The humidity in my bedroom regularly goes above 60% in the winter, causing condensation and mold on the windows. After a rain, it's even worse. So I ordered this to help take care of the problem, which it does. The musty smell is gone, I sweat less, and everything feels drier and cleaner.
This is a new model with Energy Star certification that replaces a similar model, the FAD504DUD. Consumer Reports gave that one a very high rating. From what I can tell, the only real difference is the lower energy usage, 530 watts compared to 615 watts in the old model. This gives it an efficiency of 530*24/50=254 watt-hours per pint of water extracted from the air (lower numbers are better).
Here's how it compares to the other new models:
FAD704DWD 70 pints per day, 255 Watt-hours per pint
FAD504DWD 50 pints per day, 254 Watt-hours per pint (this one)
FAD301NWD 30 pints per day, 256 Watt-hours per pint
Here are the older models:
FAD704DUD 70 pints per day, 262 Watt-hours per pint
FAD504DUD 50 pints per day, 295 Watt-hours per pint
FAD301NUD 30 pints per day, 360 Watt-hours per pint
Consumer Reports gave the highest possible rating to the energy efficiency of the older 70-pint model, and the second highest rating to the older 50-pint model. As you can see, all of the new models beat the older 70-pint model, at least according to the manufacturer's specifications.
Here are the real world energy usage numbers:
Compressor off, fan on high: 61.0W
Compressor off, fan on low: 52.1W
Compressor on, fan on high: 446W (Frigidaire's web site says 530W)
Compressor on, fan on low: 442W
It makes a little more noise than I was expecting, but it's white noise. The fan makes more noise than the compressor, even with the fan on low. Home Depot's web site says it creates 53 dB of noise. It's quieter than an ordinary dishwasher or a box fan on high. Switching the fan to low speed doesn't make it much quieter. On high speed, it really puts out a lot of air.
The dehumidifer contains a built-in digital hygrometer (humidity sensor), which shows the humidity in 5% intervals. 5% is fine because instant-read hygrometers aren't very accurate, anyway. If you program a target humidity level, the fan turns off a few minutes after the compressor. Another reviewer claimed the fan never turns off, but it's possible that the dehumidifier was never able to reduce the humidity level to the setpoint, and so the fan (and the compressor) stayed on constantly. It would be good if it had an LED to indicate whether the compressor is on, to avoid confusion (suggestion #1).
Also, it cycles quite frequently when it's trying to control humidity to a selected value. This is what it's doing right now as I type this:
T+00:00 fan + compressor turns on
T+04:30 compressor turns off
T+09:27 fan turns off
T+10:50 fan + compressor turns back on
As you can see, it's cycling almost six times per hour. This might be good for energy efficiency and air quality, but it makes it tough to sleep with one of these in the room. I wish I could tell it to cycle less frequently, no more than 2-3 times per hour (suggestion #2).
It would also be nice for bedrooms if it ramped the fan up before turning on the compressor so it doesn't wake me up when it turns on (suggestion #3).
Because instant-readout hygrometers are notoriously inaccurate, I recommend installing a separate one in the room to serve as a "second opinion." I'm using a Caliber III Thermometer/Hygrometer. The Abbeon AB-167 is supposed to be the best hygrometer, and the Taylor 5565 is a close second, if you calibrate them properly. You might also consider a sling psychromoter, which is more accurate than an instant-read hygrometer but not as convenient.
This dehumidifier peaks at 18.94 amps, so like a blow dryer or microwave or electric heater, you may need to be careful which circuit you put it on. Suggestion #4 is to add a capacitor to reduce that startup spike.
At 65-70 degrees and about 40% relative humidity, it took 10.5 hours to pull 6.3 pints of water out of the air. That's 0.60 pints per hour. (At higher humidity levels, it seems to be much more efficient.)
When it doesn't have to work very hard, when it's cycling on and off as it controls to a selected humidity level, it seems to have a cooling effect, but in continuous mode, after a while the exhaust turns warm.
The bucket holds 16.3 pints. It has a little window that shows the water level, but the number of pints isn't marked (suggestion #5).
Overall, I can say it does its job and so far I'm completely satisfied with my purchase. If I had to replace it, I hope the replacement will incorporate the suggestions I've listed in this review.
This is replacement for a previous unit by Frigidaire that lasted four years, but worked well until it died. I read all the reviews on this unit and was concerned with the experience of others but went forward with the purchase in January hoping for a better experience. Not three months later the new unit died. We called the number on the warranty card and were directed to a local service repair for Frigidaire. This particular unit apparently is not repairable so Electrolux sent a new unit to the service repair man for delivery and pick up of the old unit. While we received very good customer service from Electrolux from the perspective of follow up phone calls to keep us informed on delivery status, we were not advised of a $50.00 delivery charge. A machine that was barely three months old shouldn't have cost us an additional 20% of the purchase price. So beware of both the quality of this unit and the warranty!
Buy Frigidaire FAD504DWD Energy Star 50-pint Dehumidifier Now
I purchased this unit from amazon 4 days ago. I even made a video because hearing is believing. First of all this unit works very well. It has filled the bucket 5 or 6 times in an air conditioned Florida home showing 53% humidity. Since we turned on this unit we are down to 44% inside humidity. The construction observed is very good (we did look at Lowe's and Home Depot units which were poorly constructed), features are good but the thing sounds like a freight train passing by. Also remember that the air coming out of the unit is warmer than the air going in 72.8 deg in and 91 deg out, another problem with the unit in the living area. A good modification would be a dual gauge showing both the setting and the room humidity level. Truth be told we will probably have to return the unit because it is just too loud for a living area. This unit would be great for a garage or basement. That is a shame because it works great, just not indoor living friendly.
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Several reviewers have commented on the noisy fan. The fan on my Frigidaire FAD504DWD Energy Star 50-pint Dehumidifier, unlike my Whirlpool e-Humidifier (which sounds like a prop plane on a windy day) is muted, and cannot be heard from 2 rooms down and this is with the fan setting on HIGH.
The Frigidaire FAD504DWD Energy Star 50-pint Dehumidifier arrived well packed (Styrofoam), battened down, with taped-to-body bucket, and did not need any assembly, other than removing the tape, moving it on its gliiiding casters (great handle on top too -I had to pick this up and it is not lightweight-the handle withstood the tugging and the hefting). It is handsomely designed, looks more-than-just-utilitarian, is pleasing to look at.
There is a drain in the back, for continuous use. A beeper lets you know that the bucket needs to be looked at (full, or not all the way tucked back into the body). The bucket has a handle -oh joy!! I had to be so careful with the Whirlpool's bucket-using one hand on each side of the bucket as I slooowly removed it from the body to keep things from splashing. Now all I have to do with the Frigidaire is pull the bucket forward, boldly pick up the bucket by the handle, and go to the balcony to water my plants with the excess water. I have found that adding a tiny bit of bleach to the water in the bucket, in-between bucket removal, helps to keep mold and mildew at bay (a lesson I learned from a former Dehumidifier that had to be Put To Sleep way before its time, as the green and black 3-D mold and mildew had crawled their way into inaccessible areas of the unit).
The controls are EZ to read and use no buttons, just a touch pad. The Instructional booklet in English, Spanish and French, was easy to understand and is quite thorough, including a page's worth of trouble-shooting advice. Just keep things clean, wash the filter, replace it when indicated, and of course keep dumping the bucket, or draining the water (the drain outlet looks well-built and up to the task.
I have not used the timer-function but it will come in handy when I need it. The lack of noise is wonderful-my old Whirlpool De-Humidifier was so noisy that although I was pretty sure my downstairs neighbors don't sleep in their livingroom/dinette, the noise from the Whirlpool was floor-rattling.
I live in a climate with three seasons -Spring/Summer (summer is hot hot hot, with humidity that almost rolls thru the air), Autumn (with sometimes very rainy Septembers) and Winter (usually dry, but sometimes host to a Mega Snowstorm). So this Frigidaire FAD504DWD Energy Star 50-pint Dehumidifier has arrived at just the right time as soon as Spring affirms its dainty-sweet existence, Summer will be leapfrogging over it to assert its dominance, with at-times scorching heat and mega humidity. I look forward to using this Frigidaire Dehumidifier for six months of almost-constant use. Yes I have A/C in all rooms except kitchen and bathroom, but when the AC is on in the brutish part of the summer, you would not know it.
The Whirlpool? Will be relegated to the kitchen -where so much of my food can be prone to spoiling because there is no heat or air-conditioning in the kitchen.
UPDATE-I can't believe how quickly the bucket fills-even on "just" a humid day in April--Zounds! this is a great dehumidifier!UPDATE 2 -May 2013 -I can't believe how quickly and how much water this takes out of the air!! I have to drain the bucket (which does not lend itself totally well to the act of draining, since water wants to spill out from mor e than one area while draning into the sink - but I'm getting the hang of it) at least once a day -I'd like to add a hose to the drain so it drains automatically but there is simply no place to drain this automatically in my apartment-unless I want the water to go over the balcony -and I don't think my downstairs neighbors will be amused by that.
PS-My Westinghouse Dehumidifier is now in the kitchen where it makes a lot of noise and does its job slowly.
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I have always used a dehumidifier in my basement, whichever house I lived in. Wisconsin doesn't get horribly damp like Florida or something in the summer, but humidity gets up there. I had some things in the basement get affected by it, some mildew on leather furniture I had in storage until I moved it back upstairs. Since I do store quite a few things in the basement, including German wine, I've made sure to keep a dehumidifier in place. The first one was a simple on/off unit, so I had it set on a timer. Then I got the Sunpentown one which worked quite well until it started giving an error code randomly, and support was useless never able to get anyone on a phone, never a reply to emails to them. When this came up on the Vine program I jumped at it, hoping to replace the not so satisfying one I purchased at Amazon.
Arrived quickly, and well packed. Plenty of styrofoam to protect it in transit. Unboxing was easy even with just one person since it had packing straps holding the styrofoam in place on top and bottom so it was an easy lift out of the box.
First thing I noticed that was a huge improvement over the Sunpentown one the nozzle where you can screw a hose directly to bypass the bucket altogether. The unit I'm replacing had one as well, but it wasn't done very well. They did it in a way that the nozzle attachment was a part that had to press into a tube coming out of the back, and didn't secure to the unit itself, so the weight of the hose, if not positioned carefully, could kink the little plastic tube it plugged into. This one has the nozzle built right into the unit, so it's part of the back. There's a nice solid cover on it that you unscrew to use the hose (I posted some pictures in the photo section). The next thing was a handle on the top that lifts up across the center for carrying, giving you an option to lift it that way although it also has the standard recessed hand holds on each side.
I got it into the basement, positioned it by the drain in the floor, and cut my hose to the right size for this unit. Got it all hooked up and fired it off. It begins on high, and it's not a bad noise level. Granted, no dehumidifier is ever going to be SILENT. But this one started out pretty quiet, although over the course of the first week of testing, it's gotten louder. Initially the noise was minimal, but you can hear the compressor now more than I could the first few days. I don't know if that's just because it's "settled in" now or what. I'm testing mine on low since the basement wasn't too damp yet since I was still waiting for snow to melt outside since it's only the end of March, but by the second week in April the compressor got more noticeable, not any worse than the Sunpentown, and maybe a little less "rattling" with this one.
I have a small electronic hygrometer / thermometer unit in the basement I've used to make sure it's working, so I set it for 40% since the basement was hovering around 50% at the time. Then I went about my life, and when I next checked, both the Frigidaire unit and the hygrometer both read 40 and the unit was off. I was never sure how accurate the hygrometer or the Sunpentown unit were, since they were always a couple points off of each other, but it's nice to see these two match.
It's not very heavy, and easily moved around by just one person, and once in the basement the wheels make it an easy thing to relocate on my concrete slab (not a finished basement). The unit has a timer that can be both for a delay start as well as how long it runs, as well as a constant on option. I prefer to just pick a humidity point and set it for that. It can be adjusted in 5 percent intervals.
There's a filter to clean every 250 hours according to the manufacturer, easily enough reached by removing the bucket and pulling it down.
For me, the big thing was the noise level. I really didn't like the Sunpentown since it rattled as it fired up, and you could hear those noises clearly over the air flow. This one has less rattling, and the compressor noises got more pronounced over a few weeks. It is a little quieter overall than the previous models I had. And since I can dump the water straight out to the hose, I'll not have to deal with it shutting off when full. This capacity is slightly less than the Sunpentown was (that was a 65 pt compared to this 50 pt) but it didn't take long to drop the basement to 40% so it should do just fine.
As we hit summer and the humidity gets up, I will post an update if this doesn't perform up to snuff but so far I have no reason to expect to have to do so.
Edit April 7 2013 dropped a star because over the course of a few weeks, the compressor started to get noisier, maybe as things "loosened up" after shipping or something, but now it's only marginally quieter than the previous one was rather than significantly. Still a better unit overall though, so leaving it at 4 stars.
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Unlike many of the other UV humidifiers, this one does not create a glow that disturbs sleep. Its low fan speed is pretty quiet. It is very suitable for use in a bedroom. The water tank is a little small and I fill it daily running it 24/7. We have only had the unit for a month so I can not speak to its longevity, yet.
