Does a dehumidifier dry clothes?

The short answer is yes, and the mechanism is worth understanding because it dictates how you have to use one. Get it wrong - most commonly by leaving the door open - and it does almost nothing.

How it works

Evaporation is water moving from a wet surface into the air. It slows down as the surrounding air fills up, and stops entirely when the air is saturated. That is why laundry in a closed room dries quickly for the first hour and then seems to stall.

A dehumidifier keeps the room air from ever getting there. It draws air across a cold coil, water condenses out into a tank, and drier air goes back into the room. The laundry is not touched at any point - the room is what changes.

Why this beats heat in a closed room

A heated rack makes water leave the fabric faster, into a room that is filling up. Once the room saturates, the extra heat has nowhere to send the moisture and its advantage largely disappears.

A dehumidifier prevents saturation in the first place, so evaporation keeps running at full rate for the whole session. In a closed apartment in winter that difference is substantial, and it is why we recommend one before a heated rack - see heated rack vs dehumidifier.

How to set the room up

1. Close the door and the windows. This is counterintuitive if you are used to ventilating, and it is essential. The unit works on a sealed volume of air.
2. Put it in the same room as the rack, near it, with any directional vent aimed at the laundry.
3. Leave a gap around it. It needs to draw air in and blow it out; against a wall it recirculates its own output.
4. Run it for the whole drying period. An hour does very little.
5. Empty the tank or fit a hose. A full tank shuts the unit off and the room re-saturates.
6. Heat the room if it is cold. Compressor units lose capacity below about 60 F.

What it costs per load

What it also fixes

This is the argument that usually settles it. A dehumidifier is the only device in this category that does something valuable when you are not doing laundry: it keeps indoor humidity in the 30 to 50 percent band that health agencies broadly recommend, which controls mold, dust mites and condensation on cold windows.

Given that indoor drying is itself a major source of household moisture, buying the device that removes it rather than the device that adds it faster is the more coherent choice - see indoor humidity and condensation.

What it will not do

• It will not dry a load in an hour. Expect four to ten hours depending on the load and the room.
• It will not work well in the cold. Below about 60 F a compressor unit slows down substantially.
• It will not replace airflow entirely. Most units move relatively little air, so a fan alongside still helps.
• A mini thermoelectric unit will not do this job at all. Those publish a tank size rather than an extraction rate for a reason.

The units

Top pick · Drying a load overnight

VEAGASO Dehumidifier, 28 Pints, 2000 Sq Ft

28 pints a day on a published 158 W draw - the best pints-per-watt figure here, and quiet enough at 38 dB to run in a bedroom.

What the manufacturer publishes

Open

10.6"D x 6.7"W x 15.9"H

Folded

Not applicable

Drying line

Not applicable

Load capacity

28 pints per day

Material

Compressor dehumidifier

Rated wattage

158 W

Costs 2.9¢ an hour to run - 14.5¢ for a 5-hour session, at 18.34¢/kWh (US residential average, June 2026).

Figures from Manufacturer listing on Amazon, retrieved 2026-09-02.

A dehumidifier does not blow air at your laundry; it removes the water your laundry has just put into the room. That is why it dries a closed room full of washing and a fan does not.

158 W is the number to compare against a heated rack. Running it for eight hours costs about 23 cents at the current US average rate - roughly what a 270 W heated rack costs for five.

38 dB is quiet enough to sleep through, which matters because the natural way to use one is overnight in a closed room with the rack.

This is a compressor unit, not a thermoelectric one, which is why it can pull 28 pints where the small desktop units manage a fraction of that.

Good

• 158 W published - the running cost is calculable
• 28 pints per day
• 38 dB quiet mode
• 16.5 lb, portable between rooms

Not so good

• 35.3 cfm airflow is modest, so it works best in a closed room
• Compressor units lose capacity in a cold room
• Tank needs emptying or a hose run

Skip this if your drying room is under about 60 F. Compressor dehumidifiers slow down badly in the cold - that is a physics limit, not a brand problem.

Check price on Amazon

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Pick 2 · A whole damp apartment

Waykar 34 Pint Energy Star Dehumidifier, 2000 Sq Ft

34 pints a day and 62 cfm of airflow on a published 230 W - more capacity and much more air movement than the VEAGASO, for more watts.

What the manufacturer publishes

Open

9"D x 12.2"W x 20.9"H

Folded

Not applicable

Drying line

Not applicable

Load capacity

34 pints per day (at 95 F, 90% RH)

Material

Compressor dehumidifier, Energy Star certified

Rated wattage

230 W

Costs 4.2¢ an hour to run - 21.1¢ for a 5-hour session, at 18.34¢/kWh (US residential average, June 2026).

Figures from Manufacturer listing on Amazon, retrieved 2026-09-02.

62 cfm against the VEAGASO's 35.3. That airflow is not incidental - a dehumidifier that moves more air through itself also moves more air past your laundry, so it does double duty.

230 W for eight hours is about 34 cents at the current US average rate. More than the VEAGASO, and still less than most heated racks over the same period.

The 34 pint rating is quoted at 95 F and 90% relative humidity, which is the industry test condition and not your apartment. Every dehumidifier's headline pint figure is quoted this way; expect less in a real room.

The 90 degree manual airflow swing lets you aim the outlet at the rack, which turns it into a dehumidifier and a directional fan at once.

Good

• 230 W published, Energy Star certified
• 62 cfm - nearly double the VEAGASO's airflow
• Adjustable 90 degree airflow direction
• Continuous drain option

Not so good

• 230 W, so it costs more per hour than the smaller unit
• 28.7 lb
• Headline pint rating is a test-condition figure, not a room figure

Skip this if you only need to dry one rack in one small room. The lower-wattage unit does that job for fewer cents.

Check price on Amazon

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