daestrom wrote:

Dehumidifiers produce heat, therefore their energy efficiency is
important in continental applications. However, on the left coast,
they are used mostly in the winter, so the heat they produce is
mostly a slightly more expensive form of something you're going to
do anyway: heat the air in the house.

It's cheaper than electric resistance heat, with a COP of about 1.6.
You can measure this with a Kill-a-Watt meter and a measuring cup.

The COP doesn't matter as far as adding heat to the house goes. A kwh of
electric to run a dehumidifier adds a kwh of heat to the building, just like
a kwh of electricity through a resistance heater.

Wrong. It adds 1.6 kWh.

Nick