Devola 8L dehumidifier review: “a cost-effective way to keep mould at bay”

RRP at time of testing: £100 | Check price at Amazon, Dunelm or Devola

My verdict

As someone whose house is always too hot or too cold and never just right (no fears about Goldilocks coming to visit), a dehumidifier seems like a convenient and efficient way to reduce mould and humidity in the rooms most affected. 

For me, that’s the upstairs rooms, especially our bedroom and the landing. In the colder months we really struggle to keep mould away, and I find clothes in my wardrobe end up getting musty too.

A small dehumidifier won’t make ground-breaking changes, but it’s a cheap multi-tasker, helping to dry washing and extract moisture from the air at the same time.

I’d used a dehumidifier a dehumidifier before and found it made some difference, but it was smaller than the Devola and I had to run it for a long time each day to see any real benefits. While the Devola isn’t especially big, I did find it was more efficient than the previous one I’d tried, and it definitely helped to keep mould from forming in smaller rooms of the house like my bedroom.

It felt like it was well made and was heavy enough to feel sturdy without being too heavy to carry around. One of the benefits of this dehumidifier is that it’s portable, and I definitely found it easy to move about the house as and when I needed to.

As a means to dry washing, for me it isn’t an everyday solution. I think this is, in part, due to my house’s set-up. We don’t have a dedicated space like a utility room or downstairs cloakroom where washing can be easily hung up and dried in a small, enclosed space.

The Devola 8L dehumidifier is ‘ideal for bedrooms, home offices, caravans, utility rooms, bathrooms and other smaller living areas where space is limited but damp, condensation and mould remain a problem’ according to Devola. But for drying washing, I think you’d need a smaller room to really see the benefits.

The thing to note with these portable dehumidifiers is that although they can extract 8 litres of moisture a day, the tanks are significantly smaller. This one holds 1.7 litres, so if you were to run the dehumidifier for 24 hours, you’d have to empty it several times.

That said, the Devola 8L dehumidifier comes with a drainage hose and, if you connect it, it’ll empty itself and you don’t need to get involved! It’s not something I was able to try out because you’d need an outlet for the water to go to (and my bedroom floor isn’t that place), but if you were using this in a utility room with a plug socket and a sink within close proximity, it could be a useful feature.

I know this is my own personal style choice rather than the machine’s fault, but I didn’t love how it looked. I think if it had been another colour like black or grey it would have fitted into my rooms a bit better, but because it was white it felt quite obviously ‘there’, wherever I chose to move it to.

How I tested

I live in a two-bedroom cottage in the countryside with my husband and our two boys (aged five and one). The cottage is around 100 years old and not particularly well insulated or ventilated - it gets horribly stuffy on a hot day and pretty cold and damp in the winter months.

It’s not particularly attractive but we get mould patches on the ceilings, especially upstairs, and they’re something I find hard to tackle. Last year I invested in a dehumidifier to try to help the situation and while I think it did make a difference, with only a 5L capacity, something more powerful would probably be more effective, so I was keen to try the Devola to see how it compared.

I used the Devola 8L dehumidifier to try to dry my laundry and to extract moisture from the air, and tested it on warm and cooler days in early autumn, before the heating goes on, which is a big contributor to condensation and humidity in our house.

I used it in the living room when I was drying my washing, and also used it upstairs on the landing and in my bedroom to see if it could bring the humidity levels down and stop mould from forming.

When humidity levels are high the Devola 8L dehumidifier displays a red light

What’s in the box? 

Inside the box for the Devola 8L dehumidifier there’s:

• Dehumidifier

• Drainage hose (for optional use)

• Four castors

• Four rubber bumper feet (although these were missing from mine)

Set-up and ease of use

The Devola 8L dehumidifier can be used straight from the box; there’s very little set-up involved other than making sure the tank is slotted in and plugging it in.

It has three different modes: continuous, auto and sleep. The appliance defaults to auto mode, and it’s pretty easy to switch between them: you just hold down the M button.

I did take a look at the instructions before use, but although they explained how to change modes and set timers, it would have been useful to have more information about these modes and what they’re used for.

For example, in the instructions there’s a reference to ‘continuous mode’, and the little icon for this is a T-shirt. The instructions advise you that in this mode the dehumidifier runs continuously at high fan speed. I had to visit the Devola website to work out what this meant. It turns out it’s the one you use to dry laundry (and online, they call it ‘laundry mode’). It all seems simple enough, but a bit more information in the instruction manual would save users having to double-check online.

However, once I’d played around a bit and set the right mode it was very easy to use.

The Devola 8L dehumidifier was easy to use straight from the box - once I'd double checked the instructions!

How does the Devola 8L dehumidifier work?

The Devola 8L dehumidifier works by removing excess moisture from the air to reduce humidity levels. It draws in humid air using a fan, then passes it over cold coils. As the air cools, the moisture condenses into water droplets, which are collected in a tank or drained away. The dry air is then reheated slightly and released back into the room.

This dehumidifier has the option to set your ideal humidity level, which, according to Devola, should be 40–60% to maintain comfort, prevent mould growth and protect furniture and electronics.

When you turn it on, it detects the humidity level in the room. Mine was over 70% and I got a red light to indicate that it was higher than recommended. The light is a helpful way to quickly see what your air is doing, but it can also make you become a bit obsessed with trying to get it to go green!

Is the Devola 8L dehumidifier good for drying laundry?

During the summer months, I revel in the fact I can hang multiple loads of washing out on the line, but in winter I really struggle. We don’t have a utility room or anywhere obvious to dry clothes and bedding, and although we have a tumble dryer, it’s not always the best option, especially if you’re concerned about things shrinking. 

The Devola 8L dehumidifier has a specific ‘laundry mode’ setting which, according to Devola, “maximises moisture extraction to dry clothes indoors faster while helping reduce excess humidity throughout your home.”

I suppose the question is: ‘Dries them faster than what?’

The first time I used the Devola dehumidifier, it was a warm, sunny September day and I was able to hang most of my washing outside.

However, I held a few items back and decided to try drying them indoors using the dehumidifier instead. I used an over-radiator drying rail to hang a toddler sleep sack and sleepsuit, my five-year-old son’s PE shorts and a few other items to see how they’d fare against an outdoor washing line.

After two hours, I checked everything; the washing on the line was about 80% dry, and I’d say the items indoors that were closest to the dehumidifier were about 50% dry. (But the line-dried washing had the benefit of heat and a breeze.) Some of the indoor clothing wasn’t very dry at all, though. The sleep sack still felt pretty damp.

I checked the tank, which was about a quarter full - proof that the dehumidifier was definitely extracting moisture from the clothes, but clearly some were taking longer than others.

In the end, I ran the dehumidifier for 10 hours and I moved some of the bits of washing around to see if they’d dry better placed closer to the machine. This definitely made a difference and pretty much everything was dry when I switched it off. The humidity level was also down from 72% to 53% - a massive improvement (and earned me a green light - hurrah!) 

How noisy is the Devola 8L dehumidifier?

I was impressed with how quiet the dehumidifier was. It runs at 37–38dB, which is barely noticeable in a normal family household. 

My previous dehumidifier had a strange whistle/hum sound coming from it, so even though it was supposed to be quiet, I could always tell it was on. This one is definitely quieter, and no different really to having a fan running on a warm day.

It has a ‘sleep mode’ which is supposed to mean you can use it at night and it’s quieter. To be honest, I didn’t notice a huge difference between the sound of the dehumidifier on auto mode in the daytime and on sleep mode at night, but both were pretty quiet.

I wouldn’t say it’s so quiet you don’t know it’s there, but it’s also not an annoying distraction if you’re running it while doing something else.

The dehumidifier reduced the humidity in my living room.

How energy efficient is the Devola 8L dehumidifier?

The dehumidifier draws 120W, or 0.12 kilowatts (kW). By comparison, a heating appliance such as a kettle, iron or oven usually draws 1,000W to 3,000W (1–3kW).

So, that does make the dehumidifier pretty energy efficient, in theory. However, it’s worth considering how long you’re running it for: while a kettle uses more power, it only runs for a short time, whereas the dehumidifier runs for several hours at a time.

I looked up the wattage on my tumble dryer, which draws 1.54kW, so the dehumidifier is significantly more efficient over several hours - with the caveat being that the tumble dryer can handle bigger loads.

Based on current energy prices, the Devola 8L dehumidifier costs just over 3p an hour to run.

Is the Devola 8L dehumidifier good value for money?

At only £100, I think this dehumidifier is really reasonable. It’s small enough to tuck away when it’s not in use, and when it is in use, it’s pretty unobtrusive. It’s easily portable, so you can move it from one place to another when necessary, and for its size, it does a good job of extracting moisture.

While I wouldn’t say it’s worth buying one for drying laundry alone, I do think in older houses like mine, having one is definitely worthwhile to keep humidity levels down and keep mould at bay.

Devola 8L dehumidifier vs Bosch Dry vs MeacoDry Arete One

Final verdict: is this the right dehumidifier for your home?

If you struggle with condensation and dampness during the colder months, then a dehumidifier might just be your house’s new best friend.

The Devola 8L is perfect for smaller spaces; it’s quiet, easy to move and does a good job of keeping humidity levels in check.

While I wouldn’t necessarily suggest buying it solely to get your washing dry, it is a low-cost way to give laundry a helping hand - and I think if you were to use it in a utility room or small space it would be even more effective.

In my house, I’ve definitely noticed that it feels less damp, and areas that get mouldy (such as the ceiling on our landing) have been better since using the Devola.

Plus, while it might not be the most aesthetically pleasing gadget for the home, it’s certainly more attractive than those plastic dehumidifier pots scented with vanilla…

About the tester and author

Charlie Bond is a freelance journalist and a mum of two (slightly wild) boys. As a lifestyle and shopping editor, she’s got more than 15 years’ experience testing everything from family holiday hotspots to mum-friendly makeup.

She’s always on the lookout for the best products to make parents’ lives easier, whether that’s a super-duper coffee machine (she’s usually had three espressos by the morning school run) or a cleaning solution that really does get pen off the walls...

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All prices are correct at time of publication.

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