What Is The Best Dehumidifier To Stop Mould?

If you live in Cairns in Queensland, Coffs Harbour in New South Wales or Gold Coast in Queensland, you will definitely need to get the best dehumidifier for mould Australia.

In the past, we have said that 70 percent humidity is too high outside, yet that’s what you get in the morning and afternoon in the cities that we have mentioned above.

In the UK, Bournemouth, London and Birmingham are just a few of the cities that have incredibly high humidity. Thus, you will need the best dehumidifier for mould UK if you live there.

Why do you need a dehumidifier for mould?

When your indoor humidity level rises above 60 percent, mould colonies will start developing in your house. Therefore, you need to run a dehumidifier to lower the air moisture content level.

When you have high indoor humidity, mold is the only problem you have to worry about. High humidity level is going to cause damage to your electronics, clothing, walls, furniture, tools and others.

In another article, we looked at the best humidifiers for sinus problems. While increasing the humidity level should help with congestion, sinus and related problems, it should not rise above 55 percent.

When you want to prevent the development of mould in your house, you need a dehumidifier that can extract moisture from the air fast.

In this case, mini and portable dehumidifiers will not help. You need a unit with a large capacity such as the Frigidaire 70-Pint unit.

Best dehumidifier for damp and mold

Without a preamble, we can tell you that if you live in any of the places we mentioned in the beginning of this post, you will need the best dehumidifier for damp and mould.

And there are so many of them in the market! So, as a first timer, you may not know what to get. Tell you what… even if you have a whole house dehumidifier, you might still need a portable unit.

Here are a few dehumidifiers that you can use to halt the spread of mould, mildew and spores in your home.

How to choose the best dehumidifier for mold

When you have a problem of mould at home, it means you have really high humidity in your house. It exceeds 60 percent. Therefore, you need to buy a unit that’s big, can run for hours without overheating and has some advanced features.

Here are some important considerations when looking for the best unit:

Size rating for dehumidifier

By the year 2020, the average house size in the USA was 2260 square feet. Most of the largest family houses in the UK (well, apart from Buckingham Palace hahaaa) fall within the average size of 1173 square feet. In Australia, the average house size is 2005 square feet, according to Architecture and Design website.

With such guidelines, it should be easier to find the best dehumidifier that will be enough for your space.

Today, some dehumidifiers have a space rating of up to 5000 square feet. For instance, the Waykar 2000 Sq. Ft Dehumidifier for Home and Basements that you can buy on Amazon.com is perfect for a UK home.

Accessories such as drain hose and pump

If you are looking for a dehumidifier that can stop mould growth in the basement, you need a big one.

Bigger units come with bigger buckets. However, you do not have to deal with the shenanigans of emptying the bucket all the time.

You can get a dehumidifier with accessories such a pump and/or drain hose. A pump will help the unit pump water vertically, out of the house and into the garden.

A drain hose will drain water out of the unit using gravity. For instance, you can place such a unit on the kitchen counter and then direct the hose to the sink so that it can drain the water out.

It is okay to buy a small portable unit without a hose. However, if you have to run it daily, it is best if it comes with a hose so that it can drain water and continue dehumidifying the air even when you are not at home to empty the bucket.

Smart Controls

This is a very important feature and luckily, many big dehumidifiers have it. Smart control means that the dehumidifier can run very well without your interference.

All you need to do is connect the hose or pump, plug it in and then enter your humidity settings. You can enter the highest level as 50 percent.

Once the dehumidifier lowers the moisture level in the air to the set range, it will stop drawing more water from the air automatically.

If the humidity level dips below the set level, the dehumidifier will turn on automatically and start drawing moisture from the air.

These units also have Power Outage Restarts. The unit kicks to life as soon as power is restored.

The advantage of having this kind of dehumidifier is that it can operate hands-free. This is very nice when you are traveling because the unit can sustain the right humidity level to prevent mould and damage to your leather items, floors, furniture, paintings, tools, and books.

Price

Mini dehumidifiers cost a small amount of money. Likewise, the large ones cost a lot of money! However, when you buy yours on Amazon, you can still find a good deal.

A good large dehumidifier with drain hose will cost from $200 on amazon, perhaps slightly less or more. Just find a good balance between the features and the price so that you don’t have to sacrifice one for the other.

Other important things to consider on top of the price include the warranty. Most will come with a warranty of 12 months, which can be extended for an extra fee to about 24 months or longer.

Convenient features

Large portable dehumidifiers can be, well, too large to handle! In that case, a handle would be great. So would be wheels to make it easy to move it around on the floor.

Humidity indicator that changes color depending on the level of humidity would also be great! Your unit also comes with a detailed user manual to know how to clean the dehumidifier coils, bucket and other parts.

Will a dehumidifier help with black mould?

A dehumidifier will not only help with black, or any other type of mould, but it will also help to prevent the spread of mold spores.

When mold matures, it will produce spores. These spores float in the air or stay on surfaces for a long time. That is how mould spreads to different rooms.

Mould grows when there is moisture, warmth and nutrients. About warmth, moist air holds more warmth. Even to the human skin, damp air feels warmer than it really is.

As you control the humidity level in your indoor spaces, also remember to control the temperature.

You must also know that a dehumidifier does not kill mold. It just removes one or two of the factors that mould relies on to survive. In this case, it removes moisture.

Therefore, if you already have mold in the house, a dehumidifier will not remove it. You will still need to remove the existing mold colonies by using fumigation services. You can also remove it by cleaning the infected spaces with water, soap and vinegar.

To prevent mold from ever growing in your indoor spaces, you should always keep the humidity level at or below 50 percent.

For mold to grow, it requires air moisture content of at least 60 percent. Make sure it does not get there.

Will a dehumidifier help reduce mold?

Running a dehumidifier is going to lower the mold levels in your house by preventing further spread of the same.

However, you should also remove the existing mold. If mold is left on the surfaces or in the air, it can cause sickness symptoms.

It can also aggravate asthmatic attacks, cause lung disease, itching, scratching, running eyes, irritation in the throat and others.

Remember, mold is harmful. Therefore, your main objective is not to reduce it. It is to remove it completely from your indoor spaces.

After removing it, maintain the humidity level at 50 percent or less. That way, you will never create a conducive environment for mould growth.

At what humidity does mold die?

When you lower the humidity in your house to 50 percent or below, mold will not thrive. However, as we have reiterated time and again a dehumidifier cannot kill mold.

It can only prevent its growth. Even in dry air, mold spores will still hang around, and they can float around for a long time.

This is not a good thing!

If the air gets too dry, you will have to run a humidifier to get it back to 50 percent. When you do that, the mold spores will find their way inside the humidifier. Because the humidifier is always moist, the mold will start thriving again.

Zero sum game then? So it would seem. Thus, the best thing to do is to clean up the areas affected by mold and fumigate them.

An air purifier can remove mold from the air. Use it! Once that’s done, always make sure the humidity level stays below 60 percent.

Is a dehumidifier the solution to damp and mould this winter?

Indeed, a dehumidifier can help with all of the the winter, mould and dampness in your rooms.

The tendency is to turn on the humidifier in winter. The reason for this is that most places experience dry winters.

However, if you experience wet winters, you will need to use a dehumidifier at one time or another. The dampness and the cold can make your house very uncomfortable.

If there is dampness in your house and you turn on the heat because of the cold, you will create ample conditions for mold to thrive.

So, whether it is winter or summer, keep an eye on your hygrometer. That way, when the humidity level rises above 50 percent, you might want to turn the dehumidifier to lower it.

Basements can get especially damp and cold in places that experience wet winters. Thus, you need the best dehumidifier to remove the extra air moisture.

In fact, if you don’t dehumidify the basement, the high humidity will spread to the rest of the house, including the bedroom. Likewise, if mold develops in the basement, the mold spores can spread to the rest of the other room.

Final Thoughts on Best Dehumidifier for Mould

Choosing a dehumidifier that can stop mould from spreading is vital whether you live in Seattle, Florida, Australia or the UK.

Mold, also called mould in the UK and other British English speaking regions, is a vicious indoor allergen. It causes damage to your clothes, walls, and it causes serious respiratory illnesses.

Having a dehumidifier can help you control this allergen. In fact, if you keep the humidity level below 60 percent all the time, mold will never develop.