. Hope this helps someone before they waste the money I did.
Yup. Doesn’t matter what the label says inside they’re generally made by one factory. I’ve gone through several units over the years since manufacturing moved offshore (the old Frigidaire plant that made most US units is/was down the road from me. Torn down and now an Amazon fulfillment center). I purchased an extended warranty from HomeDepot on a GE unit and it magically failed at the same time the warranty expired. I was told HomeDepot will no longer sell extended warranties on dehumidifiers. Don’t know if that is true today. I think I will bite your bullet and get a domestic unit. While much more expensive they seem to be far more reliable and long lasting.
Hi,
I have had the same issue as all you guys with de-humidifiers. I have never purchased an extended warranty before, and they always seem to last a little over a year. How does the extended warranty work? Do they just replace the unit, or do you have to send it somewhere for them to try to fix? And, who pays the shipping? I just don’t trust these companies that guarantees things like this. I think a lot of them are just scams. They know it they don’t do anything, it will cost you more than the product itself to go after them. Has one of them ever paid off for you, and how did it work? Thanks Toby
I’ve gone through at least 10 units over the last 10 years, many were replaced during the first year by the manufacturer. This last time, I bought a Frigidaire 70 pint, with the two year extended warranty for $32 from Home Depot. It failed at six months and was replaced by the manufacturer, the replacement just failed seven months later so the original warranty had expired. I just contacted the Home Depot online warranty department, no questions asked they sent me a Home Depot Gift Card for the original price plus tax. I used the card to purchase a GE unit and the two year extended warranty for $35. I figure I’ll continue this dance as long as I can purchase the extended warranty, $35 for a replacement unit each time doesn’t seem to bad.
My dehumidifier saga was with Hisense. I had a 70-pint unit from Lowe’s. Luckily it failed (E9 code) within the manufacturer’s 2-year warranty. They sent me a check for the full purchase price. I tried to repair the unit myself- I figured, why waste it? But much easier said than done. I had my humidity sensor repaired, but no luck. Same error code. No appliance repair service wants to bother with it. So, rather than fool with extended warranties & replacing the damn things every 2 years, I’m looking at Aprilaire.
Thanks to the person who suggested that company!
Thanks for sharing your experience!
Anyone considering Aprilaire should read the 1-star reviews on Amazon. It appears that Aprilaire makes you jump through a lot of hoops in your attempt to get warranty satisfaction. Customers who were fed up with failing $200 dehumidifiers say that Aprilaire isn’t a silver bullet. Aprilaire prefers that a “professional installer” unpacks it and plugs it in for you ($200 labor?). You can install it yourself, but if it fails they might say you installed it improperly. It may only last a couple of years. A local repair facility has to service it, but there may be no one local who will. Parts are covered, but labor is not. If any of these, and other statements on Amazon reviews are false, I invite an Aprilaire rep to refute them here and on Amazon.
Thanks for sharing!
01/20/2021
I posted a detailed reply once before. At the time I had gone thru 5 dehumidifiers in ~5 yr.
To review:
1) 1st Sunpentown, 30 pt/day
2) 2nd Sunpentown, 30 pt/day
3) 1st Danby (2 yr warranty), 60 pt/day
4) 2nd Danby (2 yr warranty), 70 pt/day
5) 3rd Danby (1 yr warranty), 70 pt/day
6) 4th Danby (1 yr warranty), 70 pt/day
Last yr #6 failed; first time NOT due to refrigerant gas leak, humidistat failed.
Danby has made good on every failed unit. I rank them as an extraordinary honorable CA (Canadian) company.
This time rather than ship me a new unit, they fully refunded my original purchase $.
• I then bought a new unit from Costco:
7) 1st Frigidaire (1 yr warranty) 70 pt/day
===
Special notes:
a) Along w condensate tank, both Danby & Frigidaire have large dia *gravity* drain hose – but I don’t have suitably low house drain (to discharge into), so…
b) Both Danby /Frigidaire can pump water ~15 ft away, via a small dia hose. I use this option to discharge water into house drain pipes overhead. However, unlike Danby the Frigidaire pumps direct from condensate pan whereas Danby *first fills condensate tank*… *then* pumps topmost water from tank! This means the tank always has some water in it, so ‘grows’ bacteria, so must be periodically cleaned, or the pump will gum up!
c) Because of the “clean” pumping design & hypothetically no need to fiddle cleaning tank, plus all the unit failures I’ve had, I bought 2nd Frigidaire unit (ie, #8), plugged in on opposite side of basement, so both units run in parallel. If I’m away on a trip and either one fails, other one will continue to dehumidify basement.
d) Basement is ~40×40 ft overall. With two units running I was surprised to find one unit took priority in summer, while other unit took priority (ie, ran more often) in spring and fall. (Since I’m in NJ, neither unit runs in winter… as humidity is only ~30-40%.)
e) Newest design dehumidifiers now use a technique which modulates the evaporator’s refrigerant gas pressure. This adds bit more efficiency but now means they run at higher pressure (580psig!); I don’t yet know IF this added complexity worth it, or IF reliable, but also makes simple diagnostics more difficult!
===
8) 2nd Frigidaire (1 yr warranty) 70 pt/day
Ok…
While away on a trip, #7 Frigidaire failed. It was difficult to reach Frigidaire (actually it’s actually imported by “Rich Achiever Inc” @ http://www.Aronair.com!). Customer Service said they DON’T replace or repair. I would need return to Costco for refund… however their return warranty policy has changed, it’s no longer policy to casually return such items. (Your experience may vary. My unit unfroze and then ran Ok, so I kept it.
Ok…
While away again, #7 Frigidaire pump failed. Tank filled up then unit shut off. Mysteriously pump started working after a few days. Got home to find condensate tank quite full (not supposed to happen when small hose and pump function used); unit running normally! It’s now winter so both my 2 Frigidaire units are “resting”… come spring we’ll see.(?)
Finally, last summer, Costco had incredible sale on new model offered by Danby, so I bought one, but as yet it’s not been used; have it as a “spare”. [sigh]
Tally now is up to:
9) 5th Danby (1 yr warranty) 70 pt/day still never yet been in service.
NB: Danby had been SO GOOD honoring warranty on prior units, I felt Ok to try again.
Reds, Jeremy
PS:
1) I *wish* Consumer Reports would look at this http://quietlycrushingit.com/reviews/buy-dehumidifier-long-haul/ thread & comment as their current reviews are *sadly* lacking!
2) Another commenter suggested there is 1 China company that makes most units. True but there are ~4 companies overall. I do not know of any units actually made in USA.
3) Wrt descant wheel dehumidifiers… While they are quite likely to be more reliable, they must be installed with ducting to outside. As such their installed cost is much higher. As 1 commenter pointed out, the heat they use to dry their descant wheel, may also add to the running cost of home’s AC, negating energy savings, IF any to begin with. The proper ref wrt energy use is kWhr /liter water removed. Canada has a ‘standard’ for measuring this now, and is generally referenced on all units sold in USA too.
Question for host:
Last night I posted updated comment, but I don’t yet see it at: http://quietlycrushingit.com/reviews/buy-dehumidifier-long-haul/
Does host of this blog moderate comments before posting… or was my post lost?
Your comment was posted. Thanks for sharing!
Well thanks to your article I just picked up a keystone dehumidifier with a 4 year warranty for 275.00. Thanks and hopefully I dont have to keep doing this every year.
Awesome, good luck!
So, incredibly sad. When we purchased our home in 2005, it came with a dehumidifier in the basement. I have no idea how old it was already, but it didn’t conk out until. 2015. It was a Frigidaire, so I figured, heck, I’ll get a replacement. 4 1/2 yrs later that one died. They still offered a replacement if “under 5 years.” The replacement lasted 14 months. The basement is 1200sf, closed doors, the humidity stays around 55 if on; 70+ when off and there’s lots of posters, art, epherema. I discovered when I called Frigidaire, that they go backwards to the original purchase (2015) not the replacement; and it didn’t matter anyway because it was now 14 months old. I just purchased a GE ($249) and am going to get the $40 minus $1 3 yr from Home Depot (they said they’ll let me add it since it has been less than a couple days). How maddening. So, apparently you rent a dehumidifier for about $30/month.
So, incredibly sad. When we purchased our home in 2005, it came with a dehumidifier in the basement. I have no idea how old it was already, but it didn’t conk out until. 2015. It was a Frigidaire, so I figured, heck, I’ll get a replacement. 4 1/2 yrs later that one died. They still offered a replacement if “under 5 years.” The replacement lasted 14 months. The basement is 1200sf, closed doors, the humidity stays around 55 if on; 70+ when off and there’s lots of posters, art, epherema. I discovered when I called Frigidaire, that they go backwards to the original purchase (2015) not the replacement; and it didn’t matter anyway because it was now 14 months old. I just purchased a GE ($249) and am going to get the $40 minus $1 3 yr from Home Depot (they said they’ll let me add it since it has been less than a couple days). How maddening. So, apparently you rent a dehumidifier for about $30/month. PS I didn’t buy on Amazon because there was no where I could actually get information on how much shipping would be to return if needed and I couldn’t waste anymore time trying to decipher the footnotes and asterisks. I imagine it’s a cool $50 to ship a return.
Super frustrating!
NB: 3rd time I’ve posted here,
(Please see 2nd post: 01/20/2021)
I posted detailed reply once before that too. At the time I’d gone thru 5 dehumidifiers in ~5 yr, but *now* it’s been 7 “dehumidifier years” and we suffered 2 adtl dehumidifier failures. [sigh]
So, as of 11/04/2021, an updated dehumidifier failure list:
1) 1st Sunpentown, 30 pt/day
2) 2nd Sunpentown, 30 pt/day
3) 1st Danby (2 yr warranty), 60 pt/day
4) 2nd Danby (2 yr warranty), 70 pt/day
5) 3rd Danby (1 yr warranty), 70 pt/day
6) 4th Danby (1 yr warranty), 70 pt/day
~2019 #6 failed; first time NOT due to refrigerant gas leak; humidistat failed!
Danby has made good on every failed unit. I rank them as an extraordinary honorable CA (Canadian) company.
This time rather than ship me a new unit, they fully refunded my original purchase $.
• I then bought new unit from Costco:
7) 1st Frigidaire (1 yr warranty) 70 pt/day
#7 had a failure during 1st year… It’s discharge pump stopped, condensate tank filled & then unit shut down (ie as tank full). We were away at the time… mysteriously pump started by itself…so dehumidifier ran again.(!)
8) 2nd Frigidaire (1 yr warranty) 70 pt/day
As #7 had faltered, I bought 2nd new Frigidaire (got it from Costco) & had both plugged in, such if #7 failed, #8 would automatically continue job.
While both #7 & #8 seemed to be doing fine Costco had a sale on *new* Danby 70 pt/day model… so, because of the history of prior failures, I bought
#9 Danby as a “spare”. (It sat almost 1 year before being used… as below.)
Mid-summer 2021, #7 & #8 Frigidaire units were recalled on account of fire hazard! Frigidaire offered a ‘pro-rata’ refund (ie, based on age), but Costco accepted both recalled units & gave a *full* refund! (Wow!)
#9 Danby now running ~1/2 season & seems to be Ok. [whew]
Summary:
As we close w our 7th season (winter time in Cntrl NJ, dehumidifier doesn’t run), we’ve now gone thru a total of 8 dehumidifiers, 9th one still running.
PS: I bought a plug-in watt meter to measure dehumifier’s electric use:
https://app.box.com/s/80gfr91vbcl8953jgacfyn3e8canogtt
Dehumidifier’s humidistat set @50% RH. Basement humidity then varies ~49-54% RH, measured by AcuRite meter… at far side of basement:
https://app.box.com/s/pv9iuy28v6pxym8pxyem
After virtually an entire season I can finally see annual cost of running my dehumidifier: @18¢/kWh, $196/year!
05/20-11/04/2021 4057 hrs 18¢/kWh, based on total cost of electricity, plus PSE&GCo’s charges for delivery.
Note:
Efficiency of dehumidifiers is rated in terms of energy factor (EF) & volume of water removed from air, per unit of energy consumed measured in Liters per kiloWatt-hour (L/kWh) but ymwv!
ENERGY STAR V3.0 (Oct 2012 regs)
For <75 pints/day, EF of 1.85 L/kWh
•EF ratings based on testing at dry-bulb temp of 80°F, wet-bulb temp of 69.6°F, which equates to about 60% RH at sea level (AHAM, 7).
ACEEE report's meter data showed actual temp and RH were *below* these values for almost all units… as expected since most units set to less than 60% RH.
ref: http://aceee.org/files/proceedings/2012/data/papers/0193-000291.pdf