DehumidifierTips.com exists because most of what is written about dehumidifiers online is wrong in the same three ways: it quotes capacity ratings that were withdrawn in 2019, it recommends products before it has established what problem you actually have, and it treats “buy a dehumidifier” as the answer to every damp question.
This site starts from the numbers instead. If a guide tells you what size unit to buy, it shows you the arithmetic. If it tells you a coil ices up below 65°F, that threshold comes from a specification, not from a paraphrase of another blog. And if the honest answer is that a dehumidifier will not fix your problem — which, for water entering through a wall, it will not — the guide says so.
What you will find here
Forty-five guides, organised into nine clusters:
- Sizing and buying — what capacity you actually need, in the pint ratings currently in force, and what separates the machine types.
- Humidity and mold — what relative humidity and dew point mean, what to aim for room by room, and where damp starts.
- Basements and crawl spaces — the two spaces where the standard advice most often goes wrong.
- Troubleshooting and maintenance — symptom-first diagnosis, ordered by likelihood rather than by drama.
- Commercial and industrial — LGR and desiccant units, and the four situations that genuinely need one.
Two calculators do the arithmetic for you: the size calculator and the running-cost calculator inside the electricity cost guide.
The 2019 pint rating problem
It is worth explaining the single issue that shaped this site more than any other, because it still catches people out every day.
Until 2019, the US Department of Energy tested dehumidifier capacity at 80°F. From 2019 the test moved to 65°F, which is closer to real basement conditions — and because a colder coil condenses less water, every rating dropped by roughly 30%. A machine that had been sold as a 70-pint unit became a 50-pint unit overnight. The hardware did not change. Only the label did.
Six years on, a large share of the sizing charts, “best of” lists and forum answers still circulating online were written against the old numbers, or copied from something that was. Follow them and you will buy a unit around 30% too small for your space. Every capacity figure on this site is stated in current DOE pints, and where the distinction matters we say which standard a number comes from. The full explanation, with a conversion table, is in pint ratings explained.
What we do not do
- We do not run “best dehumidifier” rankings. Models change constantly, and a ranking written once and left to age is worse than no ranking at all. We would rather teach you to read a spec sheet.
- We do not accept payment for coverage. No sponsored posts, no paid placements, no manufacturer previews in exchange for a favourable write-up.
- We do not pretend to have tested things we have not tested. Where a figure comes from a manufacturer specification or a published standard, we say so.
- We do not give medical advice. Humidity affects health, and we cover what the evidence shows, but a page about mold is not a substitute for a doctor or a qualified remediation contractor.
How the guides are made
Every guide is built from primary sources: DOE and AHAM test standards, manufacturer specification sheets and service manuals, EPA and CDC guidance on indoor moisture and mold, and building-science literature on vapour transport and condensation. Charts and diagrams are drawn from those sources rather than reproduced from retailer listings.
The full method, including how we handle figures we cannot verify and how corrections are made, is set out in how we research.
How the site is funded
Some pages contain affiliate links. If you buy through one, we may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. That funding pays for hosting, data subscriptions and the time to keep the guides current — and it does not change what a guide recommends. Where the honest recommendation is to buy nothing, that is what the guide says. See the affiliate disclosure for the full terms.
Corrections
If you find a figure on this site that you believe is wrong, we want to hear about it — particularly if you have a specification or standard that contradicts it. Corrections are made promptly and the page notes what changed. Get in touch through the contact page.