What's the best way to run a dehumidifier so that it doesn't cost a lot on the electricity bill?

[Catbrations]

I bought a desiccant dehumidifer recently. It was for my bedroom so that it will help with dampness. I had to get a desiccant over a compressor type because the desiccant works better in lower temperatures. I live in an older house that gets cold quickly. So far I noticed a huge difference in my room.

I currently have it set to reach 60% humidity and then it goes into a standby mode and samples the air every so often and runs it again if humidity rises. I figure it might be better to leave it in all the time in my room and to have it work that way.

Over the past week I moved the dehumidifier twice to dry laundry and laundry mode uses more power.

I have it plugged into a smart meter and so far for this month that is only 10 days, it is coming up to 8.50 euro. I did a rough calculation and it comes to approx 26 euro a month.

To me this isn't really a lot to be honest. I am using the tumble dryer less too. So maybe it might balance each other out. I don't know.

However I live with a nother person who can be anxious and hostile about the electricity bill even though a lot of the bill now is made up of a lot of extra charges and vat and stuff like that. The actual usage, isn't a lot but the extras add a lot to the bill. This person isn't really able to read the electricity bill and comprehend it.

I am just wondering if there's any other better way to use the dehumidifier? To reduce the usage and cost on the bill.

Should I only run it for maybe 4 hours overnight night and then run it on high in the morning ING for about an hour. But then doing that and humidity will likely rise again. I find whenever I remove the dehumidifier from my room to dry laundry and put it back into my room afterwards it's take a while to reduce the humidity to 60. Currently in standby mode it doesn't use a lot of power.

Or should I get another dehumidifier perhaps for drying laundry and leave my current dehumidifier in the current set up?

We have one in the cellar and have it set to 85% humidity. We run it 24/7 and I cannot say we have noticed a significant increase in our electricity bill.

Open the windows daily

medium term remove plaster and paint so your walls can dry out and then breathe

My understanding of opening windows is to only open them for a short time and only on dry days otherwise it increases humidity inside. Surely opening windows for longer than 5-10 minutes would increase humidity.

Generally in winter this country the absolute humidity of the air outside is lower than the air inside despite the relative humidity being higher outside. But 5-10 minutes should be long enough to allow an exchange of air. Removing the plaster would be an extreme measure - probably more cost-effective to use a dehumidifier!

Personally, if the house is prone to damp I would leave it running all the time and open the windows for a while in the morning and after having a bath/shower. Can you just offer to pay the increased electricity cost if the person you're living with is upset about it?

A separate dehumidifier with a “tent” set up for the laundry will likely work better.

it is so tricky balancing the bills with someone who gets anxious about every penny, but honestly, 26 euro a month is much cheaper than dealing with damp or mould down the line. keeping it on the auto-standby mode is definitely the most efficient way as it stops the humidity from spiking, which actually takes more energy to pull back down.