I have an Ebac dehumidifier - could be a 2600 model... too lazy to go and look. I make sure the water collection tank is empty and its cover properly closed and just plug it in and set it to Auto and forget about it.
I last used it about three or four weeks ago - ran it for about 2 hous a day for four or five days - it's important not to dry the air in the house too much else you get itchy skin and the room doors and furniture may begin to warp.
RH between 25 & 40% is supposed to be the ideal for living space - I check the RH in my house with a cheap greenhouse RH meter about £5 from a garden centre.
The RH in a room may well vary from place to place so if you have a way of measuring it check in several places high and low.
My Ebac machine got the RH down from above 60 to a comfortable 35% but during the past few weeks it's crept back to 40% or so - I may give it another blast soon.
I am not an expert in this field but I'm pretty sure that unless there's a very serious problem with damp it's not a good idea to run a dehumidifier too much - that's why it's important to be able to measure the RH in various rooms.
Good luck...
Peccavi
January 2010