The dehumidifier should be sized so that it will not have to run full time. No humidifier will last long at that pace; the coils can actually freeze up. It's hard to imagine how a dehumidifier could be too big. Moisture can enter the basement from humid bathroom air or from humid outside air and it usually condenses against the cool concrete walls. Also, inadequate waterproofing on the outside of the walls can allow water to slowly enter through the wall and this can be exacerbated by not enough slope to the grade at the perimeter of the house and the absence of a footing drain. The absence of an adequate vapor retarder membrane under the floor slab can also add to the moisture problem. The fact that the window wells filled up indicates a failure to provide a drain at that location. See if that was included in your contract but omitted. You need to assume all of these issues are problems and then try to eliminate them one at a time. First, get the downspout terminations and surface drainage to run away from the house. Then put a piece of plastic on the concrete slab and tape the edges with duct tape. If moisture gets trapped under the plastic after a few days, the builder probably omitted the code required vapor retarder membrane under the slab. He might also have used a damp sand bed under the slab and that can take a long time to dry. What does the sump pump serve? Is there a perimeter drain? Is it outside or inside? Find out what the exterior wall waterproofing was and what kind of drainage/protection/insulation board (if any) was put over it. Your contractor is obligated under the warranty to do all of this for you since the moisture is excessive but he will probably drag his feet and blame issues beyond his control. If you can't push him, you might might have to get out in front and figure it out yourself. A local home inspector can be helpful.

z thanks - that is a possibility but I am trying to avoid having a load of relays in the house. Reminds me of my Fiat Spider - my first sports car. When you turned the ingition key you could hear all the relays clicking away. Always had to carry spares since the relays would always break when I was far away from the only mechanic in town who actually knew how to fix the darn thing. I am still working on my geothermal loop pump control project. I had some success with the RIB relay, but the current sensors that one of their tech support people recommended was wrong so I am waiting for new ones. I also had an issue with the Supco delay on make timer and my Econar HVAC contoller. Turns out that inserting the delay on the M1 contactor lead (coming out of the controller and going to the compressor contactor) did not work. I think it is eiher a current overload issue (the Supco device can only handle 1 amp) or more likely that the voltage drop caused by the device is enough to cause the contactor to not engage. I then tried to insert the Supco device on the Y lead coming from the thermostat. The issue here is that there is current leakage and as soon as there is even a miniscule amount of current on the Y lead, the compressor kicks on. So the delay isn't working. I also believe that my HVAC controller is smart enough to know that if it activates the compressor on (M1 lead) and after a certain time it see's no action, it shuts down the entire contoller. So a delay on make timer on the M1 lead probably isn't going to work. I have decided to change to a delay on make timer with relay device made by ABB. I will intercept the Y signal from the thermostat and delay it going into the HVAC contoller. I am also going to put the RIB current sensor on 24 VAC line that will activate the relay. That way - the loop pump will start as soon as the Y lead is hot and the output of that relay - the Y input to the contoller - will be delayed by the time I set. The new current sensors I ordered can detect down to .25 amps and if you wrap the wire around the sensor a few times, can detect even smaller currents. I am pretty sure that approach is going to work. Once I get that working, then I will be ready to move into this next phase of control to integrate all of my HVAC components. I will keep shopping around to see if someone makes a single device that can take 3 seperate 24 VAC inputs and throw a single relay based on any one of them being hot. if not - I can go with the 3 RIB relay (aka FIAT) apprroach. I know that will work. Thanks for the info

Your welcome, gooddog. You can't vent the heat and keep the dry air. You may want to try raising the humidity level. Hot and humid is unlikely in a basement. If you want to vent the utility room to the apartment, there are several choices. I just leave the utility room door open and blow the dehumidifier exhaust out the door. All other ways, done right, probably cost more money than buying an additional dehumidifier. The least expensive way to dehumidify the other part of your basement with a closed utility room is to add another dehumidifier. If that setup is unacceptable, the next choice is to vent your utility room into the larger part of the basement. This needs circulation both in and out of the utility room . If you have non-electric furnace or water heater in your utility room, you must ventilate in a way that does not cause negative pressure in that space (you can't just add one exhaust fan). If you have gas/oil burning appliances in the basement, you hopefully already have one or two carbon monoxide detectors on that level. The air needs to move both in and out a low at low volume. I'm assuming that the your utility room and the basement apartment share a common wall. First, I would investigate controlling the whole setup with a line voltage humidistat like the Honeywell H46C 1166. This device simply turns power on and off to humidifier and ventilation fans based on humidity. The honeywell would be placed in the apartment on the common wall. I haven't used this humidistat, but based on specs it would be my starting point. Most/all dehumidifiers save their setting during power failure. This allows these devices to be remotely controlled by simply cutting power. I'm assuming your dehumidifier has a continuous operation setting, and this setting is saved when power is cut. The choice for ventilation is one fan and a large vent, or two small fans running in opposite directions. The vent option would let more noise into the apartment. SInce these fans would run many hours per year, the most expensive fans provide the best economics. Panasonic 70 cfm through the wall fans are ~$170 each and very quite. The only issue is needing a finished looking vent cover on both sides. You could also investigate less expensive Suncourt products. People with wood stoves use these types of products to circulate air to adjoining rooms. You may think "spending this money, why not put in a whole house system in the ductwork". Expense aside, the problem with a whole house ducted system is dehumidifying the basement with the windows open upstairs. Running a central dehumidifier with the windows open is attempting to dehumidify the world. In a houses with basement humidity problems, the lower level needs its own system. In new construction a damper system could be installed in the main ductwork to only dehumidify the basement when the AC if off. But in new construction the correct approach is to adequately dampproof the outside of the foundation wall so that no special basement dehumidification is needed. It is worth listening to an HVAC company for their proposed solution based on your specific house, ductwork and climate. If running a second dehumidifier in the apartment is acceptable part of the day, an appliance timer could be used. Or an occupancy sensor could be used in a space to only run a dehumidifier when the space is empty.

My first advice would be to find out how much insulation you currently have in the attic and what condition it is in. You should have at least R-30 of insulation. If you are adding more than it doesn't cost much more to increase it to R-40. I like fiberglass batts, but blown in insulation is fine as long as it is done properly. This is something you can do yourself or hire an insulation company. I am sure you were told that as part of the NJ Clean Energy Program you must seal your attic in order to qualify for any rebate. I have never seen any measured results of energy savings before and after sealing. The attic hatch should be sealed since in my opinion it is the biggest source of leakage. This is something you can do yourself. Several years ago I built my own insulated hatch for about $15. If you seen dirty insulation that is dirty in spots, then that is a source of a significant air leak. You can use silicone caulk to seal them, or you can have the insulation company seal and then insulate. I see that you have gotten some quotes. I also detect that some and possibly all have not done a load calculation for your house. Any HVAC contractor who quotes either a 2 or 3 ton AC for an 1100 sq. foot house in Middlesex County (I am in the same county) NJ obviously has not done a load calculation. If you are going to upgrade the attic insulation then do that first, and then get a contractor to do a real load calculation. If your windows are double paned and fairly tight, then I would think a 40K BTU furnace and a 2 ton furnace are the correct sizes. As far as equipment goes, I own Carrier Infinity equipment and so far I like it. The Bryant equipment is exactly the same. I am a fan of 2 stage furnaces and AC and in my opinion are worth the extra money. Trane/American Standard is also very good. I have no direct experience with Lennox, but from what I understand Lennox uses unique parts. The parts have to come from Lennox and are sometimes harder to get. I think you said your current furnace is 11 years old and 80% efficiency. Normally I would say to keep the furnace another 5-10 years. But if you plan to live in this house 10 or more years then you may want to consider replacing and keeping the correct matching AC. Here are my opinions on the quotes: Company #1 Quote #1: Carrier Performance AC is good, I don't think you need 2.5 tons and the price seems expensive. Quote #2 Carrier Infinity 58CVA furnace is very good, but it is only 80% AFUE. I recommend spending a little more money and installing a 95%+ AFUE furnace. The Infinity 24VNA9 is overkill for our climate. You can save money buy dropping down a model or two and getting an AC that has a SEER rating of about 16. If the AC is sized properly and is 2-staged then I highly doubt you need a whole house dehumidifier. That would be a waste of money in my opinion. Company #2 and #3 I am not an expert on Lennox, but I think some of these models don't compare that the Carrier Infinity in terms of features. The fact you are being quoted different AC sizes is a red flag for me. Company #4 Quote #1 Bryant Legacy 2.5 ton for $4600 seems reasonable. I would want to see a load calculation to see if you really need 2.5 tons. If you keep your current furnace you will have a mismatched system. It will work, but you don't know the SEER rating, Quote #2 Bryant Evolution is the same as Carrier Infinity. Very nice equipment but the price seems high. Here is quoting a 2 ton. So why is he quoting 2.5 ton in Quote #1? I see no size listed for the furnace. Quote #3 He now quotes the 3 ton size. I guess he thinks you may want to hang meat in your basement. A 3 ton AC, even if it were 2-stage, is going to short cycle and you will still have a humidity problem. Once you discover this he may suggest getting a whole house dehumidifier. Correct sizing is critical. This guy does not seem to care. In summary you haven't found a good contractor yet. Carrier rebates start March 1st. The March - April time frame is the best time to get quotes in our area. Contractors are not busy and the pricing is a little better.