BLACK+DECKER 4500 Sq. Ft. Dehumidifier for Extra Large Spaces and Basements, Energy Star Certified, BDT50WTB,White

My house has no basement. I am on a concrete slab. My laundry room is located on a lower level of the house where a basement should be located. It is adjacent to my kitchen and always has a musty and mildew odor.I purchased the Black and Decker BDT50WTB Dehumidifier. I no longer have musty and mildewy odors throughout my kitchen. The dehumidifier is a real giant of a workhorse. I must empty the basket a couple of times a day. I am fine with that because that means it is doing its job, dehumidifying the house.Today I am going to hook up the hose and allow for the continuous drain to the exterior of my home.I strongly encourage viewers/readers of this review to purchase. One more thing I encourage readers to do---purchase the four-year extended warranty if you think the dehumidifier will run for lengthy periods.

My place is about 900sq feet. I live in a wooded area and my place gets INSANELY humid in the summer, even with the AC on. Some days my indoor humidity climbs all the way to 90%. This works like a charm. When I first hooked it up, it got the humidity from 80% down to a comfortable 50% in the matter of a couple hours. Really easy to set up and not too heavy, I'm fairly small and did it on my own. I love that it has wheels so I don't have to lug it around my place. Definitely get this if you have a humidity issue. I'm sure it would work just as well for a place larger than mine because this thing packs a punch.

This item was purchased new in of May 2020. I operated this unit from May 2020 to early Oct. 2020, then again from May 2021 to Oct. 2021. In total it operated only for a little less than 12 months during my 23 months of ownership. I only need to operate the dehumidifier in my basement for five to six months a year, depending on the arrival of moist air and the onset of dry weather. Filter always kept clean on a very regular basis. Freeze up issues started last October, just before I turned it off for the season. Started unit back up three days ago and it froze up after only two days of operation. Basement temp in the low 60's. This unit must be replaced after only 12 months of operation. It is set up for continuous hose discharge into a floor drain so I don't have to empty a bucket. Last fall the bucket filled up before it froze up the first time and that should never, ever happen. This unit is a piece of junk. I expected at least 10 years of use from this because my prior unit lasted almost 20 years. Ten years is not asking too much. With the standard 1 year warranty, B&D told me on was on my own for repair. Repair is not worth it. The fact that it only operated for a year has no bearing on their care for customer service. Don't buy this product, in reality a piece of junk.

12/13/24: I purchased a renewed unit. Even with the instruction book, I could not figure out how to get the device to turn on. Then, suddenly, it just fired up; so I stopped everything and just let it run. On the first day, it took an entire bucket. Therefore, it does work and work well. It has since decreased to about a quarter bucket every half day, but the room has much less of a musty smell. (It is in a room in a brick-walled basement.) An odd side-effect is the cold air coming out of the dehumidifier. It has made the room chillier than before. I am, though, willing to put up with that chilly temperature if it decreases the musty smell and mold growth. I'll keep an eye on that and update this review as I get more data. In the meantime, this loses one star for the poorly written instructions.

This unit was purchased to replace a slightly smaller dehumidifier that only lasted a couple of years before refusing to respond to programming. The humidity level in our basement was at 80% with the former unit operating continuously. Got this unit set up and running quickly and in 36 hours the humidity level was at 50%. We have it emptying into our sump pump so we don't have to deal with emptying the bucket. Simple instructions for set-up were much appreciated. It is very much a "set it up and forget about it" operation. Even with the fan on high it isn't particularly loud and we will set it to low once the humidity level reaches 45%. For now, I am a VERY happy customer!

I have purchased 3 of these dehumidifiers (the 3rd out of necessity because couldn't wait for a warranty repair). The first dehumidifier has been running like a champ for 4 or 5 years now. The second which I purchased last July worked great for about 9 months then started throwing me an error code. The issue for me is not with the dehumidifier directly but Black & Decker and their warranty service provider EquityBrands. I returned the dehumidifier about 3 months ago as it was under warranty, and I am still going back and forth with Black & Decker and EquityBrands to get a replacement. They like to tell me "we will escalate the ticket to the manager and you will hear something in a few days." So my recommendation, is if you expect a solid warranty service from Black & Decker this may not be the Dehumidifier for you or hope that it doesn't break until the manufacturer warranty has run out. Just a note regarding the 3rd dehumidifier, it has been running well all summer, lets hope there is no need for the warranty.

This unit is very quiet and works as advertised. I would recommend this to anyone. We park our motor home while not using it and this unit does not need to be monitored daily when the drain hose is attached. The drain hose that is included however will need to be replaced with one you can purchase elsewhere as the included one is folded and the crimps do not let water flow through. We tried a dowel stick through it and laid in the sun for three days still came out crimped.

Some people have said Black and Decker isn't what it used to be, but we have some of their power tools as well as a large B&D toaster oven/ air fryer, and they've all worked well over the years. This 50 pint dehumidifier is also working well (six months and counting).It was easy to set up, and the large size is perfect for our 600 square foot basement.