Can we talk about how a $40 dehumidifier hose ruined my basement floor more than the leak did
Everyone in my neighborhood Facebook group keeps saying the fix for a damp basement is just a cheap dehumidifier with a drain hose, so I grabbed one at the Home Depot on 170th in Edmonton back in March. Ran it for six weeks straight into a floor drain like a genius. Problem is the hose kept popping off the little plastic outlet, and I didn't notice for a while because it always looked fine from the stairs. Last Tuesday I went down to grab a paint can and there was a standing puddle about ten feet wide under the stairs, right over that cheap laminate the builders put in. The dehumidifier was still humming away, blowing air at a wet floor and doing basically nothing. Pulled up 14 planks myself, and the subfloor is still spongy in one corner near the furnace. People keep telling me to just buy a bigger unit with a pump, but I'm starting to think the hose and the drain setup matters way more than how many pints the thing claims it pulls. Anyone find a drain hose that actually stays clamped on without fighting it every week?
I had the same pop-off problem and what finally worked was a stainless worm gear clamp from the plumbing aisle, like a buck fifty each, tightened down on the hose barb. Also worth running a short loop of hose downhill with a little slack so it's not tugging at the outlet. Six weeks is a long time to trust a hose you never check though, I go look at mine every few days now.