From poorly ventilated bathrooms to faulty windows and sub-standard insulation, there are so many reasons why your home may be suffering from high humidity. And while we love high humidity when we’re sat by the pool in Florida with a cocktail in our hands, we don’t love it so much when we have to buy every bottle of mould remover on the shelves at our local supermarket. Dehumidifiers are a great solution, but as chunky appliances in loads of sizes, it can be hard to work out how big of a dehumidifier you need for your home.
The best dehumidifiers on the market are designed to remove moisture from the air in your home, reducing your chances of mould and mildew, as well as damp walls and musty smells. They can even help to dry your laundry in record time, but there’s no doubt that the market is saturated with dehumidifiers.
How big of a dehumidifier do I need?
So, what size dehumidifier do you need? In short, it all depends on your problem areas and how big those areas are.
Small rooms
It’s not uncommon for smaller rooms, such as the kitchen or the bathroom, to suffer from humidity the most. These rooms normally pump excess moisture into the air when you shower or when you cook.
If you want to stop mould from developing a dehumidifier with an extraction rate of around 10 to 14 litres per day would suit these kinds of rooms, as long as your room is under 400-square-foot.
But what does this 14-litres mean? Chris Michael from Maeco revealed, 'When choosing the right sized dehumidifier for your home, it is the amount of water the dehumidifier can extract which is the important figure, not the capacity of the water tank.'
Medium rooms
If you have a room between 400 and 800-square-foot, such as a living room or bedroom, you’ll need a slightly larger dehumidifier.
Tech expert Andhi Ermawan from My Pros and Cons says, 'Remember, these are rough guidelines, and other factors like relative humidity, the number of occupants, and specific damp issues may require adjustments.' However, a dehumidifier that extracts around 20 to 25 litres per day should do the trick.
The whole house
In rare cases, moisture and condensation problems aren’t limited to one or two rooms in the house. It’s important to get rid of damp as soon as you can, but this can be difficult when you have a whole house to contend with. And while you could buy separate dehumidifiers for each room, you could also invest in a whole-house dehumidifier. These normally have a daily extraction rate of around 40 litres - but they can be noisy.
Katie Holland, Marketing Manager for Russell Hobbs, says, 'It’s also important to consider the noise level of a dehumidifier, especially if you’re planning to use it in your living space. Whilst all dehumidifiers generate a certain level of noise, lots of models contain a low noise motor to ensure minimal disturbance whilst in use.'
Do dehumidifiers use a lot of electricity?
Like any appliance, a dehumidifier will, of course, use more electricity than what you’re used to. However, how much a dehumidifier costs totally depends on the size of the appliance, how often you use it, and the efficiency of the appliance itself. On average, though, a 12-litre dehumidifier with a wattage of 157w will cost you just under 5p an hour.
How large of a dehumidifier should I get?
Chris from Maeco says, 'There are a lot of other factors that need to be considered as well, such as how many people live in the home, how you dry your laundry and whether you have any pets.'
But the best way to know how big of a dehumidifier you need is to check the humidity in your house. By measuring the humidity room by room, you can determine whether you have a small condensation problem that could be solved by opening a window or a bigger problem that requires the help of a dehumidifier.
