Santa Fe Advance Dehumidifier Customer Reviews

Comments about Santa Fe Advance Dehumidifier:

Easy installation.

Comments about Santa Fe Advance Dehumidifier:

2400 Sq Ft Ranch in Virginia Beach. After having moisture issues in the crawlspace, this unit was recommended for installation. I conducted a thorough review of other units and this appeared to be the best fit. I also opted to do the installation myself as opposed to paying the cost of professional installation.
Installation was relatively easy, though fitting it through the crawlspace opening was a bit tight.
Has been running a week and has made a HUGE impact on the moisture/humidity. Jury is still out for the long haul, but pleased so far.
My only negative about this setup is the condensate pump. I needed the pump for my specific installation and although it works, it appears to be an afterthought as opposed to an integrated solution to the Santa Fe. After 4 days, condensate was no longer being pumped out and on investigation, I found the plastic tubing exiting the top of the pump had fallen over and kinked. I had to rearrange the tubing so it wouldn't droop/fall over. An elbow type exit nipple would probably suffice to remediate this deficiency. The exterior also appears crude, being manufactured from sheet metal and attaching by a single screw to the unit.
Anyway, very satisfied with the dehumidifier and would probably purchase again, but I'd like to see a better condensate pump.

Comments about Santa Fe Advance Dehumidifier:

We live in North Carolina and recently purchased a 2500 sq foot single story house. While remodeling we discovered a very severe moisture problem in the crawl space. There was high humidity that caused a great deal of condensation and moisture. The crawl space did have a vapor barrier but it was not enough.

I initially tried a small 70 pint/day unit from the local home store and it didn't significantly reduce humidity. We sought advice and bids for solutions from moisture contractors and several of them recommended that we seal our crawl space vents and get a commercial dehumidifier. They recommended the Santa Fe Advance.

I researched the Santa Fe Advance and was initially confused as to why it was better than the 70 pint per day unit we had earlier that cost about 8 times less. The Santa Fe Advance was rated at 90 pints per day. Sylvane's compare feature on their website helped to answer this question. The inexpensive big box dehumidifiers publish Capacity at Saturation (optimal conditions for removing water) vs. Capacity at AHAM (Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers). Capacity at AHAM simulates realistic and typeica conditions (80 degrees F and 60% relative humidity). If you use Sylvane's compare feature you will see both capacity ratings. The Santa Fe Advance is actually rated at 90 pints at Capacity at AHAM and 180 pints at Capacity at Saturation. The big box units will be around 30-35 pints when rated with Capacity at AHAM.

Installation was easy and the unit has been running for several months now. I sealed my vents as part of my installation. I tapped the drain line into my AC condensation discharge line. The Santa Fe Advance is in the middle of my crawl space. I have 3 remote humidity sensors in my crawl space. My current configuration is unvented (intake and discharge are at the unit) and there is a big humidity variance/gradient from the center of the crawl space to the extremities. I have to keep my unit set in the 30% range to keep the extremities in the high 50% range - we've recently had 100+ degree days with high humidity and the system worked well.

I wanted to see how the unit performed unvented before configured the vents. I am going to order and install the vent kit. This should eliminate the high humidity variance / gradient between crawl space sections. I will experiment with intake and discharge positions. Most likely, I will put the intake and discharge vents on opposite extremities.

So far, I have been very happy with my purchase.

Comments about Santa Fe Advance Dehumidifier:

Excellent unit. Moved into place in approximate center of crawlspace using short sections of 2 inch PVC pipe as rollers. Supported on 4 inch solid concrete blocks, attached feet, leveled, attached pump, and piped condensate outside. It maintains my crawlspace within 4% of setting, and has eliminated condensation from my crawlspace A/C piping. Crawlspace is 2700 sq feet with average height of 2.8 feet.

Comments about Santa Fe Advance Dehumidifier:

this is making the air in my basement comfortable and I am now not worried about a mold problem

Comments about Santa Fe Advance Dehumidifier:

This is a great product that I would recommend to anyone - especially those of us in the South. Even running full time it has very little impact on your electric bill, but HUGE improvements on the relative humidity in your home.

I've had this dehumidifer for nearly a year and I'd like to share my experience. I live in middle Tennessee where it is very humid in the spring, summer and fall. My home is two story with a crawlspace built in 1990. After several trips under the floor investigating for the musty smell and excessive condenstate on the glass we thought we might have high moisture content in our home. I bought several humidistats from the local home improvement store and confirmed our indoor humidity was around 80 - 85% and the crawl space was the same(musty smell, mold growth...not pretty). I started with one of the big box stores dehumidifers in our bathroom... that didn't work! So I did more research and decided to seal up my crawlspace with thick mil plastic wrap and seal all the vents. Meanwhile, I decided to also invest in a top quality dehumidifer and I could not be happier with the Santa Fe. They had to deliver this thing on a UPS semi truck! It is heavy duty so plan accordingly if you want to put it under your house yourself. I wired a receptical and purchased the condensate pump from a local plumbing supply store.

This thing works fantastic. It ran for nearly two weeks straight pulling the humidity out of the crawlspace. It keeps it at 45-50% all the time. The one "negative" was that I had to tinker with the dial to tune the humidty just right. It would be better if it were a digital setting. But that is a very minor issue! The noise it makes is also not too loud.

Comments about Santa Fe Advance Dehumidifier:

I have expensive tools in the basement prone to rust. The bigbox store versions did not drop the humidity to below 65%. After much research on basement finishing I found the commercial product listing more helpfull. My basement is 1400 sq/ft and this unit cycles on only a few times/day and drops the humidity to 52% in no time. For it's large size it slightly quieter than a tiny bigbox store version. Price wise I think you can't beat it. Hopefully I get many years use out of it.

Comments about Santa Fe Advance Dehumidifier:

We live in a ranch house just outside of Nashville. We've been in our house for ~10 years and have always had a moisture problem. In May of 2010 our crawl space flooded like many around Nashville and caused a bad problem to get much worse.

After last Thanksgiving we were out of the house for 4 days and came home to a house that had a very strong musty smell. I decided it was time to do something. We had an encapsulation company come out and did a thorough review of our crawl space. Based on the pictures, we definitely had a problem. After receiving their quote of ~ 14k, I decided to take care of this myself. We pulled all of the old vapor barrier out, installed new 12 mil vapor barrier with taped joints, etc. We then purchased the Santa Fe Advance and installed it. I can safely say that the combination has taken care of our problems. We have a large crawl space that is ~3,500 sf. The combination of a few cheap fans and this dehumidifier have worked wonders. I would give the Santa Fe Advance my strongest recommendation.

Comments about Santa Fe Advance Dehumidifier:

I'm the type of guy who extensively researches products before I purchase them. The Santa Fe Advance Dehumidifier was consistently ranked the best for crawl spaces and small to medium sized basements. It is also one of the most energy efficient units. Upon receiving the item which was packaged extremely well I was able to quickly determine that it is built very well compared to the dehumidifiers in big box stores. The unit looks and feels more like a commercial unit rather than a unit for house hold use. Set up and installation was a breeze. Just screw the leveling legs on, hook up the drain hose, and plug it in. Other reviewers commented on the noise level of the unit. To me the noise level was not much more than my previous two Kenmore units I burnt out in less than a year. The noise of the unit did not bother me or my family during the day or at night.


Sylvane kept coming up under Google searches for dehumidifiers. Their website was very easy to use to purchase the dehumidifier I selected. Their pricing was by far the best I found on the entire internet. I contacted the customer service line, and all my questions were answered by a product specialist before purchasing the product. Their product videos helped me make the best decision prior to my purchase. Their free shipping policy was a great advantage that no other website was offering. Not only was it free shipping, but the shipping process only took 3 days. I highly recommend this dehumidifier and Sylvane.

Comments about Santa Fe Advance Dehumidifier:

We live in a 1500 sq. foot rancher with a large crawl space in Louisa Co. Va. Our crawl was moist to begin with when we moved in 2 yrs. ago and we had to have it treated for mold, as the house was vacant for quite a while.

The original vapor barrier did not cover the entire dirt floor AND our HVAC ductwork and handling unit is located in our crawl which was sweating constantly, causing not only moisture condensate but our insulation was falling as well. After trying to put down more 10mil vapor barrier, even taping it to the walls and sealing up the vents, we still had moisture issues.

We purchased a 70 pint Danby home dehumidifier as our neighbor told us they had the same problem and a little unit took care of their crawl just fine. However, not so for us. It worked well in the beginning, but ran constantly, had no humidistat, so we had to go under the house often to check on things and our electric bill went up $50-$75 a month!!!

We had gutters put on the house last year, thinking that would help and it didn't do as much as it needed to. There is no evidence of any standing water or leaks and our home sits on a slope-you would think a humid crawl wouldn't be such an issue. But, we have a very clay soil here in Louisa, and it does hold moisture well. So, this year we decided after much deliberation and comparing different dehumidifier brands to go ahead and spend the money on something that we could set and forget it, with an incredible reputation for longevity and reliablility.

We found that doing it ourselves was much more affordable then having a moisture company come in and provide us with crawlspace encapsulation and deumidifier- thousands less! Came UPS Freight-WONDERFUL COMPANY-prompt, professional delivery within the week of purchase-Shipping was FREE! Set up couldn't be easier. Here is how we did it- My wife and I placed the Santa Fe on concrete pavers we bought at Lowe's over our existing vapor barrier with 2ft clearance over top from the floor joists to the machine and leveled it with the bubble level provided on the machine.

Then, we slid the clear tubing provided, onto the barb nipple at the machine and secured it with an automotive hose clamp so it wouldn't leak. We bought a 2nd PVC barb nipple 5/8 inch to slide the clear tubing over at the end again securing it with a clamp and of course used PVC glue to attach that to 3/4" PVC pipe. We chiseled out a hole through the foundation block, which took some time, but well worth it, and ran the pvc thru that, down the slope of our natural yard grade to a small gravel pit to facillitate drainage.

We buried the pvc underground with the tip just out over the rock so we can see it draining. The machine was plugged into our 110 outlet and set it @ 45% for now to get the moisture under control. Took about 10 minutes before we started to see water come out through the tubing. It has ran all day and we anticipate it to keep going until it gets the humidity level under control(78% at start). Noise is not an issue-we cannot hear it in the house at all. The crawl is noticeably warmer and drier already!(My wife is thrilled!)

Wish the power cord was a little longer and the clear tubing as well, but that is all that we can say negative about this wonderful machine. Like I said, we have spent a good amount of time looking at all the brands on the market and this by far was the best bang for our hard earned dollars. Can't wait to see how the doors close up in the house and how the crawl feels and smells over the next week. Go ahead and spend the money now and save yourself the hassle of a smaller, less efficient unit. With what we have spent on electricity over the past year for the home unit in which the fan had run pretty much all the time, we could have had 50% of the cost saved up. Live and learn I guess.