Dehumidifier energy usage, is it worth the extra upront cost?

Eldi_Dos

wittynamegoeshere said:

Meaco and Ebac both seem to be "reassuringly expensive", for those who like to pay more.

This may or may not mean they're better.  I have a pretty deep-rooted cynicism of these premium sort of things, but plenty of people drive around in BMWs and Audis so everyone definitely doesn't think the same way.

Have Ebac powepac which has been in use for drying laundry in winter since 2008, so even if it packs up this year will have worked out that less than £12 per year, if you buy online from Ebac you can get extended warranty.

Cannot say if BMWs or Audis are any good for drying laundry but can state that Skodas are not.

matelodave

I've got a Meaco dessicant dehumidifier which I got to use on my boat some 25 years ago and it's still going strong, keeping my man-cave dry and cosy, but its not everso cheap to run. As it was used on the boat and now in the shed it works well down to virtually zero degrees rather than needing a defrost cycle. I did originally have a compressor type, but it kept freezing and didn't last ever so long

Dessicant dehumidifiers use heaters and so cost quite a bit more to run than than a compressor type - mine gets through around 3kwh a day = £1 a day. whereas compressor units tend to be a cheaper to run but a bit more expensive to buy.

brock_the_badger

Eldi_Dos said:

wittynamegoeshere said:

Meaco and Ebac both seem to be "reassuringly expensive", for those who like to pay more.

This may or may not mean they're better.  I have a pretty deep-rooted cynicism of these premium sort of things, but plenty of people drive around in BMWs and Audis so everyone definitely doesn't think the same way.

Have Ebac powepac which has been in use for drying laundry in winter since 2008, so even if it packs up this year will have worked out that less than £12 per year, if you buy online from Ebac you can get extended warranty.

Cannot say if BMWs or Audis are any good for drying laundry but can state that Skodas are not.

Had a similar Ebac from new purchased direct . Went back 6 times under warranty  , packed in again when warranty had run out so I stripped it down . The internal damage caused by repeated repairs and the standard of repairs means I will never buy another Ebac again !

QrizB

Ally_E. said:

I prefer dessicating dehumidifier, it's less noisy, less bulky and work in lower temperatures.

The disadvantage is that they tend to use a more electricity than compressor ones do.

wittynamegoeshere

For anywhere unheated such as a boat, shed, workshop etc they possibly make sense despite the higher power consumption.  Plus the little bit of heat they provide to the space may be beneficial anyway, as a side-effect.

But I find that my Peltier one works fine in a cold room, just by using a timer to give 6hrs on, 2hrs off around the clock.  I sometimes hear cracking and clunking noises during its defrost period if I happen to be there at the time.

Full recommendation for cheapo brands from me - I have Xpelair, Midea and AirPro ones.  All have worked flawlessly, subject to the occasional filter clean and/or hoover out.

EssexHebridean

For information which may help some reading who are interested in establishing running costs. I ran mine last night, a pretty basic model (it's either on or off, essentially) which came from Screwfix originally IIRC. It ran for 6hrs and 45m and my Tapo tells me that it used a total of 1.257kWh - for me that is a cost of  approx 18.5p as it was running on our off-peak rate. 

A little further info: Ours is a 12l model, and was purchased in 2014 for £139.00 - it appears that the equivalent model now would be this one: https://www.screwfix.com/p/blyss-wdh-122e-12ltr-dehumidifier/494gy

k_man

EssexHebridean said:

For information which may help some reading who are interested in establishing running costs. I ran mine last night, a pretty basic model (it's either on or off, essentially) which came from Screwfix originally IIRC. It ran for 6hrs and 45m and my Tapo tells me that it used a total of 1.257kWh - for me that is a cost of  approx 18.5p as it was running on our off-peak rate. 

A little further info: Ours is a 12l model, and was purchased in 2014 for £139.00 - it appears that the equivalent model now would be this one: https://www.screwfix.com/p/blyss-wdh-122e-12ltr-dehumidifier/494gy

How much water was extracted?

I find as the temperature drops, the extraction drops, and so if not much water is extracted, that 1.2kWh is effectively heating.
This isn't as much as an issue, if you are using electric for heating anyway, albeit you may not want/need heating overnight.

wittynamegoeshere

I'd suggest that a more modern one with a humidistat or smart mode may be a good investment, definitely if buying but possibly even to replace an older one if paying standard tariff.  Also a humidity meter on the other side of the room is useful to get a good idea of what's actually being achieved.

I have three - one is completely manual, the other has a humidistat so shuts down its compressor but keeps the fan going while sampling the air.

The latest has a smart mode, which completely shuts down its fan too for a time.  Obviously it can't keep sampling the air once it's off, so presumably the shutdown time is an algorithm based on how wet it was before and how long it took to dry it.  It works really well - in a big (30sqm) but modern room it's probably off 75% of the time, saving lots of energy, while the humidity meter on the other side of the room is always showing below 60% humidity.

[Deleted User]

matelodave said:

I've got a Meaco dessicant dehumidifier which I got to use on my boat some 25 years ago and it's still going strong, keeping my man-cave dry and cosy, but its not everso cheap to run. As it was used on the boat and now in the shed it works well down to virtually zero degrees rather than needing a defrost cycle. I did originally have a compressor type, but it kept freezing and didn't last ever so long

Dessicant dehumidifiers use heaters and so cost quite a bit more to run than than a compressor type - mine gets through around 3kwh a day = £1 a day. whereas compressor units tend to be a cheaper to run but a bit more expensive to buy.

Yes I've also got a Meaco dessicant dehumidifier and agree about the running costs - at the low speed it uses 330W/hr but the higher settings can use 660W/hr!  At my old house the DD8L unit provided decent dehumidification (able to keep the house between 50-60% RH quite easily) and a welcome gentle heat.  I even left it on overnight with the bedroom door ajar (with a pet gate) and found that the humidity issues I had were largely gone.  Of course that was in the days of (relatively) cheap electricity.  Since last year a different home sees humidity levels much higher (going from 50-60 to 70-80) with more sparing use of the DD8L.  I have ordered another dehumifier (this time a refridgerant based) that uses approx 165W/hr so intend using it more extensively over this winter hoping to see the humidity come down in the bungalow as we are seeing tell-tale signs of condensation/mold in a few places once you start really looking.  I've calculated that if I were to run my DD8L for 8 hours/day over 100 days it would cost me £170 wheareas the newer ABC model would cost me £41.  At some point next year I expect to recover these costs and hope to have a more comfortable home (less condensation and less mold as a result).  Of course it may not take such a long period/or as many hours per day so these numbers are probably worst-case estimates.  Natural ventilation is not an issue until the weather starts dipping down (as it has begun to) and then I feel I have a trade-off between cold home (but well ventilated + lower humidity) v warmer home (limted natural ventilation + higher humidity + more signs of it).

  

EssexHebridean

k_man said:

EssexHebridean said:

For information which may help some reading who are interested in establishing running costs. I ran mine last night, a pretty basic model (it's either on or off, essentially) which came from Screwfix originally IIRC. It ran for 6hrs and 45m and my Tapo tells me that it used a total of 1.257kWh - for me that is a cost of  approx 18.5p as it was running on our off-peak rate. 

A little further info: Ours is a 12l model, and was purchased in 2014 for £139.00 - it appears that the equivalent model now would be this one: https://www.screwfix.com/p/blyss-wdh-122e-12ltr-dehumidifier/494gy

How much water was extracted?

I find as the temperature drops, the extraction drops, and so if not much water is extracted, that 1.2kWh is effectively heating.
This isn't as much as an issue, if you are using electric for heating anyway, albeit you may not want/need heating overnight.

I honestly didn't look and in any event it hadn't been emptied from when it was on elsewhere earlier in the week - there was a drop in humidity - although not a vast one. Agree with the point about heating though - a 7 hour period with ours running last week increased the room temperature by nearly a full degree.