MeacoDry Arete One Dehumidifier and Air Purifier review: we put Mumsnetters' best dehumidifier through its paces

Price on writing: £160-£300 | Buy now from Amazon

Key specs

Type: Compressor Dehumidifier | Extraction amount: 10-25L | Tank capacity:  2.5-4.8L | Cost per hour: from 4p | Noise level:  35-40dB | Laundry mode: Yes | Warranty: 5 years

What we like

• Quiet Mark certified

• Much nicer design than previous Meaco models 

• Wheels on the base make it easy to move around 

• Efficient and effective

• Save up to £143 per year on energy bills, according to Meaco

What we don’t like

• More expensive than alternative models

• Laundry mode isn’t long enough

• HEPA filter could do with clearer instructions

Our verdict

Performance: 14/15

Quality and durability: 15/15

Ease of use: 14/15

Value for money: 14/15

Noise level: 8/10

Energy efficiency: 9/10

Portability: 8/10

Range of settings/modes: 9/10

Total: 91/100

If you’re looking for a hardworking dehumidifier and you’re happy to pay a little more for one that looks nice, the Meaco Arete One is definitely worth considering. Available in 10,12, 20 and 25 litre versions, they're quiet, energy efficient and built to last.

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Why did you choose this dehumidifier?

We live in a damp Victorian end of terrace house and were constantly battling mould and musty smells until we invested in a dehumidifier.

When we discovered we could also use the dehumidifier to dry clothes, we got the Meaco Arete One 25l. We have another Meaco dehumidifier (the Meaco 12l Low Energy Dehumidifier and Air Purifier) that lives in the kitchen over winter, keeping our badly-built kitchen dry and our shiny new Meaco Arete is in the spare room drying laundry most days.

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How easy is the MeacoDry Arete One to set up?

Setting this dehumidifier up was very easy, we took it out of the box, removed the packaging and plugged it in. Simple - apart from one thing: there’s a plastic cover around the HEPA filter which needs to be removed before use, but it’s not immediately obvious that it’s there.

We didn’t realise for the first few months and then accidentally found it when we were cleaning a few months later. The dehumidifier was already pretty powerful with the plastic bag inside it, but even better when we removed it!

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How easy is the MeacoDry Arete One Dehumidifier to operate? Are there lots of settings to find your way around?

The Arete One has a really nice user interface. It has just four buttons that are easy to get the hang of:

• Power button for turning it off and on

• Water drop button for switching between the levels of humidity

• Moon-shaped button for activating night mode (in night mode the LED screen turns off and there are no beeps)

• Laundry button for activating laundry mode

The laundry setting is a nice idea but I haven’t found it to be particularly effective. It’s probably fine for smaller loads or if you’re ironing your clothes. It's not on for long enough to get my clothes to the level of dry that I would like. Instead I just put it on constant overnight and then switch it off in the morning. 

When we use the dehumidifier elsewhere in the house the 50% setting is good and turns off automatically when it reaches that specific level of humidity. 

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How loud is the MeacoDry Arete One dehumidifier?

The Meaco Arete One is a pretty powerful machine and it’s very quiet - plus it's Quiet Mark Certified - but it does hum. If we put it on a loose floorboard it gives off a low vibrating sound, but that’s probably more due to loose floorboards than the Meaco. We sleep in the room next door, and when the spare room door is closed you can’t hear it.

Night mode is significantly quieter than the regular mode, and it stays quiet until you turn it off. If I'm working from home I tend to keep it on night mode.

What do you use your dehumidifier for? Does it meet your needs?

Most of the time we use this dehumidifier for drying laundry, it’s on overnight almost every night. Over winter we pair it with a heated drying rack and find our clothes are bone dry within eight hours. It also works as an air purifier but we don’t use it for that purpose.

We also tested the 10l version in the centre of a 3-bedroom house to keep humidity in check as the weather turns cold. We really liked the ability to see the current humidity levels, and it's great to know that moisture is being drawn to the dehumidifier rather than settling on the walls and windows.

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How does the Meaco Arete One perform day-to-day?

We’re really happy with the Meaco Arete One, the water storage tank onf the 25l is huge so it can do two loads of washing without needing to be emptied. When the water tank is full the dehumidifier beeps and flashes red unless it’s on night mode. The water tank is removed from the front of the machine so it’s really easy to empty and it has a handle which reduces the risk of dropping or spilling water. 

If you need a dehumidifier for a big space or want to dry laundry, I’d really recommend the 25l model. But if you’re looking for something to move around this house regularly, a smaller Meaco like the MeacoDry ABC might be a better choice. The 25l Arete is quite big and heavy, and even though it has wheels, it’s not really made for lugging up and down the stairs. 

Saying that we have tested it downstairs in our open plan living/dining room, as well as in our horribly damp kitchen, and it was really efficient there too. Definitely a good choice for a bigger house or living space.

When it comes to the 10l Arete One, we found it was still pretty heavy, so despite its wheels we wouldn't want to move it around regularly. It's very effective and collects a tank's worth of moisture per day.

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Does the MeacoDry Arete One offer good value for money?

Starting from £160 for 10l and at £315 for the largest 25l model we tested, the Arete One isn't cheap. We knew we were going to use a dehumidifer a lot after trying out a smaller version and seeing the difference it made in our kitchen, so for us the Meaco Arete One is a really good choice and good value for money.

It's wise to think carefully about the size of room or the amount of moisture the dehumidifier is going to be up against. The 12l version would suit a small-medium size room with mild humidity, but if you have a big or very damp-prone house - or you're drying a lot of washing - the 20 or 25l model really does the job well.

It's also worth considering the fact that a dehumidifier can to save you money on your energy bills. Using our central heating less due to price rises has had a big impact on the humidity of our home, and the Arete One helps keep this in check at a low cost per hour so we don't have to resort to having the heating on more than necessary, or worse - keeping the windows open during the winter. Meaco have spent 5 years developing the Arete range to be both efficient and ultra low-energy, making them better value in the long run compared to lower-priced competitors with a higher price-per-hour. What's more, there's a 5-year warranty for extra peace of mind.

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How we tested

Our reviewer Tina tested the MeacoDry Arete One over the course of a year in her 2-bedroom house. She tested it mostly in the spare bedroom while drying laundry, noting how effective it was at drying washing and reducing moisture, mould, musty smells and humidity levels. 

Tina also took note of how straightforward the dehumidifier was to set up, empty and what it’s like to use day to day.

To give a comprehensive view of the Arete One range, we also tested the 10l Arete One in a 3-bedroom house. We tested it in a medium-sized living room and on the upstairs landing, noting how efficient, loud and user-friendly it was.

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