Portable Dehumidifiers

Portable dehumidifiers can be a good way to reduce humidity in needed areas of your home without making the costly investment of a whole house or basement dehumidifier. It’s important to know what features to look for in a dehumidifier in order to make the right selection for your needs.

Benefits of Use

High humidity in your home can ruin personal belongings and wreak havoc on the air quality of your home in addition to making areas of your home a suitable environment for mildew, mold growth, dust mites and insects. Using a portable dehumidifier can be an effective way to reduce the level of humidity in areas of your home such as a garage, bathroom or utility room. These smaller units can be discreetly used in a bedroom to help you breathe easier and sleep better when you are congested from a cold and when humidity is high during warm weather.

Capacity Options

If a unit is AHAM rated, you can use the pints per day rate and the cubic feet per minute (CFM) rating of the fan to determine capacity. Air must pass over the dehumidifier coils in order for the moisture to be pulled from the air. The pints per day capacity will tell you how much moisture the unit can remove from the air in a twenty four hour period. The CFM power of the fan indicates how much air is passed through the dehumidifier per minute. The larger the area where you want to use your unit, the more powerful the fan will need to be to circulate the air.

Features for Easy Positioning

The biggest benefit of portable dehumidifiers is their smaller size and the ease of relocating the unit to different parts of the house where it may be needed. One feature to watch for when purchasing your unit is the length of the power cord as some models have short cords that can limit your placement options. Most models weigh around 25 pounds but look for a model that comes equipped with wheels if you will be moving the unit often.

Maintenance Features

One thing that can be a pain with portable dehumidifiers is the need to empty the collection bucket. For most units this will have to be done daily or at minimum several times a week. Make sure that you get a unit that has a bucket that is easily removed and replaced and includes a handle to make this necessary maintenance easier. If emptying the bucket is an issue, look for a model with a hose connector so that you can roll the unit to a floor drain or position it up on a counter so that it can drain it into a utility sink to make this maintenance chore less taxing.

Portable dehumidifiers can be less expensive than a whole house or basement dehumidifier, but it’s important to make sure that you don’t sacrifice quality. Conduct an assessment of your home to identify areas where humidity may be a problem before you shop so that you can choose a model with the capacity to do the job.