Can anyone recommend a good dehumidifier?

[DanielaDressen]

So we have a Meaco one downstairs which I have to say I’m not impressed by. Cost nearly £200. It runs 24/7, never seems to get the humidity below 65% and only needs the little tank emptying out every few days so doesn’t actually seem to suck much water up. Which is odd as it has good reviews.

im after another one for our bedroom now as am fed up with the smell of damp (I have bedroom window open all day currently and this isn’t helping). So figured I’d try shutting the window and running a dehumidifier instead?

We have the heating up to 20 degrees as below that we get mould. So I’m heating and airing the house.

so yes if anyone is happy with their dehumidifier and it actually seems to fill the water tank up any recommendations much appreciated.

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If you're short on time, here are the top dehumidifier recommendations from this thread:

• MeacoDry Arete® One 12L dual Dehumidifier & HEPA air purifier, from £160
• Russell Hobbs RHDH1001 10 Litre/Day Dehumidifier, £89
• Inventor 20L/Day Dehumidifier, £146
• EcoAir DD1 Classic MK6 Grey Desiccant Dehumidifier, £243
• Blyss 16l/d Dehumidifier WDH-316DB, £190

For more Mumsnetter-approved dehumidifiers, take a look at our round-up of the UK's best dehumidifiers.
MNHQ

You can feel the cool air, our thermostat used to be in the hallway but we had it moved. The other thing we now tend only have it on overnight. When we first had it installed we had it on 24hrs a day, but now find we don't need to.

So dehumidifier is on again this morning in the bedroom. Started at 99% which in my mind is 1% better than being underwater 🤷‍♀️🙈. Down to 94% now. Dh accused me of reading it upside down and reckoned it was 66% but the 94% reading has proved me correct.

ive talked to dh about the positive pressure loft system and he is like “so you put all the damp air in the loft”. As if that’s a big negative and will rot the roof. I’m like yes, because it’s better than being in the house and there’s better ventilation in the loft so the damp escapes!

he told me t clean the filter, I said I have and that there’s also new filters turning up today which he reckons are a waste of money and not needed if I’m hoovering the filter. He reckons there’s nothing wrong with the dehumidifier and that our house just isn’t that damp and that’s why we don’t have to empty the tray more frequently. It smells damp and we have mould……the dehumidifier has an automatic cut off so if the house wasn’t damp it wouldn’t be running 24 hours a day. So he told me if i don’t think it’s right then buy a new one. So back to square one.

But in 2019 I had the same issue, we had another brand of expensive dehumidifier which was running all the time and not sucking up much water which is when I bought this one. Maybe dh is right and the house isn’t that damp 🤷‍♀️

We have this:
https://www.screwfix.com/p/blyss-wdh-316db-16ltr-dehumidifier/368gy

Find it really good. If we put it in a room with clothes drying, it will need emptying after maybe 7/8 hours. It’s not the most portable but we use it mostly in the same room. Have brought it into my bedroom in the summer heatwave as I was sweating so much and the room felt horribly damp. Tank full before morning 🤢

How do you know if the dehumidifier will blow cold or hot air - I'm about to buy one probably a 20l meaco

I think that if not one but two expensive dehumidifiers are showing high levels of humidity, but not doing their job, you’re not reading the instructions properly.

As I said upthread, they’re not complicated machines, and even cheap ones work very effectively.

99% humidity is ridiculously high. Do you have one of those (daft) freestanding baths in your bedroom?

No bath in the bedroom. The walls do feel damp to the touch in the depths of winter. I’m not sure what we could be doing wrong but I appreciate it’s possible. So read the instructions again last night, it’s set to cut off at 50% humidity. And apart from that setting it seems to be a case of turn or turn off. Dh currently has it in bits, no idea why he’s taking it apart but he’s right into the workings of it. He’s an engineer so i think he’s just decided to have a poke about.

Oh and I moved it down to the utility room a short while ago and it went down to showing 80% humidity so it’s not like it’s just falsely showing 99% all the time.

If it is a dessicant type it will warm the air more than a compressor type

Might you have a leak somewhere?

99% humidity is crazy.

Have you tried putting the dehumidifier in one room with all doors and windows shut? What does it do then?

How warm is it where your dehumidifier is? Not the setting of the thermostat, the temperature from a thermometer.

Compressor dehumidifiers struggle to work in cooler temperatures. Our old one struggled as we don't have central heating, and the house tends to get cold. It would run for ages without lowering the humidity much or collecting much water. We bought the Meaco Zambezi, which is a dessicant type suitable for garages/cellars/boats, etc, and that works much better.

I live in a very old and chilly house, in which there’s a little dormer space that gets very damp from condensation. I put my old (20 years +) dehumidifier on in there 30 min ago. The humidity readout said 80. It’s now 45. (I habitually set it to 40). It’s also much warmer.

You really shouldn’t be having all these problems with your dehumidifiers, OP.

I have a Meaco 20L. I live in a Georgian flat and my Meaco works tirelessly! I don't like to state the obvious, but could it be that your place isn't particularly damp?!
I have to empty mine once every 24 hours usually

We have this dessicant one:

https://ecoair.org/products/ecoair-dd1-classic-mk6-desiccant-dehumidifier-with-ioniser-and-nano-silver-filter-7-5l-per-day-blue-dd-100002

It's 8 years old now and still works fine.

99% is crazy, I would definitely check whether you have a leak somewhere asap. I've only seen mine go over 80 when I've put the washing out in our tiny laundry room and forgotten to turn the dehumidifier on, I can't imagine a bedroom being higher than a tiny windowless room with wet washing unless there is an underlying issue.

This is what dh says but then why does the level on the screen say a high percent? Plus the bedroom if we leave the bedroom door shut during the day would smell damp unless the window was open. Obviously I don’t run the dehumidifier with an open window. Sadly we have to leave the door shut as one of the cats wees on my bed!

Yes that’s what I did yesterday in the bedroom and it went down from something like 76% to 74% in 8 hours! With about 200mls of water collected. It was running the whole time. Door and window closed.

not sure what the bedroom temperature was, the landing thermostat was measuring the temperature at 19. I can’t imagine it was much colder than that but maybe a bit, but 16-17 at the lowest.

i do notice occasionally a red light comes on next to a snowflake symbol which according to the instructions means the temp is too low and the water has frozen or something on a sensor. Which is odd because the house is not that cold. But the red light is only on for a few minutes max and then clears . Maybe it is faulty.

the new filters have arrived and Ive put one in.

We have this one . About 8 years old - amazing ! Smart settings , low energy, incredibly efficient and quiet . On wheels so no lugging between rooms . It has an oscillating fan so brilliant for laundry .electic 20 l model

Ours is an ebac, it's been amazing in all the years we've had it.

So according to Google normal dehumidifiers work best at 20c and above, so maybe I need a desiccant one.

Previous one was an ebac. It also didn’t seem to suck much up but I’m beginning to accept it’s us, not the dehumidifier as such that isn’t working 🙈

Forget dessicant and go for refridgerant. The cheapest one screwfix sell will do the trick.

I think that’s what i currently have.

I though all Meacos were the dessicant type.

This is the one I have. Current downstairs temp is 18 degrees, heating has just come on. Red light currently showing on the dehumidifier again next to the snowflake symbol so i think the temp is too cold.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Meaco-Dehumidifier-Purifier-Condensation-Exclusive/dp/B07XCWZ5J7/ref=sr

Could it be that the room is so damp it's just taking a long time? Although I would have thought it would be pulling more water out if that's the case. Maybe you need to leave it on for a few days and see what happens?

So this is what the instructions says about the red light, it goes into defrost mode if temp is too low. Says don’t use the unit under 5degrees, why is it going into defrost mode at 18degrees?