With energy bills having experienced an increase last month, it’s essential to ensure that your energy-saving appliances aren’t actually adding to your expenses.

Dehumidifiers not only help reduce moisture and combat mould, and dampness but also provide a money-saving alternative to tumble dryers for drying clothes.

However, to fully benefit from your dehumidifier, it's crucial to avoid common pitfalls that can hinder its performance and longevity. 

Plus, if you fall victim to dehumidifier mistakes, you could end up increasing your bills.

To avoid this, Philip Twigg, the lead product expert at Reliant, a UK-based company with over 60 years of experience with countless home appliances, has shared a few dehumidifier mistakes to avoid.

He noted that to make dehumidifiers “work better”, you will “need to know how best to use the appliance”.

1. Choosing the wrong spot 

Your dehumidifier is only going to be able to do its job effectively if it has good access to the air in your space.

As such, you’ll want to make sure it’s not shoved away into a small corner of your room. Instead, it’s “best to place the appliance as close to the centre of the room” as possible so it can more easily access the air that flows through.

If shoved away in a corner, the appliance may have difficulty targeting all of the moisture in the air, so “it will use up loads of electricity while only doing half of the job.”

2. Choosing the wrong type of dehumidifier 

To make your dehumidifier “work better” while also “bringing down your energy bills”, you’ll want to make sure you have the right kind of dehumidifier. 

Of course, when you’re looking for the perfect dehumidifier, you’ll want to make sure the size is appropriate. Philip explained: “The larger the space you are working with, the larger the dehumidifier will need to be. For instance, if you’re working in a home with more than four bedrooms, it’s best to go for a much larger model up to 20 litres in size.”

There are two major types of dehumidifiers that you’ll need to choose from: desiccant or compressor dehumidifiers. Desiccant dehumidifiers are designed for rooms with much colder air temperatures, as they use heat to remove moisture from the air. 

Compressor dehumidifiers, on the other hand, are designed for warmer homes and use a simple form of compression to remove moisture from the air.

The expert urged: “Be sure to consider the type of room you’re going to use your dehumidifier in. For instance, if you’re looking to dehumidify a cold garage, then you’ll want a desiccant dehumidifier, as you’ll get better results while keeping energy consumption down.”

3. Using the wrong setting

Many dehumidifier models let you choose the perfect settings for the job. It’s worth taking full advantage of these settings to “get the best results”.

Preferably, you want to maintain a humidity level of at least 45 percent in your home. Therefore, you should set your dehumidifier accordingly. 

Philip warned: “If your settings aren’t optimised for these results, you could either end up using too much electricity, as the dehumidifier tries to eliminate all moisture in the space, or end up using less electricity while allowing moisture to continue to linger.”