Customer Reviews

Bionaire BDQ25-UC 40 Pint Dehumidifier

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

 

 

Our house has a very damp basement and to combat that we purchased a Bionaire BDQ 24 about a year and a half ago and it worked just dandy until a little over a week ago when all of a sudden it simply stopped pulling in any moisture. Just like that. Fan still spins when you power it up, but no moisture collects in the reservoir. From what I've gleaned in the past week about the workings of dehumidifiers over the internet, the 'compressor' on the unit must have bugged out.

Well...I phoned Bionaire's customer service line and they offered to immediately replace my defective BDQ 24 with this model the BDQ 25 as the BDQ 24 was out of stock and wouldn't be available until November. November?!

A few days later, the UPS trcuk arrives with our new dehumidifier.

This model looks a lot like the model 24 only it's bigger--it is very elegantly designed (for a dehumidifier) and so far it seems to work just great, pulling in pint after pint of H-2-O.

Here's the rub: I must dock this product ONE STAR because it is Extremely NOISY!! By 'noisy' I don't mean refrigerator noisy. I am talking jumbo jet taking off in your living room noisy. It is one LOUD MUTHA!

I have no idea how Bionaire feels they can get away with referring to this machine as 'Quie-tech'. But it works.

I just hope they fixed the bugs with the faulty compressor in this model. Time will tell with regard to that issue. Anyway it does have a 2 year warranty.

Oh. And that wireless indicator is junk. Synched it up with the unit and then all it did was beep. Wife made me yank out the batteries. Very annoying.

--Bill

We bought this dehumidifier in the beginning of summer hoping to keep the dampness out of our basement. We felt a huge difference in our basement after just an overnight run. We have it on continuous drain setting. As far as noise goes, we don't really care since it is in the basement. But for those of you planning to keep one in your living area, it doesn't make more noise than your regular fan. The remote sure is handy. Couple of our friends have bought the same dehumidifier after seeing ours.

Tremendously disappointing! LOUDER than 2 other dehumidifiers I have compared it to, even though it was supposedly engineered to be quite. Clearly they can just say whatever they want. I originally bought an LG dehumidifier from Home Depot, but I returned that one because it was too loud. I found this "QuietCare" model online and ordered it. It's MUCH louder than the LG model was. It's also much louder than the 2 my parents own. I'm sitting about 35 feet away from it now (it's in bedroom, I'm in living room) and I have to turn the TV way up just to hear over it. Don't even dream about being able to sleep with it operating. This "QuietCare" nonsense is a complete scam and I'm just disappointed that I had to order online (couldn't find any stores carrying it in my area) and cannot return it now.

We bought this dehumidifier to use in an add-on room which was built on a slab. The room was very damp, especially in cold weather. It has window walls with double pained glass that got fogged up on the inside. Mildew around the windows was a problem as well. There was so much humidity in the room that when we first purchased the dehumidifier we had to empty it approximately every 12 hours. The dampness it took out of the room was absolutely amazing. We no longer have any fogged up windows or mildew problems. It now runs intermitently and keeps our room dry and comfortable. I would recommend it highly. The only drawback is that it is noisy, similar to a window air-conditioner.

If noise is a consideration do not even consider this unit. I would like to know how they arrive at their "Ultra quiet" designation.

This is the first dehumidifier I have owned, so I really can't compare it to others. We bought it to take away some of the damp smells that seemed to come from our finished basement. This thing seems to have done the trick. Run continuously, it wrings out the moisture quite well, making a noticeable improvement after only a couple of hours. Run on the range settings, you can specify it to come on only when the humidity reaches a certain point, allowing you to save power. We haven't noticed much of an impact on our electricity bill. The only drawback is the thing is a bit loud, but not any worse than a window-unit style air conditioner.

Great dehumidifier. Works very well. Takes gallons of water out of my house. I love everything about it except one detail. It's loud. I can't compare it to others as this is the only one I've owned, but it's the loudest appliance I own. Not a problem if you're putting it in a basement, but maybe a bit much in a living/sleeping area.

This machine is amazing. Has an unbelievable pull power. Pulls so much humidity out of the air, so fast that a short run is enough to bring the humidity to the 'acceptable' levels of 60-70%. MY acceptable humidity level is under 40%. It took less than 10 hours to bring the humidity of a regular size room from 72% to 35%. It took it a night to bring the humidity of the entire basement from 85% to around 50%.

Is it silent? I won't operate it in the bedroom while sleeping, but it is way quieter than our *quiet* window air condition, and any other non-electronic dehumidifier I ever had.

Best features: It has 2 presets for 'average' humidity (65%-54% and 54%-45%) AND continuous run for levels out of the preset ranges.

Bonus feature: The remote reader. Once synchronized it works like a charm. Lets you know the levels of humidity where the machine is and if the bucket needs emptying. Important if you have it on another floor -- we have it in the basement, not accessible from within the house.

Essential feature: Bypass for constant outflow. I.e., you can set a hose on the bypass and forget the bucket.

Would I buy it again? I did. I bought not one, not two, but three of these in the span of a month. For different parts of the house, but it shows how much I like it.

All that said, I have only had the first for about a month and the other two less than a week. If issues arise, I will amend this review.

July 2009 - 11 months into owning and using it: The first one of the three bought and put to operation full time in the basement started having a little problem now and then last month (10 months in operation). The machine would either stop by itself or after unplugging it and plugging it back in (shares same outlet with washing machine, when washing, dehumidifier gets unplugged) all the lights would be on and the button would not respond to select one function, i.e., it cannot operate. On a hit or miss basis the unplugging and plugging back in will reset the machine and will start again. But it is a hit or miss, therefore it is now un-reliable for its intended purchase, the basement, and I moved it into the house for a much more occasional use - i.e. once in a great moon.

The other two, so far, work as they did, just fine.

In any case, I called Bionaire and the short end of the story is, without the register receipt, the one identifying the actual purchase, there is no recourse. Now, who keeps receipts? especially when charging on a credit card, anyway. Well, be forewarned. KEEP that stupid cash register printout along with the instruction manual and the warranty. I wish I had. I would be on my way for a replacement machine now. The only other way to get it replaced is if some magic numbers of the cord, prong, or etched on the back of the machine identify it as manufactured less than 2 and a half years before the day you call... Good luck... Mine was manufactured in 2004, it turns out, 4 and a half years before I bought it. And frankly, packing the machine to send it back, and so on, is not worth my effort to look for the receipt, in the great chance that I might have kept it.

So. I stand by my first part of the review: it is an amazing piece of equipment. But I will be weary of Bionaire, the company, for future purchases.

And for all you out there on the verge of buying one, KEEP that stupid receipt!

In the meantime, I bought a Danby Sahara as a backup - no comparison in terms of noise or power, it is quite noisier and I doubt it pulls as much and as fast as the Bionaire, but at $20 including shipping, I cannot complaint. I could not believe I got a full size dehumidifier at that price...

February 2011 - Revisiting review after 2 and 1/2 years:

Everything I wrote about this little wonder is true through and through - including the part about the lousy customer service... I lent one of our three units to friends whose basement was a pool of humidity according to my hygro-sensitivity, but they thought their basement was just 'musty'. Musty my foot... After a few hours of use they realized in what condition their basement was and they have been running the unit constantly since last summer (about 5 months now). I may have to forget I lent it to them and just consider it a gift, since I don't think I am getting it back any time soon. To their credit, they asked me several times where they could find a unit like that. Unfortunately, I am asking the same thing...

Bionaire, Here us out there????

We bought this last year for our finished basement. It is VERY noisy. When we have guests over that stay in the basement, they always ask to turn it off because they cannot sleep with the loud noise it makes. Also, earlier this week I was emptying the tank and noticed cracks all over it. We now have to get a new one, but I will never buy this brand again.

I love the dehumidifier it is so much quieter than my old one and I love that a hose can be connected and put into my french drain so I never have to empty it. My basement is very damp and this dehumidifier really does the job well!