The best dehumidifiers of 2023 to keep damp and mould at bay

With advice from experts, we've found the best dehumidifiers of 2023, which can speed up your laundry as well as preventing condensation

If you’ve ever had reason to ask yourself ‘what is the best dehumidifier?’ it was probably with a sense of desperation over mould in your bathroom that just won’t shift, or window condensation forever puddling on the sills. Humidity can be a real problem. A dehumidifier is your best defence.

Excess humidity in the home can come from cooking or showering, from the way your house is constructed and even just from breathing. Carpets can trap this moisture, making it an ideal breeding ground for mould which can leave you open to respiratory infections, while those with allergies can be more susceptible to asthma attacks in damp homes.

Dehumidifiers are the best way to reduce humidity in your home and many are cost effective and energy efficient. They range from bathroom dehumidifiers to compact ones for your car and even ones you can control from your mobile phone. Small dehumidifiers are ideal for flats or smaller spaces, while the bigger models can dehumidify a five-bedroom property or a small business space.

Below, we’ve rounded up the best dehumidifiers on the market, noting how much each costs to run, followed by guide to how they work and how best to use them. If you’re in a rush, here’s a quick look at our top five:

The recommended humidity for your home is 40-60 per cent in the summer months and between 30-50 per cent in the winter. You can measure it with a hygrometer (a humidity gauge - they’re not expensive). If it goes over 70 per cent, you run the risk of condensation, damp, mould, fungi and bacteria. That’s when you need a dehumidifier.

With advice from air conditioning experts Ryan Kandola and Chris Wood, we were looking for energy efficiency, drying power, good value and where possible, quiet running. Remember, size isn’t everything. Look at the area you’re dealing with and choose the right size of unit. You’ll be surprised at just how powerful some of the small dehumidifiers are.

Dehumidifiers are proving exceptionally popular this year and my top-rated airers may temporarily sell out. These are currently the best places to look for alternatives:

£208.95, AirCon Centre (Also available at Amazon for £229.95)

Best dehumidifier overall

We like: big performance from an industrial giant

We don’t like: it’s the noisiest on this list (although only just)

Solid, compact and not bad looking, the Honeywell 24L Portable Dehumidifier is designed for medium to large-sized homes with three to five bedrooms. Weighing 14.8kg and a little over half a metre in height, with omni-directional castor wheels, it’s not hard to manoeuvre around your property.

“The Honeywell features a smart digital humidistat,” Air Con Centre’s Ryan Kandola says. “It automatically senses the moisture levels of your room to maintain your pre-programmed humidity level. There’s also a washable dust filter to purify the air that has already been dehumidified. It’s a good all-rounder.”

If kept in the same room as drying laundry, it can also cut the time it takes to dry by a quarter, while costing one fifteenth as much as a tumble dryer to run. (Similar savings can be had from a heated clothes airer, which explains their current popularity.)

£174.95, Meaco

Best value dehumidifier

We like: it’s powerful enough, with energy-saving smarts

We don’t like: there’s no air filtration system

The beauty of a desiccant dehumidifier is not only that they are typically quieter than compressor models, but they are ideal for smaller, unheated areas such as conservatories, campervans, garages, boats and cellars. They’re also fantastically efficient.

“If you are worried about high running costs, choose the Meaco,” says Chris Wood. “It has a control system that can reduce your energy consumption by up to 80 percent compared to other dehumidifiers.”

With its intelligent control logic system, the Meaco DD8LJ will turn itself off when the target humidity is reached before turning the fan on 30 minutes later and sampling the air again. If the humidity has increased, it will turn itself on once more but if it’s maintained the target, it will go back to sleep again for another half an hour.

This one does not have an air filtration function, so families with allergies will be better off with one of the other dehumidifiers.

£239.97, Appliances Direct

Best dehumidifier for energy saving

We like: it’s cost-effective, but not at the expense of performance

We don’t like: stock levels are always so low

Using only 219 Watts of electricity per hour (at an estimated cost of 7p per hour, based on the current average rate of 34p per kWh), the Meaco 20L offers the lowest energy consumption of any dehumidifier in its class. This model is designed for larger homes or small business premises.

“We all want to save energy at the moment – and that’s where the Meaco 20L Low Energy comes into its own,” adds Kandola. It uses a HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Air) filter which will remove 99 percent of dust mites, pollen or other allergens, making a cleaner and healthier atmosphere in your home.

Additional features include ‘Laundry Mode’ for drying indoors, a safety cut-out and a child lock. The maximum 20l per day extraction rate is for hot and humid conditions. In a cooler room, expect more like 8l per day.

£399, Argos.

Best dehumidifier for drying laundry

We like: the laundry boost function that works (but uses more energy)

We don’t like: it’s heavy even when empty

With winter around the corner, the opportunities to dry your washing outdoors will inevitably be limited but if you invest in the right dehumidifier you can still do it quickly and efficiently indoors. The British-made Ebac 3850e 21 has a cost-effective dedicated laundry boost function that helps reduce the drying time of your damp laundry when it’s inside.

“That will be especially useful over the winter months as it means you won’t have to keep your heating on as long to dry your clothes, reducing your energy bills in the process,” says Wood.

The 3850e also has an Intelligent Defrost feature which means you will be able to use it at temperatures as low as 3°C, useful for keeping unused rooms mould-free in the winter. Some of the best electric heaters we’ve reviewed have a similar low-energy, frost-protection function.

£39.99, Amazon

Best small dehumidifier

We like: compact, quiet and very economic (but low powered)

We don’t like: it’s not powerful enough for colder, damper months

If you have a small space that’s prone to damp air, like a kitchen or a bathroom, you need a dehumidifier that’s compact and quiet. Standing 22cm high and weighing little more than a bag of sugar, unlike some dehumidifiers The ProBreeze is easy to move around and won’t stand out like a sore thumb once it’s in place.

“The Pro Breeze is great if you’ve got a smaller space and you want something that doesn’t cost a lot to run,” says Kandola. “It’s probably about a penny an hour.”

Rather than being a compressor or a desiccant, the ProBreeze instead uses peltier technology, similar to that used in some mini fridges, to cool water vapour into water. It’s much quieter than the other methods.

It’s worth noting, though, that its maximum extraction of 250ml is one hundred times less than the Honeywell 24l and it works best above 15C (so no good for very cold rooms in winter). But for small, specific jobs this could be the best choice.

£288.95, AirCon Centre

Best smart dehumidifier

We like: clever collapsible form allows much greater capacity

We don’t like: you pay for the smart features

Perhaps the best-looking dehumidifier on our list, the Midea Cube is only a foot tall when collapsed for storage but extends upwards in use to hold 11 litres of water. That’s about three times more than traditional dehumidifiers and means you need to empty it less often. Another option is to just use the top half and run its hose into a sink or drain so that you never have to empty it at all.

What further sets the Midea Cube apart is that it is smartphone compatible, meaning you can not only control it from your mobile (or smart devices like Alexa or Google) but can also enjoy real-time monitoring of the humidity status and alerts when the water tank is full. “This is so versatile, it’s amazing,” says Ryan Kandola. “We like the lift and twist design too. It’s very clever.”

Dehumidifiers remove water vapour from the air to create a cleaner, healthier environment; they’ll even help you dry your laundry more quickly too, especially in the winter.

“A compressor dehumidifier is almost like a mini-fridge that cools the air and converts it into water that you can pour away,” says Ryan Kandola, a dehumidifier expert from Aircon Centre, “whereas desiccants take the air and run it over a rotating flywheel which absorbs the moisture, before heating it so the wheel doesn’t get saturated.”

Compressors are generally efficient at room temperature, but they can’t handle the winter cold so well. If the temperature drops below three or four centigrade, they will tend to stop working. That’s not the case with desiccants, although they can be more expensive to run.

It’s simply a matter of setting the desired humidity level and the unit will do the rest. What you will need to do is empty the water tank from time to time.

For a bathroom, you should position the dehumidifier just outside the bathroom door and ensure the door is left open so the unit can draw the moist air towards it. If you’re drying clothes, just place the dehumidifier in the room, making sure the door and windows are all closed.

“If there’s a problem room, the dehumidifier should be kept in there, preferably with doors and windows closed,” says Chris Wood, also from Aircon Centre. “If it is to be used to control the moisture for the whole house, however, then it should be located centrally, on a landing or in the hallway, and the air from the rooms should be able to flow towards the units. So keep the interior doors open and the exterior windows shut.”

Look for one which draws less than 330 Watts and you will never spend more than 10p per hour. It’s often much less on lower power settings. Dehumidifiers are generally cheap to run.

Domestic dehumidifiers can extract up to 25 litres of water per day. We have largely focused on 20l models since these are the most popular for domestic use. For larger spaces, damper environments or colder temperatures, choose something more powerful. (Or vice versa for smaller spaces.)

* The cost of one kiloWatt-hour of electricity is capped at 30p under the Energy Price Guarantee as of July 2023. Although prices do vary by region and contract (economy 7 tariffs are more expensive by day and cheaper by night, for example), we use the capped price to estimate running costs.

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