Last Updated on October 24, 2026 by Umar Farooq
Dehumidifier laundry mode keeps the machine running on a high fan speed with a very low humidity target, so it carries on drying the air after a normal setting would have shut it off. That is the whole trick, and it is less magic than the button’s confident little washing-basket icon suggests.
I have now read the laundry-mode paragraph in three different manuals, and they do not quite agree with each other. That turns out to be the most useful thing to know before you press it.
What dehumidifier laundry mode actually changes
Normally a dehumidifier stops when the room reaches your target humidity. Wet washing keeps releasing water into the room, so that stop-start behaviour is exactly wrong for drying clothes. Laundry mode removes the stop. How each brand does it, in the words of the manuals I opened:
- Meaco 20L. The unit starts in “High fan and Laundry modes”. The manual says laundry mode “aims for a lower relative humidity” but “will not over dry the air below a point at which the air will become uncomfortable (around 35%rh)”. It also has a 1, 2, 4 or 8 hour off timer, which it suggests for “say two hours of high speed drying”.
- Electriq premium low-energy range. Its manual says the unit “will run continuously at high fan speed, to remove the most moisture possible”, and that a target of around 35% “is not recommended for long normal operation”.
- Breville Smart Dry. Its book says laundry mode “operates at a High speed and a Low humidity setting”, and that the unit “will automatically turn off if the water tank is full”.
So: high fan, a low target around 35%, and running until something else stops it. What stops it differs. On the Meaco it is the target or the timer you set, on the Breville and Electriq it is a full tank. Check yours before you leave the house.
It follows that a machine with no laundry button can do much the same job. Set the lowest target and the highest fan, which is covered in the settings guide. If you are still deciding whether the whole idea is worth it, drying clothes with a dehumidifier covers that and this page does not repeat it.
Five easy setup rules for laundry mode
- Shut the door, and the window. The Meaco manual says to use a small room “with some heating on” and to “close the door and windows”. A machine in a closed small room has one job. In an open hallway it has the whole house.
- Keep the washing in the airflow, but not on the machine. Pro Breeze’s own support page says to put its unit “approximately 50cm from where the laundry is hanging”. The Electriq manual says to keep laundry at least one metre away, and never to dry it above the unit. Those two numbers differ, so I treat 50 cm to 1 m (20 to 40 in) as the range and defer to your manual. Meaco’s warning is the reason for all of it: keep clothes far enough away that water cannot drip onto the unit.
- Leave gaps. Meaco says to hang clothes “so that they are not touching each other”. Mitsubishi’s guide, which I also read, says about 5 cm (2 in). I use that as a working figure. Thick items go on the outside of the airer, thin ones in the middle.
- Keep wet washing off the radiator. This one is my own rule, not a manual’s. A wet towel over a radiator blocks the heat the room needs, and it puts a damp load against the coldest wall. A warm room dries faster, which is the radiator’s real contribution; get that from the heating, not by draping.
- Spin it first. Laundry mode removes the water the washing gives up. It cannot do much about water that is still dripping. The indoor drying routine goes further on spin speed and where to put the airer.
How long does a load take? Nobody can say, including me
I have not timed it, and I would distrust any single figure, because the answer depends on how wet the load is, how big the room is, how warm it is, and how big the machine is. Manufacturers’ estimates run from one hour to most of a day. That range is the honest answer.
You can measure it for your own room, though, using the tank. A litre of water weighs a kilogram, so the water that ends up in the tank is, near enough, the water that has left the washing and the air. Empty the tank before you start, and note how much has collected after each hour. When the collection slows to a trickle and the clothes pass the hand test (seams, pockets and waistbands feel dry, not cool), that is your drying time for that room and that load. Write it on the airer. Next winter you will not have to guess.
Five times laundry mode will not save you
Never hang washing directly over the unit or across its vents, and keep it far enough away that nothing can drip into it. This is an electrical appliance sitting beside a wet load, and at least two of the manuals above say so in plain words.
- The tank is full. Breville’s unit turns off on a full tank, and others do too. A laundry run on a small tank can stop halfway through the night. A drain hose fixes it, if your unit takes one.
- The room is cold. The Meaco manual gives a minimum operating condition of “5°C at 50%rh”. Below that, a compressor unit spends its time defrosting. Heat the room a little.
- The machine is too small for the job. A little 10 to 12 litre unit with four loads on racks in a large room will run for ever. Capacity is covered in the sizing guide.
- The door is open. The machine is now trying to dry your whole house. See rule 1.
- The load is dripping. Water is the limit here, not air. Re-spin it.
Shut the door, space the washing, spin it first: the mode only finishes the job
Dehumidifier laundry mode is a good button: it stops the machine switching off while the jeans are still damp. But its benefit depends on the room. A small space, a shut door, air between the clothes and a load that is not dripping. Get those right and it finishes the job quickly; get them wrong and no mode will rescue it. Read the paragraph in your own manual first, because the same name means slightly different things.
FAQ
What is laundry mode on a dehumidifier?
It is a setting that keeps the unit running at a high fan speed with a low humidity target, so it does not stop when the room reaches your normal setting. Pro Breeze describes it as disabling the target humidity so the unit runs continuously. Other brands combine a high fan with a low target around 35% instead.
Does laundry mode use more electricity?
It runs the machine for longer and at full fan, so it uses more power per hour than a normal cycle. Whether it costs less than a tumble dryer for the whole load is a separate sum that depends on your tariff and your machine, so I have not put a figure on it.
How far should the washing be from the dehumidifier?
It depends on the model. One manual says about 50 cm (20 in), another at least 1 m (40 in). Whatever the number, keep clothes off the vents and never above the unit.
Can I leave laundry mode on overnight?
Check the manual for what stops it. If your unit only stops on a full tank, a small tank may fill and stop it before morning. A timer or a drain hose gives you predictable behaviour. Keep the room door shut, as that is the point of the mode.
Should I use laundry mode with the door open or shut?
Shut. The mode is built for drying one small, enclosed room. Open the door and the machine is working on the whole house, which is the opposite of what you want.
