Dehumidifiers are the top connoisseurs of modern-day comfort living. Although small and compact, these little devices have proven that we don’t need to continue living amidst humid and clammy surroundings that can be nauseating and suffocating.
Instead, with a dehumidifier around- you can experience the peace and serenity of moisture-less, soothing air.
These little tools are especially useful if you live in an area that experiences harsh summers, as humid composition considerably increases during these times, not only posing health risks but also triggering bacterial and mold growth in your home.
This is where dehumidifiers step in and make your living space more breathable.
Now, it’s somewhat hard to believe that such a useful and resourceful thing is packaged in a small and neat device that is meant to take as little space as possible.
What is even more enthralling is that dehumidifiers can have little bearing on your monthly electricity bills because of their decent current draw. You can deduce the electricity usage of a dehumidifier by looking up its Watt usage.
This will indicate whether your dehumidifier falls in the low, medium, or high range of power consumption.
Regardless, you will find dehumidifiers to be one of the rare household appliances that don’t impose heavily on your home’s circuit system, choosing to run on reasonable and small current draws that don’t drain your wallet.
How Does An Electric Dehumidifier Work?
Before we get into the dirty dollar details, it helps to know the inner workings of a dehumidifier. When one is aware of the work being put in to achieve a result, we are more understanding of the price to be paid for it.
To begin with, an electric dehumidifier has a metal surface that is to be maintained at a cool and low temperature. When humid or moist air makes contact with this cool metal surface, the moisture particles are immediately condensed and removed from the air.
Consequently, they are collected in a drain system, which is usually a bucket placed under a dehumidifier. As the condensate fills up the bucket or tank, it is regularly cleared.
The dehumidifier’s operation, as you can see, is quite simple, but it goes a long way in ensuring the comfort of the house’s residents by making the air less clammy and sticky to live with.
Admittedly, there is not much use for dehumidifiers during winters, when humidity levels themselves are low. However, they come to be very handy in drawing out and disposing of moisture in the hotter months.
Electricity Uses of a Dehumidifier
Now that you know how the dehumidifier works, you must be able to see why it doesn’t require too much energy. However, the electricity needs of dehumidifiers also vary as per the efficiency of the units.
Just like Air Conditioners or Electrical furnaces, dehumidifiers have efficiency ratings. Typically, good efficiency refers to an appliance’s ability to make the most use of given energy in such a way that there is no electricity wastage leading to increased costs.
Usually, electricity consumption is calculated in Watts, but on a dehumidifier label or a specification sheet, you might find it expressed in kilowatt-hour or kWh, which resembles the power consumed by the device power.
This is also proportional to the amount of water extracted from the air per hour. The electricity required to do so is also inscribed in the energy factor, which indicates the energy efficiency of the unit.
If a dehumidifier is energy efficient, it is usually recognized by an Energy Star label which is placed on the unit when it is manufactured.
You’ll find that bigger dehumidifiers display a higher rate of energy efficiency compared to smaller units.
However, a higher energy efficiency generally comes at a higher cost, but it is also not necessary that you need a highly efficient dehumidifier to suit your home/room needs- so you must consider the factor of your own personal requirements in order to find a fairly priced, efficient deal that is worth your money.
The Wattage Use of Dehumidifier
On average most dehumidifiers range from 300 W to 700 W in their use, with higher numbers reaching as far as 970 W of power consumption. A frequently appearing dehumidifier watt used in most units is considered to be about 600 W.
Low Watt Usage
Usually, a highly efficient dehumidifier should draw on less energy, and thus should contribute to lesser power bills. You’ll find such units, then, on the lower end of the Watt use spectrum.
Dehumidifiers in this range use around 200-400W of energy to run. Quite a number of dehumidifier units within this range are Energy Star rated.
Medium Watt Usage
Medium Wattage dehumidifiers have an energy draw rate of about 450 W to 700 W. Most dehumidifiers fall within this category, as this is the most common rate of current draw for any typical dehumidifier. You will find Energy Star Labeled dehumidifiers in this bracket too.
High Watt Usage
High Wattage Dehumidifiers use around 700 to 1000 W. With most modern-day manufacturers aiming to produce units that are as efficient as possible, it is visible that numerous units using Watts in this range are older models.
In today’s day and age, it is not entirely advisable to go for these units, as they don’t exactly target the needs of a modern-day customer- energy efficiency. Ultimately, you’re likely to pay higher monthly electricity bills as long as you’re housing a model of this variety.
How Much Electricity Does a Dehumidifier Use?
Typically, we can estimate the electricity usage of a dehumidifier on an hourly, daily, and monthly basis. This can help in having a general idea as to what to expect from your electricity bills as per your dehumidifier usage habits.
On an hourly basis, dehumidifiers can use anywhere from 0.23 kWh to 0.983 kWh in their functioning. Of course, this largely depends on the Watt usage of your dehumidifier.
For instance, most Energy Star-rated dehumidifiers that fall in the low Watt usage category display an electricity consumption ranging between 0.23 and 0.548 kWh.
Similarly, when it comes to daily usage, you can make your calculations based on the fact that dehumidifiers can use electricity ranging from 5.50 kWh to 23.6 kWh regularly. Any Energy Star labeled units in this range have an electricity consumption below 13 kWh.
Monthly electricity usage for dehumidifiers amounts between 200 kWh to 400 kWh.
Your electricity charges are based on how much a unit of kW is priced according to your local electricity supplier. Multiplying the number of hours of use to the price of n number of kW used per hour will give you a daily expenditure on electricity used by your dehumidifier.
You can further multiply this unit to 30 days of a month or 365 days of a year to get the monthly or an all-year-round estimate of your electricity bill.
Where Does Your Dehumidifier use Electricity?
The rate at which dehumidifiers use electricity varies throughout the day owing to the fact that they navigate through different modes and stages while working.
Different components
One of the main contributing factors to the electricity usage and cost of a dehumidifier is the energy spent on and by different parts of your dehumidifier. For instance, the refrigerator coil, the compressor, and the fan use up different amounts of electricity.
Stages
As mentioned, a dehumidifier goes through different stages throughout the day. The dehumidifier might drop or raise its relative humidity level setting at different times of the day.
Additionally, it might also slow down or accelerate its speed of functioning. The dehumidifier also has something called a ‘standby mode, which is activated when your home reaches a state where it doesn’t require any dehumidifying for the moment.
The dehumidifier stabilizes the humidity level and tries to keep it constant for as long as possible. All these changes also consume different energy levels.
Humidity
The outdoor temperatures and humidity level also make a large difference in the power consumption of your dehumidifier.
As the humidity level increases along with higher temperatures, your dehumidifier has to work harder to absorb moisture and dispose of it. This leads to more current draw, and thus, higher electricity costs.
Despite their small and easy-going nature, dehumidifiers have a lot going on. Electricity costs can be complicated with any household appliance, but compared to refrigerators or ACs, dehumidifiers have displayed relatively lower and decent rates of electricity consumption.
Moreover, energy-efficient units ensure that the Watt usage is kept in check. With regular maintenance and upkeep, your dehumidifier is sure to be generous in its electricity usage and cost.
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