Q: Hello! I was searching around in the Home Hacks and I found great suggestions for adding moisture to the air in a home without a humidifier, but I was wondering if anyone had any bright ideas for dehumidifying the air without a dehumidifier? Dehumidifiers are loud, not very attractive, and an energy drain. Are there any non-electric (and even better--beautiful) solutions for a humid basement or closet? Thanks!
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I have not tried it myself, but this came to mind.
http://www.damprid.com/
I haven't used them for a long time, but I had great success in the past with DampRid products. They're little buckets or hanging sachel things that magically pull moisture out of the air. Probably not great for really humid places, but for a damp basement or bathroom they're awesome. Not beautiful, but you could cover the buckets with some nice paper maybe?
I was just wondering the same thing this morning as I wiped moisture off all our windows that often puddles on the sills. Will set up the dehumidifiers today but hoping for some helpful (non-electric) answers.
Try
www.damprid.com
I've used their products for years in two closets and my workshop with success.
We use Damprid in our basement- it works really well, you just have to change the packet regularly and dump out the water it collects. For us, it even got rid of the damp smell.
I also use Damprid in my bedroom just because of how abnormally wet my room is. It makes a difference, but its certainly not to the degree that a dehumidifier would.
Just found a lot of info at this link:
https://www.greenpassion.org/index.php?/topic/6073-dehumidifieng-the-natural-way-with-rock-salt-no-electricity-needed/
We've used a DampRid product for a few months in our bedroom closet to inhibit mold growth on clothes that didn't get worn very often. It does seem to suck the moisture out of the air but I didn't like that you had to buy refills.
I've used silica gel in my work as a museum curator and I knew there was a new "renewing" kind (that wasn't the blue kind that was apparently toxic). I bought two little trays of that for dresser drawers and one of the EvaDry E500 thingies to hang in the closet.
None of these solutions are "beautiful" but they do their job and that's beautiful to me.
I wish I could trade our overly dry air with one of you! :) It's miserable. Even our humidifier running 24/7 isn't helping.
This isn't the answer your looking for but - our place is so humid the Damp-Rid or other methods don't work. I just got a dehumidifier off craigslist and it works GREAT. Yes, it is loud and needs to be tucked in the corner. But if I run it for an hour it does more than anything else will with minimal energy impacts. The good news is that I don't have to turn on the heat which saves energy. It makes it that much warmer. Also, I use the water to water my plants, win win. If you have a serious issue, I thinking making the best of the dehumidifier might be the way to go.
A wood stove.
We used to use a dehumidifier in our clay-tiled damp 1920's basement until a wise contractor explained how this actually drew moisture from the outside through the tile. Once we started using a fan the difference was remarkable (and once we were able to afford waterproofing, problem solved)
The only thing that worked for us was an actual electric dehumidifier. It doesn't have to run for long...just enough to get the job done. We have to pull ours out every winter for the master bath/bedroom. We pull about a gallon of water out of the air every week.