Areas with high humidity can lead to water stains and mold development inside your home. Mold can trigger allergic reactions in some individuals. If you live in an area with high humidity, then a dehumidifier might be a good investment.
If you have a big home, getting a humidifier for every room can be costly and possibly redundant. The good news is that you can install just one dehumidifier big enough for your whole house. Let us look at how a single dehumidifier can work for multiple rooms.
Can One Dehumidifier Work in Multiple Rooms?
There are often multiple rooms in our houses, and you might wonder whether you need a separate dehumidifier for every room. It all depends on the capacity of the dehumidifier and the total area of the rooms you wish to dehumidify.
Also, having proper airflow between the rooms is necessary. When choosing a single dehumidifier for multiple rooms, select one with high dehumidification capacity; that is, the capacity to remove water from the air.
How well a dehumidifier will work for multiple rooms will depend on whether or not there is enough airflow between the rooms. The higher the dehumidifier capacity, the better it will work for multiple rooms.
How Many Dehumidifiers Should We Use for the Whole House?
In case you want to dehumidify your whole house, instead of choosing several portable dehumidifiers for every area, it may be sufficient to get a suitable dehumidifier for the whole house.
A whole-house dehumidifier connects to the existing HVAC system of your house. Depending upon the size of your home and the humidity level, there are several options of dehumidifiers with a capacity of 10 pints and even higher.
Pros
- Since the dehumidifier is installed in the utility room or basement, it is noise-free.
- You can mount the control panel in your living area and adjust settings easily.
- The dehumidifier remains hidden from view.
- It can dehumidify the whole house at once.
- It is energy efficient.
- It only requires one maintenance per year.
- It offers a long-term solution to humidity.
- There is just one hose pipe to drain the water collected by the dehumidifier, which you can direct to a drain.
Cons
- Professional installation is required.
- The initial setup cost is high.
Related articles: Do I Need A Wardrobe Dehumidifier? and Where To Place A Dehumidifier In Crawl Space And How To Install?
How to Decide if Your Dehumidifier Is Sufficient for Multiple Rooms
Whether or not a dehumidifier can serve multiple rooms will depend on several factors. Let us look at these factors one by one.
What Is the Size or Capacity of Your Dehumidifier Unit?
The size and capacity of the dehumidifier unit specify the amount of water it can remove from the air in a specific amount of time. The standard capacity of a dehumidifier is the amount of water it can extract in 24 hours when the humidity is 60% and the temperature is 65°F.
For example, for a 500 square feet area, a 40-pint dehumidifier would be enough when the relative humidity is at 80-100%.
When considering a dehumidifier for multiple rooms, you can combine the area of the rooms and choose a dehumidifier according to this total area.
Connecting Rooms
In the case of connecting rooms, there is just one wall between two rooms with a connecting door, which means you can get inside the second room after entering the first room. In the case of connecting rooms, a single dehumidifier can work.
The only difference between a single big room and two connecting rooms is the wall that separates them. You can also use a fan to help pull the air out from the second room more easily.
Adjoining Rooms
In the case of adjoining rooms, the rooms are either across the hallway or next to each other with no connecting doors. There is either no or very low airflow between adjoining rooms, so a single dehumidifier would not be enough. If a small space connects just the two adjoining rooms, then a single dehumidifier can work to some extent.
What Is the Equivalent Area of Rooms You Want to Dehumidify?
Consider the area of the multiple rooms that you wish to dehumidify. In case of multiple rooms, sum up the area of all the rooms and then choose a dehumidifier sufficient for dehumidifying the total area.
Choosing a dehumidifier that is too small or underpowered will not work effectively and can result in insufficient dehumidification. If you wish to achieve better results, choosing a higher capacity dehumidifier would be best.
How Many Rooms Do You Want to Dehumidify?
Generally, using a dehumidifier for multiple rooms can work for two rooms at most. The only scenario where it could work for more than two rooms would be when the partition between the rooms is negligible.
How to Assist Your Dehumidifier With More Than One Room
There are a few ways you can assist your dehumidifier so that it can serve more than one room:
- First, maximize the airflow between the rooms by opening up the door that connects them and removing any physical obstruction that may cause hindrance to the airflow between the rooms.
- The second step would be to use an external source like a fan to move air between the two rooms.
Related article: Can You Sleep With a Fan And Humidifier On?
Wrapping Up
When choosing a dehumidifier, the size of your house is an essential factor of consideration. Instead of selecting multiple dehumidifiers, you should opt for a whole-house dehumidifier that connects to your home’s HVAC system.
Thank you for reading the article. We hope you will be able to decide on the best dehumidifier for your space.
Related article: Disadvantages of a Dehumidifier
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