DEHUMIDIFIERS are essential for damp homes, but you need to make sure they're in the right place for them to work effectively.

The gadgets are used to help get rid of moisture in homes, especially if you dry your clothes inside.

It comes as households are looking to switch off their heating and tumble dryers as energy bills climb again.

But leaving clothes to dry on radiators, cooking without ventilation and failing to open windows can all create excess moisture in the air.

Demudifiers pull this moisture from the air, helping to combat condensation.

But keeping your dehumidifier in the wrong spot in your home could be causing it to run inefficiently.

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And if you have it on without it actually contributing anything, then you're essentially wasting money.

Using a dehumidifier an hour a day costs around 10p, according to experts at Uswitch.

The average household uses a dehumidifier for 180 minutes a week, with an average cost of just 29p.

While this is significantly cheaper than a tumble dryer – costing £1.72 a week – it's important to make sure your dehumidifier is running efficiently.

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Home expert and Queen of Clean Lynsey Crombie, known as @lynsey_queenofclean on social media, said that dehumidifiers should be used in the smallest room in your house for the best results.

She said:"Choose the smallest room to dry your clothes and shut the door.

"Roughly place the unit six inches away from your clothes with the vent face facing the clothes – this way, they will dry much faster. 

"Turning your clothes rack every hour will also help to speed things along."

Depending on the materials, she added that clothes should take around six hours to dry.

For example, heavy denim may take a little longer.

Lynsey also said it's important to make sure to empty the tank after every use.

"Dehumidifiers extract the water out of the air. The water goes into the tank and will need emptying after every use," she added.

"In most cases, it will be full. In some machines, the fan element will stop working when the water tank is full"

More ways to save on energy

Putting the heating on is one of the biggest drains on your energy bill anyway, but sometimes you're inadvertently doing things that can increase your bills.

For example, there's one fact in particular to know if you want to stop spending unnecessary money – don't dry your clothes on the radiator.

If you do, it keeps the radiator from working properly and you might need to leave the heating on for longer to feel its effect.

Potentially, up to £55 could go down the drain every year as a result.

Of course, it could be more or less depending on the size of your home, your provider and how much energy you normally use.

Clothes dryers don't need to cost the earth either – there's one from Dunelm that will set you back £40.

Also, letting heat escape through your chimney could throw away up to £300 a year.

That's if you don't have something to block the opening whenever you turn on the heating.

A damper is a seal for your chimney to ensure cold air stays out and warmth from indoors can't escape.

You can install one by yourself if you're used to carrying out small DIY jobs – you shouldn't need any tools to help.

It should fit right up into the flue system, which sits above the smoke chamber.

Hopefully, it'll slide in comfortably, but there might be a few screws to tighten if your damper comes with them.

But that's the most you'll need to do.

We've seen dampers from the likes of Amazon for £22, but don't forget about added delivery costs.

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However, bear in mind it'll cost an average of £250 to have someone come in and fit it for you, which could be quite pricey.

Don't forget to do regular annual boiler service checks either – they could actually save you up to £550 a year.

You can also join our new Sun Money Facebook group to share stories and tips and engage with the consumer team and other group members.

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