Owning a top dehumidifier allows you to tackle damp and excessive humidity levels - both of which can have a negative effect on your home and health.

If you're struggling to dry clothes inside, want to prevent mold spores from appearing on walls or generally want to bring down the humidity levels around the house, a dedicated dehumidifier is what you need.

Typically, there are two ways that these units will treat the air:

Refrigerant dehumidifiers work by sucking warm air currents out of the air into refrigerated internal coils, forcing these particles to contract, and leaving condensation behind to collect inside the tank. Drier air is then fed back out of the machine.

Desiccant dehumidifiers, meanwhile, pass air over to an absorbent material before a heater raises the temperature of this material, which then causes water to collect in the tank below.

Both methods provide the same end result, and the only input required from the user is turning on the unit and emptying it when the tank is full. Size and price can vary quite dramatically in the world of dehumidifiers, so it's essential to consider the space you're trying to control and just how much you're willing to spend.

With all that in mind, you're ready to discover some of the top options right here.

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Frigidaire FFAP5033W1
Best overall

An excellent dehumidifier for those looking to seriously tackle a damp or condensation problem, this will get the job done easily.

Pros
  • Very efficient
  • Good warranty
  • Nice design
Cons
  • Pump is a fiddle

The Frigidaire FFAP5033W1 is a really powerful and impressive dehumidifier that can handle large rooms and, crucially, isn't too loud when it's in operation.

It has an active pumping solution to empty its own water tank, although this does mean that installing it is a little more potentially complicated than many alternatives. It's also quite pricy, but you're paying for top quality.

Honeywell TP50WK square
Honeywell TP50WK Dehumidifier
Excellent power

This great dehumidifier from Honeywell will ensure that even sizeable rooms are kept crisp and dry.

Pros
  • Great efficiency
  • Can cover large areas
  • Excellent warranty
Cons
  • Doesn't have a massive tank

Honeywell is a massive brand in the world of home heating and smart appliances, so it's no surprise to learn that it also makes excellent dehumidifiers, including this model.

It's impressive as far as energy efficiency is concerned, which is key at the moment, and is powerful enough to clear out humidity from large rooms, making it ideal if you want a bit of a powerhouse.

GE dehumidifier square
GE Energy Star Portable Dehumidifier
Portable convenience

An excellent portable option that you can move around as you see fit.

Pros
  • Move it around
  • Nice design
  • Good performance
Cons
  • Small capacity

If you want a dehumidifier that doesn't look a bit like a generic white appliance you don't have too many options, but this superb model from GE is a rare outlier.

It's got some really good specs and is a portable option, meaning you're not tethered to one spot and can move it around, which is great for those who want some flexibility, although this does impact on its power.

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Gocheer Dehumidifier

Small but mighty

This diminutive unit is a superb solution for keeping small spaces free from humidity.

Dehumidifying a small space like a bathroom or kitchen can be essential to maintaining a hygienic space, and Gocheer's 2L capacity device is another smaller unit that's ideal for tackling this issue.

We wouldn't necessarily recommend it for medium or large rooms, but this is a quiet-running machine - operating at a max of 40dB - that can cleverly run until automatically shutting off when the tank is full. That ensures you can not only have it extracting moisture out of the air during the day, but at night, too.

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hOmeLabs Dehumidifier

Solid all-rounder

With the option for continuous draining and an inconspicuous design, this is a very solid choice.

Another large dehumidifier here, and one that's able to remove around 12L of moisture from the air.

Like other offerings on this list, it's an ideal choice for those who need to contend with high humidity in medium or larger spaces.

The design, as is typical of units this size, can also be wheeled around different rooms of your house, while the automatic shut-off means you can continuously run the device until the tank is full.

Plus, if you don't want to empty it out every day, you also have the option of hooking it up to an external hose for continuous draining.

How to choose a dehumidifier

Dehumidifiers may be an essential item to own if you live in an environment with too much moisture, but that doesn't mean you know what to look for in one. That's why we've included a few things to consider before you choose.

What does a dehumidifier do?

In very basic terms, dehumidifiers pull in the air close by, remove the moisture into a tank and pump the air back into the room.

As we detailed in our introduction, though, dehumidifiers are either refrigerant or desiccant.

Refrigerant vs. desiccant dehumidifiers - which are best?

To recap, refrigerant dehumidifiers work by extracting currents out of the air into refrigerated internal coils, which then results in these particles contracting and leaving behind condensation.

The resulting drier air is then fed back out of the unit. Desiccant dehumidifiers, on the other hand, pull in air, pass it over to an absorbent material. A heater then raises the temperature of this material, which then causes water to collect in the tank.

Will a dehumidifier solve your problem?

Before you invest in a dehumidifier, it's important to know whether they'll actually solve your issue.

So, if your home is humid and it's preventing your clothes from drying quickly when they're hung up, conditioning the air with a unit (with the door and windows closed) is an ideal solution.

Similarly, if you're noticing condensation on the glass windows or mold spores appearing on silicon, a dehumidifier should be able to prevent this from getting worse.

What a dehumidifier won't really do is eliminate this problem entirely - or, of course, reverse the effects of too much moisture in your environment.

What size tank is best for a dehumidifier?

This really depends on two things: how often you can be bothered to empty the tank down the drain, and how much of a humidity problem you have.

If you'll need to keep your unit running throughout the day, we'd suggest opting for a larger tank - something in the region of 20L.

If you're just going to turn it on periodically to make sure your clothes get dry, though - or, perhaps, after you've run the shower - you can probably get away with something closer to 10L.

If you live in a home with more than 50% - 60% humidity, you'll have to empty it fairly often, regardless. Keep in mind that, for some dehumidifers, you can also attach a drainpipe and avoid manually emptying the tank.