Where can I buy a dehumidifier today in the San Francisco Bay Area?

December 5, 2012 12:19 PM

Where can I buy a powerful (60-75 pint) dehumidifier in the Bay Area today? I'm willing to buy it online and pick it up in the store, or just go directly to the store, but I'm trying to find a way to avoid spending all afternoon driving from store to store. Is there a specialty shop? Have you had any luck with "buy online - pick up in store today" options at Home Depot, Lowe's, Ace, Target, etc.? Is there a website that compiles local inventory for things like this?

I can't believe I'm wasting a question on this, but after trying to navigate numerous stores' online interfaces and phone trees, I turn to you.

The question above the fold is basically it -- I'm seeking to pick up a powerful dehumidifier in the Bay Area today. Any ideas? I had a leak, and I think I've stopped the source of water, but I need to get everything to dry out ASAP.

The Emeryville big box stores (Home Depot, Best Buy, Target) are the most convenient location to me, but none seem to have anything in stock that would work. I spent awhile deciding between the dehumidifiers on Home Depot's website that were tagged with "buy online and pick up in store today!" but the one I picked was neither available online nor at any store within 50 miles. (It wouldn't even let me check out.)

If someone wants to tell me that I can get by with a less powerful dehumidifier, I'll listen, but I want to dry out the plywood surrounding a 300sf area as soon as possible, and in looking at prices, less powerful machines seem to be half as good for 90% of the price.

posted by slidell to shopping (8 answers total)

If you need it right away, the fastest way may be to get on the phone and have a stock checker see what the largest dehumidifiers they have are.
posted by wongcorgi at 12:25 PM on December 5, 2012

The Sears Outlet. They have the inventory online. So you know it's in stock.

There's a Kenmore 70 pint model, for between $130 and $180.

It's in Cupertino, which is a bit of a schlep, but it's there. There one in San Mateo too.

We bought our treadmill at the Sears Outlet for $450 and we could not be happier with our purchase.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 12:28 PM on December 5, 2012

Fry's? I expect they sell dehumidifiers and there's definitely an option to pick things up at the store. There's one in Concord and one in Sunnyvale.
posted by hoyland at 12:38 PM on December 5, 2012

You might want to rent a commercial one instead. Looks like Action rentals has one.
posted by cosmac at 12:41 PM on December 5, 2012 [1 favorite]

Buy one dehumidifier and a couple box fans for air movement. You need both air movement and a way to get the humidity out of the air.

Buy one with drain hose/pipe so it can run continuously without needing to be emptied.
posted by iamabot at 12:44 PM on December 5, 2012 [1 favorite]

iamabot raises a good point: if you are considering a humidifier that holds eight gallons of water, you might make your life easier and just get one with a drain hose that can be run out to a drain or something so that you don't need to worry about it. That may not be a possibility depending on your situation but if you could do that then you probably should.

That said, I would just start calling around to big-box stores and asking what they have in stock. The websites for the kind of stores that have this stuff are often pretty questionable I find, but someone at the store will be able to confirm for you the physical presence or absence of a humidifier that meets your specifications. It's still a bit of a hassle but much less than driving around and around.

That said, Ruthless Bunny may have it.
posted by Scientist at 1:08 PM on December 5, 2012

Wow, that Sears online interface is a thing of beauty. Ruthless Bunny, thank you for pointing me that direction.

I've now called about 15 stores, often 2-3 branches apiece (5 from Lowe's because that was how long it took to find one with someone who could help me!). The Sears option did turn out to be the best, but I found a backup option using the call-every-store approach, so I'm marking both as best answer. If anyone has another suggestion, I'll happily collect backup ideas while I wait to find out if the purchase at Sears goes through (ie, if it truly is available for in-store pickup) and find out if that dehumidifier works well.

Thanks, everyone!
posted by slidell at 2:43 PM on December 5, 2012

Ran the dehumidifier all night, and things are already looking much drier. Results doubled when I got a cheap box fan going (uh, and finally realized I needed to turn it from "low" to "high," ha; that was another good moment). I'm on my way to HD for a second box fan now.

I wasn't sure this was a great question for AskMe, but you all delivered like a champ! Special thanks again to Ruthless Bunny for finding one 30% off.

If anyone else is looking at this moment while all the rental places and most big stores are still sold out, the Lowe's in Concord and San Bruno, and the HDs in Oakland (not Emeryville) and Vallejo had options I was considering. Contact me if you want more details.
posted by slidell at 7:42 AM on December 6, 2012