can i turn my dehumidifier off ?

[thistimeofyear]

So in the course of installing my new bathroom there was a large outpouring of water (plumbing fail) from upstairs to downstairs living room, causing quite a bit of damage, pouring down wall, carpet soaked. Dehumidifier brought in last Thursday and has been running pretty constantly since then. Carpet and underlay pretty much dry now but moisture still collecting in bucket - does this mean that room still needs dehumidifier or does it mean that there is always moisture in the atmosphere? Just wondering when to turn it off? Any advice anyone.

There's always moisture in the air, but really you need to be sure that it's dry in all the gaps and crevices between the bits of wood under the floor. A bit like dumping your laundry in a box and waiting it to dry, the outside would be dry quickly but the bits that area covered up would take a lot longer

It depends how quickly the dehumidifier is taking moisture from the air. I would reckon keep it on a few hours for 2 weeks. Making note of how much water is collected every few hours to see if the rate is going down.
Then put it on for an hour each day for a week after to check on how much moisture it still collects.
You will know theres not much point putting the dehumidifier on if no water is being collected. Then you can decide to put it on weekly just to be sure and check again for how much water is collected.

Without a hygrometer and readings from the plaster /wood work I don't see how you could tell if the moisture levels have returned to normal. A smallish domestic dehumidifier will not make much of a dent in the damp in a situation where doors or windows are being opened and would easily fill up daily without the added moisture from a flood.

Thanks for taking the time to reply everyone I’m not using the room at the moment and keeping the door shut but I’ll leave it on another day and see what happens

on a cold morning, go and look at the windows in the room. Are they misty? If so, there is still excess humidity.

Keep windows and doors shut while usng a dehumidifier, or it will try to dehymidify the world.

Floors take a long time to dry because there is no air circulation. Walls take months.

How did you dry the carpet?

Has the dehumidifier been put there by your insurance company. When my house flooded they put the dehumidifier in and came to check about once a week until they decided it was ok to take them out.