My dehumidier recommendation for Singapore's humid weather

In this article, I'll talk about (my) humidity problems in Singapore and provide some recommendations to dehumidifiers (links to Shopee SG) you can buy.

If you have questions, let me know in the comments section.

Whenever I mention any product brand, just note that the brand is not important because most are white label (similar-looking) products sold under many different brands.

If you have 26 minutes, you can watch this very insightful video that talks about humidity and prevention. If you don't have time, you can scroll through this text article which basically talks about the same thing, except in Singapore context.

Humidity in Singapore

Climate in Singapore is hot and humid. In 2022, The Met Service's Changi climate station recorded a total of 210 rain days. There's pretty much rain for half the year in Singapore, and during monsoon seasons there could be several days of continuous day.

Those who live near large water body sources or nature would also experience higher than usual humidity.

Sources of humidity at home

• Weather: Rain
• Laundry: Clothes drying at home will create moisture
• Bathing: There's literally water in the air when showering. Also water droplets by the walls will evaporate into the air
• Sink: That's where we wash stuff, dishes, our hands
• Your walls: Moisture can come through walls not properly sealed with sealant paint, or there's structural damage to wall, hidden pipe leakages or lousy maintenance.
• Us: Humans emit moisture as well through body, e.g. sweat, talking, but not as much as the visible water sources above
• Condensation: During rainy and cold weather, condensation can develop on the interior of your windows, inside your home

What does high humidity do?

Humidity is the concentration of water vapor present in the air.

Water evaporates slower with high humidity. E.g. Clothes take longer to dry. Sweat dries slowly and you'll feel more sticky. Water vapour in the air also promotes mold growth, and mold can grow in a day.

Mold can grow inside wardrobe, on leather, under you sink, on walls, in the toilet, inside your camera lens, on the camera sensor, on watercolour paint, on pages in a book, on book covers, inside packaging boxes that you do not throw out and more. Mold can damage your belongings, your property. I've experienced all those mold problems myself, unfortunately.

Above's a video talking about my mold-infested watercolour paint.

High humidity is generally not ideal, unless you are suffering from dry skin, in which case dry air will make you suffer more.

The ideal humidity level is 40 - 60% so that you feel dry but not too dry. Any number below 50% inhibits mold growth.

Here's a video talking about mold problems at the Gaia building in NTU.

How to reduce humidity

A dehumidifier is needed to reduce humidity.

How effective a dehumidifier is depends on the type of dehumidifier and also the space it's working in.

Before you even buy a dehumidifier, you should buy a hygrometer to measure humidity. Because how else do you know your dehumidifier is actually working effectively.

Hygrometers are cheap. You can find many hygrometers on Shopee SG for les than SGD 5. I'm using the Xiaomi clock & hygrometer which is SGD 20.

Desiccant silica gel packs

I'm sure you've seen these before.

Small desiccant packs with silica gel or beads (search Shopee SG) may be useful only in tiny enclosed spaces. You'll see them commonly in packaging, electronic boxes, leather goods, etc.

They can hold up to 40% of their weight in moisture. Sounds impressive, but the fact is they are small packs so they barely hold water.

If you have to buy them, buy those where the beads will change colour so that you can know whether they can still dehumidify.

I don't find these to be useful.

Just think about it. After they absorb moisture to maximum capacity, they can't dehumidify anymore, and become useless unless you heat them up to remove the moisture to reuse them.

There are desiccant packs designed to be used in wardrobes. With packs like the one above, you can see the calcium chloride beads dissolve into water, and once there are no beads left, you'll have to replace them.

This is the electronic version of the desiccant pack. The one above is sold under the brand Deerma. Here's another one by Hysure.

I have bought several Deerma dehumidifiers (around SGD 25) and they do work. The dry orange beads would turn green or black when wet. These are good for small enclosed areas, e.g. drawers. These are recyclable because you can heat the beads with electricity to remove moisture and use them again.

How effective they are depends on the space they are in.

From my experience, they absorb moisture too fast which is not surprising considering the high humidity level in Singapore. So the downside is you have to recharge them often while after a while becomes a tedious process.

Calcium Chloride

Containers with calcium chloride (a salt) can absorb moisture. There are two compartments inside such containers. The top compartment have the moisture absorbent calcium chloride beads that will dissolve with moisture, and water is collected in the bottom compartment.

These are meant for small enclosed spaces. E.g. drawers, maybe wardrobes.

I've tried these in my bookshelf to prevent mold and the beads dissolves so fast containers have to be replaced so regularly, and it's tedious. I have placed one container in each bookshelf section, 10 in total, and they are always full after 2 weeks. Which means I have to replace 10 containers every two weeks. Imagine the amount of work.

Changing out these containers each time also means you have to spend regularly to replace them. This is not cost effective in the long run, and it's tedious. While it's possible to buy a big back of calcium chloride for refills instead of containers, the fact is you'll still have to buy the refills often.

I guess the most popular brand of such calcium chloride packs is Thirsty Hippo and there are many sellers on Shopee SG. By the way, the "last up to 2 months" advertising is not likely to happen given the high humidity level in Singapore.

Such containers usually have 500ml to 600ml of beads. Each container is around SGD 2 and they are usually sold in huge bundles.

These aren't that expensive to try. If it works for you, great.

Electronic dehumidifiers

Electronic humidifiers are most effective and the requires minimal or even no maintenance.

These run on electricity and can work all day. Don't worry about electricity cost because the cost of repairing your mold-damaged property is higher.

Such electronic dehumidifiers have fans and will make some noise, like an air-con humming along, or louder if it's a huge dehumidifier. If you want to put one in your bedroom, choose one that's quiet.

Many electronic dehumidifiers have removable trays to collect the water. The maintenance required is just pouring the collected water after a few days.

All electronic dehumidifiers will stop working once the water tank is full. It's good to get one where the water tank can be seen, but most units would have some status light to signal a full tank.

Smaller dehumidifiers can be used in cupboards. I have put some in my wardrobes and have cables dangling out from the doors. If you're planning on home renovation, install power outlets in your wardrobe if possible.

To dehumidify a room, get an electronic humidifier that can cover at least 20 square metre. HDB bedrooms are smaller than 20 square metre, and nowadays newer flats have rooms that are even smaller than 15 square metres.

Bigger electronic dehumidifiers have piping that can drain water away and these don't even need any maintenance.

Bigger electronic dehumidifiers can cover several rooms. Shown above is the Xiaomi 50L dehumidifier that I had purchased for SGD 450, and it is a godsend. No kidding.

When choosing a dehumidifier for rooms, flats or apartments, look at the area it can cover. My 3-bedroom condo has a floor area of 1206 square feet, or 112 square metre. I have that huge dehumidifier placed in the kitchen, and my bedroom which is far away can register 50% humidity, down from 80%. That thing works like a charm.

Always just remember that humidifiers work in enclosed environment. Dehumidifiers are great at drying clothes. You can hang your jeans at midnight and they will be dry in the early morning.

Because that humidifier extracts so much water, I have it piped to water exhaust so that I don't have to remove any tray to pour water away. I have the dehumidifier on every night before going to sleep -- I close all my windows so that I don't have to wake to close windows in case in rains. This will also dry all the clothes to crispy dry in the morning.

Many companies sell dehumidifier so which one should you get? Here are some I've looked at. Note the water capacity and area coverage (remember rooms in Singapore are less than 20 square metre, many are less than 15 square metre). Note the prices can vary wildly on Shopee due to promotions and vouchers.

• Sterra Ray - 18 sqm2, 12 litre/day, 2 litre tank - SGD 390
• Sterra Sun - 30 sqm2, 12 litre/day, 3.2 litre tank - SGD 406
• Sterra Titan - 40 sqm2, 25 litre/day, 5 litre tank - SGD 725
• Xiaomi Smart Dehumidifier 22L - 45 sqm2, 22 litre/day, 4.5 litre tank - SGD 326
• Xiaomi Smart Dehumidifier 50L - 100 sqm2, 50 litre/day, 7 litre tank - SGD 490
• Hysure Taurus - 150 sqm2, 35 litre/day, 4.5 litre tank - SGD 398
• EuropAce 4-in-1 Dehumidifier - 120 sqm2, 25 litre/day, 3.8 litre tank - SGD 599
• EuropAce 3-in-1 Dehumidifier - 97 sqm2, 30 litre/day, 4 litre tank - SGD 319
• EuropAce 3-in-1 Dehumidifier - 63 sqm2, 30 litre/day, 4 litre tank - SGD 339
• LG MD16GQSA1 - 28 litre/day - SGD 520
• novita Dehumidifier ND288 - 28 sqm2, 12 litre/day, 2.3 litre tank - SGD 280

My advice is just choose based on the floor area coverage.

• 20 sqm2 - Good for a single room
• 40 sqm2 - Good for kitchen
• 100 sqm2 - 3 bedroom condo, 4 bedroom HDB
• 120 sqm2 - 4 bedroom condo, 5 bedroom HDB

If you have connected rooms, just add accordingly.

Some dehumidifier may have wifi and app features. I don't think those are necessary but if you need them, go ahead.

Air con

If you have air-con, you can enable the dehumidifying mode too.

Air-conditioning units are incredibly effective at reducing humidity. Humidity can drop 10% per cent in 10 minutes.

Conclusion

Get a good dehumidifier because it's actually very useful, and hence it's really worth the money.

You really don't want to have humidity problems develop because prevention is always better than cure.