Humid Basement: Dehumidifier, AC, or both?

[Cableaddict]

My house does not have central air, nor forced heat. (I have hot water radiators.)

I need to start controlling the humidity in both the basement (severe during 3 seasons) and the main house. (just mildly annoying in the summer.) I've been told that for the main house, ac should be enough, so I'll be installed a couple of those Sanyo-type units. - but the basement has me puzzled.

For the basement, I was going to order a couple of small Santa Fe units. However, dehumidifiers throw a lot of heat, which is not good in the summer. This is especially bothersome upstairs. I don't need much ac down there now, maybe just a little in August, but with 2 dehumidifiers going it will be worse. This seems like a big waste of electricity.

- But air conditioners can get too cold in the basement, and they don't do so well with dehumidification if the temps aren't high enough. (or do they?)so I know I need SOME kind of dehumidifiers.
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So I'm really confused:

What's a solid, comprehensive plan for both humidity & temperature control?

Is there one unit that can do both?

Any dehumidifiers that work from the outside, so as not to put heat back into the room?

-thanks.

[LarryHome]

I don't know of any humidifiers that work from the outside, but I do know of some low heat output models. These are:

Santa Fe Rx***
NewAir AD-400***
Frigidaire FAD704TDP
Soleus CFM-40

Hope this helps.

[Cableaddict]

Thanks, Larry.

I'll check these out.

[HayZee518]

any DEhumidifier uses a refrigeration compressor and condenser coil. Humidified air passes over the coil and the moisture condenses out into a catch basin. Operation is similar with an air conditioner however the a/c condenser exchanges the heat out of the air. The evaporator gets cold and with air passing through it condenses the moisture out of the air and into the pan either to be drained or blown through the condenser coil to cool it. put a radiator in the basement so you increase the temp down there so moisture won't form.