Having a dehumidifier with the wrong setting can be just as useless as having no dehumidifier.
What should you set your dehumidifier on?
Even before you buy a dehumidifier, it makes sense to educate yourself about relative humidity levels.
The basic idea is to keep indoor relative humidity between 30% and 50%. That includes the basement dehumidifier setting.
However, when it comes to the basement dehumidifier setting, we’re sometimes perplexed – should be set the dehumidifier to 30%, 40%, 50%, or even 60% relative humidity? This is especially important when figuring out the correct dehumidifier setting to prevent mold and mold growth.
Under ‘Mold Course Chapter 2’, in the 3rd Lesson – Humidity, EPA clearly states the following:
Sometimes, humidity or dampness (water vapor) in the air can supply enough moisture for mold growth. Indoor relative humidity (RH) should be kept below 60 percent — ideally between 30 percent and 50 percent, if possible. Low humidity may also discourage pests (such as cockroaches) and dust mites.
- Damp environment. Example: Basement with 80% relative humidity.
- Hot environment. The hotter the indoors is, the more likely it is for the mold to flourish.
That means that we have to be aware of the basement temperature and the relative humidity. In the end, you’ll find the commentary for 30%, 40%, 50%, and 60% relative humidity settings.
What Relative Humidity Dehumidifier Setting Is The Best For Mold Prevention?
- Below 65%. According to Portland State University’s article, citing the Canada Mortgage Housing Corporation publication.
- Between 30% and 60%. According to Aspen Environmental Services.
- Below 75%. According to ‘Humidity Requirements for Mold Growth‘ article by S. S. Block, working at the Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Florida, in 1953.
In short, there is no clear answer.
Most HVAC engineers, however, agree that the most appropriate basement dehumidifier setting is 40%.
It might be that 50% would be enough. However, at higher temperatures such as 80°F or 90°F, the likelihood of mold growth is significantly increased. To negate this, it’s always safer to set a dehumidifier setting to 40% to prevent mold growth.
Some HVAC guides also use temperature-dependent dehumidifier settings charts like this:
Dehumidifier Settings Chart
| Outdoor Temperature | Max. Indoor Humidity (At 68°F) |
| -20°F Or Below | 15-25% |
| -20°F To 0°F | 20-35% |
| 0°F to 25°F | 30-40% |
| 25°F To 50°F | 40% Or Below |
| 50°F And Higher (Most Common) | 50% Or Below |
As we can see, the dehumidifier setting also depends on the outdoor temperature.
Obviously, the basement dehumidifier setting of 30% would be the safest but not the most energy-efficient. If the 40% basement relative air humidity can guarantee the absence of mold growth, all the electricity needed to bring relative humidity from 40% to 30% would be wasted (or would be of no consequence as far as mold growth is concerned).
Here is the full list of basement dehumidifier setting options with commentary:
- 60%. Too high; mold might grow. Is 60 humidity too high for a basement? Most definitely.
- 50%. Not safe enough; at high temperatures, there might be a minimal change of mold growth (usually localized to a corner).
- 40%. Just perfect; very safe with no chance of mold growth.
- 30%. Needlessly low, you will waste energy reducing humidity from 40% to 30% without increasing anti-mold safety.
What is “Unneedlessly Low” haha. Sorry, I just felt an unneedless desire to comment, because it made me laugh. But I understood the intended meaning! Thanks for the help!
Haha made us chuckle a bit as well. Fixed now 🙂
Thanks for the info! Here’s a couple of other things that may bring a chuckle or two.
Our old dehumidifier had a bucket that needed to be emptied daily, so either my wife or I would empty it when we noticed it wasn’t running. For over a month, both of us assumed the other had emptied it when in reality, it just wasn’t working – the bucket was bone dry and probably had been for weeks!
When I read on you site the recommendation of “most HVAC engineers,” I again had to laugh at myself. My son-in-law has been in the business for years and owns an HVAC company. I could have just asked him!
My grandson has a dehumidifier set on 90 in a really damp basement…is this set right…
Hello Veronica, 90% relative humidity is way too high. That’s close to 100% humidity. Try setting it to at least 60% or lower.
We recently purchased a dehumidifier for our basement and have been running it non-stop on the highest setting for several days now. However, for whatever reason the humidity never seems to drop below 50%. Is there a reason why this might be happening? Thank you!
Hello Trisha, the dehumidifier you have appears to be undersized a bit. It doesn’t seem to have enough pint capacity to handle all the moisture load in your basement.
What should I set my dehumidifier on in a crawl space winter an summer? Should i use the dehumidifier in winter?
Hello Darryl, anything below 60% should be ok. You can set it to 50% in a crawl space. If the humidity rises above 60%, it makes sense to use dehumidifier in a crawl space in the winter as well.
Many dehumidifiers do not have settings below 50 percent. I live in Southern Ontario. Generally on the humid side due to the Great Lakes. I have a finished basement and set my humidifier at 50 percent. Anything higher than 60 and you begin to smell must.
I live in a condo with centralized heating and air conditioning. Typical room temperature when the heat is on is around 25 Celsius.
I have a condensation problem in the solarium area of my living room. It builds up inside, mostly on window frames and very little on the glass.
Temperature and humidity in that area during this time of the year are 19-20 degrees Celsius and 50%-60%, when it is windy and cold outside.
I am thinking of buying either a dehumidifier or a portable heater. Which one would work better? If humidifier what brand and specs
Regards,
Michael
Hello Michael, that’s a really good question. Condensation will happen is there is relative humidity and temperature difference. A space heater would increase the temperature difference and probably make the condensation work. A dehumidifier will decrease the relative humidity and at least partly limit to current levels of condensation. You need a bit of advice on which dehumidifier to get for a single room, you can check our article about the best room dehumidifiers here.
I’m trying to get damp out of a wall in a basement. but the room has a window. what would be the best setting for the dehumidifier to get the damp out of the wall.
Hello Daisy, well, installing a dehumidifier, setting it to 40%, and having that window closed seems to be a good idea. If the window is open, the moisture will leak into the basement again. Hope this helps.
I live in basement apartment and use a humidifier. Have noticed that my window air conditioner isn’t cooling as well as it did but the heat has been extremely high here in Ga. My dehumidifier filled up and cut off during the night and it was at 65% humidity when I woke up but….the air conditioner is working better w/o the dehumidifier on. Why would that be?
Hello Jerrie, this is quite unusual. In general, air conditioners want to hit that temperature setting; dehumidification is basically a side product of running an AC.
Now, one option why window AC is working better without the dehumidifier is this: When AC needs to dehumidify, it will usually slow down the airflow (CFMs) in order for more air moisture to be condensated on the indoor coils. Because the air is moving slower over these cold coils, you will see that you are getting colder air from you AC (but the you are getting less airflow than you usually would).
It might be that in older window AC units, the heat exchange is reduced, and moving the air slower over the cold coils (this happens when AC has to dehumidify) will remove more heat from indoor air. If it would operate at normal CFMs, the heat exchange would not be sufficient to adequately lower the temperature of air that is expelled back into your basement apartment.
Hope this helps a bit. These basement apartments can be a nightmare when the humidity levels rise too much.
A dehumidifier releases a lot of heat into the room, so possibly the AC has trouble keeping up with the extra heat.
Hello Joe, that is a good point as well, agreed.
I have a Honeywell dehumidifier that l purchased a year and a half ago. When l plugged it in after our winter the fans were working but it wasn’t taking the water out of the air no matter how low l set it. How hard is it to replace the compressor? And is it worth it money wise.
What a great q&a section great help thank you !!
Hi David, thank you, we try our best.
Hi I brought a dehumidifier for bedroom as I have condensation on windows first thing in the morning but the bedroom is warm I am not sure what temperature setting to put it on to prevent the condensation.
Hi Elizabeth, alright, the main thing to do is to set the dehumidifier humidity setting below 50% (between 30% and 50%, if you still see condensation, just lower it). The dehumidifier temperature setting is usually between 70 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit; it not all that important. Most people have it set at about 75 degrees. Hope this helps.
Hi, what a great article with useful information. In our climate homes are damp with regular humidity indoors at 70% to 90% depending if it rains or if there is a few days without rain the indoor humidity may be 58% to 65%. The outdoor temperatures are usually in the 60s F year round with extremes between 50F and 80F. So keeping anything of paper here is a challenge. A lot of moisture problems such as salts coming out of the walls, mildew, smell and stains on paper items. I am trying to run a dehumidifier but as soon as I reduce humidity from 80% to 61% (and it is unable to take it below 60%) the humidity level s begin climbing up again, which is an uphill battle and an expensive one. Screens with settings do not exist, so I run the dehumidifier at almost the max setting with a larger icon. The air conditioner that is set to heat to 20C or to cool to 20C seems to remove very little water from the air and it seems to bring the humidity back up to at least 65%. When the humidity is 60% I feel like it is ok, but not sure if it is good for the books and paper collectables. I tried to find a central a/c for the house with dehumidifier, but they don’t have those available. So I had it installed a one room 12000BTTU a/c unit, a wall split unit. It does not dehumidify even if the seller said it would. They just lie to make a sale. Tried to find central dehumidiers online but those don’t seem to exist. I realized that by 2023 humanity has not come up with a good technology to control indoor humidity levels to 40% and have already made plans to move to Mars…
Hi Timothy, this was a nice rant 🙂 High humidity really is the pain in the A, I sympathize with you. Let’s try to make something out of this: The AC units do work as dehumidifiers; that mini split included. But the amount of dehumidification you would need in such high humidity level areas… that’s not something an AC can actually do.
Before moving to Mars (I hear they have very dry air there), you might think about central dehumidifier. I know, I know, they don’t seem to exist. However, there is a variety of a ducted dehumidification system that you can install if you already have ductwork in place. Here is a good article for these whole-house ducted dehumidifiers.
As you see, those 4 first dehumidifiers are installed within your ductwork, and there are basically dehumidification beasts with 80+ pints/day dehumidification capacity. I would suggest calling in a HVAC specialist and see if these ducted dehumidifiers would be a good solution for you. Would hate for all those papers and books to be left without protection against moisture and mold. Hope this helps.
I have a question. I have an old home and the basement is like a cellar. I use it for some storage so lots of shelves and cramped. I get water depending on how the rain falls, comes through floor and walls. I burn through a lot of dehumidifiers. I have a 50 pint Toshiba. If I set it for comfort it shuts off at 50 to 60% which is too cold and damp. If I take it off comfort and set it to 35 or 40% it blows warm air but runs continuously and ices up. I tried using a hose to drain to hole where sump pump is but made no difference. Wondering if I should be running 2 dehumidifiers in separate areas to remove dampness and stop mold as one cannot access all areas of basement. Maybe they wouldn’t burn out so quickly
Hi Nancy, it seems that the whole basement is too big for 1 dehumidifier. The ideal humidity levels are between 30% and 50%; for basement you can go for 40% to 50% since there is quite a lot more moisture in the basement than in the rest of the house. The solution you proposed is exactly right. Get 2 50 pint (old 70 pint) dehumidifiers, place them separately, and run on comfort (or mid setting). Hope that does the trick.