Does A Dehumidifier Cool A Room? Experts Weigh In

Is your home feeling muggy? Relief is on the way.

When temperatures start to climb outside, so does the humidity in your home. If you have a basement, bathroom, or livable attic that struggles with excess moisture in the summer, you've probably wondered how you can make the room more comfortable with cooler air.

Rooms that struggle with higher levels of humidity need a little extra help to keep the temperatures regulated every now and then. Enter: dehumidifiers. While these handy plug-in appliances can do wonders for the air quality in your home, you might be wondering if it's the answer to your muggy problem. Before you add the one you've been eyeing to your Amazon cart, we spoke with two HVAC pros to see if whether or not dehumidifiers help in cooling your home.

Meet the Experts

• Brad Roberson is the President of Aire Serv.

• Marco Radocaj is the owners of Balance HVAC in Vero Beach, Florida.

Will A Dehumidifier Cool A Room?

In short, dehumidifiers don't actually cool down rooms; they remove excess moisture from the air that is increasing the humidity levels, which can make the room feel slightly cooler. However, just because dehumidifiers aren't actually cooling the air in your home (that's what an air conditioner is for), it doesn't mean you shouldn't consider placing one in certain rooms.

Having a dehumidifier in high-humidity rooms like the basement or bathroom helps your air conditioner perform better since it's not having to work so hard to combat the extra moisture that's keeping your HVAC unit from reaching it's set temperature. Humidity makes the room feel hotter than it truly is and causes your HVAC system to run on overtime or for longer periods, which can lead to frequent repairs or a broken system. "Homeowners may find it useful to use a dehumidifier in humid climates and during the summer months to help maintain optimal indoor air quality," says Roberson.

So when the humidity in your house makes the room feel muggy and hard to breathe, placing a dehumidifier in the room to work alongside your air conditioner unit can be greatly beneficial.

Related: 10 Ways To Lower Your Cooling Bill This Summer, According To Experts

What Does A Dehumidifier Do?

Not to be confused with humidifiers (that adds moisture back to dry rooms), dehumidifiers are the exact opposite and work to pull moisture from the room by turning it into a liquid. "A central air conditioning system extracts heat from inside your home and releases it outside. A dehumidifier operates similarly, but instead of expelling the heat outside, it uses it to further dehumidify the air," says Radocaj. "The air first passes through a filter and then over a cooling coil, which removes the moisture. Afterward, the air flows over a heating coil, which then raises the temperature and significantly lowers the relative humidity."

The good news is that dehumidifiers are easy to operate and stand alone. All you need to do is purchase a dehumidifier that's the right size for the space you're working with, plug it in, and turn it on to the appropriate setting.

"When looking at the features of dehumidifiers, the size, and capacity of the dehumidifier are important," Roberson says. "An undersized unit will not properly remove the humidity from a home. Another aspect of a good dehumidifier is to see how user-friendly the unit is to operate. The dehumidifier should be easy to use with user-friendly controls, auto restart ability, and timer controls."

Related: How To Lower The Humidity In Your House

Best Solutions For Creating Cool Rooms

Your best bet at achieving the cool, comfortable atmosphere in your home is by investing in a functioning HVAC system. There are several options you can choose from that best fit your budget and needs from central HVAC units (this is the most common option that consists of an outdoor unit that disperses cool air throughout the home, a ductless mini split, or a portable unit.

If you're trying to keep a singular room of the house cooler, like a basement or room that isn't connected to central AC, portable units might be the best option for you. These units are able to travel from room to room without hooking up to anything other than a nearby outlet (just remember to let it ventilate from a nearby window or door), and they're much cheaper than central or ductless units. Just remember to place a dehumidifier in the room as well if you're dealing with high humidity levels that are keeping the room stuffy.

Related: HVAC Maintenance Tips Every Homeowner Should Know, According To Professionals

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