The best dehumidifier UK buyers can choose depends on room size, temperature, laundry drying and noise. For most homes, a compressor model is the sensible starting point. It is the most common type among the models reviewed by Expert Reviews and is generally suited to normal household use.
Our five-product shortlist combines the named recommendations from Expert Reviews with retailer pricing and specifications for the Meaco models.
| Model | Best for | Capacity or type | Listed price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meaco Arete Two 20L | Best all-rounder | 20L compressor model | £300 at Argos |
| MeacoDry Arete One 20L | Larger homes and laundry | Up to 20L per day | £259 at Currys; £260 at Argos |
| MeacoDry Arete One 12L | Smaller homes and rooms | Up to 12L per day | £180 at Argos |
| VonHaus 12L | Best budget choice for a smaller home | 12L model | £115 in Expert Reviews’ listing |
| EcoAir DD1 Simple | Cold rooms | Sorption model | £229 in Expert Reviews’ listing |
Prices shown are the listed prices from the linked retailer or Expert Reviews pages.
Expert Reviews names the Meaco Arete Two 20L its best all-round model, the VonHaus 12L its best budget option for smaller homes and the EcoAir DD1 Simple its choice for cold spaces. It also names the Meaco DD8L Zambezi for low noise and laundry drying.
Choose a Meaco 12L for a smaller home, a single room or occasional laundry drying. Choose a Meaco 20L when you need more moisture removal for a larger home, an open-plan area or frequent indoor drying.
The MeacoDry Arete One 12L at Argos is rated for up to 12 litres per day. It has a 2.5-litre tank, a stated noise level of 35dB, an H13 HEPA filter and a five-year guarantee. Argos lists it at £180.00 and gives a running cost of about 4p per hour, based on an electricity price of 26.11p/kWh.
The 20L version is the better fit when a 12L unit would need to work hard or when laundry is a regular household task. The MeacoDry Arete One 20L at Argos has capacity of up to 20 litres per day, a 4.8-litre tank, 216W power consumption, a stated noise level of 38dB and a five-year guarantee. Argos lists it at £260.00.
A Meaco 12L is the practical choice for a smaller property, a bedroom, or drying clothes in one contained room. Its lower purchase price and lower stated hourly cost make it easier to match to moderate use.
The Arete One 12L also combines moisture removal with an H13 HEPA filter. HEPA means high-efficiency particulate air filtration; here it is a stated feature rather than a reason to treat the appliance as a substitute for ventilation or cleaning. The five-year guarantee is useful if you expect to keep the appliance for regular seasonal use.
For laundry, put the unit near the clothes. Which? found that an appliance almost halved drying time in a test using two identical laundry loads. It also measured about two litres of water removed from the air during the laundry test.
Buy the Meaco 20L when you have a larger home, open-plan space or frequent laundry to dry. The larger tank also means less frequent emptying than the 12L model, although the machine still needs checking during heavy use.
The MeacoDry Arete One 20L has a smart laundry mode, night mode, HEPA filter and automatic shut-off. Currys also lists an airflow of 160m³/h for the model. Its Currys price is £259.00, while Argos lists the same model at £260.00.
Meaco’s range also includes the Arete Two 20L. Argos lists that model at £300.00, and Expert Reviews names it the best all-rounder in its guide.
The best dehumidifier for drying clothes is a model that can run efficiently in a closed room, has enough extraction capacity for the load and can direct dry air around the clothes. A dedicated laundry mode is convenient, but it is not essential.
Which? says you can use a target humidity of 30–40% when a machine has no laundry mode. The MeacoDry Arete One 20L does have a smart laundry mode. Expert Reviews selects the Meaco DD8L Zambezi for low noise and laundry drying.
Which? gives a broader figure of about 7p per hour for its Best Buy dehumidifiers. Its wider comparison found that Best Buy dehumidifiers cost between 2p and 13p per hour, with an average of about 6p per hour.
The VonHaus 12L is Expert Reviews’ best budget dehumidifier for smaller homes, with a listed price of £115.
It is the model to investigate first if the purchase price matters more than having the larger tank and extra capacity of a 20L machine. A 12L model is also a sensible match for a contained task such as drying laundry in one room. For a larger home or persistent heavy moisture, the Meaco 20L options offer more capacity and additional verified features.
Budget buyers should compare more than the ticket price. Check the appliance’s capacity, noise information, tank size, controls, guarantee and expected electricity use. A cheaper machine that needs much longer to complete the job may not remain the cheaper option in regular use.
Choose a sorption model for a cold space, and a compressor model for ordinary heated rooms. Expert Reviews names the EcoAir DD1 Simple as the best option for cold spaces, while Which? notes that sorption dehumidifiers normally cost more to run than compressor models.
Compressor models use a refrigeration circuit to condense moisture from the air. Sorption models use a moisture-absorbing material and are therefore a different design choice. The right option depends on where the appliance will operate, not just on the headline extraction figure.
For a typical living room or bedroom, the Meaco Arete models are the more straightforward choices in this guide. For a consistently cold area, the EcoAir DD1 Simple deserves attention despite its higher listed running-cost tendency. For low noise combined with laundry drying, Expert Reviews’ specialist choice is the Meaco DD8L Zambezi.
Use the appliance’s hourly figure and multiply it by the time it runs. Argos gives the MeacoDry Arete One 12L a running cost of about 4p per hour at an electricity price of 26.11p/kWh. That works out at approximately £0.96 for 24 hours.
The MeacoDry Arete One 20L uses 216W. At 26.11p/kWh, running at full power continuously gives a theoretical cost of about 5.64p per hour, or approximately £1.35 over 24 hours. The Currys listing includes automatic shut-off.
Which? gives a broader range of 2p to 13p per hour for Best Buy dehumidifiers, with an average of about 6p per hour. Sorption models generally cost more to operate than compressor models, so type matters when comparing an appliance for long daily use.
Argos and Currys have the clearest listed prices for the Meaco models in this guide. Argos lists the Arete One 12L at £180, the Arete One 20L at £260 and the Arete Two 20L at £300. Currys lists the Arete One 20L at £259.
Retailer searches for names such as “dehumidifier Screwfix”, “dehumidifier B&Q”, “dehumidifier B&M” and “Toolstation dehumidifier” may return other products, but the choice should still be based on capacity, operating cost and intended room rather than retailer name alone.
Start with the room and the task, then compare capacity and running cost. This short checklist avoids paying for features that do not match your use.
Relative humidity is the amount of water vapour in the air compared with the maximum it could hold at that temperature. Use the appliance’s humidity setting rather than running it continuously by default.
It can be worthwhile if you regularly dry clothes indoors or deal with condensation, mould, poor ventilation or damp conditions. Which? found that a dehumidifier almost halved laundry drying time in its test. Running costs depend on the model and hours of operation.
For an all-round choice, Expert Reviews names the Meaco Arete Two 20L. It names the VonHaus 12L as the budget choice for smaller homes, the EcoAir DD1 Simple for cold spaces and the Meaco DD8L Zambezi for low noise and laundry drying. For a Meaco 12L with a verified £180 Argos price, 35dB stated noise level and five-year guarantee, the MeacoDry Arete One 12L is the smaller-home option.
A MeacoDry Arete One 12L costs about £0.96 for 24 hours using Argos’ stated 4p-per-hour figure. A MeacoDry Arete One 20L costs about £1.35 for 24 hours if its 216W power draw continues at full output and electricity costs 26.11p/kWh.
