A dehumidifier is the best way to deal with too much humidity in your home. It can be especially helpful during summer when air tends to get muggy and uncomfortable. 

When picking the best dehumidifier for your bedroom, get one with the right capacity, that’s easy to use and one that runs quietly. 

How A Dehumidifier Can Help You Sleep Better

The ideal max humidity is around 50-60%. Beyond this, you risk a number of problems. We have a full post that discusses  the issues caused by excessive humidity. You will experience respiratory problems, it worsens allergies, it causes mold, it increases the amount of airborne pollutants and it’s also bad for your skin. 

Too much humidity is not just uncomfortable, it can make you sick. It also disrupts sleep, thus worsening your health even further. 

A dehumidifier ‘sucks’ moisture out of the air to drop humidity to a healthier 30-50% range. Getting a dehumidifier for your bedroom will help you sleep better by improving your respiratory health, reducing allergy symptoms and preventing skin breakouts.  

When To Use a Dehumidifier

Spring is when humidity starts going up in most places. That’s because as temperatures rise, air can hold more moisture. You can check local weather reports to track relative humidity for each day. Once it begins to approach 50%, get ready to turn on the dehumidifier. 

In some places, humidity doesn't get too high until summer. 

But the best way to know when to use a dehumidifier is to buy a digital hygrometer or weather station. It can track indoor humidity, so you can easily tell when it’s too high or too low. 

A digital hygrometer is especially useful when humidity is only high inside your home because of cooking, the bathroom or a plumbing leak. 

Other signs that you should get a dehumidifier include: 

• You notice mold growing in your home. 
• Your home smells dump, earthy or moldy. 
• The air inside your home feels damp and muggy.  

7 Things To Consider When Picking A Dehumidifier For Your Bedroom

1. Coverage Area 

It’s important to properly size a dehumidifier. If it’s too small for the size of your bedroom, it will not reduce humidity fast enough and may even be unable to get it to the right level. If it’s too big, it will be noisy, inefficient and can make your bedroom too dry. 

When you go to shop for a dehumidifier, pick one that roughly matches the size of your bedroom.

The smallest dehumidifiers cover small rooms under 300 square feet. These make for excellent bedside dehumidifiers. For an average sized bedroom, look for a humidifier that can cover areas between 300 and 800 square feet. 

You can also get large humidifiers designed for extra-large spaces like the basement or even your entire home. These can cover areas between 800 and 5000 square feet or larger.

2. Water Removal Capacity 

The next thing to check is how much water the dehumidifier can remove from the air each day (typically measured in pints). The larger your bedroom and the more humid it gets, the more water removal capacity you need. 

For a small to mid-size bedroom under 400 square feet in size, a 20-30 pint dehumidifier can handle even high humidity conditions. 

For larger bedrooms and spaces, start your search at 30 pints and go up from there. A 30-50 pint dehumidifier can handle moderately high humidity of up to 70%. But if your home gets really humid (over 70%) get a 55 or 60 pint dehumidifier.  

3. Tank Size

All that water a dehumidifier collects from the air goes into a tank. You don't want a dehumidifier with too small a tank because that means you’ll need to empty it often especially as humidity rises. 

On the other hand, a dehumidifier with an oversized tank will be big and bulky. Pick the best tank capacity based on the size of the room and how humid it gets.  

A dehumidifier with a higher water removal capacity should also come with a larger tank to ensure you can take advantage of its capability. There’s no point getting a powerful dehumidifier if the tank fills up in no time forcing the dehumidifier to shut off. 

For a small bedroom dehumidifier, a 30-50 oz capacity is usually enough. For larger bedrooms, get a 50 to 70 oz dehumidifier and for extra-large spaces like the basement, you can get dehumidifiers with tanks as large as 95 oz. 

4. Drainage Options

With small bedside dehumidifiers, you typically remove the tank and dump out the water. Obviously, this would be tedious with larger humidifiers that collect more water. So larger units have a drain mechanism to make it easy to empty the tank. 

There are two types of drainage in dehumidifiers: manual and pump drain. 

A manual drain is where you connect a hose to the drain outlet and let the water flow out. You need to drain the water somewhere lower than the dehumidifier outlet such as a floor drain. 

In contrast a dehumidifier with a pump drain can drain the water anywhere, even if it is elevated. A pump drain is handy if you don't have a floor drain or want to drain a basement dehumidifier. On the downside, a pump drain dehumidifier is pricier.     

5. Built-in Humidistat 

Whether you are buying a humidifier or a dehumidifier, getting one with a built-in humidistat makes it a lot easier to use. A humidistat provides automatic humidity control. It will automatically maintain the selected level of humidity, so you never have to worry if the air is too dry or too humid. 

6. Noise Level 

If you are getting a dehumidifier for your bedroom, make sure it runs quietly particularly if you are sensitive to noise. A noisy dehumidifier can make sleep difficult and cause or worsen insomnia, the same problems we are trying to fix. 

Look for a dehumidifier with a sleep mode or adjustable fan speed. Sleep mode runs the unit more quietly and reducing fan speed also lowers noise level. 

It’s also important to choose the right humidifier size for your bedroom. The larger the humidifier, the noisier it will be. 

7. Features & Settings

Finally, check what kinds of features, options and settings the dehumidifier offers. Some of our favorite ones include: 

• Automatic shut off when the tank is full. Important for preventing spills and messes. A full tank indicator is also handy.
• Easy to clean water tank. You don't want mold growing in the dehumidifier. 
• Air filter to ensure the dehumidifier is blowing out clean air. 
• Ambient lighting with multiple color options. 
• Easy portability so you can use the dehumidifier in different rooms.