Customer Reviews

Bionaire BDQ24-UC 20-Pint Dehumidifier, White

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I live in an old house outside San Francisco where there is no central air or heating. During the summer, we leave the windows open because the weather is perfect, but in the winter and fall, we close up -- unfortunately, this means having a damp house because the bathroom and kitchen never dry up. Humidity was a new problem for me and I had never purchased a dehumidifer before, so I crossed my fingers and bought the Bionaire BDQ24-UC.

My first impression was "wow, it's bigger than I thought" (of course, this was my fault for not reading the dimensions on Amazon before ordering). However, it really isn't all that imposing. It fits neatly into our tiny bathroom, and doesn't stick out at all.

Secondly, the thing works like a champ. The economy mode is great for us, because we'd like to keep utilities low AND let our towels dry at night. The first night we had it on, it pulled out about 2-3 cups of water, and brought the relative humidity down to 50% from about 78%, on a night where it was about 50 °F. From my perspective, this was an overnight fix.

As far as the noise, I'm a very light sleeper; a drip from the bathroom faucet next to our bedroom will keep me up at night. The Bionaire is pretty quiet-- it's similar in volume to a window-unit air conditioner. So it doesn't keep me up at night, and I can watch movies in the next room without really noticing.

I gave it four out of five stars because the humidistat lags a bit (~20 min) when in economy mode -- while this really is not a big deal for me, I could imagine that a different design might work better for those who need an instant response. I can't attest to its long-term reliability because I only have the experience of a few weeks, but if you're concerned about that, then it does have a 2-year warranty. It ships with a receipt from Amazon, so be sure to hang on to that. Best of luck!

UPDATE (Jan. 2008): Two years later, it works great. A month ago, it seemed like it wasn't sensing the humidity so well. It turns out the air filter was clogged-- oops, I hadn't cleaned it since I bought it! I washed the filter in the sink and put it back on the machine still wet. Works like it did on day one. I recommend it very much still, and if I could give it 4.9 stars, I would.

I can't begin the explain how great this machine is. I've had it for about a month and it has made a dramatic difference in my household. The style is very pleasing and fits into any room I place it in. The only minor problem I would say is the noise level. It can be a bit high, but I have gotten used to it and the noise just blends into the background.

I especially like the three humidity settings and the digital guage for the humidity level in the room. In addition, the unit comes with a built-in handle and casters to wheel it around. When the collection tank is full, the unit beeps once and flashes a light. Removing the tank and emptying it are much easier than I thought it would be. This unit is a pleasure to have and well worth the money. I think the Bionaire company has lived-up to its name with this machine.

Mine has been working non-stop for 14 months now. It is much quieter than other dehumidifiers, because it has a turbine-like fan and a new cooling technology. It also seems to produce less heat than other dehumidifiers, although it does warm up the air (that's unavoidable). The only problem that I have found with this machine is the placement of the humidistat. The sensor for humidity is located inside it and gets dried out pretty quickly. As a result, the dehumidifier underestimates the humidity of the room, turns itself off too soon, and then will not turn itself on once the humidity goes up in the room. This is not a problem for me, because I need it to run non-stop. However, it would be a nuissance if you require precise control of the relative humidity.

I've owned other dehumidifiers that sound like 747's. This one is sooo quiet compared to them. There is no such thing as a silent dehumdifer, but this is as quiet as they get. When I got this my apartment was always wet. My bed and clothes always felt damp. I plugged this in and it said the humidty level in my room was 85%!!! I guess I was living in a swamp. I set this unit to keep the room at about 50% humidity and it worked great and made a huge difference. It was amazing how much water it took out of the air.

Hi everyone,

I have had the unit for 6 months and it suddenly died. Let me say that it works very well. That is, until it dies.

Bionaire no longer makes this appliance. WHen I called to get service, I was denied because I didn't have a receipt. Well, the manufacture date is within the 2 years warranty, but that didn't matter to Bionaire. In fact, Bionaire told me that even if I did have a receipt, they couldn't do anything for me because it is discontinued.

On top of that, my intelligence was insulted 10+ times by a Bionaire rep trying to give me a discount on a HUMIDIFIER. I quit trying to explain the basics of humidification/dehumidification to the customer representative over five times, but she never quite understood and kept trying to sell me a humidifier.

Unless you want an un-warrantied machine that will break down, don't buy this item. Bionaire provides no support and will just insult you by trying to replace your dehumidifier with a discount humidifier.

Are these people a bunch of momos, or what?

The compressor failed on my unit within the warranty period. After a lengthy frustrating email exchange, Bionaire customer service offered me a replacement and I was pleased that I wasn't required to return the whole machine as I hadn't saved the original carton and transportation would have been expensive. All I had to do was cut off the power cord and mail that in. Sounds good right? Wrong. It took another several email requests to get them to give me the address. I mailed in the cord and again nothing. By the way, they have an automatic email response thanking you for your patience and promising a real response within 24 hours. After several weeks of no response as usual, I got fed up and sent a snail mail letter to the ceo of Jardin, Bionaire's parent. Within a week, the replacement unit was delivered. Since then, I have been deluged with emails from different customer service reps explaining the tardiness of their responses being due to the email traffic that they have to deal with and stating how pleased I should be with the new unit. #1--they don't appear to realize that in winter homes are too dry already and people don't use a dehumidifier to make them drier. And #2--if 24 hours is an unrealistic response time, why promise it?

This has been a great purchase for us! We have an approx. 1100 sq. foot finished basement that was beginning to feel very humid. The humidity was running around 55% all the time in the summer and not much lower in the winter. This machine has brought the humidity down to 40-45% all the time (in the summer) and the basement now feels dry and comfortable. It is QUIET, easy to use and attractive. We have a humidistat accross the room from where the machine is and the humidity readings match so we find it to be very accurate. I would definitely reccomend this dehumidifier!

I have read the all amozon reviews and bought this unit. We are living in a house, always feel dampy. We have a creek near by and a flat-roof on top has been making the environment worse. I turned it on, the humidity level was 86 so kept it on for a few days. WOW! I can feel and see a HUGE DIFFERENCE. I don't see any water on windows in the morning even. It seems,this unit is effective to the whole house. (Approx. 1200 sqft)The last thing we must to check is a electric bill, we haven't receive yet. other than that, I really recommend this unit. Runs quietly and does great job!

Quiet,pulls alot of water. The first one broke within days so store exchanged. The second one works great, Have had for two years. Customer service department is great and goes out of their way to help you. Should have rated 5 STARS. Hit wrong button.

Mine was purchased last July and it was broken after two months. Called the manufacturer for exchange, but they do not have the model in stock. After alsmot half a year, I am still waiting. They do recommend a new model, but I have to pay $180.