Soleus Air CFM-40 40-Pint Dehumidifier with Humidistat
by Soleus Air
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Tools and Hardware Reviews of Soleus Air CFM-40 40-Pint Dehumidifier with Humidistat
Customer Review: Returned to Vendor
Summary: 1 Stars
I wanted to like this unit, but alas, it was returned to Amazon. Here is why: It seems the life of todays dehumidifiers has been drastically shortened since manufacturing of these units all went to China. I have owned 3 dehumidifiers over a long span of time. The first one ran for about 15 years and I got this used from my parents, so I don't know how long it ran in total. The second one ran for 10-12 years and the last one (the first I owned not made in the USA) ran to just out of warranty, or about 26 months. Since repairs were prohibitive, I started searching for a new unit. I was unable to find a single unit still made in America. With that done and overwith, I narrowd my search to the Soleus CFM-40, in part, due to the usually spot-on reviews in Amazon. The unit arrived OK and performed very quietly on the continuous cycle as the owners manual recommends you begin using at first. When the area was down to its intended humidity (50%) level, one that was maintained for years with previous dehumidifiers, I selected that humidity level on the controls of the Soleus for it to maintain automatically. While the fan ran, it stays on constantly - an annoying feature not found in most dehumidifiers, the compressor never cycled on and the humidity level rose 15% past the setting selected to 65% over several days. No matter where I set the auto-humidity level - the compressor never came on. I called the Soleus 800 number, where I reached an associate that must have gotten bad sushi or got up on the wrong side of the bed to stagger into work for Soleus USA's 9AM starting time, my 12PM, when I was first able to make contact with them for the day. I told her that the unit would not cycle the compressor unless continuous was selected. That must have triggerd her ire as no one in her world is supposed to be able to detect a Soleus compressor cycle. Our conversation ended with her abruptly ending the conversation and hanging up on me. Here is a customer service person that knows how to put the 'cuss' in customer service... Thanks to Amazon, a prompt and efficient return was accomplished, but no more Soleus products for me, ever. So, I'm back to the somewhat noisy, but properly functioning Sears Kenmore - the brand that once made dehumidifiers that lasted generations, but also made my last unit that chunked after 26 months...Customer Review: If It Breaks After One Year - You Can't Get it Fixed
Summary: 1 Stars
I bought the unit in June 2007. It worked fine that summer and during the summer of 2008. When I took it out of storage for the 2009 season, the fan turned on, but after 24 hours the unit had collected no water. All efforts to troubleshoot it failed - it simply no longer removes moisture from the air.
Here is where it gets truly annoying, and I highly recommend that if you are considering buying one of these, you pay attention not only to my review but to all the other one star reviewers with similar tales of woe.
I called the Soleus customer service line. The woman who answered told me that since it was out of warranty they would not fix it unless I was willing to pay shipping costs both ways, plus the cost of repair. "That will cost you an arm and a leg," she volunteered. "You don't want to do that." I asked if she could recommend anyone in my area of the country who could fix it. "No," she said, "we don't track that kind of information, but I suppose there's probably people somewhere in your area who could fix a dehumidifier." I asked her what would happen if this yet to be determined person needed parts. "Well, we don't provide spare parts." So I asked her how I could ever get this thing fixed, since it probably needs parts. "I'm sorry," was all she said.
Bottom line. If the thing breaks after a year, it is essentially impossible to get it repaired. Paying to ship it back and forth to Soleus, plus paying parts and labor for the repair, could not possibly be cost effective. I'm sure I could buy a new dehumidifier for that price. To put it simply, once you go past the one year warranty, you're up the creek without the proverbial paddle. As far as I'm concerned, a unit that breaks after two years and can't be repaired is junk, and a company that does business like this should be avoided like the plague.
BTW - I researched warranty and repair for the LG unit I bought as a replacement this past summer from one of the big box stores. Needless to say, I looked into all that BEFORE purchase. There are indeed people in my area who can service an LG, and there will be no problem obtaining spare parts if the unit ever fails. So let me serve as a warning to you all. Don't buy one of these Soleus units over the internet. Buy a name brand from a reputable local dealer.
Customer Review: Small but mighty!
Summary: 5 Stars
We have a 900 square foot apartment located by the Bay. It is an older apartment with single pane windows. Every morning we'd have to wipe the windows down to keep them dry. We knew the air in the apartment was damp, but boy, we didn't know it was as damp as it was!
When we got it, we set it up in the family room and on high and continuous. Within 12 hours the bucket was full. Another 24 hours after that it was full again. At that point we set it at 50% and let it do its thing. At 50% in the morning the air was bit too dry and it would irritate our sinuses so we now leave it at 60% and the apartment feels great and more importantly, there is now little to no condensation on the windows. Also, the mirrors in the bathroom defog almost immediately so we know there's not a lot of extra water vapor in the air.
Points to consider on this unit:
1) It's pretty small and doesn't stick out like a sore thumb.
2) Energy usage (as measured via a Kill-A-Watt meter) is 283 watts when running the compressor and 26-30 watts when
running fan only (depending on fan speed).
3) It measures the RH and not absolute humidity so the temperature of the room affects how much long it cycles for.
4) The bucket, when full, does spill. It's not the best design. I recommend emptying it when it's about 3/4 full or
just be really slow and careful.
5) Noise - even on high it's pretty quiet, and doesn't impede conversation. On quiet, you have to really listen for it.
6) The fan is always on when the unit is on, this is by design. The way to tell if the compressor is running as well is to feel it. If you can feel the very slight vibration and hear the slight hum, then you know the compressor is running. If it isn't vibrating, then just the fan is running.
After doing a lot of online research, unless necessary for medical reasons, the ideal humidity of a room is 40-60%. The presets of 50/60/70 are perfect for this. You don't want the indoor air too dry or wood can split, drywall and paint can crack and floors may squeak as the wood dries out and shrinks.
While we've only owned it for a week, we are incredibly happy with the purchase.
Customer Review: Quiet, portable, energy hog
Summary: 3 Stars
We already have a Whirlpool dehumidifier, which -- although perfectly efficient -- is far too loud for using in our living area: we are using it in the basement. However, having moved to a humid part of the world, we needed an additional dehumidifier in the living areas as well as the basement. Reviews of this Soleus unit said it was very quiet, so I decided to risk ordering it on the basis of the good reviews.
I have been broadly pleased with the unit, which we have now had for several months. It is indeed extremely quiet, especially on the "quiet" setting. There are three settings and even on "high", we can have the unit running at the same time as listening to the radio or having a conversation in the same room. I can easily move it from room to room using the handle on top.
However:
- Using this unit has a real impact on my electricity bill. Thankfully, I don't need to use it all the time, just on days when it's very humid outside and too cool to make it worth running the air conditioning. If I were buying a new unit now, I would look for one that used less electricity
- The water collection bucket is awkward to remove, empty and reinstall. It fits very tightly and it is difficult to pour the water out of. Once, I failed to push it back in completely, and I ended up with a big puddle on the floor. The bucket on my Whirlpool is far better. To prevent future puddle incidents, I now not only push hard on both sides of the bucket when replacing it, I sit the Soleus unit in a shallow tray; this is less than ideal.
- There is a set of "flaps" on top of the unit, through which dehumidified air is exhausted. In the photo on this website, you can't see them because they are closed. However, they need to be opened for the unit to operate. It is too easy to inadvertently close them.
- Whereas my Whirlpool dehumidifier senses the dryness of the air and turns itself off if the air is dry enough, this unit does not: it keeps going until the bucket is full or turned off manually. Not very good if you are planning to leave the house.
For all these reasons, if I were looking for a replacement unit, I would look for an improved version of this rather than the exact same model.
Customer Review: Soleus CFM-40 Pint Dehumidifier
Summary: 3 Stars
I bought the Soleus CFM-40 Pint Dehumidifier from another company in August, 2008. It worked well. I had it set on 60% humidity and the fan set on Quiet. The water tank was emptied about twice a day when it got full. I put it away for the Winter, used it in the Summer of 2009 and then stored it for the Winter again. I brought it out about a month ago using the same settings as before. I emptied the water tank twice within a few days. Then about a week went by without having to empty the tank which was strange because the weather had been very humid. I looked in the water bin and it was completely empty. There was an empty laundry basket in front of the humidifier that I had absentmindedly set in front of it along with a pile of stuff on one side, forgetting that there has to be at least 8" of room on all sides of the humidifier. I moved the humidifier away from those items but it still wasn't dehumidifying. I unplugged it and left it that way overnight, not knowing if that would help or not. I plugged it back in the next day but it still didn't work on the 60%/Quiet settings. I finally switched the humidity setting to Dry and the fan to Medium and now it works! One of the other reviewers mentioned that you can tell when the compressor is on when you can feel the humidifier slightly vibrating; that was very helpful to know. Another way to tell is if the air coming out of the top is warm. Don't know why it doesn't work on the previous settings but at least it's pulling some moisture out of the air. Now I'm emptying the water tank about every other day, not as much as when the humidifier was new.
Some people have mentioned problems with the water spilling when pulling the tank out. The instructions state that when emptying it, lightly press on the sides of the tank with both hands and pull out gently. That works for me and I haven't had any problems with it.
I would suggest switching to different settings if it's not working. It worked for me; maybe it will work for you too. I would have rated it higher if it was still working the way it did when I first got it. The 1.5 - 2 year mark seems to be when the problems start for this humidifier from reading other reviews.