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Our GHI experts put them through their paces in the lab Air Purifier Dehumidifier
This article was updated in January to reflect the latest prices and deals.
The best dehumidifiers can eliminate excess moisture and condensation from the air, preventing your home from falling victim to damp or spots of mould. Both are common household headaches and can be caused by everything from the steam you create as you cook to leaky plumbing.
Plus, now we’re in winter, drying clothes has become a lot more difficult (especially if you don’t have one of our best heated clothes airers). Having damp laundry hanging around your home is a recipe for some musty smells and tell-tale black spots, but a dehumidifier can help speed up drying times.
In fact, some of the dehumidifiers we tested have specific laundry functions to help make indoor drying even quicker. They’re also cheaper to run than a tumble dryer.
To help you decide which one to invest in, the Good Housekeeping Institute tried and tested a range of market-leading models, keeping an eye on how much they cost to run and any extra features, including laundry modes. Keep scrolling for the full reviews, but here they are in one handy list:
If you often wake up on a cold winter morning with condensation on your windows, then a dehumidifier is a worthy investment. They tackle damp by drawing air in, removing all the excess moisture and collecting it in a drip tray, before pushing the air back out into the room.
We spoke to Nicholas Donnithorne, UK Technical Services Manager at Peter Cox, the UK’s leading property care experts, to understand why managing indoor humidity is crucial to prevent issues with condensation and mould.
“On average, a family of four produces 14 litres of water vapour each day,” explains Donnithorne. “Keeping a house correctly heated and well-ventilated is an important part of preventing condensation.”
While opening a window and airing your home will have a similar effect, during winter we’re all trying to conserve heat, so dehumidifiers can help to reduce condensation without letting cold air in.
If left alone, Donnithorne warns that mould and damp can begin to form on items such as curtains and soft furnishings, which – besides being unappealing to look at – can lead to health risks in the long run. Running a dehumidifier in your home is a quick and easy solution.
It’s an easy mistake to make but be aware that the model’s size describes how many litres of water it can extract from the air within 24 hours – not the capacity of the water tank. For example, our winning Sharp dehumidifier (which is currently sold out – we'll add it back in below when it comes back into stock later this month) has a 20L extraction capacity, but its water tank is only 3.8L, so you’d have to change it multiple times in a 24-hour period. Confusing, we know. Plus, this figure often refers to the maximum amount of water an appliance can extract rather than what it will extract in a UK home in winter. Dehumidifiers tend to remove moisture more quickly in tropical climates and more slowly when it's cold. So, if yours doesn't extract a full 20L in a day, this doesn't mean it's not working, just that it is operating differently to the conditions the manufacturer tested it in.
There are two different types of dehumidifier to choose from: compressor or desiccant models.
Compressor dehumidifiers work by creating a cold surface for warm, damp air to move across. When the warmer air meets the cool surface, condensation forms, and the water is removed.
Desiccant dehumidifiers don’t rely on a cool surface meaning they’re effective in all temperatures. They use a desiccant wheel that absorbs the moisture from the air (much like a sponge), which is then regenerated by an internal heater and fan.
The simplest way to work out which type of dehumidifier is best for you is to consider room temperature. For situations where your ambient room temperature is likely to fall below 15 degrees often (think garages, basements, conservatories), you may want to consider a desiccant dehumidifier.
While desiccant dehumidifiers are more effective in lower temperatures, they typically cost more to run so if you’re looking for a more energy-efficient appliance, it may be worth picking a compressor model.
Bearing that in mind, here are the other factors to consider when shopping for a dehumidifier.
Price: The dehumidifiers we tested range from £74 to £330, with pricier models boasting a range of fancy features including smart controls and accompanying apps, so it’s important to consider what factors are the most important for your household.
Noise levels: If you’re going to have a dehumidifier on when you’re working from home or while you’re sleeping, you want something that will keep the noise down. Anything under 54dBA is considered quiet, which means all the products on our list are suitable. However, if you’re a light sleeper, you may want to pick one on the lower end of the scale, such as this Ecoair dehumidifier, which runs on low at 36dB.
Size and water capacity: You’ll need to consider the capacity of the water tank based on where you’re placing the dehumidifier in your home. Bathrooms and kitchens, which are typically more humid spaces, may require a larger tank – or more frequent emptying – compared to a study or bedroom. While the size of your dehumidifier will depend on the space and how damp it is, on average, any unit around 10L will work across multiple rooms, while larger 20L models, such as the Sharp portable dehumidifier, will suit larger homes or spaces with persistent damp.
Energy consumption: Generally, the higher the wattage, the more energy intensive your dehumidifier will be. How much it costs to run a dehumidifier throughout the day will depend on each appliance – the GHI measured the energy consumption of all the ones we tested and worked out how much it would cost to run per hour based on the current energy price cap of 29p per kWh.
To test the effectiveness of each dehumidifier, the GHI used a controlled test chamber with a humidity of 80% and a temperature set to 18C.
The chamber’s environment was kept at the same level throughout testing to effectively measure each model’s energy consumption and extraction rate. Testers then ran each product on its highest setting to see how much water it collected.
If the model had a laundry mode, our testers carried out further testing to see how effective it was at drying clothes. They washed a full load of clothes (weighing between 3 to 4kg), then weighed them when wet before hanging them up to dry next to the dehumidifier. They timed how long it took the clothes to dry and then weighed them again to see how much water was removed by the dehumidifier.
Finally, our experts also assessed each product on its design, ease of use, quality of instructions and, if it had an app, how easy it was to set up and navigate.
These are their top picks.
This dehumidifier has an accompanying app so you can control it when you're out and about. Testers found it straightforward to use, easily adjusting the speed and settings from their smartphones.
It's a good option for drying clothes quickly in the winter, impressing our testers by removing 85.2% of the water from our load of laundry, so you won’t have wet clothes hanging around your home for long periods.
It was a little noisy when placed on its highest setting, but that’s a minor niggle, especially given that it collected over 1L of water within two hours. It is large and heavy, but the four-wheel swivelled design makes it easy to move around your home.
As one of the larger models we tested, this Meaco 20L dehumidifier is a great option if you’re tackling damp and high humidity throughout your home. It removed over 850ml of water in two hours and, thanks to its large tank capacity, you’d only need to empty it around every 10 hours if run continuously, which is handy if you’re busy during the day.
It also doubles up as an air purifier and uses a medical grade filter to keep your air dry and free of dust and other allergens. Our testers loved the easy and accessible design, including the simple LED display that made navigating the menu a breeze.
Like the Princess model (above), its weight may prove tricky for some, but the combination of wheels, a handle, and pouring spout on the water tank, made emptying a mess-free task. Note, it doesn’t include a timer or attachable drainage hose.
This Ecoair model proved a great option for any family home, collecting over 800ml of moisture from the air in our tests in just two hours. With a 3L capacity water tank, this means you’d have to physically empty the tank up to three times a day, if running for 24 hours.
It’s fairly lightweight (under 7kg without water) and the handle allowed for fuss-free transportation between rooms. While it’s not the fanciest design on the market, this dehumidifier has plenty of great features including a built-in humidity sensor, a laundry mode, three fan settings, and auto shut-off when the water tank is full, which meant it scored well across the board.
One of the features our testers particularly liked was that it blows out slightly warmer air, helping to heat your space. You can also direct the air flow thanks to its swinging air outlet.
Sometimes, simplicity is key and that’s exactly what our testers loved about this dehumidifier. With just one on/off button and four modes (three based on the humidity of your environment, and one for laundry), it’s super easy to set-up and use – it really is as simple as plugging it in and pressing the on button.
Under the conditions of those in our humidity chamber, it would take six hours to fill a full 2.1L tank, so you shouldn’t need to empty it too often. Even so, it does have an automatic switch-off feature when the tank is full, as well as a bright indicator light to tell you when it’s ready to be changed.
With a curved, slim design and a solid performance across our in-house tests, this is a great buy.
Our testers praised this dehumidifier’s sleek digital display, which tells you the humidity of the room in real time. The interface was easy to read and adjust, with the colour indicators for each humidity level adding a nice visual touch.
It extracted 660ml of water in two hours, so with a 3.5L water tank, you’d only need to empty it after 10 hours of continuous use. It beeps when the tank is nearly full, which is a handy feature, but it would be quite difficult to hear if you’re in a separate room.
It’s quite tall and weighty so we’d recommend finding a semi-permanent spot for it in your home; however, its modern design means it’s not an issue to have it on display.
While it’s smaller than the Avalla above, this model still managed to collect a reasonable 550ml in two hours. That means you would need to empty the tank up to four times a day, as it can only hold 1.8L of water at a time.
Our testers found the button controls intuitive and straightforward to cycle through, and the indicator lights were easy to see at a quick glance. This dehumidifier also features a visible water tank that, while located on the back of the machine, makes checking the water level trouble-free.
It weighs in at 9kg, so moving it around is a little tricky – the addition of some castor wheels would have been helpful. Despite this niggle, it was effective at reducing moisture and getting rid of stale air.
Dehumidifiers don’t tend to be the most aesthetically pleasing of devices, but this device’s digital display and slim design make it a stylish option. You can switch between three different speed settings, as well as being able to manually change the direction of the wind, to adjust to different spaces.
On test, this model collected almost 500ml in a two-hour window, meaning you’d have to empty the 2.5 litre water tank every 10 hours if it ran continuously – a fairly simple task thanks to its castor wheels. However, it lacks proper handles, making it difficult to lift and empty the tank.
This quibble aside, our tester appreciated that the machine clearly displayed the temperature and humidity of the room, a key feature that many models often miss. The auto shut-off functionality is another useful addition.
Bigger does not always mean better and that’s certainly the case when it comes to dehumidifiers. There are so many factors to think about when it comes to deciding on the right model for your home and a smaller model can offer some great advantages.
For starters, the obvious: they save space. If you don’t have a large home or just want a dehumidifier for small rooms, such as a home office, utility room or even a wardrobe, then these compact options are a savvy pick.
While they may not extract large amounts of water or have a huge tank capacity, they’re usually quieter, easier to empty, and can operate for a day or two without needing you to empty them. They’re also typically cheaper to run because of their small size.
If this sounds like the right fit for your home, then consider this tried and tested dehumidifier below.
This compact dehumidifier is discrete and requires minimal space if you need to store it away. Plus, our testers found it easy to empty and move between rooms.
In the lab, it collected 35ml of water in two hours, meaning it would have taken over 48 hours to fill the full one-litre tank. Unsurprisingly given its size, this is a smaller moisture extraction rate than other models we tested, but it also doubles up as an air purifier, claiming to capture 99.95% of airborne allergens, dust, and pollen.
While it's important to note that you can’t use both features at the same time, our tester found it easy to switch between the two using the interface on top of the appliance. Thanks to its small stature, this is also the cheapest and most energy-efficient model we tested, costing just 1p an hour to run. It’s a savvy buy.
Megan is the Good Housekeeping Institute’s homes writer. She loves diving into the latest product releases to find the very best buys on the market. When she’s not writing about the newest gadgets and gizmos for your home and garden, you’ll find her cooking, running and exploring London’s foodie hotspots – or trying to make friends with every dog she passes. Megan has an MA in Magazine Journalism and has previously written for Stylist, Glamour, TimeOut, SquareMeal, and YOU magazine. You can find Megan on Instagram @meganlouisegeall and on X @megan_geall
Blossom is our Senior Homes Tester. Passionate about finding the best home products and appliances for our readers, she has tested everything from blenders to pizza ovens. Blossom enjoys delving into the intricacies of products and refining testing protocols for hundreds of items. Innovative items like robot vacuum cleaners and wine coolers are among her favourite tests to date, and her most notable accomplishment is toasting 360 slices of bread in a determined bid to find the best toaster. In her free time, Blossom openly admits to being a music geek and indulges her creative side through crocheting, baking, singing and writing.
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