Energy Use & Cost of Running a Dehumidifier (Tips to Save)
Dehumidifiers are popular electrical appliances that remove moisture from indoor air. If you live in a humid climate, dehumidifiers offer a wide variety of benefits for your health and your home. In the summertime, reducing the humidity in your home helps you feel cooler because it allows your sweat to evaporate more easily. It also inhibits the growth of mold, bacteria, and dust mites that can trigger allergies and asthma. Lower humidity discourages pests like spiders and silverfish and prevents damage to your belongings, from clothing to computers.
Of course, these benefits come at a price. Most dehumidifiers work by running air over a set of coils that are cooled with a refrigerant. This causes the moisture in the air to condense and drop into a reservoir. But keeping the coils cool uses electricity. How much electricity a dehumidifier consumes per hour depends on its size and efficiency.
We're here to help you decode your energy costs so you can unlock savings. Check out our dehumidifier energy cost calculator below to see how much your dehumidifier will cost to run every day.
Dehumidifier energy cost calculator
Loading...
Dehumidifiers have a wide wattage range depending on the size and type of the dehumidifier. A tiny tabletop dehumidifier that removes just a pint of moisture per day can use as little as 20 watts. A large machine mounted on wheels that extracts 70 pints per day uses around 700 watts To calculate the most accurate number for your watts, look through the manual or on the back of your dehumidifier for its exact wattage.
What is the energy consumption and cost of running different dehumidifiers?
The capacity of a dehumidifier is typically measured in pints. That indicates how many pints of water it can remove from the air in 24 hours. Typically, the energy cost of a dehumidifier scales up based on its size. The power usage and cost for some common dehumidifier sizes is:
Size | Power (in Watts) | Cost per hour* | Cost per month* |
|---|---|---|---|
| 22 Pint | 300 W | $0.048 | $11.52 |
| 30 Pint | 460 W | $0.074 | $17.66 |
| 50 Pint | 590 W | $0.094 | $22.66 |
However, wattage can vary widely for dehumidifiers of similar size. You can gauge a dehumidifier’s energy efficiency by looking at its energy factor rating. That’s a measure of how many liters of water it removes per kilowatt-hour of energy used. The higher the energy factor, the more efficient the dehumidifier. The most efficient dehumidifiers are marked with the Energy Star label.
How to save on your dehumidifier's energy costs
1.
Don’t oversize your dehumidifier
Choose the right size dehumidifier for your space. A small room that’s only slightly damp may not need more than a 10-pint mini dehumidifier. A large space that’s extremely wet could need one with a capacity of 40 pints or more. Buying a dehumidifier that’s too big for your space will cost you more in electricity use and could leave your air uncomfortably dry. This chart from Energy Star suggests appropriate dehumidifier sizes for different spaces.2.
Upgrade to an Energy Star rated dehumidifier
Energy Star dehumidifiers are the most efficient dehumidifiers on the market. An Energy Star dehumidifier will use about 13% less energy than a comparably sized one without the Energy Star label. While an Energy Star dehumidifier may be more expensive up front, it can save you money over time due to its lower running cost.3.
Only run your dehumidifier when necessary
In most cases, there’s no need to keep your dehumidifier running at full power 24/7. Instead, set your dehumidifier controls to your preferred humidity level and let it run on autopilot. The ideal level of humidity is typically between 30% and 50%.4.
Choose Perch Energy
At Perch, we're on a mission to make cleaner energy more accessible, more affordable, and more equitable for all. Whether you rent an apartment, own a home, or run a business, Perch offers multiple ways to save money on your electricity bills, or even help the planet, too.- For guaranteed savings on your annual electricity cost, join a community solar project in your area. Perch will help match you to a local solar farm—you'll support the operations of that farm so that it can generate and contribute as much clean, solar energy to the overall grid. You don't directly receive electricity from the solar power you're supporting, but thanks to government incentives, you'll get credits toward your own utility bill. Essentially, you're being rewarded with discounts on your own electricity because you're enabling solar generation and development in your state.
- With Perch, you can take your fossil-fuel-fighting, money-saving ways even further when you also switch your home or business' electricity plan to cleaner energy. If you're on your utility's default basic service rate, it's a "mixed" energy plan (generated partly by fossil fuels, partly by renewable resources). But Perch can switch you to a low-cost cleaner energy plan—outside of what your utility is offering—that's backed 100% by clean, renewable resources like solar and wind. We'll find you a price that's lower than the market rate for similar options in your area. You don't have to do anything differently, but you'll feel great knowing that your personal electricity usage is now contributing to a healthier planet, and you've reduced your everyday carbon footprint.