Customer Reviews

WindChaser Mini Dehumidifier

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

The Windchaser Mini is good for small, relatively enclosed spaces. Just keep in mind that the picture is a little deceiving; it's about 1/5th the size of a regular dehumidifier. If you have just a small room with a mosture problem and don't want to spend $200 for a regular dehumidifier this is definitely what you want. The only down side is the small tank which has to be checked reasonably frequently depending on the level of humidity.

I cannot speak to the product's longevity as I have only been using it for about a week. I can speak to its effectiveness, however: This thing works much better than I expected it to. Though the description and product manual refer to small spaces such as bathrooms and closets, this thing really is powerful enough to use in a smallish apartment, taking it from room to room. (It is very light and portable.) I have been struggling with moisture problems (condensation on the insides of my windows) for quite some time. This mini-dehumidifer dries out my living room such that the moisture on my windows is gone within a couple of hours. If I leave the unit on, the moisture doesn't even form in the first place.

My previous solution was to run my forced air heater to the point that my apartment was very, very warm. Not only was that uncomfortable but it was also expensive in terms of electricity costs. This little dehumidifier uses very little power so it shouldn't create too much of a spike in my energy bill.

As to the "quiet operation," I suppose if one lives in a rural area with low ambient noise, one might find the white noise put out by this unit a little disappointing. To put it in perspective, however, just imagine the amount of noise put out by a SMALL fan. That's how much noise this thing makes. It is really very unobtrusive.

As to someone else's unit only running for four months, I hope I have better luck than that. If I encounter what I deem to be an early product failure, I will report back here. I will say that the manufacturer's warranty is pretty much a joke: They want the consumer to pay $15 for return shipping. This means that after paying to ship the product to the manufacturer and paying this service fee for its return, the consumer has spent over 1/3 what it would cost for a new unit from Amazon. What's worse is that the warranty states that it does not cover a malfunction due to normal use. I've never heard of such a thing in a warranty. I'm not even sure what WindChaser would repair under warranty if they refuse to repair or replace an item that breaks under normal use.

Addendum submitted on 3/12/05:

I was thinking about getting another one of these so I was checking out the reviews. I'm surprised that so many people have purchased this product and had it fail so quickly. I've had mine for over one year now and it still works. Perhaps part of the problem is the intensity of use. I do NOT run my unit 24/7. There are many days that I do not turn it on at all because I don't need to. I would guess that the longest I've ever run the thing continuously is about 48 hours. I'm guessing that this product simply fails early if it is used continuously (ie, it probably isn't built to withstand that sort of duty cycle). The only problem I've noted with mine so far is that the fan is sometimes noisier when I first turn it on, but the sound returns to normal within less than a minute when that happens.

I bought this to go in a small block room in the back of my house. It's airtight to make it fireproof and I was having a lot of problems with moisture from the concrete in the blocks that is still curing. The house was only about 4 months old. I bought the WindChaser and that thing really works. For the first week or so, I had to empty it every day. After that, the room started to dry out so I only have to empty it about every 3 or 4 days or so. About 2 months after I started running it, I noticed that it sounded a little funny so I turned it off. After about an hour, I turned it back on and the fan wouldn't run. I opened it to see what might be the problem since, it is a pretty simple design and there isn't much to go wrong. The fan is a standard 3 or 4" brushless 12v dc, very similar to what is probably circulating air into most computer cases. The lubricant on the bearings had dried out causing the motor to stop. I suppose from the moisture or heat?? Anyway, I pulled the bearing cover off (just a small piece of rubber that snaps over it), and a couple of 3 in 1 oil did the trick. I think it actually works better now! Compared to the cost of the larger one's,the space savings, and the noise of the large one's, having to oil the motor once was a small price to pay. This thing really is a great item. Not quite as quiet as they advertise, but nothing you wouldn't get use to in an hour or two. About like most small air purifiers.

Really pulled the water. Had to constantly keep watch because reservoir would fill up in a few days and then shut off. Decided to make a modification so the reservoir would automatically drain. Worked great, but motor died in less than 6 months. Bought two. Both died about same time. Strange huh??

I would go back to manufacturer, but they probably would say it was because of my auto drain modification. I doubt it. In fact, I think they should create a model that does drain through tube outlet so you don't have to constantly check it. We stored clothes in storage closet and went away for 8 months. Our house sitter checked regularly, and then it just stopped!

I bought two of these the same day to use in different bathrooms. Worked fine for about four months then they both broke down within two weeks of each other. I'm not inclined to buy another.

I was looking around for a little dehumidifier to put in 2 closets where we have a mold problem. We have an older house and the walls are just brick & plaster, so the insulation is poor & the outside walls in the closet get condensation on them & then a nasty black mold grows. We bought 2 of these & they've been running for a few months with no problems. They fit easily in the closet, they're not much bigger than a large shoebox. They're really pretty simple, there's just the little solid state cooler with big heat fins which the water condenses on & a fan to move the air over them. The first week we pulled a couple of pints out of each closet, now that they're mostly dry it's down to maybe a cup or so a week. The fans do make a little noise, so I wouldn't want them right in the room with me, but with the door shut I can barely hear it. The power supply is a big brick which stays pretty warm, so the closet is noticeably warmer than the room. I'm happy, and assuming they keep going through next winter I imagine our mold problem will be contained.

I wanted a small and quiet dehumidifier for our camper trailer that we are living in while building a house. Full size dehumidifiers are too loud (and too big) for such a small place and WindChaser is small. Not as quiet as I was led to believe, but it works. No more wet windows in our bedroom even in our cool NW weather. I'm thinking of buying one more for our living area. I would have given this 5 star except they should have listed the db's so I could have known what to expect with noise. It doesn't bother us sleeping but I can't hear the coyotes howl anymore at night. It's a little louder than our computer.

I purchased this mini unit for a slight mildew problem in a couple of my closets. I moved the unit between closets for about two weeks, then left it in the biggest closet to run continually for the last 8 weeks of its life. It did a great job at first, but was not too quiet. Since it was in a closed closet it didn't bother me too much. The first sign it was giving up its life was that the motor got quieter. After a week of this the unit would no longer turn on or pull moisture from the air, despite the power block and top of the unit becoming heated. The power block got so warm during operation that I was almost afraid to leave it in the closet where it was in close proximity to fabric.

There is a 1 year warranty, but to get warranty service you must pack up the unit and send it along with $15 to Marina del Rey, CA. Since I'm fairly close I plan to call them to see about bringing my unit in to save the fee. I really don't want another one of these things, but it would appear I'm stuck with a replacement instead of a refund.

**UPDATE!!!**

This is a revision to my review. I tried the fix that GlockShot mentions in his review and it worked like a charm. If I could I would upgrade my rating from one star to three, because as I said in my initial review, the unit functions great, while it's working.

I'm not mechanical and I was able to fix it, so I'm guessing most others can too. The only thing that took me a while to figure out was that to get to the bearing he mentions, you need to peel a silver label off of the fan blade to access the little rubber stopper that covers the bearing. True to his word, I applied a few drops of household oil, rotated the fan blade to disperse the oil a bit, closed the unit up, and it worked again like a charm!! Note that it took a few minutes for the fan to start working--it didn't do so right away. I'm guessing that the oil needs to heat up or something?
True, it's lame that we as customers need to open up the unit (essentially voiding the warranty, I assume), but it's a much easier and cheaper fix than sending the unit back to the manufacturer, and certainly better than adding it to a landfill.
Thanks, GlockShot!!!

I took a chance and bought this item even after I read all the negative reviews. And, just like the others, my unit worked GREAT in my basement office for about a month and then died. I will try the fix described by the other reviewers, but potential buyers beware - this thing is a piece of junk!

I've purchased three of these mini dehumidifiers in the last year and the first two quit working within six months. I'm in the process of trying to get replacements since they were purchased for my mother and she has enoyed them while they worked; however, I'm not sure whether I need to return them to Amazon or directly to WindChaser so it's taking some time.