Customer Reviews

Frigidaire 70-Pint Dehumidifier

5 star:		(64)
4 star:		(34)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

The Frigidaire FDF70S1 seems to be a very effective dehumidifier, as it was able to reduce the humidity in a large room by approximately 20% in about three hours. I ran it overnight and the water bucket was about 1/4 full by the morning; this was after emptying the bucket before going to bed.

Setting the unit up is a complete no-brainer. You just plug it in, press the power button, set the humidity level, set the fan speed, and go. The entire process takes about one minute.

The unit will turn off if the water level gets too high. This is a good thing. If you want to use the unit continuously, you can attach a garden hose to an outlet on the unit and it will constantly drain and will run without interruption.

The only complaint I have with the unit is the noise level. I bought this for use in a bedroom in hopes that it would help with my son's asthma, but the fan in the unit is quite loud. There are two fan speeds and the lower fan speed is better, but it is still pretty loud. It reduces humidity quite a bit quicker with the fan set to high, from what I can tell, but it is simply too loud to use in that manner if you are going to be in the room with it.

Bottom line: I would expect that this unit would be PERFECT for drying a basement or something of that nature, but it is a bit loud for occupied rooms.

4/5 stars.

It is like the Sahara in my basement. OK. I am exaggerating, but this dehumidifier is really working. My humidity dropped 20% in 2 days. The only issue is I cannot empty the water fast enough. I have heard that after a year or so there may be issues with its reliability but for now, it is humming. DiabilityBuzz.com was right on with its review.

We had ours for 6 days and had to take it back because it won't run right on anything but continuous operation. After 2 days we switched from continous operation to % humidity settings just like the manual recommends and here is what happened. The unit came on for about 10 seconds, off for about 15 seconds and back on again, off again, on again over and over....... and about drove us nuts. We left if turned off for a day and tried again with the same results. What made the rapid on-off operation more annoying is that fact that the unit is rather noisy to begin with. Our basment is @ about 65 degrees and the humidity dropped from 72% to 60% when this started happening. After doing some research on line we discovered that we weren't the only ones having problems with this model. The moral of the story is to do the research before you buy, not afterwards! Hope this helps. RC

I have last years model of this dehumidifer from Frigidaire. I like 90% of all people who buy a dehumidifer have it in my basement. And like almost all basements, it cool down there. This unit freezes up (builds up ice on the coils) and when that happens does not remove water from the ambient air. The unit has the option of a 2 or 4 hour timer, so I think, "hey. I'll just shut the thing down every 2 hours, let the ice melt from the coils and the unit will start back up " Wrong. It will run for 2 hours and then shut off, but it never starts back up again. The only way to get it up and runnig is to manually start it up. Sorry, I'm not running down to the cellar every 2 or 4 hours to start up the this thing. Those of you looking for a dehumidifer, I'd take with a small grain of salt from these reviewers who report great things when they've only had the unit less than a month.

I bought a 70 pint Frigidaire in May 2008. The first one I brought home did not work at all when I plugged it in. The store where I bought it gave me a new one.It worked great last summer. Now it is June 2009, and it barely takes any water out of the air(about a cup a day) The humidity level in my basement is 80%. I didn't take out an extended service contract so I have to buy another dehumidfier. If you own one I suggest you take out an extended service contract. If you don't own one you're lucky.

As someone else said, use Amazon for small items. Perhaps I should add do not buy Frigidaire products as well. I too ordered this unit from Amazon. It came and worked well, for 6 months. Now, the Frigidaire booklet says it has a one year warranty.

I called them up and explained how it was icing up. They said that my unit was defective and that I should return it to the seller for a replacement. When I told them it was Amazon, they said they only honor the warranty from an authorized distributor. Funny, but the owner's manual does not state that. Neother does their website.

When I asked Amazon, they said they would offer me up to 50% of the value after I ship it to them. Well, that is better than what Frigidaire offered. But considering the price, taking half of that, and then paying for the shipping....

Bottom line, buy from Frigidaire at your own risk. Who knows who is an authorized distributor and I imagine fewer are if you have a problem.

Amazon are great to deal with, but stick to the small stuff.

I've had many over the years, lately the LG-made units (Goldstar/LG/Sears). This seems better designed than all earlier ones I've owned. Very attractive. Nice fit and finish. Lots of plastic but seems solid. Larger than it appears in the picture. Heavy. No vibrations. Controls are simple and effective, with the humidistat displaying your selected setting as you're changing it, then reverting to real-time readout of ambient humidity after a second or two. The compressor is very quiet; you can hear it when you're standing next to the unit, but not from upstairs as was my experience with the LGs. The fan is as quiet as it can be given the amount of air it's moving, I think. I have mine set to High in the first few days as it's bringing the humidity down, and will probably leave it there for best efficiency unless spending significant time in the basement, then will switch it to Low to reduce noise. You can hear the fan through a wall or two on High, perhaps through one wall on Low, but it's moving a significant amount of air. The fan noise is simply a clean swishing sound, essentially white noise, not objectionable at all. I think on Low fan speed, we could tolerate this upstairs too, but it's absolutely perfect for the basement. I have a hose hooked up for continuous draining into a floor drain. The hose connection is a nice design. There's a little door flap on the side. The hose goes through and screws onto a nipple just above the water bucket. If the hose isn't there, the water comes through the nipple and falls into the bucket; very simple, effective, no adapters. Overall, this unit seems really well made; confidence inspiring. Hope it lasts some years. As I'm near Chicago, I bought mine at Abt who offers a local 4yr warranty for $29. Very happy!

Revisit:

** May 2011 **

It is 2 years later and the appliance is STILL WORKING WELL!

Be smart ... Like ME.... Buy this!


** May 2009 **

What I like:

+Good size for large basement.
+Works well.
+It is no louder than any other dehumidifier I have owned. As a background noise it is fairly sedative.
+No rattling!

+The built in clear plastic lid prevents water from sloshing out while carrying.

Drawbacks:

-The bucket is a tad difficult to remove.
-Fills so high you have to be careful not to splash water out.
-Somewhat awkward to carry, seems slightly out of balance.
-Messy to empty, there is no clearly defined pour spout, and openings are small.

Oddities:

*The appliance will not turn off if the bucket is full, until you empty the bucket.

*The appliance will not turn off without the bucket in place.

All said... it is well worth the investment. Less noisy than other units and is doing its job.

It does have a hose attachment nozzle.

I bought this unit for a finished 900 sf basement(Found onsale at Menards for $189). Unfortunately my old one broke during a very wet time in the spring in the Midwest. The humidity was at 70% when I plugged this unit in. Within 6 hrs, it was down to 45%. It is very efficient removing moisture and is not too loud - I'd say it is on par with the other two units I have owned over the years. I hooked it up to a drainage hose, to eliminate emptying the bucket. I like the fact that I can remove the hose if I want to use the bucket for some reason(my old unit had an external hose connection on the botton of the bucket that had to be drilled to attach a hose - therefore never used witout a hose again).

My only complaint, and a minor one at that, is the amount of heat this unit produces. I understand that there should be some heat, but it is much more noticeable than other units I have had. This will be welcomed in the winter, but in the summer it raises the temp in my basement 2-3 degrees when running for long periods. All said, the heat issue is minor and the moisture removal has been great in the three months I have owned it.

This dehumidifier could not keep the humidity level in my basement below 50% even when I ran it on high speed all day plus it increased my electricity cost significantly. I bought this to replace a defective LG and the LG had no problem keeping the humidity level in my basement at around 45%. I definitely would not recommend this product. In fact, of the three dehumidifiers that I have tried - GE, LG, Frigidaire - I don't think I could recommened any of them. Maybe the LG if the piece that drains the water out through a hose hadn't broken...