Will this work?


  #1  
Old 07-23-15, 02:35 PM
G
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: USA
Posts: 7
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes on 0 Posts
Will this work?

Hello,

I finished my basement and it is a bit too humid down there so I am adding a dehumidifier. I do not want it in the middle of the room making noise, blowing hot air and having to empty a tub every 5 minutes. There is a mechanical room in the middle of the space with a bunch of space in the back corner behind the AC unit for the first floor. The wall along that corner faces out into the room where the dehumidifier will go. There is a condensate pump in there already. I am thinking about cutting a hole in the wall in the back corner, building a wooden pedestal to hold the dehumidifier off the floor, sliding the dehumidifier back through the hole on top of the pedestal so the front faces out into the room, adding another condensate pump for it to drain into (the first one already has 2 ACs draining into it, I do not want to overload it.) then I will put a hose from the dehumidifier into the second pump, plug the pump and dehumidifier into an outlet that is in there, and have the condensate from the dehumidifier go into the condensate pump and be pumped out. Here is the problem, and my plumbing question.

The only "line out" so to speak, is a line run from the condensate pump up through the ceiling, across the house, and into a drain. Everything is finished off and there is no way to run any new line or drain for the second pump. Is it possible to splice the line coming out of the second pump onto the line coming out of the first pump, using a t joint? The problem I see is water going back down into the opposite pump when the other is active. There is not enough pressure or hose/pipe width to try and implement a check valve or something (or is there?)


Would this work/what are your thoughts?

Thanks.
 
  #2  
Old 07-23-15, 04:08 PM
Z
Forum Topic Moderator
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: USA
Posts: 6,086
Received 419 Upvotes on 372 Posts
I think you have two different questions/problems that need to be addressed with this setup.

1) Most dehumidifiers suck air in from the rear, through the coil, and blow it out the front. (Others in the front and out the top). Regardless, you really want the moist air and dehumidified air both coming from your main room. By putting it in a wall, you're basically dehumidifying your utility room, which may not really do much to reduce the moisture in the main room. I'm assuming of course that the utility room is closed.

You also have possible draft issues if you have gas fired appliances in that room, basically the dehumidifier will be creating a lower-pressure in the utility room that could cause burner issues, draft issues, CO and CO2 leakage, etc.

I would instead place the dehumidifier in the main room, up on a pedestal or table, and just make a 1" hole through the wall to run the water discharge pipe.

2) What to do with all that water!? Personally, I would just drain the dehumidifier into the existing condensate pump. It will cause it to run more often, but that's what it's supposed to do. Its lifespan may be a few years shorter, but it's not a big deal.

If you decide to go with two pumps, you'll have to use a pair of check valves, since you don't want one pump pumping into the other one. They actually may already have one built-in now that I think of it, but to be honest, I'm not certain.

I'm sure others here will have some opinions too.
 
  #3  
Old 07-24-15, 08:58 AM
Norm201's Avatar
Member
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: United States
Posts: 10,956
Received 721 Upvotes on 640 Posts
Can't add much to what Zorfdt already has. I'd go with his recommendations.
 
 

Thread Tools
Search this Thread
 
Ask a Question
Question Title:
Description:
Your question will be posted in: