If your home is filled with humidity and your dehumidifier seems to be taking too long to suck out the moisture, you might be wondering whether your dehumidifier is defective.
If the question on how long does it take for a dehumidifier to work keeps popping up in your mind, then this article will offer you the insights you need to understand the functionality of your dehumidifier and resolve any problems it might have, which could hinder its operation.
Dehumidifiers do not work instantly. The moisture removal process is fairly slow and can take a few hours before you notice any changes in the air quality in your home.
A dehumidifier starts working immediately after you turn it on. However, it takes about 10 hours for you to notice the changes in the humidity levels in your home, especially if the relative humidity in the room was very high. After about 10 hours, you will also notice a considerable amount of water collected in the dehumidifier’s water tank.
First, it is important to know that dehumidifiers should not suck out all the moisture in a room within a few seconds.
If your home has high levels of humidity, you might not notice the reduction of humidity in the room over a short period of time because it takes a bit of time for the dehumidifier to work on the humidity levels in your home.
In this post we will address the following:
- How long does it take for a dehumidifier to work?
- How to know if your dehumidifier is working
- Factors that determine how long a dehumidifier will take to work
- Consideration for first-time dehumidifier use
How Long Does It Take For a Dehumidifier to Work?
Your dehumidifier starts working on removing moisture from your home immediately after you turn it on.
You might not notice that your dehumidifier has started working by just smelling the air in your home or counting the water particles in the air, because that is essentially impossible (unless you have superpowers).
Averagely, dehumidifiers take approximately 10 hours to reduce the humidity in your home to a level that is within the recommended relative humidity limits.
You will notice that after you turn on your dehumidifier, you might not feel any changes within the first few hours. Your dehumidifier works slowly and progressively by continuously sucking in the humidity from the air.
This process can be fastened or slowed down depending on the type of dehumidifier that you have in your home. If you have a dehumidifier that has more than one speed, you can easily change the rate at which the humidity is removed from the air.
Changing the speed levels on your dehumidifier could mean that your dehumidifier might effectively reduce the humidity levels in your home within 8 to 12 hours depending on the initial humidity levels in your home and other factors.
How to Know If Your Dehumidifier is Working
If you are wondering how you can tell if your dehumidifier has started working on not, there are several options you could consider.
Buy a hygrometer
Buying a hygrometer could help you assess the changes in humidity levels in your home while your dehumidifier is on. If your dehumidifier does not have a built-in humidistat, you should consider getting a hygrometer.
You can use the hygrometer to check the humidity levels in your home before you turn on your dehumidifier and assess the humidity levels shortly after turning on the dehumidifier.
If you are really interested in monitoring the levels of humidity removed from the air by your dehumidifier, you could consider measuring the humidity levels in your home hourly and writing your findings down.
This approach will ensure that you track the exact amount of humidity removed from the air by your dehumidifier hourly. It would also help you to understand after how many hours your dehumidifier made a significant difference in sucking out humidity from your home.
Recommended hygrometers that you can find on Amazon:
- AcuRite 00613 Digital Hygrometer & Indoor Thermometer
- SensorPush HTP.xw Wireless Thermometer/Hygrometer/Barometer
Check the Humidistat
If your dehumidifier has a humidistat, you could easily use it to assess the humidity levels in your home at different times. You can check the humidity levels in your home immediately after turning on your dehumidifier and recheck the humidistat’s readings after an hour or two to see if there are any changes in the humidity levels.
If you plan to check the humidistat within shorter time limits, you might want to note down the initial reading to ensure that you can track the dehumidifier’s progress in removing humidity from your home effectively.
Ensure that you empty your water tank when it is full or after you have finished using your dehumidifier. Leaving the water in the tank could cause overflowing the next time you use your dehumidifier, which might contribute to functional problems.
Check the Water Tank
Another approach that you could use would be checking the water tank. All the moisture that is removed from the air by your dehumidifier is condensed and stored in an in-built water reservoir in the dehumidifier.
If you are not certain that your dehumidifier is working, you could simply turn off your dehumidifier and check the water tank for any signs of condensation or water.
Note that you might not see any condensation or water within the first five or ten minutes of turning your dehumidifier on, as the dehumidifying process is quite slow.
Hose Pipe
If your dehumidifier uses a hose pipe to remove the water collected by the dehumidifier, you can check the end of the hosepipe for any signs of droplets of water coming from the dehumidifier.
If your dehumidifier has been on for more than six hours and you do not see any signs of water droplets from the rear end of the hosepipe connected to your dehumidifier, it is possible that your dehumidifier might be faulty or you might not have connected the hose pipe correctly. You should ensure that the hose pipe is connected well to the dehumidifier to prevent water spillage.
If you are interested in knowing the factors that determine how long dehumidifiers take to remove the humidity in your home, we have discussed these factors comprehensively below to help you understand the functionality of your dehumidifier.
Factors that Determine How Long a Dehumidifier Will Take To Work
Size of the room
The size of the room or the space that you place your dehumidifier will determine how long the dehumidifier will take to effectively remove humidity from the space.
If you place the dehumidifier in a small room, you will notice that the dehumidifier will take a shorter period to effectively dehumidify the room when compared to when you place the dehumidifier in a large room.
Placement of the Dehumidifier
Aside from the size of the room, the place where you keep your dehumidifier will also affect its effectiveness in removing humidity from your home. If you keep your dehumidifier in a corner, it might be blocked by the walls and any furniture around the area.
You should ensure that you keep your dehumidifier in an open space and preferably at the center of the room to ensure that it can effectively perform its functions. You should also avoid placing the dehumidifier on the floor and place it on a raised area, like on a table to promote effective airflow.
Size of the dehumidifier
If you are using a small-sized dehumidifier, you will notice that the dehumidifier will take a longer duration for it to dehumidify the room compared to if you were using a bigger dehumidifier.
It is easier to notice the changes in the humidity levels in a room within the first five minutes if you are using a large dehumidifier compared to if you were using a small dehumidifier because of the effectiveness of the large dehumidifier in sucking out moisture from the air.
You should note that it is much harder to notice humidity level changes in your home after a few minutes when you are using a small dehumidifier.
Open Windows and Doors
Your dehumidifier might start working within a few minutes but you might not notice the reduction in the humidity levels if your windows and doors are open.
Leaving your doors and windows open could increase the humidity levels in your home, especially during warm weather when humidity levels are high.
Similarly, if it is raining, some of the rainwater droplets can find their way into your home and increase the moisture levels in your home.
Extraction capacity
The extraction capacity of a dehumidifier determines how fast it would be able to significantly reduce the level of humidity in a room. If you bought a large-sized dehumidifier, you will notice that its extraction will be lower than the extraction capacity of a small-sized dehumidifier.
Generally, large-sized dehumidifiers along with industry-grade dehumidifiers have a shorter extraction time when compared to small-sized dehumidifiers.
When you buy a dehumidifier, you should check the extraction capacity specifications for the dehumidifier to determine its effectiveness in removing humidity from a room. The extraction capacity is the number of liters of moisture in the form of water that a dehumidifier will absorb from the air.
Most dehumidifiers have a maximum extraction capacity of 6 to 25 liters per day. You should also note that in most cases a dehumidifier does not attain its maximum extraction capacity because of variations in temperature and other factors like moisture levels in different places.
A dehumidifier could reach its capacity if it were placed in a warm room when compared to if it was placed in a cold room.
If the temperatures where you live are quite low, you should ensure that you buy a dehumidifier that is suitable for low temperatures to ensure that it can work effectively.
Given the right conditions, you will notice that your dehumidifier will start reducing the humidity levels in your home within five to six hours.
Dampness Levels
The dampness or humidity levels in your home will determine the duration it will take for you to notice a considerable change in the level of humidity in your home.
For instance, if your area was recently flooded and some of the floodwaters made its way into your home, the rainwater would contribute to high humidity levels.
After removing most of the rainwater from your home and cleaning up your home, you will need to use your dehumidifier to remove the dampness from your home.
In such cases, you might have to run your dehumidifier for several hours during the day to significantly remove the humidity from the air. Damp walls and flooring could also slow down the process of dehumidifying your home.
Since the humidity levels are high in a home that was recently flooded, you will notice that the water tank in your dehumidifier will take longer to fill with water when compared to a situation where you would try to use the dehumidifier in a different room with different humidity levels.
You should also note that flooded homes need special equipment to eliminate most of the dampness from the room and reduce the risks of water damage.
As such, if your home was recently flooded, the best option would be to seek professional help instead of relying on your dehumidifier to remove all the dampness from your home.
Consideration for First-Time Dehumidifier Use
If you are using your dehumidifier for the first time and the humidity levels in your home are high, you should run your dehumidifier for approximately 10 to 12 hours daily for a week.
Ensure that you check the humidity levels while you run your dehumidifier to ensure that the humidity levels do not go way below the recommended levels.
A dehumidifier is likely to take a few days for it to effectively reduce the humidity levels in a home during warm temperatures or if there is a source of dampness in a room. Note that it is important to address any sources of dampness or humidity in your home by seeking professional assistance.
Conclusion
When using your dehumidifier, remember to be patient and give it time to work. In most cases, a dehumidifier takes a few minutes before it can suck in enough moisture from the air for it to make a noticeable change in the humidity levels.
Ensure that you check the humidity levels in your home before and after running your dehumidifier for approximately five to ten hours to determine if there are any noticeable changes. You could also check if the water tank has any water.
After buying your dehumidifier, if you suspect that the dehumidifier is faulty ensure that you leave it on for at least ten hours before rechecking your humidity levels to determine if the dehumidifier has removed any humidity from your home.
If after ten to twelve hours your dehumidifier still fails to work, you can call the customer care of the manufacturing company that made the dehumidifier and ask for assistance.
If you notice these issues shortly after buying your dehumidifier, you might still be legible for repairs that would be covered by your warranty. I hope that the information in this article helps you understand the functionality of your dehumidifier.
