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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To be disappointed with my dehumidifier

58 replies

nubnubnub · 09/10/2022 08:34

I bought a Meaco 12l low energy dehumidifier a few weeks ago to help dry our endless washing instead of the tumble drier.

Thing is, it's not drying clothes. They're certainly drier than just leaving them in the clothes airer but they're not dry enough to go straight away. I've put it on 9pm-7am and there's 10kg of washing from the machine spread out over 3 different airers.

It's cost an absolute fortune and I'm so pissed off it's not doing what I bought it for.

Am I doing anything wrong?

OP posts:

MakeMineALarge1 · 09/10/2022 08:36

Even with a dehumidifier I always leave clothes on the maiden for 24 hrs
It's not going to dry your clothes as such, just absorb moisture in the air.

cluecu · 09/10/2022 08:45

Is the water tank full and if so, how does it take to fill up? Mine tends to get full if it's on overnight with a full maiden of washing. I think my actual tank is 2 litre capacity.

newroundhere · 09/10/2022 08:46

Ours is great but it doesn't dry everything over night. Some stuff definitely needs longer.

RewildingAmbridge · 09/10/2022 08:47

Ours has a laundry setting, if I leave it on the normal setting it takes ages

cluecu · 09/10/2022 08:48

Same here, plus if there is other moisture in the room or if the room is larger it can take longer. I have the Aribio model and really like it.

Hibiscusroses · 09/10/2022 08:48

Are you setting it to laundry mode?

mommybear1 · 09/10/2022 08:48

I also have a Meaco are you putting it in a closed room windows and doors shut? I find mine works best when left overnight however I have tested between the tumble dryer and the dehumidifier and found there is not much difference on cost which was surprising. Sounds obvious as well but the more washing you have in the room the longer to dry if I have one airer it drys in approx 6 hours.

Kpo58 · 09/10/2022 08:49

How warm is your home? It's not going to do much if your home is really cold as the moisture won't be in the air and will be on surfaces instead.

Suzi888 · 09/10/2022 08:50

How big is the room you are putting it in?

They aren’t meant to dry clothes are they, as in it’s not their purpose they just remove moisture from the air. So it’s a bonus if they do dry clothes, imagine it’ll take longer than you are leaving the clothes out for.

TinySaltLick · 09/10/2022 08:50

Isn't a large heated drying rack more effective? (and uses less power I imagine?)

jmo1981 · 09/10/2022 08:50

Mine runs for about 9 hours til the tank is full, and that's 1 load of washing on 1 airer, which I leave on for about 24 hours. At which point it's all dry. Not sure what 10kg of washing is - more than 1 load? If so, it's probably too much for 1 dehumidifier to cope with.

astridforty · 09/10/2022 08:53

Laundry mode and shut it a small room. Ideally one that gets a bit of sunlight and so is naturally warmish. Ours is bloody indispensable.

ImAvingOops · 09/10/2022 08:56

I think I have the same one as you. When I first got it my house was cold and had a lot of condensation so I ran it continuously for a few days until the house was dry and warm. Now I put it on overnight (except in summer) to maintain. So I think that if your house has condensation or you are adding a lot of moisture to the house with laundry, it will take a lot longer than you are giving it to dry clothes. Remember the dehumidifier is drawing moisture from the whole house, not just from your laundry.

I have a smaller dehumidifier that I put in a cupboard with my laundry hung up on hangers and the door shut and it mostly dries overnight, except for particularly chunky hoodies.

TheTeenageYears · 09/10/2022 09:08

I have the same one. One regular load of washing so probably 4-5kg on one airer in not totally enclosed but not just in a completely open room would see much but not all of it dry overnight in a room temp of 18-19 degrees with no heating. The water tank would very likely to be full in that time too. Over the summer with no washing the tank needed emptying pretty much bang on every 24 hours but at least every 12 hours with washing. I think you need to be able to leave the washing on the airer for 24 hours rather than overnight but could probably just run the dehumidifier for overnight to get rid of the worst of the moisture.

A dehumidifier isn't a tumble dryer but it can massively assist the drying process of both clothes and the house. You can use it to help dry clothes you could never put in a tumble dryer and having a dryer house will lower energy consumption for heating as it's quicker/more effective to heat a dryer space than one containing moisture.

Frazzled2207 · 09/10/2022 09:12

i don’t think you can rely on it to dry clothes per se it can just help speed up the process a bit and remove the moisture from the air

recommend a Lakeland heated airer. However with the mild weather I have to say I have managed to not used either this autumn so far (family of four).

NewYorkLassie · 09/10/2022 09:14

Dehumidifiers speed up drying because they absorb moisture from the air. They are not clothes dryers specifically. I think you’re expectations were possibly a bit too high.

Also 10kg in a lot of laundry. Do you have it spread out enough? Any clothes packed close together will take an age to dry. I have a single load on a normal airer, no dehumidifier and it is almost dry in about 15 hours.

Cattytabby · 09/10/2022 09:20

A lot of dehumidifiers actually cost more to run than drying a load in the tumble dryer. It's worth checking how much it costs to leave it on for hours, if the aim is to dry clothes.

SpikyHatePotato · 09/10/2022 09:20

Also, are the windows closed in the room you used? Even open a crack means you are dehumidifying the outside!

CranfordScones · 09/10/2022 10:01

I tend to let the washing dry out a bit on the airer so the air is damp, then put the dehumidifier on for an hour to 'dry the air'. A good dehumidifier seems to pull moisture out of the air quicker than wet washing can put the moisture back, certainly in a room at about 15C. It helps if the dehumdifier is blowing towards the airer, because it's displacing the damp air with newly dry air.

Pumbles · 10/10/2022 00:03

I found that I had to run it a lot in general to dehumidify the actual house before it would do much to the clothes - if the rest of your home is humid it isn't going to magically just know to dry your clothes. I have the same model as you and we run it every day for a bit, and then put it next to the clothes and it does the trick, but you can't only use it for clothes and expect it to work.

Worthyornot · 10/10/2022 01:01

We are using our tumble drier almost always now- nothing will convince me otherwise. The heated airers - absolute crap. Dehumidifier- slow as anything. I absolutely loathe clothes drying around the house and taking a day or 2 to dry! I also loathe drying over radiators, doorways and the like. We have a heat pump one and it took just over 1.5 hours to do a load tonight. All clothes bone dry, packed away and no clothes horse in sight. Sorry op I feel your frustration, we tried it ALL before resorting to the tumble drier.

Discovereads · 10/10/2022 01:42

Sorry but I agree you need to look into a heat pump tumble dryer.
You’ve just spent around 82p in electricity to not dry your clothes.

HighlandPony · 10/10/2022 01:44

I’ve got two industrial ones for work and they wouldn’t dry clothes either. They take moisture out the air so unless there’s heat in hour house releasing that moisture into the air quicker it’s not going to do what you want

melj1213 · 10/10/2022 02:05

YABU as you don't seem to understand how a dehumidifier works and are expecting it to perform miracles.

They are not meant as a direct alternative to a tumble dryer, they just aid to speed up the air drying process as they take the extra moisture from the air.

We always have an airer on the go as we don't have a tumble dryer due to lack of space. I generally expect clothes to take about 24hrs to dry when just air drying on the airer but if I put the washing on at teatime, leave the dehumidifier on overnight and close all the doors and windows in that room then by morning the dehumidifier will be full and the clothes will be almost dry.

In summer, that is more than enough, but when it is cold in winter I have to make sure I have the heating on to get the room warm and dry first, otherwise by the time the dehumidifier has stopped the room being cold/damp it's already full and then can't "assist" the clothes drying process

KnickerlessParsons · 10/10/2022 02:10

A dehumidifier won't suck water out of your clothes. It will suck the moisture out of the air once it's evaporated out of the clothes. If that's the basis it was sold

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