What is a Dehumidifier?

Dehumidifiers are appliances that remove excessive moisture in the air, and thereby lowers the humidity. Each dehumidifier consists of a few core components:

• A fan compressor to pull in the air and distribute the humid air over cooling coils
• Cooling coils to cool the air, thereby removing moisture by condensation
• A reheater to reheat the dehumidified air
• Some type of reservoir to collect the moisture pulled from the air

How do Dehumidifiers Work?

Most dehumidifiers work in the same basic manner - they pull moisture from the air in your room, thereby lowering humidity levels and making your living area safer and more comfortable to be in. The dehumidification process:

1. The dehumidifier fan pulls in humid air from the surrounding area
2. When air passes through the dehumidifier, the cooling coils pull moisture from the air by lowering the air temperature.
3. The reheater then reheats the demoistured air and redistributes it into the room.
4. The air's pulled moisture is collected in a reservoir

Many dehumidifiers have a humidistat, which detects the level of the room's humidity. This allows the dehumidifier to run until a desired humidity level is reached, then automatically shut off.

Energy Star

The average ENERGY STAR qualified dehumidifier can save consumers about $20 per year. Over the life of the unit, that's more than $220 in savings! ENERGY STAR qualified dehumidifiers have more efficient refrigeration coils, compressors, and fans than conventional models, which means they use less energy to remove moisture.An ENERGY STAR dehumidifier removes the same amount of moisture as a similarly-sized conventional unit, but uses 15% less energy. In fact, the energy saved by an ENERGY STAR qualified dehumidifier could power your ENERGY STAR qualified refrigerator for 5 months!