Drying clothes with a dehumidifier to save money

Drying clothes with a dehumidifier has been described as a ‘viral hack’ for those who want to reduce their home energy bills. In an episode of his podcast last year, money saving guru Martin Lewis branded tumble dryers a “demon appliance” because their high running costs make them one of the least cost-efficient laundry dryers.

Lewis recommended using a dehumidifier for indoor clothes drying as a cost-effective alternative to tumble dryers, and running a quick calculation, it’s not hard to see why. A Duux dehumidifier running for 5 hours, which is enough time to dry a load of washing, is less than a quarter of the cost of the tumble dryer.

How we worked out the cost saving

At the current energy price cap (July 2026) electricity is 26.11p per kWh. A 9kg vented tumble dryer uses 5.34 kWh (according to ideal home) for a full load cycle, meaning it costs £1.39 per load at the current price cap.

The Duux Bora 20L consumes between 20W and 260W. At maximum capacity, over 5 hours the dehumidifier uses 1.30 kWh and costs just 34p at the October 2024 price cap.

The higher-powered Duux Bora 30L consumes between 20W and 315W, meaning they can run for five hours at maximum capacity using 1.58 kWh at a cost of 41p based on the current cost of energy.

Tips for drying clothes with a dehumidifier more effectively

It is significantly more cost-effective to dry clothes with a dehumidifier than by using a tumble dryer. On top of this, there are several ways to make the most of your dehumidifier as a clothes dryer, increasing effectiveness and drying your laundry faster.

Choose a dehumidifier with a dedicated laundry mode

It is possible to use any dehumidifier for home as a clothes dryer, however some such as the Duux Bora 20L and the Bora 30L come with a dedicated laundry mode. This innovative function acts as a dedicated laundry dehumidifier, running for 4 hours, drying your clothes while saving up to 50% on energy costs.

The best room type for drying clothes with a dehumidifier

When drying clothes, it is important to make sure that you are using a room that is perfectly suited for quick, effective drying. The larger the room, the less effective the dehumidifier will be, therefore it makes sense to use one of the smaller rooms in your house to dry your clothes. A room with higher ceilings is also less effective for the same reasons.

As many dehumidifiers use refrigerant gas, it is important to check the minimum room size for safe operation of your dehumidifier. Duux recommend using and storing the Bora in a room with a floor area greater than 4m².

The colder your room, the less effective your dehumidifier will be, ideally you should use a room warmer than 20°C to efficiently dry clothes. That said, from a cost saving perspective it doesn’t make sense to warm up a room just to dry clothes. A dehumidifier will warm a room slightly once it is running, so it should not be a problem to start drying clothes in a room that is slightly below this temperature.

Choose a room that can be completely closed off

The most effective advice to anyone drying clothes with a dehumidifier is to eliminate air transfer from other rooms to concentrate the dry air. It is very important that doors and windows are kept shut, and that you don’t dry in a room with an open stairwell.

Choose a room with good insulation. If you have a draught coming in from under the door, use a draught excluder at the foot of the door. If the room has draught-free, double glazed windows, this  is ideal, but if you do get draughts from your windows, drawing your curtains can help reduce this.

Arrange clothes for maximum drying

Using a dehumidifier for home to dry laundry at maximum efficiency requires some consideration to be put into arrangement. When hanging out your clothes, it makes sense to put heavier, wetter items at the top and on the outside of your clothes drying rack. Place clothes with space between them as this will allow air to circulate, speeding up drying time.

If you are able, it can be quite effective to rotate clothes around the dryer halfway through the drying process as this will allow the clothes on the inside of the rack to get more exposure to the air. Also, thicker items of clothing like heavy jumpers can benefit from being turned inside out halfway through.

Using a heated airer will speed up the drying times of your clothes but it will increase the total cost of drying as the cost of running the airer will also need to be factored in.

Place your dehumidifier for the most effective drying

When using a dehumidifier for drying your clothes, it makes sense to stand the dehumidifier as close to the laundry as possible. For safety purposes, Duux recommend leaving a minimum of 50cm free space around the Bora dehumidifiers, so be sure to factor this in.

For increased drying speed, try pointing a fan such as the Duux Whisper at your laundry. This will circulate the air in the room faster, ensuring that the air surrounding the clothes is less humid and has greater capacity to absorb moisture from the clothes. If you don’t have a fan, point the dehumidifier’s air outlet towards the clothes to achieve a similar effect, remembering to maintain the dehumidifier’s safe zone.

Position your dehumidifier side on to the airing rack so that the air can flow between the clothes. Positioning the air outlet at the front of the rack will be less effective as aiming at a flat wall of clothes will be less effective.

It is also not necessary to run the dehumidifier until your clothes are bone dry, consider switching off the dehumidifier slightly before the end and let the clothes dry naturally in the room while the air is still very dry. This will be more cost effective but it will take a little longer.

Maintaining your dehumidifier

Drying clothes with a dehumidifier works best when your dehumidifier is well maintained and in good condition.

To keep the Bora in the best condition, Duux recommend:

• Cleaning the housing every day with a soft, slightly damp cloth.
• Cleaning the carbon filter frame every two weeks. Remove the carbon filter and rinse the frame with cold or warm water every two weeks, allowing it to air dry before reassembling.
• Running the self-cleaning mode every 3 months.
• Replacing the carbon filter every year.

Choose a dehumidifier that has been independently approved

Independent Best

Duux Bora has  been ranked as the best overall dehumidifier by the Independent

Which Best Buy

Duux Bora is a Which Best Buy, with a score of 83%

Duux Dehumidifiers

Duux Bora 20L

https://duux.co.uk/product/bora-smart-dehumidifier/

Bora 20L is a stylish dehumidifier which can extract up to 20 litres of moisture per day. Bora 20L comes with a large 4 litre water tank. Bora comes with a built-in hygrostat to measure the humidity of the room and a carbon filter that removes odours, gasses and smoke, cleaning and freshening the air as well as eliminating moisture.

Because Bora is a smart dehumidifier, it can be easily operated using the Duux app, which gives you insights into your air quality, allows you to set schedules and provides remote access to and control over your device from anywhere in the world.

Duux Bora 30L

https://duux.co.uk/product/bora-smart-30l-dehumidifier/

Bora 30L is the same smart dehumidifier as the 20L version, however it is more powerful, featuring a 315W maximum output allowing you to extract up to 30 litres of moisture per day.

Drying clothes with a dehumidifier

Drying clothes with a dehumidifier is one of the most energy-efficient methods of clothes drying due to the energy efficiency of the devices.

In addition to this, there are various ways to improve drying times, such as drying in a smaller room, using a dedicated laundry mode and locating the dehumidifier closer to the clothes.

Certain tips, such as running additional spin cycles on your washing machine have been deliberately excluded for a couple of reasons. Firstly, spin cycles causes more wear and tear on washing machines than most functions causing them to degrade faster. Secondly, doing an extra spin cycle doesn’t actually remove a significant amount of extra water and will not offer a significant cost difference over running a dehumidifier.

Additionally, be selective about what you choose to dry, if an item of laundry is heavy when it comes out of the washing machine, it will be holding a lot of water and it will take longer to dry. If you can dry these items outside, or by air drying in another room, the dehumidifier will dry the other clothes more efficiently saving you money.