What to Do When A Dehumidifier Makes Loud Buzzing Noise?

Dehumidifiers make it extra comfortable during the spring and summer seasons when it feels too sticky and humid. What’s excellent about dehumidifiers is that they can make large rooms feel lighter and make the air easier to breathe in. Dehumidifiers also greatly help with allergies and breathing problems.

On the downside, over time, a quiet dehumidifier can become loud and produce a buzzing or humming noise when turned on.

When a quiet dehumidifier makes a loud buzzing noise, the best thing you can do is clean and maintain the parts. If regular cleaning and maintenance don’t do it, you may need to check if the dehumidifier’s parts are still correctly working.

Why is Your Dehumidifier Making a Loud Noise?

The amount of noise each person can tolerate differs since noise can be subjective. A typical quiet dehumidifier runs much like a refrigerator or an air conditioner.

The quietest dehumidifier can give off noise as loud as a normal conversation. However, one can also consider the desiccant dehumidifier to be the quietest dehumidifier as well.

Typical dehumidifiers don’t usually give off too much loud noise, but they can get disturbingly noisy over time.

Dehumidifiers work by intaking and exhausting air to reduce the humidity level. When the dehumidifier takes in air, the air passes through its compressor, and when it does this, the compressor gives off vibrations that cause buzzing or humming noises.

Aside from the compressor, other parts that can cause noise to come from your dehumidifier is the fan and the fan motor. Much like the compressor, the fan blade and the fan constantly vibrate when the dehumidifier is turned on. These mechanical movements are what produce noise-causing vibrations.

Lastly, if the dehumidifier doesn’t have any faulty parts, the leading cause of the loud noise may be loose screws and pieces that make noise when they vibrate.

Dehumidifiers don’t usually make too much noise. If your dehumidifier doesn’t sound louder than an air conditioner, then you’re fine. But if you’d still prefer to tone down the buzzing noise coming from your dehumidifier, you better check out the different ways you can make a dehumidifier quiet.

How to Make a Loud Dehumidifier Quiet

1. Tighten Loose Parts

Loose parts are probably the most common cause for dehumidifiers to produce buzzing noises. Loose parts often cause buzzing noises because of the vibrations they make when the dehumidifier is turned on.

To solve this issue, turn off and unplug the dehumidifier and disassemble it to see which parts are loose.

Make sure to screw all the screws and bolts tightly to keep the parts from vibrating and making noise.

Tip: Use a screwdriver with a magnetic tip to have an easier time screwing in the screws.

2. Fix or Replace the Dehumidifier Compressor

The dehumidifier’s compressor is just like the part in an ac unit. It’s the part that compresses the refrigerant that would keep the coils cool enough to reduce the relative humidity from the warm air the dehumidifier takes in.

When a compressor is damaged or faulty, it won’t run as smoothly. It might give off a loud noise whenever the dehumidifier is turned on.

If the compressor noise is the issue from the dehumidifier, the best thing you can do is get it fixed by an EPA-licensed professional or replace it with a completely new part.

Tip: Do not attempt to fix the compressor on your own. The compressor contains refrigerants that, when leaked, can be bad for your health and the environment.

3. Replace the Fan Motor

The fan motor is the part of the dehumidifier that pulls the warm, humid air in through the evaporator and pushes the air out through the condenser coils.

When the fan is damaged or faulty, it can cause the fan blade to rotate unnaturally. When this happens, vibrations in the fan can occur and cause loud noises.

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To find out if your fan motor needs to be replaced, you have to turn off the unit, open it up, and rotate the fan blade with a stick. If the fan blade wiggles, this could mean that the fan shaft might be loose. Try to tighten it by screwing everything tightly into place.

If you turn on the unit and the fan doesn’t rotate properly or gives off an unusual noise, you might need to get the blower motor fixed or replaced.

Tip: When a fan motor is broken, try to get it fixed before using the dehumidifier. Without a working fan motor, the condenser coil can turn the refrigerant into damaging liquid.

4. Check the Fan Blade’s Size

The fan blade is very easy to check. You have to make sure that the unit is turned off and slowly rotate the blower wheel with a stick.

If you find the fan blade not able to rotate seamlessly, it might be a size too big. To make sure that your fan blade is the right size, it must be able to turn freely without touching the sides of its housing.

Tip: Make sure that the fan motor shaft is tightly screwed to ensure that the fan blade will not wiggle out of place once the dehumidifier has reached full fan speed.

5. Clean out the filter

Dehumidifiers come with air filters that ensure the air it exhausts back into the room is completely clean and safe to breathe. Unfortunately, when a dehumidifier is used frequently, the air filters can get clogged.

When a dehumidifier’s filter gets clogged, it can sometimes produce a low humming sound or buzzing noise because it’s difficult to take air in.

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To get rid of any loud noise caused by a dirty filter, you need to disassemble the unit, remove the filter, and clean it with warm water.

Make sure to dry out the filter first before putting it back in the machine. Doing so will put a dent in your dehumidifier’s noise level.

Tip: You can clean the filter with water and baking soda to avoid mold and mildew buildup.

6. Thoroughly Clean the Dehumidifier

Since dehumidifiers take in and exhaust air all the time, it is bound to get dirt and dust buildup in their internal parts. When the pieces aren’t cleaned up regularly, clogging can occur and cause all sorts of noises.

Aside from avoiding clogs, regular cleanups are also suitable for maintaining the quality and performance of all the dehumidifier parts.

Get rid of a noisy dehumidifier by giving it a thorough cleaning. Make sure to clean the fan, air filter, coils, and vents.

Tip: Use a mixture of warm water and baking soda to wipe the parts clean to avoid mold and mildew getting built up from all the humidity.

Other People Also Asked

Where should the dehumidifier be placed?

The dehumidifier’s placement would highly depend on how ample the space is. If you live in a big house, the best place to put a dehumidifier is in the room you use the most. You can also place a dehumidifier in the most humid area in your home.

Placing the dehumidifier in a wet and humid room is your best option because it can help you avoid mildew and mold buildup as well.

Rooms that could highly use a dehumidifier include basements, crawl spaces, laundry rooms, and indoor pools.

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Where does the water come from in a dehumidifier?

Dehumidifiers work very much like an air conditioners. It comes with coils that get cooled by compressed refrigerants.

The dehumidifier’s condenser coils are sensitive parts responsible for draining the humid moisture from the air in any enclosed space.

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When the dehumidifier takes in air, it lets the warm air go through the coils. When the coils touch the air, the air condenses and turns water vapor into a liquid that comes out of the drain hose.

What is the difference between a dehumidifier and a humidifier?

Dehumidifiers are often mistaken as humidifiers or air purifiers. A dehumidifier is an appliance that you can use to take out moisture in the air when it feels too humid.

For example, if you feel like the air in the room is too heavy to breathe in or if your sweat feels sticky on your skin, the room could be too humid, and you might need a dehumidifier to take all the extra moisture out.

Dehumidifiers are often used during the summer and spring seasons. Humidifiers, on the other hand, add moisture to the air. Therefore, it is often used during cold seasons when the air is too dry or in cool rooms with air conditioning.

Conclusion

There you have it! A quick guide on what to do when a dehumidifier makes too much noise output.

Remember, if you ever notice any unusual buzzing or humming noise coming from your dehumidifier, the trick to get rid of the noise is simple cleaning and maintenance.

Always keep the fan and filters completely clean and regularly maintain all the internal parts, especially the condenser, coils, and fan motor. Last but not least, avoid a dehumidifier that makes a loud buzzing sound by making sure every part is screwed together tightly.

Robert Castelao

Robert is an electronic engineer with more than five years of experience with a solid affinity for helping people reduce noise. He writes about these silent home appliances and easy soundproofing measures to help everyone avoid the negative effect of extended exposure to high noise levels.