Rugged, Reliable, and Rock Solid
Meet the Quest Hi-E Dry 140
Portable dehumidifiers are here to save the day (and your crop)
When the stakes are high, the plants are unpredictable, and the margins are slim, one overlooked tool can make or break your crop: a rock-solid portable dehumidifier.
When it comes to cannabis cultivation, precision is everything, and the cost of downtime can escalate quickly. That’s why the Quest Hi-E-Dry is every grower’s secret weapon. Portable, rugged, and easy to use, this portable dehumidifier can be deployed quickly and reliably when needed.
We spoke with Coleman Retzlaff, the National Sales Director for Indoor Agriculture at Quest, to gain a deeper understanding of why this compact unit is being called a “workhorse” by cultivators across the country and how it can provide growers a vital edge when conditions become unpredictable.
Designed to Work Hard, Whenever and Wherever
This unit was designed to be rolled into disaster zones. It’s built to move through gravel lots, up staircases, across wet concrete. Most of our other dehumidifiers are stationary. This one? It follows the action.
Coleman Retzlaff
National Sales Director for Indoor Agriculture
That mobility makes the Quest Hi-E-Dry 140 an ideal fit for indoor agriculture, where conditions are constantly changing and environmental control requires precision.
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Key design features include:
- Large stair-rated wheels that easily traverse uneven surfaces
- Compact profile and stackable frame for tight storage rooms
- Integrated condensate pump (no buckets or floor drains required)
- Built-in hose storage for grab-and-go deployment
- Ductable airflow for targeted humidity relief via lay-flat ducting6.8 amp draw, making it friendly for shared 15-amp circuits
A Utility Player, Not a Star Quarterback
Retzlaff is quick to clarify one thing: “You should never design your space to rely on portables.”
Instead, he encourages cultivators to see the Hi-E-Dry 140 as a utility player—something you keep on hand for when the unexpected happens. It’s the unit you roll in when your permanent system needs maintenance; The tool to help tame a stubborn humidity spike during late flowering; The insurance policy that saves your sanity when the overhead coil gives out the week before harvest.
You want to size your fixed systems correctly,” he says. “But when real life shows up with curveballs, this is your first responder.”
When (Not If) Things Go Sideways
Even with a perfectly engineered grow room, surprises happen. Here are some of the most common—and critical—use cases for the Hi-E-Dry Portable:
Emergency Maintenance Support
If a drain line backs up, or a compressor fails, you’re suddenly flying without a net. A portable dehumidifier buys you time to get a tech on site, order parts, and keep your humidity from rising into the danger zone.
And because the unit is designed for immediate deployment with pump, hose, and plug integrated, you can be back in operation in minutes, not days.
Bridging Capacity in Legacy or Retrofitted Spaces
In older facilities or retrofit jobs, latent load can be underestimated. When tearing out and rebuilding your HVAC system mid-cycle isn’t feasible, growers often deploy the Quest Hi-E-Dry 140 to close the gap without risking overbuilding or overspending.
It’s also an ideal stopgap during seasonal swings like the high-transpiration push at the end of flower, or when high outdoor dew points catch even the best-designed systems off guard.
Dry Room Assist
Dry rooms are notoriously hard to balance. Add in wet plant matter and limited airflow, and RH can creep beyond safe thresholds. The Quest Hi-E-Dry 140 can be wheeled into drying spaces post-harvest to improve moisture removal and reduce the risk of microbial contamination.
“Some growers shuttle the unit from the flower room to the dry room,” Retzlaff notes. “It’s not ideal for design, but it’s a very common reality.”
Sanitation and Spill Response
Between routine cleanings and the occasional hose malfunctions, water on the floor is a daily fact of life for cannabis cultivators. But lingering moisture in common areas—especially with employees coming and going—can also create liability and air quality issues. Pairing a Quest Hi-E-Dry 140 with fans dramatically accelerates dry-out time, reduces slip hazards, and limits the risk of pathogens taking hold.
Contingency SOPs
Most facilities don’t have a standard operating procedure for when dehumidifiers fail. That’s a problem. Quest encourages growers to think proactively: What happens when a fixed unit goes down? Who rolls in the portable? Where does it plug in? Is it cleaned and tested regularly?
Planning ahead makes crisis response second nature and prevents a bad day from becoming a catastrophic one.
Let’s Talk Numbers
Performance Specs (per unit):
Water removal: 130 PPD @ 80°F / 60% RH
Energy efficiency: 7.2 Pints / kwh
Electrical load: 6.8 amps @ 115V
The low amp draw means two units can share a standard 15-amp circuit, and the stackable design allows for multiple units to be stored without eating up valuable storage space.
For most growers, starting with a single unit provides visibility into where and how portable support helps, and then they scale from there.
How Many Portable Dehumidifiers Does My Facility Need?
It depends. For some, one per wing is enough. For others, every dry room or high-risk cultivation bay deserves its own standby unit.
Retzlaff suggests two approaches:
- Engineer-led: Quest can run the math with you, looking at your plant density, canopy size, grow style, and existing equipment to determine how many pints/day of latent removal you’re short.
- Anecdotal trial: Start with one unit. See where your RH falls short. If it helps, buy another.
Either way, the idea is to have backup equipment in place, rather than relying on rentals that may have been in questionable condition or carrying harmful particulates.
Rentals: The Risk You Can’t See
While it’s technically possible to rent portable dehumidifiers, Retzlaff issues a caution.
You don’t know where that unit’s been,” he says. “If it came from a sewage backup or gray water flood zone, do you really want to wheel that into a facility with GMP requirements?”
Even sanitized, used units can harbor pathogens or simply break down at the worst possible time. Ownership allows control, accountability, and predictability.
Operational Fit: Who Manages It?
The Quest Hi-E-Dry 140 is designed to be low-maintenance, but it still benefits from a facility champion—someone who checks filters, tests the pump, and ensures it’s ready when needed.
Because it’s not hardwired or integrated into a building management system (BMS), growers must monitor RH manually and respond accordingly via its digital control panel. However, that flexibility is a strength—it means the unit can go wherever it’s needed without complications from the tech stack.
Small Form, Big Return
Retzlaff calls it “the total list of little things” that makes the Quest Hi-E-Dry 140 so useful. It’s not just the pump, or the wheels, or the power draw. It’s how everything works together, so when the moment strikes, there’s no scrambling.
In a market where a failed crop can result in six figures of lost revenue, the return on a $2,800 portable dehumidifier is a no-brainer.
The Human Side of Humidity
Perhaps the most relatable part of our interview with Retzlaff are the real-life implications.
These things never fail on a Monday morning,” he laughs. “It’s always your wife’s birthday. Or your kid’s graduation. That’s when something fails.”
With a portable dehumidifier in place, you don’t have to cancel dinner or spend the night at the greenhouse. You can roll it in, stabilize the environment, and trust that you’ve bought yourself enough time to fix the problem without sacrificing your personal life or your harvest.
Conclusion: Preparedness Is Power
The Quest Hi-E-Dry portable dehumidifier isn’t a flashy new tech gimmick. It’s not a shiny sensor or an AI dashboard. It’s a workhorse, pure and simple—a tool that just works, wherever and whenever you need it.
Want peace of mind in your next grow cycle?
Start with a single Quest Hi-E-Dry 140. You might just wonder how you ever lived without it.
For more information, including specs, check out the HI-E Dry 140 product page. For questions about availability or to speak with Quest sales and engineering about sizing for your facility, reach out to our team.