Small Dehumidifier Advice
Discussion
Afternoon,
After a recommendation for a small dehumidifier if anyone has recently purchased one?
Recently moved into a small detached property after spending the past few months refurbishing.
The property was constructed in the mid-80s, we fitted a new combi boiler along with rads.
We are keeping the flow temperature around 65, with the heating timed using a Hive,
During the night, the heating is set to 15C, morning and late afternoon the temperature setpoint is 20C.
I have found over the past month or so that we have a lot of condensation, particularly on the first floor of a morning, further made worse by showers.etc
We have steam extraction in the bathroom, but doesn't seem to make much difference - I tend to open the window and leave on the catch during the day to allow some flow. Bathroom walls are tiled, so lots of condensation forms.
The double-glazing was replaced in 2004, none of it seems to have blown - I do plan on replacing the glass at somepoint, but could do with getting back on my feet before spending on the house again.
The first floor is around 60m2 total across 4 rooms, Im thinking of purchasing a small dehumidifier to keep mold / damp at bay during the colder months, with the potential to keep open windows at a minimum to prevent too much heat loss.
I have seen some £150-200 jobbies from the likes of B&Q / Argos, but are they any good?
Many thanks!
After a recommendation for a small dehumidifier if anyone has recently purchased one?
Recently moved into a small detached property after spending the past few months refurbishing.
The property was constructed in the mid-80s, we fitted a new combi boiler along with rads.
We are keeping the flow temperature around 65, with the heating timed using a Hive,
During the night, the heating is set to 15C, morning and late afternoon the temperature setpoint is 20C.
I have found over the past month or so that we have a lot of condensation, particularly on the first floor of a morning, further made worse by showers.etc
We have steam extraction in the bathroom, but doesn't seem to make much difference - I tend to open the window and leave on the catch during the day to allow some flow. Bathroom walls are tiled, so lots of condensation forms.
The double-glazing was replaced in 2004, none of it seems to have blown - I do plan on replacing the glass at somepoint, but could do with getting back on my feet before spending on the house again.
The first floor is around 60m2 total across 4 rooms, Im thinking of purchasing a small dehumidifier to keep mold / damp at bay during the colder months, with the potential to keep open windows at a minimum to prevent too much heat loss.
I have seen some £150-200 jobbies from the likes of B&Q / Argos, but are they any good?
Many thanks!
I've managed things well in my moderate-sized house with a 10 litre capacity unit around the sort of price you've mentioned. You will need to move it around, of course. Try one in the bedroom in the mornings and you'll see how much it sucks out of the air. When you're satisfied (you will be) then buy another one or two to use in other rooms if you have the space. It works really well for drying clothes in winter indoors and avoiding it smelling awful and/or covering the rads with wet clothes. You'll need to run it overnight but it doesn't cost much especially compared to a tumble drier.
I'd recommend something like this: https://amzn.to/3Has8vb
It's a decent brand and really does the job.
If you want to dry clothes, then blast the clothing with a fan (normal deskfan) to create air movement and use the dehumidifier to dry the air. You could dry clothes without a dehumidifier but you'll get a much increased humidity/dampness and resulting mould.
I'd recommend something like this: https://amzn.to/3Has8vb
It's a decent brand and really does the job.
If you want to dry clothes, then blast the clothing with a fan (normal deskfan) to create air movement and use the dehumidifier to dry the air. You could dry clothes without a dehumidifier but you'll get a much increased humidity/dampness and resulting mould.
Bought one of these a month or so back.
We’ve been amazed at how much water it collects and how quickly.
https://www.johnlewis.com/meaco-arete-one-dehumidi...
We’ve been amazed at how much water it collects and how quickly.
https://www.johnlewis.com/meaco-arete-one-dehumidi...
I use one of these (or rather the mk5 version) in my garage: https://www.amazon.co.uk/EcoAir-DD1-CLASSIC-MK5-De...
It's been there for 8 years and just hit its first problem - the stepper motor which drives the desiccant wheel failed. I replaced that for about £20 and now it's chugging away happily again but I did notice some evidence of leaking inside so I think it's reaching the end of its useful life. It's been worked pretty hard for most of that time, keeping the garage dry when we regularly put cars away wet, so I think it's done very well and I was quite impressed that spare parts were still very easy to come by a good number of years after that particular model went out of production. All in all I would recommend the brand, although that particular model is a bit above your stated budget.
ETA: It is moderately loud though, which might be annoying if using it indoors.
It's been there for 8 years and just hit its first problem - the stepper motor which drives the desiccant wheel failed. I replaced that for about £20 and now it's chugging away happily again but I did notice some evidence of leaking inside so I think it's reaching the end of its useful life. It's been worked pretty hard for most of that time, keeping the garage dry when we regularly put cars away wet, so I think it's done very well and I was quite impressed that spare parts were still very easy to come by a good number of years after that particular model went out of production. All in all I would recommend the brand, although that particular model is a bit above your stated budget.
ETA: It is moderately loud though, which might be annoying if using it indoors.
Meaco
I bought this a year or so ago - excellent machine, really well designed ergonomics with integrated wheels to move it effortlessly and handle that recesses into the top when not in use, and a well designed water container with handle that is easy to carry when emptying. Fairly quiet.. Looks pretty stylish as far as these things can ever be
https://www.meacodehumidifiers.co.uk/products/meac...
I bought this a year or so ago - excellent machine, really well designed ergonomics with integrated wheels to move it effortlessly and handle that recesses into the top when not in use, and a well designed water container with handle that is easy to carry when emptying. Fairly quiet.. Looks pretty stylish as far as these things can ever be
https://www.meacodehumidifiers.co.uk/products/meac...
I have 2 Ecoair dehumidifiers that can used from time to time - v pleased with them.
Are you drying clothes inside the house? If yes you almost certainly need a dehumidifier. You can keep moisture from the shower down by using a squeegee on the walls of the shower stall and the tray otherwise all that water evaporates into the air and will find a cooler source to condense on.
Are you drying clothes inside the house? If yes you almost certainly need a dehumidifier. You can keep moisture from the shower down by using a squeegee on the walls of the shower stall and the tray otherwise all that water evaporates into the air and will find a cooler source to condense on.
Why not fit a PIV unit - the wattage consumed 4-12 W is a fraction of a dehumidifier (even a small one)
We run ours overnight and a few hours in the daytime (basically for 2 hours after we shower in the morning because the extractor fan would have to run that long to get the humidity level down in the bathroom)
Big thread on them Here - Clicky
We run ours overnight and a few hours in the daytime (basically for 2 hours after we shower in the morning because the extractor fan would have to run that long to get the humidity level down in the bathroom)
Big thread on them Here - Clicky
Ace-T said:
Another vote for the Meaco here.
However if our house was a more modern build I would go with the PIV option.
Early 80's build (is that classed as a modern build these days?) - no regrets on installing a PIV unit to resolve condensation issues that were a consequence of improving insulation?? However if our house was a more modern build I would go with the PIV option.
We do have a de-humidifier (Meaco funnily enough) but we use it for winter laundry drying in a bathroom - never use it as a general dehumidifier in the house as it pulls about 750 W in laundry mode
Just got the Meaco 10L last week and so far so good (won't give a full review until I've used it longer). Picked it up for £150 from Amazon.
Mind boggling how so far I've emptied a full container every day, equating to approx 10litres. We were having the same issue of heavy condensation overnight in the bedroom with water running down the windows which has now been reduced by about 70%. It's also very handy for drying clothes indoors.
Just bear in mind that it's a bit of weight to move around constantly to different rooms and up and down stairs if you aren't powerfully built.
Mind boggling how so far I've emptied a full container every day, equating to approx 10litres. We were having the same issue of heavy condensation overnight in the bedroom with water running down the windows which has now been reduced by about 70%. It's also very handy for drying clothes indoors.
Just bear in mind that it's a bit of weight to move around constantly to different rooms and up and down stairs if you aren't powerfully built.
Edited by ujio on Thursday 4th January 09:48
Blue Oval84 said:
Not much to add that's not already said, other than to give the Meaco another vote, I have a 25L Arete model keeping the humidity under control in my flat and it's great.
Three absolutely essential additions for a flat, as well as a small house, in my view is a dehumidifier, an air purifier and genuine kitchen extraction. The typical lower volume of such properties makes them super vulnerable to the addition of humans and even animals in general but also vulnerable to lifestyle. This time of year in a typical urban apartment we tend not to fling the windows wide open and so all the humidity from human action and all the air pollution from our cooking habits, skin shedding etc doesn't just create an environment of excessive humidity but also really toxic air.
About ten years ago I first put a Meaco into a hall cabinet of my London flat and just ran it for a few hours overnight and with three bathrooms and three other humans in the property it completely halted the condensation that was often present on the windows in the morning. Then I became interested in domestic air quality as I wasn't believing the content being pushed by the London Mayor so began doing some research and soon realised what my university degree had been suggesting to me which was that even in a clean London home the indoor air quality was worse than the outdoor air quality. You then realise that you spend around 20 hours a day indoors so actually, outside air quality is completely irrelevant and the air quality of your home is critical.
So I bought an air purifier unit that was the same sort of size as the dehumidifier and sat it in a new, larger hall cabinet. This purifier also connected to the internet and delivered data to the AirMatters app and I have to say it was a revelation. First of all it would go absolutely mental when someone was cooking, if the wife fired up one of those annoying candles to reenact pre-War poverty and a neighbours mutt would send it off on one just by dashing around the hallway a little. What it showed was that the air quality in a modest sized property with a few people in it just living normally was horrendous.
First step was to ditch the recycling cooker hood system with an actual extraction system. This has a manifest impact as by running it at its lowest setting perpetually you created a negative air pressure in the kitchen that not only prevented the kitchen derived pollution from spreading round the property but removed a lot of airborne dust from the home before it settled.
By making a few simple adjustments the internal air quality was brought up to the same standard as the outside and maintained at a constantly good level. The health benefits were really noticeable and I'm not one to generally focus on things like that but catarrh levels for everyone plummeted and you just seemed to get fewer headaches or feelings of lethargy and or course much less dusting and the paintwork remained cleaner.
DonkeyApple said:
Three absolutely essential additions for a flat, as well as a small house, in my view is a dehumidifier, an air purifier and genuine kitchen extraction. The typical lower volume of such properties makes them super vulnerable to the addition of humans and even animals in general but also vulnerable to lifestyle.
This time of year in a typical urban apartment we tend not to fling the windows wide open and so all the humidity from human action and all the air pollution from our cooking habits, skin shedding etc doesn't just create an environment of excessive humidity but also really toxic air.
About ten years ago I first put a Meaco into a hall cabinet of my London flat and just ran it for a few hours overnight and with three bathrooms and three other humans in the property it completely halted the condensation that was often present on the windows in the morning. Then I became interested in domestic air quality as I wasn't believing the content being pushed by the London Mayor so began doing some research and soon realised what my university degree had been suggesting to me which was that even in a clean London home the indoor air quality was worse than the outdoor air quality. You then realise that you spend around 20 hours a day indoors so actually, outside air quality is completely irrelevant and the air quality of your home is critical.
So I bought an air purifier unit that was the same sort of size as the dehumidifier and sat it in a new, larger hall cabinet. This purifier also connected to the internet and delivered data to the AirMatters app and I have to say it was a revelation. First of all it would go absolutely mental when someone was cooking, if the wife fired up one of those annoying candles to reenact pre-War poverty and a neighbours mutt would send it off on one just by dashing around the hallway a little. What it showed was that the air quality in a modest sized property with a few people in it just living normally was horrendous.
First step was to ditch the recycling cooker hood system with an actual extraction system. This has a manifest impact as by running it at its lowest setting perpetually you created a negative air pressure in the kitchen that not only prevented the kitchen derived pollution from spreading round the property but removed a lot of airborne dust from the home before it settled.
By making a few simple adjustments the internal air quality was brought up to the same standard as the outside and maintained at a constantly good level. The health benefits were really noticeable and I'm not one to generally focus on things like that but catarrh levels for everyone plummeted and you just seemed to get fewer headaches or feelings of lethargy and or course much less dusting and the paintwork remained cleaner.
Great post.This time of year in a typical urban apartment we tend not to fling the windows wide open and so all the humidity from human action and all the air pollution from our cooking habits, skin shedding etc doesn't just create an environment of excessive humidity but also really toxic air.
About ten years ago I first put a Meaco into a hall cabinet of my London flat and just ran it for a few hours overnight and with three bathrooms and three other humans in the property it completely halted the condensation that was often present on the windows in the morning. Then I became interested in domestic air quality as I wasn't believing the content being pushed by the London Mayor so began doing some research and soon realised what my university degree had been suggesting to me which was that even in a clean London home the indoor air quality was worse than the outdoor air quality. You then realise that you spend around 20 hours a day indoors so actually, outside air quality is completely irrelevant and the air quality of your home is critical.
So I bought an air purifier unit that was the same sort of size as the dehumidifier and sat it in a new, larger hall cabinet. This purifier also connected to the internet and delivered data to the AirMatters app and I have to say it was a revelation. First of all it would go absolutely mental when someone was cooking, if the wife fired up one of those annoying candles to reenact pre-War poverty and a neighbours mutt would send it off on one just by dashing around the hallway a little. What it showed was that the air quality in a modest sized property with a few people in it just living normally was horrendous.
First step was to ditch the recycling cooker hood system with an actual extraction system. This has a manifest impact as by running it at its lowest setting perpetually you created a negative air pressure in the kitchen that not only prevented the kitchen derived pollution from spreading round the property but removed a lot of airborne dust from the home before it settled.
By making a few simple adjustments the internal air quality was brought up to the same standard as the outside and maintained at a constantly good level. The health benefits were really noticeable and I'm not one to generally focus on things like that but catarrh levels for everyone plummeted and you just seemed to get fewer headaches or feelings of lethargy and or course much less dusting and the paintwork remained cleaner.
My Meaco actually has a HEPA filter in it as well, so whilst it may not completely clean all the air in my flat, I'm aware it's certainly filtering out a lot of the rubbish, likewise I'm always diligent about using the kitchen extractor. What I do less often is open the windows because I live on top of a very, very noisy and dirty main road, it's deeply unpleasant sitting with the roar of traffic in the living room. I feel that having the Meaco on is at least improving things a bit.
Blue Oval84 said:
Great post.
My Meaco actually has a HEPA filter in it as well, so whilst it may not completely clean all the air in my flat, I'm aware it's certainly filtering out a lot of the rubbish, likewise I'm always diligent about using the kitchen extractor. What I do less often is open the windows because I live on top of a very, very noisy and dirty main road, it's deeply unpleasant sitting with the roar of traffic in the living room. I feel that having the Meaco on is at least improving things a bit.
If you have the space then I can't recommend something like this enough: https://www.philips.co.uk/c-e/ho/air-purifier-and-...My Meaco actually has a HEPA filter in it as well, so whilst it may not completely clean all the air in my flat, I'm aware it's certainly filtering out a lot of the rubbish, likewise I'm always diligent about using the kitchen extractor. What I do less often is open the windows because I live on top of a very, very noisy and dirty main road, it's deeply unpleasant sitting with the roar of traffic in the living room. I feel that having the Meaco on is at least improving things a bit.
They make such a noticeable difference to an urban apartment even one that is kept clean.
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