The Delonghi De500p Dehumudifier - Why I Bought It, Why I Got Rid Of It

If you're a person who suffers from allergies or any sort of respiratory illness, then something you might like to consider is purchasing a dehumidifier, as it can reduce dampness in a room and therefore help alleviate some of the health problems associated with dampness. I am an asthmatic and this was certainly my thinking when I purchased the DeLonghi DE500P Dehumidifier - i.e. that I was buying a unit that was going to make my life easier. Unfortunately, it made things worse; for reasons I will elaborate on in this article.

There were some big claims that DeLonghi made about this particular dehumidifier - which all went towards my decision to purchase it - so I thought it would be worthwhile to list some of those claims and then see how the Delonghi DE500P actually stacked up against those claims in reality.

Firstly the DE500P is a 50 Pint Dehumidifier meaning that it's meant to extract 50 pints of moisture from whatever room it is every day. I installed it in my basement which had a measured humidity of 74%, turned it on and then let it run for 36 hours. Can you guess how much water it collected in that period? 3 Cups! Yep, my basement was just as damp as it always had been. I rang their customer service department to complain about this and their reply was that obviously there wasn't enough moisture in the room to extract. I told them about the 74% etc but my pleas were falling on deaf ears.

The other heralded feature of the Delonghi DE500P was its patented pump system - a device attached to the dehumidifier meaning that you weren't required to be continually emptying the moisture bucket. This pump was one of the principle reasons that I bought this particular product as it was a feature that didn't seem to be on offer with some of the other dehumidifiers. The problem was that it broke after just one month's use. This meant another fruitless call to their customer service department who suggested that if I shipped it back at my expense, that they might be able to replace the faulty parts under warranty. They weren't bending over backwards to help. Without the pump the DE500P is next to useless as the moisture collection bucket is so small.

Now one person's poor experience does not necessarily a bad product make, but I've since discovered that my experience with this product isn't all that unique. I found these Delonghi DE500P User Reviews at Amazon and there are dozens of others who seem to have had the same experience.

If you're considering purchasing the DeLonghi DE500P Dehumidifier then my suggestion would be to think again.