Can you leave a dehumidifier on 24/7

[BrainstormGreenNeedle]

I live in an old house that is not insulated in the loft. It can get cold easily.

I room has a damp problem. It's not very bad but still, it exists. I usually had my window open a lot but I don't know if that helped or not.

Recently I started using a dehumidifier. I closed the window and the bedroom door and for the past 2-3 days I am running it 24/7.

Already I definitely noticed a difference in the air quality. It seems much cleaner. The room smells better too.

Anyways I live at home with my aging mother who's in her 70s. She was walking by my room this morning and I left the door open by accident in my room. She found the machine running and that resulted in anger from her. Just spitting anger to me about running the machine, it's not good on the electricity and it's not good in case there's a fire, etc.

I think my plan was to run it 24/7 for the first week and then see if I can reduce usage and only use it at night time.

Your living situation sounds a bit stressful
OP, do you like living with your mum?

Don’t have the window open when the dehumidifier is running as it will be trying to dehumidify the whole world!

We are on Economy 7 so often run it when electricity is cheaper overnight, but tbh we also run it during the day and it doesn't use much electricity at all (considerably less than an oven or a tumble drier would). It definitely helps keep dampness at bay in our house, which is prone to damp, and it's a really good idea to run it at least some of the time if you're drying washing indoors - the moisture from the clothes has to go somewhere and that's generally into the air in your house. Opening windows helps too but obviously not at the same time as the dehumidifier. Ours has a low, medium, auto and clothes function - we tend to use auto as it turns itself off once it's not needed or if tank gets full. Clothes function adds heat as well as dehumidifying but only really has a dramatic effect on clothes right beside it - auto actually dries better overall, especially if some heat in the room.

I really struggle with the MN obsession with heated airers. Why pump water into your house with all sorts of risks of mould and damp air, when you can dry the air out, any clothes with it, and make it easier to heat ?

I've got one for drying things that can't be tumble dried. I run it in a room with a dehumidifier on, of course.

blog.meaco.com/how-a-dehumidifier-helps-households-save-energy-all-year-round/

There is evidence that a drier home requires less heat, my recently bought dehumidifier has meant the heating is on less and it's a more pleasant environment overall.

I leave mine on in a closed room 24/7, it probably runs 50% of the time, it consumes around 250 watts so about £0.80 a day.

It's hard to quantify, but the house feels warmer when it's dryer, so I probably save a similar amount on the heating.

I also have one in our main bedroom, on a timer so it doesn't run at night, which collects the most water due to the 2 x humans

I mean this kindly, but you really only then need the dehumidifier 😀

I’ve tried both just a dehumidifier and then a heated airer (with cover) plus dehumidifier and the second option worked much much better.

The room feels warm and dry without the heating on and the laundry dries much faster. Previously on damp days it took days and then felt not particularly nice and a bit smelly.

Side note: I also dry clothes quicker with a heated airer AND a dehumidifer - works great. Best in a smaller/closed room.

Some dehumidifiers are low cost electricity wise - I'm sure my meaco one is. We don't run it non-stop but most days. It does have the feature where it can turn off at a certain point, so can be worth looking into that.

I mean this kindly, but you really only then need the dehumidifier

Time is a consideration for most people when drying clothes though.
I mean this kindly, maybe you should think about vapour pressure and relative humidity at different temperatures?

If the ground is dry outside I open the windows. If not I run the dehumidifier. If that helps your window opening conundrum.

I don't think it helps your spitting with anger snooping mother situation though, which sounds like a bigger issue.

Admittedly there are possible environmental variables.

Having a humidity and temperature sensor in every room helps planning ...😀