10 Best Mini Dehumidifiers 2024 in the United States

In winter or in summer, excess humidity can prove to be a problem. The relative humidity is the ratio of the amount of water vapor in the air, as opposed to when the air is saturated. The relative humidity level in your home should be anywhere from 40%-60% to be comfortable. If you suffer from humidity in a small apartment, or if you only need to dehumidify a small area in your house, like your garage or closet, an inexpensive mini dehumidifier might be the thing you need.

Mini dehumidifiers are designed to treat small spaces as small as 250 square meters. They’re useful in the kitchen to absorb excess humidity, which can cause foods to become stale. They can also prevent the buildup of mold and mildew in your basement or garage (which don’t usually get the benefit of air conditioning like the rest of the house does). This can save you money and the effort of removing mildew from your walls as well.

We’ll go through some features of the best mini-dehumidifiers. We’ll see that they’re simple to use, inexpensive, and even can add to your home’s decor!

There are two main types of home dehumidifiers:

• Refrigeration dehumidifiers: These work by drawing the room’s air into the device, over a coil that has been cooled below the dew point. The water vapor in the air condenses onto the coil. What happens to the water after it condenses can differ between models:

  • With a collection bin and no pump: If you choose a dehumidifier with just a collection bin, the condensed water vapor collects in the bin. You have to worry about emptying the collection bin somehow. Some models have an auto-shutoff feature when the collection bin is full. You empty out the bin, and the device will restart. An example is the Pro Breeze Electric Dehumidifier. It has a small tank that can hold 16 ounces of water at a time and is adequate for an area of up to 215 square feet.

Pro Breeze Electric Dehumidifier

• • With a pump: There are also refrigeration dehumidifiers that collect the water in a reservoir, and then use a pump to remove the collected water. The water is directed through a hose and down a drain. An example of such a dehumidifier is the hOmeLabs Dehumidifier. It is capable of dehumidifying an area as large as 3,500 square feet and can remove 40 pints of water per day. It also has an auto-shutoff function, to stop working when the reservoir is full. You then press the “pump” button to pump the water out through a 16’ hose.

hOmeLabs Dehumidifier

• Desiccant dehumidifiers: This type of dehumidifier works by passing air through a desiccant, a substance that absorbs water. Common examples of desiccants are silica gel (those little packets that you find when you buy shoes, or other goods that must be kept in dry conditions), or activated carbon. When the desiccant has absorbed as much water as possible, it’s heated to remove the water. Once the desiccant is dry, it’s ready for another dehumidifying cycle. One such dehumidifier that uses silica gel beads is the Afloia Gun Safe Mini Dehumidifier. The silica beads are located in a cylinder, that you can place anywhere that needs to be dehumidified: a closet, a bathroom, a safe, or a kitchen cabinet. It passively removes the water vapor from an area as large as 54 square feet. You only need electricity to get the moisture out of the beads by heating them.

Afloia Gun Safe Mini Dehumidifier

Here are some pointers that customers mentioned with the mini dehumidifier that they bought:

• Inexpensive alternative: A mini dehumidifier is ideal for people who don’t have central air conditioning, and just have to treat a small area. It can eliminate mildewy odors as well, keeping the air in your house fresh-smelling. Also, many of these mini-dehumidifiers run on as little as 23 Watts–as opposed to 2 kilowatts of a typical air conditioner!

• Not so much maintenance: A customer who bought an Afloia mini-dehumidifier for a 200-square-foot area said that he only needed to empty out the collection tank once every 5 days. Also, it solved the problem of excess humidity in their bathroom, which otherwise doesn’t have very good ventilation.

Here are some features of the best mini-dehumidifiers, which may help you decide on one model over another:

• Area that it’s meant to treat: If you try to use a mini-dehumidifier on a large area, you’ll find that it won’t be able to quite hack it. The hOmeLabs dehumidifiers are rated for being able to treat 1,500, 3,000, or even 4,500 square feet. Mini-dehumidifiers are meant for much smaller areas, like a kitchen cabinet or dorm room. The Vavsea Small Electric Dehumidifier will treat a 215-square foot area, which is the size of a dorm room. (A 2-bedroom apartment will be 900 square feet or more.)

• Size of the reservoir: A larger water collection bin means that the device can run longer without you having to empty it out. The Afloia Electric Small Dehumidifier can hold as much as 17 ounces (= 500 ml) of water, which is typically how much water accumulates in about two days. The Upenjok Small Dehumidifier has an even bigger capacity, able to hold 40 ounces (= 1200 ml) in its water collection tank!

Upenjok Small Dehumidifier

• Knowing when the device is full: Whether you buy a refrigerator dehumidifier or desiccant dehumidifier, you’ll need some sort of indication that the dehumidifier is full, or saturated. Manufacturers of mini dehumidifiers employ some interesting and aesthetically-pleasing ways to indicate when it’s time to attend to your dehumidifier:

  • Desiccant dehumidifiers: In the Afloia Gun Safe Mini Dehumidifier, the silica beads are orange-colored when dry, and turn black as they absorb moisture. When you place the cylinder on the base, it reheats the silica beads and evaporates the water that they contain, until they become orange-colored again.

  • Refrigeration dehumidifiers: Some dehumidifiers use colored lights to indicate how full the device is. The Trudin Dehumidifier allows you to select from 7 colors for the device’s strobe light when it’s working properly. When the reservoir becomes full, it will start blinking red, indicating to you to empty it out. It also has an auto-stop function when the reservoir is full, or when you remove the water collection bin.

Trudin Dehumidifier

Final Verdict

We’ve had a look at some of the features of the best mini dehumidifiers, in terms of their portability and effectiveness. Besides helping you feel more comfortable in humid spaces in your house, they can also prevent mildew damage to your home or belongings. They’re a small investment, but can save you lots of effort later!