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As you probably know a high humidity level causes mould spores to breed. Excess mould can cause feelings of nausea, headaches, fatigue, tingling, numbness and many more.
The cure of course is to bring the humidity level down and keep it down but how do you do that without spending a fortune on an electrical dehumidifier?
Well, below are 5 ways to make a homemade dehumidifier. These dehumidifiers are super easy to make as you only need very basic materials all of which are inexpensive.
Note that if you want to dehumidify a large area then you may have to buy an electric dehumidifier as they are much more efficient than the following DIY dehumidifiers. Simply see our home page for articles and guides to help you select the best electric dehumidifier for yourself.
Do Homemade Dehumidifiers Work?
In our experience people have had great success with the moisture absorbers listed below. However to make sure that your own creations work it is important to purchase an inexpensive damp meter or hygrometer as they are known in the trade.
Damp meters can be picked up for a few pounds and they will eliminate a lot of guess-work as to how effective your homemade dehumidifiers are.
You simply take the humidity reading before you make your DIY moisture absorber and again once the moisture absorber has been functional for some time. If your homemade dehumidifier is effective the humidity level should have dropped satisfactorily.
5 Ways To Make A Homemade Dehumidifier
So for our first homemade dehumidifier lets take a look at a natural dehumidifier.
1. The Rock Salt Dehumidifier
Rock salt is great for pulling moisture out of the air
You need
- A drill or similar hole making device
- 2 buckets
- A bag of rock salt (you can buy on Amazon here)
Method
- Drill several holes in the bottom of one bucket to let the collected water escape
- Place the drilled bucket inside the other whole bucket
- Fill the bucket with holes with rock salt
Viola, you have just made your own humidity absorber!
2. The Calcium Chloride Dehumidifier
Hang calcium chloride in a sock to keep humidity levels down
You may have heard about the rock salt dehumidifier but have you heard about the calcium chloride dehumidifier?
The calcium chloride moisture absorber is even easier to make than the rock salt dehumidifier.
You will need
- String
- A sock or lycra stocking
- A medium / large bowl or container
- Calcium Chloride (you can buy on Amazon here)
Method
- Place the calcium chloride inside the sock or stocking and tie a knot at the open end of the sock
- Tie the string around the knot of the sock and hang the sock somewhere suitable
- Place the bowl underneath the sock or stocking to collect the resultant water.
Make sure that the bowl is large enough as over time the calcium chloride will turn into liquid. Replace the calcium chloride as required.
3. The Silica Gel Moisture Absorber
Silica Gel; Shoe companies swear by this stuff!
So what you are actually making here is a desiccant moisture absorber of sorts. How cool is that?
You will need
- A jar with a lid
- Hammer and a nail (or something else to make holes in the jar lid)
- Silica Gel (buy silica gel on Amazon here – comes with humidity indicator)
Note that silica gel comes in different sized packets including 1 gram, 5 gram and 10 gram sizes. We would suggest that you buy the 10 gram packets as you don’t have to open as many packets to fill your jar.
Method
- Make a bunch of small holes in the jar lid
- Fill the jar with the silica gel
- Screw the lid back on the jar
Aren’t these homemade dehumidifiers easy to make?
4. The ultra efficient coffee whitener dehumidifier
Coffee Whitener is a surprisingly good moisture extractor
You will need
- Large bowl or container
- Coffee Whitener (you can buy on Amazon here)
Method
- Fill bowl or container with coffee whitener
- Leave filled bowl or container in moist area
- Wait till coffee whitener hardens
- Replace coffee whitener
Despite being the best method buying large quantities of coffee whitener can get expensive. It’s obviously cheaper if you have, or know someone who has, access to a cash & carry where large tins of coffee whitener can be purchased at very reasonable prices.
5. Moisture Absorber Crystals
Moisture crystals are always a safe bet for drier air
You need
- Drill
- 2 containers/tubs/buckets of similar size with lips
- Moisture Absorber Crystals (buy excellent moisture crystals on amazon here)
Method
- Make a bunch of holes on the bottom of one of the containers
- Place the holed container on top of the whole container so that water can drain into the whole container
- Place the moisture absorbing crystals into the container with the holes
Making your own homemade dehumidifier couldn’t be easier.
Best Moisture Absorber
While the above homemade dehumidifiers / moisture absorbers are fairly cost friendly and easy to make sometimes you need a moisture absorber for in the car or for places that you don’t visit too often such as caravans and small spaces on boats.
Luckily for you we have written an article that focuses on the best 3 moisture absorbers available for under £15!
The bonus is that you can regenerate these moisture absorbers which could provide a lifespan over several years for each unit. This is a much more cost-effective way of getting rid of moisture but making your own DIY condensation absorber is just so much more fun!
Did you try to make any of the above homemade dehumidifiers? How did it go? Let us know in the comments below.
Salt – I have a problem with damp in the cupboard that houses my water softener. My water softener uses salt to make it work. The cupboard is in the house kitchen next to the sink. If I ventilate it more I am worried that all I will do is add more damp air from the kitchen. Any ideas?
Hi Piper. Maybe a desiccant moisture absorber would work in the cupboard? Is that the only cupboard that you have damp in ?
Just bear in mind that no desiccant will absorb more water than 100% of the volume of the desiccant. My refrigerant-cycle dehumidifier machine produces more than a liter per day (in the summer), so if a desiccant-based bag of “salt” was equally effective, I’d have to put up a new bag every day. Desiccants are great for closed, sealed spaces (like a shoe-box), but not for a living space or closet.
If there’s something dripping out of your desiccant bag or jar, it’s not just water, but water/desiccant solution, which must be disposed of in an environmentally-aware way. It is probably corrosive of metal containers.