How Much Electricity Does Drying Equipment Use?

The electricity cost of water damage drying equipment is usually a few dollars a day for a single room, and more for a whole basement. A typical setup of one commercial dehumidifier and four or five air movers draws about as much power as a couple of space heaters running nonstop. Over a drying job of three to five days, the hydro is a small part of the total, though it is worth knowing how to work it out.

How much power each machine uses

Every machine has a label showing its draw in amps. On a regular 120-volt household circuit, amps times 120 gives watts. General ranges for modern equipment:

• Air mover: about 1.5 to 3 amps, or roughly 200 to 350 watts. Older models can draw considerably more.
• LGR dehumidifier: about 6 to 8 amps, or roughly 700 to 950 watts.
• HEPA air scrubber: about 2 to 3 amps, or roughly 250 to 350 watts.
• Floor drying mat system: the vacuum unit that drives it is one of the heavier loads, often 10 amps or more.

How to work out the electricity cost of drying equipment

1. Add up the watts of everything on site. Use the labels, or ask us for the list.
2. Divide by 1,000 to get kilowatts.
3. Multiply by 24 to get kilowatt-hours per day, since the equipment runs around the clock.
4. Multiply by the number of days.
5. Multiply by your price per kilowatt-hour.

An example with round numbers. Say a kitchen leak has one dehumidifier at 800 watts and four air movers at 250 watts each. That is 1,800 watts, or 1.8 kilowatts. Over 24 hours it uses about 43 kilowatt-hours. If your all-in price works out to 15 cents per kilowatt-hour, that is about $6.50 a day, or about $26 for a four-day job. A finished basement with three dehumidifiers and a dozen air movers would be about three times that per day.

The 15 cents is only a placeholder to show the arithmetic. Your real figure depends on your price plan and changes over time, so use the numbers on your own bill.

What rate to use in Ontario

Most Ontario households are on one of the regulated price plans: time-of-use, tiered or ultra-low overnight. On time-of-use, the price changes with the hour and the day of the week. Drying equipment runs through all of them, so the cost averages out across the cheap and expensive periods. On the tiered plan, the extra usage may push you into the higher tier for that month.

The energy price printed on the plan is not the whole cost. Delivery and regulatory charges also rise with usage. The simplest all-in estimate is to take a recent bill, divide the usage-based charges by the kilowatt-hours used, and use that figure in step five.

There are two offsets, and they pull in opposite directions. The equipment gives off heat. In winter that heat means the furnace runs a little less. In summer the air conditioner works a little harder to remove it.

Circuits and breakers

The more practical electrical issue on a drying job is the breaker panel. A standard household circuit is 15 amps, and it is meant to carry less than that continuously. One dehumidifier and two or three air movers are about all a single circuit should take, and less if a fridge, freezer or microwave shares it.

That is why cords on a drying job run to outlets in several rooms. The load is being spread across circuits on purpose. A few practical points:

• Leave the cords where they were run. Moving a plug to a closer outlet can overload that circuit.
• If a breaker trips, tell us. The fix is to rebalance the load. Resetting it over and over is not a fix.
• Avoid running a kettle, toaster, hair dryer or space heater on a circuit that is carrying drying equipment.
• Older homes with fewer circuits or fuse panels need more planning, and occasionally fewer machines per circuit and a slightly longer job.

Who pays for the hydro

The power comes through your meter, so it shows up on your bill. If the loss is an insurance claim, ask your adjuster or broker whether the extra electricity can be claimed. Some insurers will consider it and policies differ, so the answer has to come from them. What helps in any case is documentation. Our drying log lists each machine and the days it ran, which gives you what you need to show the usage.

Why turning equipment off does not save money

It is tempting to switch things off at night or during the expensive hours. That saves a dollar or two of hydro and adds drying days, and each extra day means more equipment time and a longer window for mold to start. The cheapest drying job is the shortest one.

The things that do shorten it cost nothing. Start drying the same day. Keep windows and outside doors closed. Leave the machines and cords alone. Get soaked items that cannot be saved out of the room so the equipment is not trying to dry them too.

If you want your own number, read the amps off each machine on the first day and run the five steps above.

Common questions