I ordered and installed one on these units in my house to complement my Aprilaire 700M humidifier. In the Chicago suburbs we get bone dry winters and hot humid summers. The undersized AC unit game only goes so far here and does not work for the cool humid late spring and early fall since it is too cool for an AC call. The only option is to run the AC until your house is frozen. Between AC calls in the summer, the humidity creeps back in while the temperature holds and the AC sits in the background waiting for the temperature to increase to turn on. Then you have to lower your thermostat just to dehumidify your house. I have had this unit for 2 days and already I notice a difference. The first floor is nearly as dry as the basement (which I have been using an oversized stand alone unit since I moved in) while the upstairs is comfortable, which is up from unbearable. Running a dehumidifier in the basement does help a lot, but it has been a losing battle on the first and especially the second floor.
I selected the E080 because it was the most quiet and power efficient unit while having different ducting options as well as a filter access door on both sides. The E070 was more than enough for my 1364 sq ft townhome, but I have extremely limited space to work with in the basement and the filter access on both sides came handy. I had to duct this unit to the Aprilaire recommended return to return vs the more appropriate return to supply because the pressure differences while the HVAC fan is running causes air not to flow through the unit. I am using a Google Nest to control the unit via a relay. I am using a cam rotary switch to select between the humidifier and dehumidifier relays and reprogramming the thermostat for the device selected since the Nest supports only one device at a time. I am running this unit as a stand alone with the HVAC fan active in the Nest setup. I originally ran it return to supply with the HVAC fan not active but AC calls kicked on the fan regardless causing air not to flow through the dehumidifier, which was why I was forced to change it to return to return. It was a pretty difficult and tricky install that required a lot of planning ahead of time, along with a ducting change, but it was all well worth it in the end. The unit is extremely quite. The AC is running less and the house is very comfortable with the thermostat set higher. The temperature difference between the first and second floor is now half. I have never lived in a house this comfortable during this time of the year. I am looking forward to seeing how this unit performs when the summer gets hot and muggy. This is seriously like adding a dehumidifier in every room. Depending how this unit works out in the long run, I might just look to replacing my 50 pint standing unit with the E070 for my basement (there is no ducting in the basement so a separate unit is needed).
| Model Number | E080Z |
|---|---|
| Colour | White |
| Product Dimensions | 35.56 x 66.04 x 38.1 cm; 28.58 kg |
| Capacity | 80 pints |
| Power/Wattage | 612 watts |
| Voltage | 120 Volts (AC) |
| Auto shut-off | Yes |
| Noise Level | 49.3 dB |
| Special Features | Energy Efficient Operation, Large Coverage Area |
| Item Weight | 28.6 kg |
