Any room or space can benefit from the use of a dehumidifier, no matter how big or small. A small dehumidifier will allow your clothes closets to remain free of mold and damp corners of your house will become a thing of the past.
Better yet, the best small space dehumidifiers are lightweight and very portable, allowing you to move them from room to room as required.
We’ve tested the most popular mini dehumidifers available and have ranked them in order of performance. In this guide, you'll find our top recommendation as well as the features you need to be looking out for before making a purchase. Read on to find the best small dehumidifier for your needs.
Best Small Dehumidifier Reviews
Eva-Dry Wireless Mini Dehumidifier
Best overall
Pro Breeze Electric Mini Dehumidifier
Great alternative option
SEAVON Electric Upgraded Dehumidifier
Great alternative option
SEAVON Dehumidifier
Energy efficient option
Letsport Dehumidifier
Best for larger spaces
Best Small Dehumidifiers
Eva-Dry Wireless Mini Dehumidifier
This is one of the smallest and cheapest dehumidifiers you can get. It also doesn't need to be plugged in while it's working; it contains silica gel beads which will absorb moisture for as long as a month before it needs to be recharged. When it needs a boost, the beads turn from orange to green to let you know, and you just need to plug it into a wall outlet for a few hours. Granted, the recharge can take up to 10 hours so it's not instant.
Because it doesn't need to be plugged in while it works, this is a great dehumidifier for places that don't have electrical outlets, like an outbuilding, or which work on batteries, like your RV or car. You can even slip one in your gym bag or hang it up in your closet.
Best of all, at this price you can afford to buy a bunch of these dehumidifiers and use them around the house whenever you have a touch of damp.
Most customers love the Eva-Dry but it does have just one small problem; some units get hot if you leave them plugged in too long, so don't leave them to charge unless you're going to be around. The Eva-Dry comes with 5 year guarantee.
Pro Breeze Electric Mini Dehumidifier
For $45 the Pro Breeze is an excellent small humidifier that can remove up to 9oz of moisture a day, and is suitable for rooms up to 150 sq ft. With a 16 oz tank, you'll be able to run it for a day and a half - maybe more, depending on your humidity levels - without having to drain the tank. Auto shut-off together with an LED alert when you need to drain the tank means you don't have to worry about floods or spills.
It's just 11 " high and 7" by 6" wide, so you can sit it on a bathroom or kitchen shelf or put it on your desk or nightstand. The curvy design and white exterior make it easy to fit with your decor. It's also quiet, with Peltier technology ensuring it runs smoothly at low noise levels.
One reason we really rate the Pro Breeze is its low energy credentials, at 23 watts - if you want a dehumidifier for your RV or boat and don't want the battery to be drained while you're running it, this is a great choice.
There are just a couple of less positive points we need to mention. First, it won't work below 41F, and its optimum temperature range is 59-86F. That's pretty common for smaller dehumidifiers. Secondly, it has a tank with a small rubber stopper which can be annoyingly hard to open.
The Pro Breeze dehumidifier comes with a 12 month warranty and is ideal for grow tents and closets.
SEAVON Electric Upgraded Dehumidifier
The SEAVON looks very similar to the ProBreeze model, in white with a dark translucent tank, and sells a little cheaper. Its capacity is the same, 9 oz daily extraction with a 16 oz tank, and it's recommended for spaces up to 2000 cubic feet or 195 sq ft. Its 40 watt rating makes it a bit less energy-efficient, but it will still use less than a Kilowatt in a full day's operation.
It's a quiet dehumidifier which uses Peltier technology, and has auto shut-off with an LED warning when the tank is full and needs draining. It's light and portable, and while its ability is limited in larger rooms, customers report it really makes a difference in swampy bedrooms and bathrooms.
As with the ProBreeze, the one thing customers don't like is the stopper on the tank. It's tricky to remove - the lid of the tank doesn't come off, as it does in larger dehumidifiers. But apart from that, the SEAVON is really easy to use.
SEAVON Mini Dehumidifier
The SEAVON sells in the same price range as the ProBreeze and smaller SEAVON model, but it looks very different. It's a square based tower, in white with a translucent tank, and we rather like the LED lighting feature. Turn on the LEDs and you can make the tank glow in a number of different colors. Just a gimmick? Not really - you can use it as a night-light, if needed, and if the tank is full a red flashing LED will replace the colored light to let you know that you need to drain the dehumidifier.
This SEAVON dehumidifier is more powerful than its small size (6 x 6 x 9" approximately) suggests, with the ability to extract up to 16 oz water daily, and a 35 oz tank. It can dehumidify spaces up to 260 sq ft, has a 41-122F operating temperature range, and uses 40 watts, which is very good energy efficiency.
It's reasonably quiet, with 36 dBA operation thanks to Peltier technology, and has an auto shutoff function. We particularly like the fact that you can remove and clean the mesh grille that keeps dust out, so it doesn't get blocked and reduce the efficiency of your dehumidifier.
The tank slots in and out easily and we rate it as less fiddly than the ProBreeze and SEAVON designs. It comes with a one year warranty.
Letsport Dehumidifier
Finally, a slightly higher powered dehumidifier which is still portable and small in size - the Letsport is 15" high and has an 11 x 7" footprint. With a 24-34 oz a day capacity and 68 oz tank it can cope with rooms up to 480 sq ft.
The price you pay for extra capacity is that it's not quite as low in energy use as the smaller models. It will consume 1.15 kW in 24 hours - but that's still pretty efficient. And at 45 dB, though it's quiet, it's not the quietest of these options. In line with the other small units, it has a limited temperature range; it's best operated with ambient temperatures between 59F and 86F, and won't work at all below 41F.
It comes with a 1 year warranty and 30 day money back guarantee.
Small Dehumidifier Buying Guide
Keeping the level of humidity in your home under control is important not just for your health, but for your comfort. Mold, microbes, and viruses all love moist air - a dehumidifier will protect you from all of these while letting you feel clean and fresh rather than damp and sticky.
Which Room are You Using Your Dehumidifier In?
You may want to buy a small dehumidifier for each room rather than a big one for your entire home. You might decide you only need a dehumidifier for rooms where you know damp air is a problem (for instance, basements or north facing rooms). You might just want a dehumidifier for a kitchen cupboard, bathroom cabinet, or closet - there's no point buying an expensive unit that can handle up to 3,000 square feet if it's just a small, closed space you want to dehumidify. You might also want a small dehumidifier for a caravan or RV, or for your garage.
Ease of Use
If you want to buy a small dehumidifier, you'll need to think about a number of issues. For instance, you may want one for a closet that doesn't have a power outlet inside it, or for an RV where you don't want to drain the battery when operating the dehumidifier. Fortunately, you have one 'cordless' option here, the Eva-Dry. It's not huge in capacity but it works without needing a power supply. The Pro Breeze's low energy requirements make it a good choice for RVs and other off-grid situations.
We wouldn't recommend a dehumidifier that doesn't have an auto shut-off feature and doesn't display a light (or in the case of Eva-Dry change color) to let you know when it needs draining or recharging.
Other Small Dehumidifier Considerations
There are several limitations with this class of dehumidifier that don't apply to full size models. They are unlikely to matter to most people because of the way these mini dehumidifers are used, but they are important to note.
None of the smaller dehumidifiers offers the ability to connect to a pump or floor drain, so you're going to need to empty the tank (or recharge the Eva-Dry). That makes them unsuitable for using in weekend or holiday cabins or in RVs laid up for the winter.
None except the Eva-Dry will work below 41F, so they're not going to work in an unheated garage or outbuilding.
Additionally, if you're using a mini dehumidifier in your bedroom or office, you're going to want it to be quiet. The ones we've recommended use Peltier technology, which cuts down on the need to use noisy moving parts by using thermoelectric cooling rather than a compressor.
Final Verdict
There's a lot of choice in small dehumidifiers, and most come at a reasonable price of between $40 and $50. Given their small size and relatively low cost, they're quite efficient, achieving good moisture extraction with relatively low energy usage.
You might even consider buying two or three smaller dehumidifiers for your home, rather than one larger unit. That can work well as the smaller units are easily portable, and easier to fit in if you don't have a lot of space.
We've declared the Eva-Dry dehumidifier as the best small dehumidifer due to its size and price. If you're looking for a conventional model with more power, we suggest our second choice which is the Pro Breeze mini dehumidifer.
Resources:
Danley's Garage World