The hose connection nipple is smaller than the garden hose-connector and leakes. Do I need a special hose or will putting plumbers tape on the nipple stop the leak?

Fortunately, it doesn't require a special hose, as a standard Garden Hose Connection is on the left side of the water collection bucket. You may have to carefully drill a 1/4 " hole in the center of the connection, once you unscrew the drain cap. The hose should be no longer than 5' , as the drainage relies entirely on gravity to drain.

When attaching the the hose, be sure that the female hose connection has a washer in it or it will leak. Hand tighten the hose connection firmly, being careful not to crack the plastic hose connection on the tank. Also, be sure that the float valve in the tank is in the DOWN. position or the unit will not run.

Hope this helped you. Please let me know.

Attach a length of garden hose no longer than 5 feet, to the threaded drain hose connection that was supplied with your unit, to carry water to the drain.
1. Remove the drain-hole cover on the back left side of your unit.
2. Connect a garden hose to the threaded drain hose connector.
3. Push hose connector tightly to the drain-hole on Rear Grille with the arrow on the tab pointing UP.
The hose attachment will accept a standard garden hose fitting.
Do not over tighten the hose when connecting it to the hose connector,
use a rubber washer and tighten by hand firmly without stripping the
plastic threads.
When being attached to hose connector drain hose connection,
do not bend or kink the hose. The hose should lie flat from the
dehumidifier to the drain.

Look at the drain pan, it might have a garden hose connection that you might have to knock out, mine is not the same model but it may be similiar, and then run it to a floor drain or such. Good Luck

I own this dehumidifier. To connect it to a garden hose for drainage you first need the special connector pipe/adapter that comes with the unit. It's white plastic and about a foot long, It may be stored in the top of the bucket drawer, where it ships from the factory. Your hose connects to the threaded fitting on one end. The other end is inserted into the hole in the back of the unit. You slide it straight in until it mates with a drain connection inside the unit. You can see this black pipe connection if you pull the bucket drawer all the way out and look in the very top right hand corner of the opening of the unit. Once the white tube is fully and correctly inserted you'll find two plastic tabs on the tube near the hose connection. The larger tab points straight up and blocks the tube from being inserted too far. The smaller tab points down and hooks into the slot in the bottom of the round opening to keep it from getting knocked loose. Your dehumidifier should now drain through the hose instead of into the bucket. Of course, be sure your hose is routed across a floor to a drain or sump pump located lower than the unit, since the water flows by gravity.

No. The tube inserts straight into the drain hole. Follow the 4 sets below.

1. Connect a garden hose to the threaded drain hose connector.
2. Remove the drain-hole cover.
3. Push hose connector tightly into the drain-hole on Rear Grille.
4. Press the hose down and make sure the "Arrow" on the tab is pointing upward.

NOTE:
The hose attachment will accept a standard garden hose fitting. Do not over tighten the hose when
connecting it to the hose connector, use a rubber washer and tighten by hand firmly without stripping the plastic threads. Be sure the hose lays flat and has no kinks, as it will not drain properly.

I believe you have to put a plug to drain that drains into the tank ,then it can only drain out the hose.

Find where the leak is coming from. Is it coming from the connection where the tube goes into the dehumidifier or where the garden hose screws on? If it is where the garden hose screws on make sure it is screwed on all the way. If it is you may just need to replace the rubber washer in the garden hose.

I was under the impression that the drain hose connected to the bucket with a screw on connection such as with a garden type hose.

I bought one of the FDL70S1 Frigidaire dehumidifiers today for my shop, and found that the $5 hose I bought to drain it through the floor wouldn't tighten down completely, allowing the hose to twist and wobble, a sure indication that it was not water tight. Simply adding a second washer, as described in another answer here, allowed me to tighten the hose sufficiently to produce a tight fit with no play between the hose and the dehumidifier. It hasn't leaked. I know it is a threads-per-inch issue, and I am stumped as to why Frigidaire would supply these units with a different thread pitch than the standard GHT (garden hose thread) 3/4" - 11.5 tpi. The threads on the unit appear to be 3/4 NPS - 14 tpi. Go figure!

Push through the membrane with the drain connector. The membrane has a circular cut almost all the way through it, and pushing at it with the drain connector will pop out the little hole. I've done it with four LG units.