Gareth Williams - 23 Jan 2025

Air purifiers and dehumidifiers: which to choose

Air purifiers and dehumidifiers perform vastly different tasks, yet they both deal with the air in your home and make use of fans that circulate air. In doing so, they both help make it a more pleasant place to be. 🙂

If you’re concerned about air quality, there are a number of reasons why you might be wondering which of these devices to ‘add to basket’. So we’re going to walk you through the different things each of them does so that you can work out which of them will do what you need.

Everything you need to know about dehumidifiers

A dehumidifier sucks air into the unit and then pulls moisture out. It does this by passing the air over a cold surface, causing it to condense and then collecting the liquid in a container that you empty at regular intervals. It sounds annoying having to empty it, but it’s actually a very satisfying feeling, as anyone who’s owned a dehumidifier will enthusiastically tell anyone who’ll listen. 💦

So what might you use a dehumidifier for?

● For a start, it’ll dry your clothes much quicker when they’re left on airers around your home. 👕
● It’ll also help make your home a more comfortable place to be when it’s hot and sticky – particularly in a tropical country. 🥵
● But the main reason people use them is when they have a damp problem. 💦 If you’ve noticed mould or mildew growing in your home, this indicates an issue with damp and/or humidity that will be detrimental to your health as well as potentially damaging to the structural integrity of your home.

And not only do mould spores in the air damage your health, but there’s also a horrid musty smell associated with them. Which is where we get to the limitations of a dehumidifier.

It doesn’t purify the air, so it won’t remove pathogens or pollutants. And the bad news is that while it will help with the source of the problem, it won’t remove that lingering telltale damp smell either. 👃

Everything you need to know about air purifiers

We’ve talked a lot about air purifiers and how they work, but a quick recap. While dehumidifiers remove moisture from the air, air purifiers remove particles. That’s things like dust, pollution, pollen and pathogens (like those mould spores we mentioned just now). 🦠

They work by sucking air in, trapping said particles and then pumping out the ‘clean’ air. The best air purifiers use HEPA filters, which stands for High Efficiency Particulate Arrestor/Absorber. This makes them particularly good at removing allergens and pollutants, and so great if you suffer from poor respiratory health or allergies. 🤧

Others use activated carbon filters or ionisation technology. And on the subject of carbon filters, that’s where we come onto a limitation of most air purifiers: they don’t work on smells. Even those HEPA heroes, the gold standard in air purification, can’t get rid of bad smells. But ones with carbon filters – like the Smell Away® – can.

Everything you need to know about odour neutralisers

If you’re on the lookout for something to help with bad smells (and we’ll hazard a guess that that’s likely to be a musty damp smell, if you’re considering a dehumidifier), then you’ll want to know about the Smell Away®.

This does everything a regular air purifier does, removing airborne particles such as dust, pollen, dirt and pathogens to create cleaner air. But at the same time, it neutralises odours, using a charcoal filter to trap unpleasant smells far more effectively than standard air purifiers and air fresheners.

It’ll tackle a range of bad smells, such as:

● Cooking smells – yes, even fried onions and curries 🧅
● Cigarette smoke, as well as other types of smoke 🚬
● Pet smells, including 💩
● Damp and mould smells 💦
● Dead rodents 🐁

It’s also very energy-efficient, using less energy than a dehumidifier or air purifier.

Dehumidifier or air purifier: which should you choose?

The phrase ‘horses for courses’ springs to mind, as each device is suited to different things. So:

● Air purifier: choose this if your main aim is to enjoy better air quality or help allergies
● Dehumidifier: choose this if you’re battling with mould problems, damp or high humidity
● Smell Away® odor neutraliser: choose this to get rid of bad smells, particularly really stubborn ones

It’s also worth noting that a dehumidifier and the Smell Away® will make a great team if you’re tackling damp. The dehumidifier will pull moisture out of the air to deal with the root of the problem, while the Smell Away® will get rid of that lingering musty smell – at the same time as removing unhealthy mould spores from the air.

Find out more about its odour-bursting powers and how it can help you achieve cleaner, better smelling air.