4 Different Types of Dehumidifiers

Last Updated on December 21, 2023 by Justin Williams

Dehumidifier is an appliance designed to absorb water from the air to reduce indoor humidity levels. It also cools the air down to make your room more comfortable.

Which one you choose will depend a lot on where you live and what type of budget you have. Some of these options are quite expensive while others are not. If you are serious about keeping the humidity levels low in your home, you need to pick the right one for your living situation.

These 4 types of dehumidifiers are very serious about removing excess moisture from your home. They will do a good job for you.

The 4 Types of Dehumidifiers for Your Home

1

Disposable desiccant dehumidifiers

If you do not want to use a lot of electrical power when removing excess moisture from your home, then this option may be the one for you. It works silently, disturbing no one, and can be placed in small corners out of your way.

Inside these disposable desiccant dehumidifiers is a gel-like substance that absorbs moisture without lowering the moisture content to dangerous levels for your plants or pets.

As the gel-like substance absorbs moisture it turns into an undrinkable watery texture. After all the gel is gone you know you need to replace the disposable dehumidifier with another one.

The good aspect of these devices goes beyond their silent work. They can be placed anywhere in your home without too much trouble or making a mess.

2

Portable dehumidifier

portable dehumidifier

These portable electric dehumidifiers may boost your electric bill some but they are very efficient and come in a variety of capacity sizes. Generally, their capacity hits between 30, 50 and 70 pints of moisture removed every 24 hours.

Those numbers are the ideal and are only reached under certain conditions. The good aspects of these dehumidifiers is that they have lots of features you can program and turn the device on when you want it on.

Also, some come with humidistats which help you set your humidity levels to where you want them to be. Also, many have castor wheels and easy to use handles so you can move the device from room to room without hurting or straining your back.

3

Mini dehumidifiers

mini dehumidifier

Are perfect for very small rooms. Some do not service rooms above 300 square feet. That is okay as sometimes the rooms in your home are not that large or your humidity levels are not that high. They are perfect for RVs and campers when you are on vacation in high humid areas of the country.

On top of that, their noise levels are low making them the right dehumidifier to keep your sleeping baby comfortable all night long. These devices also come with different features with the most important one being the auto shut off.

Depending on the model they can work in temperatures as low as 42 degrees F. They do not have a high capacity rating but then you may not need a lot of moisture removed every day.

4

Whole house dehumidifier

whole house dehumidifier

These devices do a great job when you have an allergy or asthma sufferer in your home. Their name describes exactly what they do, dehumidify every room in your home. That way every room is at the same humidity level making the whole house safe for everyone.

These devices pull a lot more moisture out of the humid air than their electric portable counterparts and they work on your basement, crawl spaces and attic to make sure mold and mildew, bacteria and other problems do not get a foothold in your home.

Since hot air rises, whole home dehumidifiers keeps the air cooler so any bacteria in the air does not go up into the living quarters. That makes them a very good deal.


Which Type of Dehumidifier Should You Buy?

This decision is up to you and what you can afford. We are not big on the disposable desiccant dehumidifiers as they are not easily controlled and they can run out of desiccant material very quickly.

Portable electric models would be our second choice as they are very good and can cover a lot of square footage. Large rooms are not a problem for them. Mini dehumidifiers have their place, especially when you have small kids in your home.

Overall, we like the whole house dehumidifiers the best. They may be a bit on the expensive side but the benefits you and your family get out weigh the cost.

Some final words


Each model of the four horsemen of dehumidifiers have their individual purpose. They all do their jobs well and make your home more comfortable to live in. The only difference between them is that they work on different levels providing you and your family with different levels of relief.

The best thing to do is conduct some more research to find the best dehumidifier for your situation. Then make your decision.

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My name is Justin Williams. I am the founder and blogger at TheDehumidifierExperts.com (read more about us). I was an allergy sufferer and that is also the reason why I began my trek to finding the best dehumidifier for my own personal health issues. All of the dehumidifier top picks on the site were put through their paces by Lance Perez - our dehumidifier researcher. He put each one through a series of tests to see how well they performed. Then, our editorial team compiled the insights into articles and published them.

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