How to Get a Dehumidifier to Drain Through Hose?

Whenever you purchase a dehumidifier, you’ll make a choice between having it depend on its water tank or drain through a hose to dispense the collected moisture. Each choice has its own merits and deficits.The latter option, which entails using a drainage hose, seems to be the most popular, as it doesn’t need any effort on your end.That said, this post will teach you how to get a dehumidifier to drain through a hose all by yourself with simple, straightforward steps.

Normal Drain Hose/Gravity-Aided

Thankfully, most dehumidifiers these days allow you the freedom of both options; whether you wish to go with the water tank, which would need frequent emptying, or if you wish to go with a drainage hose that will be attached to a floor drain or a sink. 

The hose outlet is typically found behind the water tank. Yet, the hose itself most likely won’t be included in your dehumidifier purchase, as 99% of the time, a standard garden water hose will do the job just fine.

Now, let’s get into the steps of adapting your dehumidifier to a hose drainage setup and the various ways in which you can go about that. 

1. The very first thing that you'll have to do is unplug your dehumidifier power cord. Safety first! Cut off all power from your device
2. Also, don’t forget to always refer to your user's manual. This is the general outline of what works for almost all dehumidifiers. Still, yours might be in the 1% that can't accommodate hose drainage. So, check the users manual and be sure that you’re doing everything the right way so that you don’t ruin your device or injure yourself
3. Next, take out the water bucket, empty it, clean it, dry it, and put it aside
4. Search behind it, and you’ll find the hose connection
5. Fetch your hose of choice, and place it in the drain port
6. According to the mechanism of your appliance, you’ll either have to twist it in or press it till it clicks in order to activate the hose mechanism 
7. Now your hose is attached at one point and free at the other. Make sure that it’s not tugged or pulled in any way
8. Reattach the water tank back in its place 
9. Now go to the other end of your hose, and attach it to a nearby drain or even your garden
10. One thing that you have to make sure of is that the dehumidifier is placed in a slightly elevated place from the rest of the hose so that you have gravity on your side, not against you.

Gravity-aided hose drainage isn't suitable for your dehumidifier? Check out the following alternative. 

External Pumps 

As we’ve just said, what if you don’t have gravity on your side, and your dehumidifier has to lay low, unable to push the condensed water outside?

Well, external pumps are here for the rescue, as they efficiently take the water from the dehumidifier and push it through a hose anywhere. Even if it’s connected to a sink that’s on a much higher level, it’ll do the job.

External pumps are divided into two categories. Either you'll have a built-in pump in your dehumidifier; in that case, you won’t have to do anything extra or purchase any accessories.

On the other hand, you can opt for an external pump that you purchase on your own. They come with one hose, and that’s where you’ll have to do some work.

1. Just like before, the very first thing that you have to do is completely unplug your device. Make sure there’s no electricity whatsoever 
2. Next, resort to your user's manual and make sure that you’re doing everything by the book and that you’re not damaging your device in any way 
3.  Remove the water tank. Empty it, clean it, dry it, and put it aside 
4. Here is where the difference starts. 
5. You won’t be using a garden hose here, as external pumps need specific hoses to work with. They come already with one and the other one you would have to purchase as it connects your dehumidifier with the external pump
6. Look for the drainage connection and connect the hose just like before 
7. You’ll either twist it in or push on it till it clicks 
8. Then, you’ll connect the other side to the external pump
9. At the other end of the external pump, you’ll find another hose that is coming out of it 
10. You’ll take the free end of this hose and connect it to a nearby floor drain, a sink, your garden, or anywhere where you want the dehumidifier to drain

Gravity has no effect here whatsoever! That’s it; you’ll reconnect your device, turn it on, and enjoy dehumidified dry air that is much easier to breathe.

Benefits Of Hose-Draining 

There are so many reasons why people prefer to drain their dehumidifiers through hoses rather than water tanks. Although using the water tank is neater than extending a dehumidifier drain hose across the ground, it can be quite troublesome as you’ve got to empty the tank every now and then.

Plus, if your dehumidifier doesn’t enjoy options such as full-alarms and auto-shutoff switch, then an over-spilling water tank can easily cause a catastrophe like an electric hazard or fire hazard.

The thing about hose draining is that you attach the hose to the drain and forget about it. You’ll never have to deal with the water inside the dehumidifier ever again. Occasional cleaning is advised, though. 

Final Thoughts 

At the end of the day, learning how to get a dehumidifier to drain through a hose is pretty easy and straightforward to do; and most of the time, you don’t have to go above and beyond and purchase anything extra! Your garden hose will do just fine, and the whole process shouldn't take you more than 15 to 20 minutes max.