Can anyone advise me about dehumidifiers?

[llandb]

OK, shameful confession alert - so we dry all our washing on the radiators and let's just say that we have a damp problem! We'll probably have to grit our teeth and look into the tumble dryer thing (and wouldn't it be lovely to free up my time from always moving it around on the heaters) but we'll probably need a dehumidifier anyway.

I kind of had an idea that they weren't much good because the only one I had before was a clapped-out second-hand cheapie one in the 90s.... it was horribly noisy, seemed to not work very well, and at the same time seemed not store much so I was always having to empty the container at a rate that seemed unreasonably frequent.

But I've heard that there can be good dehumidifier experiences, too! So as not to repeat past mistakes, can anyone advise which brands/models are better, whether it's worth spending the money on an more expensive one, whether it's better to buy new or secondhand, which features are actually important, and anything else you think needs to be added?

Thanks for letting me pick your brains and hope you can advise!

[feetheart]

Sorry I can't help but I'll be watching this with interest as we need one too. Dry everything on an airer at the moment and we seem to be going a little black around the edges!!
Had a HUGE industrial one when washing machine flooded the kitchen and it seemed to slurp the moisture from the washing

[llandb]

Yeah, black around the edges is happening here too - it's not favourite....

[Jenice]

Hi,

Was having problems just like you and it was driving me bonkers. I wanted a de-humidifier but didn't know what one to get so I looked at Which website to see what was the best one and then Amazon to see which had best reviews. Both recommended the Delonghi DEM10 at that time so I bought it and it solved my condensation problem within 2 days.

One thing about the model I bought, it is compact so only suitable for up to 2bed/small 3 bed house but there are models more suitable for bigger houses.

[llandb]

Thanks! - we have a small 2-bedroom house (the second bedroom is very small so we call it a one-and-a-half-bedroom house ) so compact would be fine.

[littlefrog]

We hired an industrial one for a week when we had builders in; was so expensive, and noisy and horrible that it went back after a week and we just had a little one from Argos. It's been worth its weight in gold for helping with big winter washes - fantastic. although it doesn't use no electricity, it's less than a drier, takes up v little space, and means we don't have to have the heating on to get things dry. We got the cheapest model Argos sells, and it's been used regularly for 2 years (winter only) and is absolutely fine.

[MamaG]

I also have a delonghi in my kitchen and its emptied every day - gets rid of so much moisture.

I need one in my bedroom too as I have a big house and the kitchen one can't do the whole lot. I'm going to either get another delonghi which I'm very happy with, or an ebac

[ohmeohmy]

We have Prem-I-Air one. Has got rid of waterfalls on the windows. Lots of sttings and pretty quiet. was about £100 but worth it to avoid all that mould.

[llandb]

Thanks for all your helpful advice! In the end we bought a graded Delonghi DEM10 because it seemed to be a good balance between price and extraction rate (if that's what you call it). Though we have yet to try it (we're terrified of the 'warranty is void if you don't let it settle for 24 hours after delivery' clause!)

It looks as though most places are out of stock of this one and I read somewhere that this model is no longer manufactured (unsure if true). We got it as a graded appliance from ebay - there's an electrical shop that seems to have a supply of them (and other models and brands) and puts a new one up for auction every few days. There's supposed to be a one year guarantee as well - it seemed like a good compromise. Fingers crossed!