Anyone have personal experience with both dessicant dehumidifers and condesner dehumidifers?

seatbeltnoob

I bought a condenser dehumidifer from lidl a while back, it was a 10L russell hobs model for £79, I saw it sells online for £120 so I bought it without hesitation.

I need one because we live in a humid part of the UK, surrounded by the sea so the humidity is high. Luandry doesnt dry for eeons and thich clothes develop a musty smell.

I research around the difference between these two types, the general rule was dessicant are quieter, produce exhaust heat, better at colder ambient temps. The condesnor ones need temps above 10 degrees, use less power

It's only recently I read that dessicants work better on low humid environments, condesnors work better on high humid applications. It would seem like an odd distinction for a dehumidifier but come to think of it now it does have parctical real world differnces.

Am I right in thinking that a condesnor would be better at getting it down for 80% to 60% humidity, but a dessicant would be better at getting it down for 60 to 40% humidity.

My condesnor one cannot get the room below 50% no matter how long it runs for. If it could get the air to 40% humidity, it would make the air so aridic it would force evaporation off the clothes becausse humidity likes to disperse if the air in a room becomes dry, the condensation in the windows will just disappear like magic.

I am thinking a dessicant would dehumidify better at sub 50% humidity levels so suck out the moisture from the air far better.

FlorayG

Sorry to say, your condensor can't get the humidity down to the level you want because it's a cheap one. If you want one that will really work you're looking at spending more like £500
Also, a dessicant one uses LOADS more power

propertyhunter

I recently bought a Meaco Areta One dehumidifier and it won't get to <40% for me unless it's in a room by itself with the door closed but the purpose of the machine is to extract moisture from the whole house.

If you want to simply dry clothes, put the dehumidifier in a small room with the wet laundry and close the door. The Meaco model I have has a laundry mode, so it will aim to get the humidity down to 35% on that setting, which will dry the clothes in a day I think - again in a room with the door closed. 

thebullsback

we live in a 1900 built terrace house 3 bed room and quiet large by modern standards .All windows start to steam up as soon as colder weather sets in as we boil kettle ,pots n pans on the go  shower used 3 times a day and dry clothes on clothes rack so plenty of moisture 
managed to get an EBAC 2250e condensing de humidifier and after running it on max for 24 hours it removed about 20 litres of water it is now left on constantly on eco mode and we have zero condensation on windows .
Check out Ebac site online. 

seatbeltnoob

FlorayG said:

Sorry to say, your condensor can't get the humidity down to the level you want because it's a cheap one. If you want one that will really work you're looking at spending more like £500
Also, a dessicant one uses LOADS more power

whats so special about a £500 dehumidifier?

They just work on the basic principle of cold radiator filled with refrigerant will collect water and then the water drips down to the tank. A £500 condenser dehumidifier will just have larger capactiyy and larger output - they will be commercial models for warehouses - not homes.

I'm spekptical because you just mentioned an arbitrary large price tag, not a specific make or model.

seatbeltnoob

propertyhunter said:

I recently bought a Meaco Areta One dehumidifier and it won't get to <40% for me unless it's in a room by itself with the door closed but the purpose of the machine is to extract moisture from the whole house.

If you want to simply dry clothes, put the dehumidifier in a small room with the wet laundry and close the door. The Meaco model I have has a laundry mode, so it will aim to get the humidity down to 35% on that setting, which will dry the clothes in a day I think - again in a room with the door closed. 

mine gets as far as 49 it doesnt get any lower, it is used in a very small room. If it could get to 40 that would be quite dry and the water would evaporate off the clothes quicker. The other way I found to speed up the drying process is to get a fan and blow air into the clothes which speeds up the wicking process.

I think a condensor dehumidifer + fan woild be a cheaper to run combo than a dessicant dehumidifer for drying clothes.

I got a very cheap model which doesnt have directional fans so you can blow the dehumidifer air towards the clothes towers, it just shoots the air straight up.

Mthsaxby

I have had a desiccant dehumidifier for a couple of years now and absolutely love it. It costs a bit more to run than a condenser model but not much. It costs about 335w per kWh so around 8p per hour currently. It also gives off heat so you will save money on heating. It can heat the room up anywhere from 0.5 degrees to 1.5 degrees warmer depending on the size of the room. Mine works fine to get the humidity under 60. It can go down to 50 but I don’t see the point in reducing it that far. Cost around the £350-400 mark a couple of years ago. 

seatbeltnoob

Mthsaxby said:

I have had a desiccant dehumidifier for a couple of years now and absolutely love it. It costs a bit more to run than a condenser model but not much. It costs about 335w per kWh so around 8p per hour currently. It also gives off heat so you will save money on heating. It can heat the room up anywhere from 0.5 degrees to 1.5 degrees warmer depending on the size of the room. Mine works fine to get the humidity under 60. It can go down to 50 but I don’t see the point in reducing it that far. Cost around the £350-400 mark a couple of years ago. 

50 isn't really that much to be hoest with you. my condenser one does 50. I was probably just under the false illusion that it's possible to get the humidity down to desert levels with these machines - looks like no. And I think I grabbed a good bargain for a 10L/24h one for £79.

It's probably the best result for the price. They are loud though because it can just put it in the spare room and run the machine and close the doors.  If I was trying to keep a  damp house dry and running it 24/7 I would definately consider a dessicant one for the quietness of it.

What_time_is_it

Any recommendations for for a good, cheap(ish!) to run dehumidifier for use in a Victorian semi with mostly solid brick walls and windows that collect condensation every night?

seatbeltnoob

What_time_is_it said:

Any recommendations for for a good, cheap(ish!) to run dehumidifier for use in a Victorian semi with mostly solid brick walls and windows that collect condensation every night?

there are models mentioned above. I would say, based on above comments. you should get a dessicant dehumidifer because it will be quieter, since you need to run it for general whole home treatment probably on eco mode all day.

the compressor ones are louder.

Ive lived in houses where windows would steam up (not victorian) just dealt with it - open the windows in the morning for a hour all over the hoiuse, even in winter.

resorting to dehumidifiers should only be the solution if the humidity is adversely affecting you, health issues, musty smell, mould etc.

in our case, the clothes wouldnt dry and they'd smell musty.

mark_cycling00

I've been researching this too. Reading the annual reports of companies who sell them in UK.

It seems that: since the energy crisis there's been a trend for people to buy dehumidifiers rather than expensive tumble dryers. Assuming it will be cheaper 

So all these companies like Meaco, electriQ, vonhaus etc. just import cheap units from the far east, badge them, add 50% markup and market them in ways that imply that they are very energy efficient and an alternative to tumble drying.

Meaco sold their entire 200,000 stock in 2023 before autumn had even started. It's incredibly profitable right now.

I find that a "4.4p" an hour cost is meaningless because what you really need to know is the cost of extracting 1 litre of water out of the air. A tiny motor can use less electricity but might need to be running for longer and might create more waste through hest generation than larger ones.

A tumble dryer extracts water from the incredibly moist and warm air that's in the tumble dryer. My gut feeling is that this is more efficient. I'm not an expert though but I read that higher heat and moisture is more efficient for the condenser type 

However for me, I have a tumble dryer but need to reduce moisture in the house as we live in SW too. 

I'm going for a small meaco as a test. But the long term solution I suspect is a large one, sized for the property, that is centrally located and from a more quality manufacturer.

I'm sure others will disagree! Just my research