Best RV Dehumidifier For 2019 [Our Reviews and Comparisons]

If you live in your RV full-time or camped in the winter, at some point you’ve probably dealt with damp air in your motorhome or RV. The moisture is condensation from the cooler air outside meeting the warmer air inside. Even just your body temperature and breathing can cause condensation, but it happens most with showers and cooking.

Why You Need a Dehumidifier in Your RV

Damp air happens in regular houses during the winter as well, but it’s not as noticeable as RVs. Houses have more ways to get rid of the moisture via exhaust fans in the bathroom and kitchen as well as the central HVAC.

RVs have more moisture than a regular house due to the thinner, less insulated walls and windows. We also use propane appliances and water vapor is a byproduct of propane. 

All these factors combine to produce excess moisture that has no way to escape. You could crack open windows or open vents, but this isn’t ideal in the winter time.

This excess moisture can cause issues both with the RV, as well as your health, by creating the perfect environments for dust mites, mold and other allergenic organisms. Mold and mildew will grow rapidly in a moist environment causing very serious health problems. I also wrote about ways to improve your air quality in your RV.

Which Dehumidifier Should You Get for Your RV

You can get rid of the moisture by using a dehumidifier. There are three types of humidifiers to choose from:

• Desiccant
• Compressor
• Thermo-Electric

Desiccant dehumidifiers work through a chemical process where moisture is taken in by the silica gel. Depending on the type of dehumidifier, the silica is either thrown away or is heated to re-use again. The typical desiccant dehumidifiers you see are the Damp-rid type that you can hang in your closet or bathroom.

A compressor dehumidifier draws in the moist air via a fan. This cools the air and separates the moisture out. Then the air is heated and recirculated back in the environment.

The Thermo-Electric is similar to the compressor, though on a much smaller scale and without a compressor.

Each have their pros and cons depending on how much moisture you have, the size of the unit, how much noise they make and how much power they use.

Each of the units below represent the highest rated products in their respective sizes that are appropriate for use in a RV.

I saw one website recommending dehumidifiers for RVs that were all 70 pint units used in 2000 sq ft homes. The bigger units do remove moisture faster than the smaller ones, but in my opinion, they are not feasible due to them being large, heavy and quite expensive.

Each unit has a specific usage and each removes moisture from the air. The difference is how fast they remove moisture and how much energy it takes to remove that moisture.

The Eva-dry Renewable Mini Dehumidifier is great for closets or storage area due to their small size.

This is a desiccant type that can be heated to remove the moisture. It’s easy to fit in a small area. It has an indicator when all the silica is wet and needs to be plugged in to heat the silica gel to dry.  

I think these are better than the standard damp rid pails since you can re-use them rather than throwing it away after one use. Since it’s small, it shouldn’t be used in an environment that is very wet but more like a closet that you want to keep dry and keep mold and mildew away.

Pro Breeze Electric Mini Dehumidifier is great for small bathroom or small RV trailer less than 100 sq ft.

With it’s small size, it’s easily movable from room to room. It’s very quiet could be used in a bedroom without worry from being too loud. It has an automatic shut off when the water reservoir is full and it can remove up to 9 ounces of water a day.

For something so small, you’d think that it would work off batteries, but it’s actually a 9VDC  power that needs to be plugged in to work.

Many like how portable the unit is, but do realize that it is not rated for larger areas.  Several have bought it thinking it could be used in larger area and then weren’t happy with the results. It has a small fan to draw in the moisture, but the fan is very faint and hardly noticeable.

EcoSeb  Desiccant Dehumidifier, 15-Pint is large enough to use in medium size RV.

It has more features that the smaller units and allows you to set the humidity level. With an anti tilt feature, it will automatically turn it off if it falls. It also turns off when the water tank is full. The water tank has a lid that prevents spillage and it can be used with a drain for continuous use. This is a desiccant style dehumidifier which is supposed to work better in colder climates. This should do better in the winter months. The unit only weighs 13 lbs making it easy to move around your RV.

Frigidaire 30-Pint Dehumidifier is a full size dehumidifier for most all RVs. It is the heaviest unit in the list though it has wheels, but it also removes the most water than the other units at a faster rate.

If you have lots of condensation in your RV, then you want to remove the excess water quickly before it can damage the RV. This has a digital readout for humidity as well as alerts when tank is full and filter needs to be cleaned.

As with the EcoSeb, it automatically shuts off when the water tank is full but it does not have the anti-tilt feature. Frigidaire dehumidifiers, all sizes. are highly rated and customers love the features and quality for the price. 

	Eva Dry Dehumidifier	Pro Breeze Mini Dehumidifier	EcoSeb Dehumidifier	Frigidaire 30-Pint Dehumidifier
Max Energy Consumption	0	2.5 amps	4 amps	3.2 amps
Noise Level dBA	0	35	34	46
Sq Ft Usage	0-10 sq ft	0-50 sq ft	0-100 sq ft	0-200 sq ft
Automatic Turn Off when full container		X	X	X
Humidity Level Indicator			X	X
Weight	1 lb	2.4 lbs	13.2 lbs	34 lbs
Drain Hose for continuous Use			X	X
Tilt Protection Shut Off			X