Dehumidifier vs fan for drying clothes indoors

What slows indoor drying

Water leaves fabric fastest when the air touching it is dry and moving. In a closed room, a layer of moist air sits around each garment, and the room's humidity climbs as the wash dries. Both slow evaporation. Our explainer on how much water a wash load puts into your home shows why this adds up quickly.

A fan breaks up that moist layer. A dehumidifier lowers the humidity of the whole room so the air can take up more water. Warmth helps too, which is why clothes dry faster in a heated room than a cold one.

What a fan does

A fan blowing across an airer can cut drying time noticeably, especially for thick items. It uses little power: most desk and pedestal fans draw tens of watts. The catch is that all the water still goes into the room. In a closed bedroom on a cold night that means more condensation on the windows and cold walls.

A fan works best when the room is ventilated, such as with a window open a little or a door to a larger space. In summer, or on a dry, breezy day with a window open, a fan alone can be enough.

Ceiling-height airflow matters less than airflow through the washing. Aim the fan at the gaps between garments rather than at the front of the airer, and turn thick items such as jeans and towels halfway through. A fan on a low setting all evening is often more useful than a high setting for a short time.

What a dehumidifier does

A dehumidifier pulls water out of the room air and collects it, so the room's humidity falls rather than rises as the clothes dry. Many models have a laundry mode that runs at full power with a wide airflow aimed at the washing. A typical compressor model draws a few hundred watts, a desiccant model more.

Because the water ends up in the tank, a dehumidifier is the better choice in a closed room in winter, in a flat with poor ventilation, or anywhere condensation is already a problem.

Keep the door closed while a dehumidifier dries washing. In an open-plan space it has to dry the air of the whole area, which takes longer and fills the tank with moisture from rooms that were not the problem. A small room such as a spare bedroom or box room gives the best results, and our guide on where to put a dehumidifier covers placement in more detail.

Using both together

Put the airer in a small room with the door closed. Place the dehumidifier about a metre away with its airflow pointed at the clothes, and a small fan blowing across the airer from the other side. Space the garments so air can move between them. Empty the tank or use a drain hose if the load is large.

The fan moves air through the washing while the dehumidifier removes the water it releases. This combination often dries a load faster than either machine alone, while keeping the room's humidity under control.

See dehumidifiers for drying clothes →

Which to choose

If you dry washing indoors through autumn and winter, a dehumidifier is the more useful buy, and a fan you already own is a cheap extra. If you mostly dry in summer with windows open, a fan may be enough. For more ways to speed things up, see how to dry clothes indoors quickly.

Whichever you use, a higher spin speed on the washing machine is the cheapest first step, because every bit of water spun out is water neither machine has to deal with. Our explainer on the cheapest way to dry clothes indoors compares methods by kWh per load.

Frequently asked questions

Does a fan help clothes dry indoors? Yes, moving air speeds evaporation. The water still goes into the room, so ventilate or pair the fan with a dehumidifier.

Is a dehumidifier or fan cheaper to run? A fan draws far less power. A dehumidifier costs more per hour but also removes the moisture, which a fan does not.

Should the dehumidifier face the clothes? Point the airflow towards the airer and keep it about a metre away, so dry air passes through the washing without blocking the unit's air intake.