Best Dehumidifier Reviews – The search for finding and choosing the right size dehumidifier begins in the room you want to place it in. Before you even start looking at units to purchase, you need to find out how big the room is and how humid the air inside it is. This can be done simply with a tape measure and a device called a hygrometer, which measures the relative humidity and can easily be found and purchased online (analog ones are okay, but digital ones are much more accurate).
Once you have your tape measure, find out the length and width of the room. If the room is not a regular shape–if there are more than four walls or if some are curved–then you can estimate as if it were a single regular four-sided room or several four-sided rooms put together. Once you have the length and width, simply multiply those numbers together. The number you come up with is the square footage of that room. If you have multiple rooms, then simply add the numbers together. This value will be useful when you look at the websites of dehumidifier manufacturers because different models are rated for differently sized rooms. Compare your square footage with those of the units available; the right size dehumidifier will be able to handle a moderately larger area than the room you want to place it in. This is important because a unit which is too small will just suck power and not get the job done, and since humidity in a room can vary with the days and seasons, you want one that has some oomph to spare.
The trickier thing in finding the right size dehumidifier is to figure out how much moisture you want to remove from the air. Once you have a hygrometer, place it out in the open in the room you want to dehumidify. Leave it overnight and check it the next day, recording the humidity percentage. Then leave it and check back for a few days to see if the level changes. Most experts agree that the ideal humidity inside a home is between 35% and 50%. Just to give you an idea of comparison, humid environments such as the tropics often have humidity levels in excess of 70-80%, while arid places such as deserts rarely get above 40% humidity. So the higher the humidity in your room is, the larger of a collection container you will want to have (all of the moisture the dehumidifier pulls out of the air has to go somewhere).
Using all of this information, then proceed to browse the websites of the various dehumidifier manufacturers. Most, if not all, should have a chart telling you which size dehumidifier is right for the area and humidity of the room in question. Once you figure that out, then makes sure to only look at units which are able to handle the square footage you need to dehumidify and then big the one which you like the best.
