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We’ve had a record-breaking storms on the East Coast over the last few months. Superstorm Sandy swirled away but left our homes, offices and warehouse space with that muggy, heavy feeling and everything seemed damp.In our post-crazy-weather clean-up efforts, the first thing we did was return the Nebo flashlights we borrowed from our office and plug in three Frigidaire dehumidifiers.

When humidity seeps in, it can make rooms feel uncomfortably stuffy and musty. Beyond this discomfort, too much humidity can have some other serious impacts. An overly humid home can lose its structural integrity, attract pests like silverfish and centipedes, and allow mold to flourish. Dehumidifiers remove excess moisture from the air, improving the comfort and health of your living space.

How do de-humidifiers pull moisture from the air? It’s fairly simple:

  • A fan collects air from the surrounding area and pulls it into the dehumidifier.
  • As the air passes through, it comes into contact with the dehumidifier’s cooled coils. These coils use condensation to pull moisture from the air. The collected moisture remains on the coils and drips into the dehumidifier’s reservoir.
  • The dehumidifier reheats the air and exhausts it back into the room

Please keep in mind that a dehumidifier does not clean the air. You will need an air purifier to remove smoke and other particulates from your room.

A dehumidifier usually has a removable plastic bucket for a reservoir. Some of the buckets also have a place where you can hook up a hose so the collected water can drain straight into a floor drain or pump. If you don’t remember to empty the bucket — most dehumidifiers also have an automatic shut-off. If you’re using a dehumidifier in extremely moist conditions, you may want a unit with a built-in condensate pump, which regularly pumps water out of the unit’s reservoir rather than simply relying on gravity to empty it.

Many dehumidifiers also have a humidistat, which allows you to set a desired level of relative humidity. A humidistat has two parts: a sensing element and a relay amplifier. The sensing element includes two alternate metal conductors, and changes in relative humidity will cause electrical resistance between those conductors. The relay amplifier measures this resistance and sends a signal to turn the dehumidifier on or off.

We started calling our dehumidifier the “Big Discourager” — discouraging mold growth, insect infestation and allergen-triggers like dust mites. Our hard-working units made our basements bone dry in the wake of Superstorm Sandy – earning the dehumidifier a top spot in the defense of crazy-weather clean up.