Dehumidifiers to avoid buying

The only thing these dehumidifiers will dry up is the money in your wallet.

Fact-checked

Last updated: 19 Nov 2024

illustration of three dehumidifiers with crosses

When you need a dehumidifier, you *really* need one. Whether you’re dealing with a water leak, mould, rainy days or humidity, a good dehumidifier can take care of your damp dramas.

But a dud dehumidifier will only extract one thing: the dollars in your bank account.

Not only can dehumidifiers be expensive to buy, they can be pricey to run, so choosing a poor-performing model will see you losing money twice over.

One dehumidifier in our latest test scored just 3% for water removal: yep, it failed its one and only job.

One of dehumidifier scored just 3% for water removal: yep, it failed its one and only job

With a score that bad, you might as well not bother using it at all – a fan or a cheap product like DampRid may do just as good a job.

Priced between $90 and $399, the three worst performing products in our test fall at the cheapest end of the price range for dehumidifiers, and unfortunately we’ve found that cheaper models don’t always perform as well.

However, if you can stretch your budget a bit, you’ll have more luck: eight products recommended by our experts cost $500 or less.

With its tiny 1.5L tank and low scores, the Clean Air Max doesn’t live up to its name.

Pursonic 1.5 Litre Clean Air Max

CHOICE Expert Rating: 41%
Water removal score: 3%
Price: $99

No, that’s not a typo: this dehumidifier scored just 3% for water removal.

This is the cheapest dehumidifier we’ve tested, so it’s not hugely surprising that it was one of the worst performing – but even a cheap product should somewhat do the job, right?

Save your money: this isn’t a good deal even at this price.

Save your money: this isn’t a good deal even at this price

It has a tiny 1.5L tank and in our test it collected even less – just 1.14L – before it decided it was full. And its claimed water removal rate is just 500mL per day.

It’s hard to know why Pursonic opted to name it the ‘Max’, as it’s anything but.

Read the full Pursonic 1.5 Litre Clean Air Max review.

A Kogan dud: this model isn’t worth your money.

Kogan KAWFSMDEHUA

CHOICE Expert Rating: 48%
Water removal score: 40%
Price: $259

A water removal score of 40% is a definite improvement on the Pursonic’s paltry 3%.

But to put things into perspective, most dehumidifiers our experts recommend score anywhere from the high 70s all the way to 100% for this metric.

Overall, it’s not quite as terrible as the Pursonic – and it does have a larger tank (2.25L) and claimed water removal rate (7L/day) – but it’s still far from a stellar performer.

It’s not quite as terrible as the Pursonic but it’s still far from a stellar performer

If you can scrape together an extra $200 for a dehumidifier, you’ll be able to buy one our experts recommend that will actually do the job for you.

Read the full Kogan KAWFSMDEHUA review.

This Breville model may have very good energy efficiency but its water removal score is poor.

Breville LAD208WHT

CHOICE Expert Rating: 54%
Water removal score: 28%
Price: $399

This dehumidifier received a lower water removal score than the Kogan model – just 28% – which hurts all the more when you realise it’s $140 more expensive.

It gets a higher CHOICE Expert Rating because it is far more energy efficient than our other worst performers, which means you’ll save a bit of money on its running costs.

(Though that’s arguably not a plus if it’s not doing the job you bought it to do).

Don’t write the brand off completely though – other Breville models fared better in our testing

But if you have $400 to spend, our review has uncovered other models that will give you much better overall performance for your money – in fact, we recommend a few models that cost between $350–$450.

Don’t write the brand off completely though – other Breville models fared better in our testing, so do your research to ensure you buy the right one.

Read the full Breville LAD208WHT review.

Pru

I came to CHOICE in March 2019 after working as an editor on many of Australia's leading food and lifestyle titles. As CHOICE's audience and engagement editor, my job is to bring the unique stories, surprising facts and the personalities behind CHOICE's data and research to our readers. I spend a lot of my time in our labs and offices speaking to our testers and experts to find those gems of information that resonate with Australian consumers and help them make the best decisions. You can find me on LinkedIn.

Alice

I'm a content creator and marketer here at CHOICE – which basically just means that I write stuff. CHOICE's testing is so comprehensive that we publish vast amounts of data on all the products we test. We know that not everyone likes to wade through numbers to find the best product, so my job is to take the data and translate it into something more easily digestible for readers who are time-poor or just want to know the best products to buy – and which to avoid. I also get to dream up fun ways of taste-testing products, like the Tim Tam challenge and the Democracy Sausage taste test. I write about all kinds of things, from health insurance to heaters and BBQs to bargain-hunting, so each day is different and I'm lucky that I get to learn about all the different things CHOICE does to help consumers. LinkedIn