How Long Does a Dehumidifier Take to Work

A dehumidifier can work wonders to eliminate excess moisture in your home’s air. This nifty contraption sucks away humidity, effectively preventing mold and mildew from growing. Overall, it can help improve the quality of air in your home.

But how fast does a dehumidifier achieve that? If you’ve just turned on your dehumidifier and it seems like the machine is taking a while to produce changes in your home’s internal conditions, don’t worry. Here’s how much time it takes for a dehumidifier to work.

A lot of factors affect the rate at which a dehumidifier will work. Choosing the right dehumidifier for your home will help speed up its function and reduce humidity in your space much faster.

How Fast Does a Dehumidifier Work?

A dehumidifier will start sucking moisture out of the air as soon as you turn it on. But the effects of its performance will only start to show after about 8-10 hours of uninterrupted use.

Sometimes, a dehumidifier might take much less time to do the job, depending on several factors.

Factors That Affect a Dehumidifier’s Performance

If it seems like your dehumidifier is taking too long to produce any effects, here are some factors that might slow it down.

1. Room Is Too Big

In most cases, the reason for a dehumidifier failing to do its job is that it’s placed in a room that’s too big.

These machines come in various sizes and strengths, and their efficacy depends on how effectively you choose the right one for your space.

2. Wrong Placement

Furniture, walls, and other objects in your space can block your dehumidifier and prevent it from doing its job. Keeping the machine in a corner can also reduce its performance.

To maximize your dehumidifier’s functionality, keep it in the center of the room, away from walls and furniture.

3. Windows and Doors Left Open

Leaving windows and doors open can reintroduce moisture into your home.

So as your dehumidifier works to bring down excess moisture from your space, airflow from open doors and windows can introduce added moisture from other areas.

4. High Levels of Relative Humidity

If your home is exceedingly humid, to begin with, you can’t expect to experience a drastic change within just a few hours. High humidity levels take longer to address.

If you’re using a small dehumidifier with a low extraction rate, it could take a full day to reduce high humidity levels.

Is Your Dehumidifier Working?

It’s normal for a dehumidifier to take a few hours before it starts to present any real changes in your home’s air quality.

But if you’ve had your dehumidifier on for a while and you still don’t notice any changes, you might want to check if it’s even working. Here’s what you can look for:

1. Use a humidity measuring tool like a hygrometer to check humidity levels before and after you turn on your dehumidifier. Some machines have a built-in humidistat.
2. Check the water tank to see if the machine has collected any moisture.
3. If your dehumidifier releases moisture through a hose pipe, check to see if it has any droplets of water that indicate effective collection.

If your humidifier works fine, just leave it to operate and wait for ambient changes.

However, if the dehumidifier seems to have stopped working based on these indicators, you might consider having it checked.

Summary

Dehumidifiers work wonders to reduce ambient humidity – if you give them enough time to work. It could take up to 10 hours for your dehumidifier to cause any changes. So make sure to extend your patience before you decide to send it back to the store.

You might also want to check the factors that affect how effectively a dehumidifier will work. By keeping these conditions in mind, you can support your dehumidifier in doing its job as fast as possible.