Frigidaire FAD704TDP 70-Pint Dehumidifier, White

I really liked this dehumidifier for the season and a half that it lasted. I used it in a basement and connected a drain hose for continuous operation. It had no trouble keeping my basement at 50 - 60% humidity and I really never had to do anything except check and clean the filter every few weeks. I felt the noise level was reasonable for a basement. The bucket was a little tricky to remove, but since I had it hooked up to a hose that didn't bother me too much.

Unfortunately it seems like no one can build a dehumidifier that lasts anymore. This one didn't fail completely, but it appeared that something went wrong with the humidistat or electronics. After the problems started the unit always displayed the humidity as 95% and ran continuously. I checked the hose and there was still plenty of moisture being removed so I think the compressor was still going strong. Since I had an extended warranty (I bought this from HH Gregg) I returned for repair but they decided it was too expensive to fix and now I must replace it. I may take a chance on another Frigidaire, or perhaps the Soleus 70 pint model.

I am giving this three stars because although it worked well at first, I think an appliance like this should last for 5 years at a minimum, and also if something does go wrong these should be repairable. That energy star rating means nothing if there are a stream of these headed to a landfill because they don't last.

UPDATE 06-02-2010: I decided to go with this unit as a replacement for my previous Frigidaire 70 pint unit. Just a warning, the unit I got looks slightly different... more like this one: Frigidaire 70-pint Dehumidifier I originally thought this might be old stock, but the date of manufacture was 3/10 so I must be mistaken. Hopefully my warranty will transfer because I have a feeling I will be going through this all again in a couple years.

Frigidaire FAD704TDP 70-Pint Dehumidifier, White