Costco's 4,500 sq ft, 50 pint Midea Dehumidifier Review

In this video, I review the Midea 50 pint, 4,500 square foot dehumidifier with built-in pump. I ordered this unit from Costco and will have the link below for the exact model I purchased.
Watch the full video for complete details however here are my quick thoughts. I really like the built in pump feature, that works really well considering where I needed to place the unit was no where close to a drain and I couldn't realistically keep emptying the water container multiple times a day.
The negatives were that its "low" speed was still quite loud. The high speed I didn't think was very loud considering it was "high" but there was only about 2-4 decibel drop between high and low. That's barely anything.
Next, the energy consumption is pretty significant. It runs at about 400-500w an hour which isn't bad however it has to run ALL the time. Like literally all the time. I set it at 35% humidity (the lowest it offers) and it never shut off after several days of continuous use. Finally, when I bumped it up to 40%, it then maybe shuts off only very occasionally. So, when you consider it has to run continuously, that can be an extra 12Kwh per day of energy use!
On that note, I'm not certain that is big enough/powerful enough for my home. My house isn't that large and the space I have it in is only about 1,500 square feet at maximum. This model is touted as as a 4,500 sq. foot model but I'm a little unsure on how Midea justifies that.
On the whole, I think its a good model but this might be a situation where I had unrealistic expectations. Perhaps its not reasonable for a dehumidifier to bring down moisture levels in a house to 35-40%. I'll be honest that I don't know enough to know if that's reasonable. I'll continue to monitor and use this one for a while, I do know it is working and it does suck out tremendous amounts of moisture (I emptied a 5 gallon bucket twice within a single day). The average moisture level in my house has dropped from about 65% to 45-50% on average so that's all positive.
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[@omgwtfbbq5098]

I have one of those, also bought it from Costco. It does well in its intended location - unfinished basement of our house which does not have any air conditioning, where the noise is irrelevant and where it isn't running all the time because there aren't multiple sources of water evaporation. I just set it to 50% which is a perfect humidity range for unfinished basement that is primarily used as a storage. It is also pumping water straight into the utility sink (which has its own electric pump that pumps all water straight into sewer pipe).

[@patrickmadigan6422]

Running the pump drain line into a bucket, to confirm that the pump is working... great idea!

[@robertboyce7435]

The only part of your review I was interested in was how you hooked up the discharge hose. Mine has been horrible and leaks. So I wanted to view the proper attachment of that hose. Alas, you skipped over that part!

[@jennifermullins9282]

THANK YOU! Same.

[@carlosarroyo6722]

Same

[@robertboyce7435]

Well, I returned mine and asked for a replacement which came quickly because Costco is a great company. I took a very close look at the instructions this time and I realized two things. The first is that the fitting, which allows you to screw on a hose such as is used in the garden is only for gravity discharge. Water is not pumped out if you choose to connect that way. The other fitting is for the clear plastic hose included with the dehumidifier. Now this is the part where I feel really stupid. There is a little ring in that fitting, which seemed to grab the tube when I threaded it in there. It’s a plug! You need to pull it out, and then you push in the plastic tube. And if you look very carefully at the end of the plastic tube, there is a microscopic instruction to push the tube in up to a line that is indicated there. Once I did that, voilà the dehumidifier worked perfectly with no leaks. Good luck to you with yours.

[@jonking7345]

​​@@robertboyce7435that little ring is not a plug! It holds in the rubber seal that encircles the hose that you push in. It's also there to hold the tube into the fitting, which you noticed yourself

[@IwCk]

40% to 50% humidity is a good number to aim for. 30 is too dry and 60 is on the very high side of humidity.

[@er2000ee]

Please make another demo on how to properly connect the continuous pump white thin hose and operate it and how to disconnect it without breaking that connector. Do we need to press that pump button near on/off button? Will highly appreciate if you can demonstrate that.

[@DanielGoodwin-jq1oc]

I apologize the footage I took of that step didn't get into the final cut. I will try to add an additional video at some point. However, if it helps, the white thin hose just presses into the back socket. Press it in firmly. There is even an arrow that indicates how far in to push it. Once inserted, give it a gentle tug to make sure it doesn't come out. If it stays connected then you should be good to go. To remove, its fairly simple. There is a little ring around the hose, you just need to press in on the ring with one hand and pull on the hose with the other. The pump hose should come right out. Make sure you keep the pump off once you remove the hose!

[@kimchappell3289]

Do you have any footage of hooking up the pump hose? I have this model and i am tired of dumping the tank every day. The directions are unclear on how to actually install the hose.

[@DanielGoodwin-jq1oc]

I thought I had some footage of it but I couldn't seem to find it when I put together the final video. The pump using the small 1/4 inch white hose that comes with the unit. On the back there is a small compression fitting that you slide the hose into, just press in until its snug and give it a light tug to ensure it doesn't easily pop out. From there, on the unit or in the smart app you can just turn on the pump. The container does need to be inside the unit. It will fill up the container and then when its close to full, it will pump the water out through the hose. What I did at first to ensure the pump was working well was put the hose into a 5 gallon bucket to make sure it pumped water into that. After feeling confident it was working well, I set up a permanent place for the hose to drain. Hopefully that helps!

[@kimchappell3289]

@@DanielGoodwin-jq1oc thanks!

[@patrickmadigan6422]

@@DanielGoodwin-jq1oc Awesome, thanks Daniel. I think I get what Kim is saying (and I'm glad that you asked about this, Kim), and that's why I'm here too. The manual talks about removing some kind of drain plug that isn't even there. So we just insert the drain hose up to the line (something like 1/2" or 3/4") and that's it, easy. And thanks for pointing out that the pump isn't going to do *anything* until the container is filled with water. That seems odd but I guess that's just how dehumidifiers with pumps are.

[@oldschool3696]

We have this same Costco model. We used it for about 2 weeks, in bucket mode (we empty the bucket manually). It was working as expected until today, when we had water dripping out of a downstairs air conditioning vent. The dehumidifier is upstairs. It turns out that the water was spraying out of the pump drain outlet, which it has not done the past two weeks. Although no one in rhe house has admitted to messing with the buttons on the control panel, I discovered it was in "pump" mode. I checked page 23 of the manual, related to the pump drain outlet. The diagram and instructions made no sense to me. It referenced a drain plug (that included a gray circular piece) that was not visible on our unit. I have been trying to figure out if it (this drain plug) was never there, fell off and is lost, or if the manual (regarding this pump drain outlet/plug) is not accurate information for this Costco unit. So ... Word of warning ... Make sure that no one turns the pump on, inadvertently, if you intend to manually empty the bucket. Unfortunately, that pump button is right next to the power button. It would be easy to accidentally turn that pump on.

[@DanielGoodwin-jq1oc]

Good experience to share! It is easy very easy to "bump the pump" button and not realize it! :) Definitely a risk if you're not expecting it. The pump does work very well but yes you definitely need the 1/4 pex tubing to direct it somewhere safe!

[@oldschool3696]

I did confirm, with Midea, that the pump drain outlet does not have a drain plug, as mentioned in the manual. I hope they did pass along my feedback about the design shortcomings that place users at risk of inadvertently activating the pump, and that the mentioned drain plug does not exist for this model. We also find that the tank fills so full, that the little tug it takes to remove the tank, results in water splashing out of the top. We did not experience this splash out issue with our front loading tank, on the previous GE dehumidifier. I like that front load design better than the side load design of this Midea model. It still works great, as far as removing humidity. But, I would be interested in knowing if their front loading tank model has less risk of splashing and inadvertently activating the pump when planning to manually empty the bucket.

[@shreyasdube]

I got 2 of these from Costco last week and ended up returning both. One had a faulty humidistat. Both units suffered from a very peculiar behavior: the unit stops at the set humidity level. But then the sensor reading immediately goes back up 1% per 5 seconds which causes the unit to turn back on. It brings the humidity down in ~5 minutes and then shuts off. The reading then goes back up 1% every 5 seconds and the unit starts and the cycle continues. This causes excessive cycling. Are you seeing something similar? I'm using it in an unfinished basement (in MA), about 1500sqft.

[@DanielGoodwin-jq1oc]

That is interesting and not the same as my experience (so far). In my house, setting it at 45% it runs to that level and doesn't kick back on for probably 30-45 minutes. This is in Iowa in summer when humidity is fairly high here.

[@MichaelGrigoriev]

35% is a very low target for US summers, and it's quite likely that you'd need a unit several times the size to achieve it. The square footage is something manufacturers quote because it's easy for consumers to understand, but it is not really the most relevant metric. What matters more is how many air changes per hour your house gets, as determined by what kind of ventilation it has, and how air-tight the construction is. The latter can be measured with something called blower door test. Corbett's Home Performance channel has a detailed video on dehumidifier sizing: kzbin.info/www/bejne/o4K3dJ9umJiDotk

[@DanielGoodwin-jq1oc]

Good input, I definitely was wanting to understand this concept more fully. When using at a higher humidity level (50%) I've definitely noticed it running less and stopping/restarting appropriately. Going to continue to adjust and monitor.

[@karthikeyans8922]

I inserted the hose. But it is not draining through the hose. Water comes to its bucket only. How ro get the water through the hose?

[@DanielGoodwin-jq1oc]

Yes, it will fill up the internal bucket first and then once the bucket is full it will pump the water out through the 1/4" tubing. That's normal operation, just give it a little more time.

[@karthikeyans8922]

@@DanielGoodwin-jq1oc I thought the same. But the machine stopped running with P2 message saying, Bucket is full.

[@DanielGoodwin-jq1oc]

Make sure you have the pump enabled in either the smart app or on the unit itself. Its easy to accidentally press the wrong thing and turn it off.

[@karthikeyans8922]

@@DanielGoodwin-jq1oc Oh I thought that Pump is for the Pump outlet and not for the hose outlet. Let me try that

[@karthikeyans8922]

Useful one. I am going to buy this one. My basement is cold. So i will use it there. Also inside the home if required. So what humidity level i jeed to maintain in basement and inside home? Based in that , i will make sure i check that often. And once we set that, will turn off and on automatically to maintain that level?

[@DanielGoodwin-jq1oc]

Yes, correct it will automatically maintain that level of humidity (kicking on when the humidity gets above the level you set). My issue was that I was trying to set the humidity level too low (35%) and so it was running all the time. At a more reasonable 50% humidity, it just kicks on every once in a while and drops the humidity level back down to that, a much more reasonable usage.

[@karthikeyans8922]

@@DanielGoodwin-jq1oc Thank you. Do I need one? If my basement is cold in summer? Not sure if it will be warm during winter. So is it not good health? My friend told cold or moisture in basement will affect the health, lungs. Your thoughts pls.

[@DanielGoodwin-jq1oc]

It's not about whether your basement is cold or hot, its about the humidity level. If your basement is humid (and many basement are) then a dehumidifier is a great idea to keep the moisture levels within a comfortable and safe range. With too much humidity even if it feels "cool", can cause mold to grow etc. The nice thing with a dehumidifier like this one, you can set it at a particular range (50-55%) and it will only run when it needs to.

[@kevinisnguyen]

I just bought this yesterday before even watching any reviews. I let it sit upright for a few hours and then set it up in the main bedroom. Finally turned it on and set mode to SET. It ran for maybe 2-3 hours at first and got some water but I noticed that it was blowing out warm air and made the room warmer than normal so I turned it off and emptied the bucket. Got a decent amount of water out though. Is this normal? I moved it out into the main living area this morning and hooked it back up again.

[@DanielGoodwin-jq1oc]

It could possibly make the room a little warmer (depending on the size of the room) when running. How it separates the moisture from air involves heating air however unless the unit is running continuously it really should make a minimal temperature difference in the room in the long run.

[@tylerrode5314]

Thanks for the video. Does Costco include the pump hose? I just purchased this product and it doesn't seem to have been included. I noted it is included on the instructions, but could not find it within the packaging. Will be exchanging if it is truly missing.

[@freddelong8637]

just purchased one a few hours ago myself. Yes I can confirm mine came with a hose to discharge from pump.

[@DanielGoodwin-jq1oc]

Yes, it definitely comes with it. Its a very small and I think mine was taped to the back of the unit. If you did somehow miss or misplace yours (or if the included hose is too long/too short) you can always pick up some 1/4" pex from Home Depot, Lowes etc.

[@tylerrode5314]

@DanielGoodwin-jq1oc thanks! I ended up contacting customer support, they wouldn't send a replacement part (vendor stipulations), so they had me exchange the entire unit 🤷‍♂️

[@jonking7345]

​@@tylerrode5314it is included, it's taped to the outside of the packing material for the unit. If you haven't thrown out the packaging, you'll find it there

[@jnalpath2490]

Does it work with Alexa? Does it notify you in the app when it is full?

[@DanielGoodwin-jq1oc]

I haven't tried to use it with Alexa, I wouldn't be surprised if there is a skill that operates it. The Midea app does notify when the container is full or if there is an error or if the filter needs changed/cleaned.

[@ForrestGump1212]

I hope you don't leave the dehumidifier that close to the wall while it is running...