EcoAir DD1 Simple Blue Desiccant Dehumidifier| Rotary Control | 7 Litre/Day | Quiet 34dBA | Anti Bacteria Silver Filter | Laundry | 6Kg | Home Garage Basement Boat | 2Y Warranty
DD1 Simple Dehumidifier
Control your indoor humidity
EcoAir DD1 Simple Desiccant Dehumidifier, 7L
DD1 Simple is a desiccant dehumidifier that helps protect your home and office by controlling your indoor humidity. Air humidity exceeding RH60% is a breeding ground for bacteria, resulting in mould, breathing difficulties, allergies and stench.
Safety Function
Safety is regarded as a top priority when selecting your dehumidifier. The DD1 Simple is equipped with a Tilt over safety protection where it powers off automatically when the unit tilts over to safeguard you and avoid hazard.
Quiet Design
Powerful laundry function with turbo and quiet modes; Super Quiet mode at 34 dB(A); 2 mode settings – Quiet & Turbo; Adjustable Louvre for concentrated dehumidification.
Features
- Moisture Removal: Up to 7 L/Day
- Fold-away Handle for easy-moving
- 2 mode settings – Quiet & Turbo, Quiet mode at 34dB(A)
- Water Tank Full Alert, Safety Auto Shut-Off Function, Auto Restart Function & Laundry Mode
- 2 litres water tank and 1metre continuous drainage hose
- Silver Filter
- Energy Saving Mode
- Operating Temperature Range 1 – 35 degree Celsius
| | | |
|---|---|---|
Economy / Turbo SwitchECONOMY – maximum energy saving and quiet operation. Use for normal daily routine and night time. TURBO – for rapid dehumidification of high humidity or severe damp problems. Once damp problem is controlled, switch back to Economy for energy saving. | Anti Tilt ProtectionSafety is regarded as a top priority when selecting your dehumidifier. The DD1 Simple is equipped with a Tilt over safety protection where it powers off automatically when the unit tilts over to safeguard you and avoid hazard. | Ideal for HomePowerful extraction of up to 7 Litres of moisture at cold temperatures as low as 1 degree Celcius. Desiccant technology with simple to use rotary control. Lightweight at only 6kg. No harmful gas and no noisy compressor. |
| | | | |
|---|---|---|---|
Rotary Dial Control PanelWith a rotary dial control panel, you can set the humidity level between 35 per cent – 80 per cent RH. A guidance for your humidity setting for low, medium, high & laundry (continuous) drying is marked. Set medium (2 water droplets icon) to set at approximately 50 per cent RH. Set Laundry for drying clothes and so on. But remember to set back to medium after using the laundry mode. | Fold-away HandlePortability is an important consideration when purchasing a dehumidifier. You may want to move the dehumidifier from room to room. Whilst the the DD1 Simple lightweight at 6 kg, it is equipped with a collapsible carry handle to make portability more manageable. | Nano Silver FilterNano Silver Filter is easy to remove, sliding in and out easily for quick regular cleaning. The filter traps dust and needs to be cleaned regularly (every 2 weeks) to keep the dehumidifier dust free. Clean by gently brushing or use a vacuum cleaner. | Water Tank & Drainage HoseWater Bucket is on the side of the unit making it more convenient to remove than if it was at the back of the unit & comes with its own carry handle to minimise spillage and better handling. Continuous drainage hose with max 7 litres/day extraction rate. Great for those do not want to manually empty the water tank. |
 |  |  |  |  |  | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Power Consumption (W) | 300 – 580 | 300 – 580 | 270 – 442 | 331 – 623 | 420 – 670 | 420 – 725 |
| Extraction (20°C RH 60%) L/Day | 7 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 10.5 |
| Noise Level dB(A) | 34 | 34 | 32 / 47 | 39 | 45 | 36 / 47 |
| Water Tank Vol (L) | 2 | 2 | 1.8 | 2.2 | 3.5 | 4.2 |
| Laundry Mode / LED Display / Drain Hose | YES / NO / YES | YES / NO / YES | YES / NO / NO | YES / NO / YES | YES / NO / YES | YES / YES / YES |
| Timer (Hours) | NO | 2/ 4/ 8 | 2/ 4/ 8 | 2/ 4/ 8 | NO | 2/ 4/ 8/ 12 |
| Filter Type | Nano-silver Filter | Nano-silver Filter | Anti Allergic Deodorising Filter | Nano-silver Filter | PP Mesh Filter | Washable Antibacterial Nano-silver Filter |
| Operation Temperature Range (°C) | 1 – 35 | 1 – 40 | 1 – 40 | 1 – 40 | 1 – 35 | 1 – 40 |
| Net / Grs Weight (Kg) | 6.0 / 7.0 | 6.0 / 7.0 | 5.1 / 6.1 | 6.1 / 7.2 | 8.5 / 10 | 7.5 / 8.5 |
| Net Dimension (W x H x D) (mm) | 290 x 475 x 175 | 290 x 475 x 175 | 269 x 445 x 174 | 212 x 320 x 476 | 379 x 520 x 239 | 379 x 520 x 239 |
| Weight: | 6 kg |
| Dimensions: | 17.5 x 29 x 48.5 cm; 6 Kilograms |
| Brand: | EcoAir |
| Model: | DD1-Simple |
| Colour: | Blue |
| Colour: | Blue |
I bought this specific dehumidifier as a friend had recommended it and I must say it works very well and pretty quietly.
I haven’t had one before so can’t really compare to anything else, but we bought this to help dry out a very damp room which had been recently re-plastered and would not dry in our old/poorly insulated cottage in the wet and cold weather.
Within a day of putting the unit into the room most of the walls had visibly dried and a day later the entire walls appeared dry. We have kept the machine on for about a week now and the whole house is feeling much less damp and cold. The most marked improvement is that clothes are coming out of the wardrobe feeling dry and warm and the same can be said for our bed sheets which previously felt very cold and slightly damp every evening when getting into bed.
A number of reviews say this, but having bought this item my only regret is that I did not buy one sooner. We recently moved into an old cottage which is poorly heated and hardly insulated so it seems we have signed up to a lifetime of dehumidifiers, but with this unit being as small and quiet as it is, we are quite happy to have it working away on one of the relative humidity settings to keep our house comfortable and prevent excessive moisture in the built-in wardrobes causing damage to clothing.
If you are looking for a dehumidifier in this price bracket I would thoroughly recommend.
If I use it to dehumidify a room you can see a notable difference just in a few hours, just don’t expect it to do your whole house!
It’s extremely easy to use, with a dial measuring how humid you want the area to be, we have gone for around 50%. It’s easy to empty, just slide out a drawer, lift a lid, pour the water out then insert it back in. The filter at the back slides out for easy cleaning and it comes with a hande for easy transportation. It is also extremely quiet, just a slight airy humming, you will notice it if you sit in the room with it but in another room I doubt you’ll even notice it’s on. It also feels very solid, made of thick plastic and seems like good quality material from what I can tell.
One negative I guess is it does smell a bit like burning plastic when it’s on. It is suppossed to according to the manual, something to do with particles in the air and it should get better over time and it has, I don’t notice it at all now but my partner can still smell it apparently.
To conclude I was weary about spending 100+ on an item I wasn’t sure would work, might be super loud etc but I am really glad I did and so far it has more than made it’s money back preventing my furniture was being eaten alive by mould and damp.
Recommended.
+ Surprisingly quiet.
+ Effective, fills the tank over night.
+ Easy to use.
+ Seems pretty durable quality wise.
It’s extremely easy to use, with a dial measuring how humid you want the area to be, we have gone for around 50%. It’s easy to empty, just slide out a drawer, lift a lid, pour the water out then insert it back in. The filter at the back slides out for easy cleaning and it comes with a hande for easy transportation. It is also extremely quiet, just a slight airy humming, you will notice it if you sit in the room with it but in another room I doubt you’ll even notice it’s on. It also feels very solid, made of thick plastic and seems like good quality material from what I can tell.
One negative I guess is it does smell a bit like burning plastic when it’s on. It is suppossed to according to the manual, something to do with particles in the air and it should get better over time and it has, I don’t notice it at all now but my partner can still smell it apparently.
To conclude I was weary about spending 100+ on an item I wasn’t sure would work, might be super loud etc but I am really glad I did and so far it has more than made it’s money back preventing my furniture was being eaten alive by mould and damp.
Recommended.
+ Surprisingly quiet.
+ Effective, fills the tank over night.
+ Easy to use.
+ Seems pretty durable quality wise.
Used through the winter in our conservatory where it sucked 2l every other day while gently warming the room – even saved quite a bit on the electric bill! No more condensation in that room which has been fabulous.
Easy to empty. The small container means it’s easy to carry – my 7 yr old son loves to do it when he notices the red indicator is on.
Switches off automatically when full. No drips.
Haven’t found it too noisy – was expecting worse from reading other reviews.
I’ve also used it to dry washing and again, this has been more economical than using the tumble drier.
So far so good, this dehumidifier is well worth the money! Within the first day it had removed ~6 litres of water from the air. I bought an atmospheric hygrometer alongside this and I can watch the dehumidifier work its magic, which is strangely satisfying.
I originally got this to dry out the room where I store my camera equipment but as long as the doors are open, this dehumidifier is powerful enough to quickly suck moisture out of other rooms in the house too. Even on a moderate setting this dehumidifier can reduce humidity from 51% to ~36% in less than an hour.
It’s important to note that if kept running throughout the day, the room started to noticably smell different. The smell was uncomfortable at first but after using the dehumidifier regularly the smell has settled and it’s no longer a problem.
This product receives 5 stars.
Didn’t even smell when it starts up, something that the manual and some people mentioned, so was happy at that also.
Great machine however I wish I had spent a little more and bought the newer digital version as that you can ‘time’ to run and switch off I believe – this one you cant so would be on all day (though maybe I haven’t read the manual properly!). However as I don’t need really it all year round I am happy.
Cant tell you how much it costs to run but suppose treating dampness would cost a lot more!
Would I recommend? Yes.
I got this for a house in Co Clare where it is damp all the time. I researched and found that desiccant worked great for cold areas as it did not have to heat up as some dehumidifiers would stop in cold areas. This worked in an area that was 5degrees. It took the damp feel and smell out of the air within a few hours.
I was very surprised how much water it collected in the first day. I sent it on auto mode so once it got to the right humidity it would stop. Great for when you are drying clothes inside. They took half the time and the room smelt alot better.
Easy to empty but could do with a larger drip tray. Once you take the tray out no water drips with is great as my last one did this. Once you turn off the dehumidifier the fan will continue for a few minutes. Would definately buy another one again. Delivered by the local post so arrived in once piece!!
It gets used heavily, i.e. it’s switched on all the time. Not necessarily on and sucking water out of the air all the time though.
Probably a setting just before the two droplets on the dial. Seems to keep the humidity just under 60%. Bucket fills up maybe once every day to 3 days, depending on the weather outside (yep – seems to have an effect somehow) and how much moisture is being generated indoors.
Great for drying clothes. Just leave it on and point the vent towards the clothes. Does tend to warm a room up when on… a lot… especially when drying clothes.
Main reason we bought it was because we moved into a new build last December and wanted to do what we could to keep damp at bay. Done the job – not a single problem with mould or damp anywhere in the house at all.
Only downside is there is no beeping or indication that the water bucket is full up other than a tiny little red light on the top. Have to empty it every day just to make sure it doesn’t fill up and stop.
I have had the EcoAir now for a little over a year and I wish I had had bought it sooner. I was, at first, a little worried about the running costs of this and although I still don’t know how much it costs to run, I have not seen a massive increase in my energy and I have it running 16 hours a day during winter months sept/October to March ish. I use the full power option for 8 hours and it pulls out a full container of water and I do this twice a day. It is a little noisy but no more than the air con when you are on holiday. I sometimes use this to dry my washing in summer and it does actually dry it using the special dry option. All in all, I would recommend this product, if you follow the instructions on how to use it you cant go wrong. I have seen a significant difference in the amount of moisture build up in my home and the musty smells have gone too.
Great dehumidifier!
I have used dehumidifiers for the past six years. The first one, bought by a landlord who wouldn’t take advice, was working with a condensation mechanism and had phases like a fridge. It was very noisy when changing phase and it would wake you up at night if in the same room. On top of that, it would blow out cold air and was not that great during the winter months.
After moving out, I purchased the previous model which wouldn’t wake you up at night even if in the bedroom (at the lower speed) and it was great to go back home from work and find the place quite warm (at least not freezing cold in winters). However, two years later it stopped sucking water from the air. I researched a bit and I was not the only one who had a unit where the warm air resistance stopped working just a bit over two years (after warranty expiration).
Both my lady and I really liked it and decided to take chances on the newer model ( EcoAir DD122FW-MK5 Classic Desiccant Dehumidifier with Ioniser and Silver Filter, 7 L – Blue ) and we are very happy we did.
EcoAir seems to have improved the quality on the DD122FW-MK5 as we have had the oldest for over three years now and used it daily.
We bought a second one over a year ago for a different place and we don’t stop recommending it to friends and family.
It’s great for drying clothes!
We keep it in a room where clothes are hung and close the door. Most clothes dry properly in 6-10 hours. Winter jackets or big bath towels may require more.
It is great during the winter since it works with warm air and warms up the place.
I can’t really compare our utility bills with and without it, but we’ve always had lower bills than our neighbors (same internal area/volume) and used it daily for most part of the year.
Buy with confidence and you’ll be amazed at how quickly it will fill the 2L tank!
It goes without saying that I have no affiliation with EcoAir. I’m just a happy customer who loves the product.
Our bedroom has suffered with dampness for sometime now, so we decided to try this dehumidifier and we were not disappointed. Initially we left it on all day and had to empty the water container several times. However we now only leave on for a few hours a day and it seems to do the job. There is an automatic cut off when the water tray is full which is handy. I wouldn’t say it was quiet and would not use when we are sleeping. It does have a slight odour when using but all worth it. No more damp bedding or clothing and the room smells so much fresher.
After checking that I could, I’ve attached the unit to a low cost digital power timer plug and we have it running on the ECO medium setting each day for three hours. Our washing dries twice as fast as it used to, meaning that it can all be done in less time with less fuss.
I highly recommend cleaning the filter as often as you can manage, as I’ve read that a lot of people have problems with it breaking down due to the desiccant stone filling up with dust and fluff and no longer working, we clean ours every couple of days.
All in all we’ve found it to be a very simple, easy and effective piece of equipment requiring only a couple of minutes attention every few days. We’ve never owned a dehumidifier before, so we have nothing to compare it to.
The only downside or improvement we could find was that it doesn’t allow you to pour the water reservoir without pulling up the lid, which seems clunky to us.
All in all if you can find better then buy it, if not, buy this.
I researched many different dehumidifiers before settling on this one and had previously owned a refrigerant type – which was sent back as way too noisy.
It was a close run between this and a Meaco desiccant model but that was some 30-40 more with similar specs so hard to justify the extra cost.
The reason I settled on this is that these desiccant models work much better in colder environments where the temperature is below 15c and during winter my static mobile home drops way below this. The compressor types need the air temperature to be cooler so struggle to perform.
On higher settings it does increase the room temperature and has quite an effective drying function.
+ Good looking and light.
+ Much quieter than compressor dehumidifiers
+ Effective and can easily drawer 2 litres of water in a damp room
– Can be fairly expensive to run on higher power levels
– When the tank is full it’s not particularly easy to slide out and carry without spilling water.
Pros:
~ it’s compact
~ it takes out a good deal of moisture, depending on the manual dial setting you give it
~ it’s quiet
~ it’s stable on its feet
~ it has a handle to pick it up and move it and it’s not very heavy
~ the air filter is easily cleaned by a vacuum cleaner (you shouldn’t wet it, say the instructions)
~ customer service is excellent
Cons:
~ It’s quite power hungry. 324W on normal, 600+ on higher fan speed. I am not sure if this is a feature of desiccant dehumidifiers. I had a compressor type before and it used 190W. Then again, it wore out!
~ the tank for captured water is quite small. On high setting, you’d perhaps need to empty it more than once a day.
~ I’m not sure that the permanent drain hose facility can be disabled once employed – you have to punch out a piece of plastic on the unit to install the hose. I’ve not done this.
~ the little window to view how full the capture tank is getting is almost useless.
~ the relative humidity setting dial isn’t graduated, so you can’t use it as an indication of how moist the air is. I bought the recommended add-on product of the hygrometer to go with it and that solves the issue.
This is a brilliant product. It has been pulling 1-2L out of my home daily since I started running it and the mould marks and damp patches have definitely receded. The clothes drying setting is great for people who have to hang their washing up indoors.
It doesn’t seem to do anything at all unless it is on high though, not sure if that’s a fault or if there isn’t enough water to pull out any more on low.
It is small enough to fit in a corner out of the way and I am not bothered by the noise but it does make a noise that may bother others. I live in a noisy environment and it’s like a white noise machine to me. Also, it kicks out quite a lot of heat, which is useful at this time of year, and the angled hood means you can direct the warm air upwards or towards yourself. This could be a problem in the summer as if I leave the door closed the room gets very warm indeed over the day.
I’ve checked around my home and there is no condensation on the windows anywhere (I had left all the doors open so that moisture was being drawn from each room). It remains to be seen how reliable it proves but as long as it works through to April next year and keeps my home dry then it will have been a good purchase. Will update as the winter progresses but I’m a very happy customer tonight.
EDIT: 17th Nov ’16: Well after nearly 3 weeks use I thought I’d add my findings. 1. The machine continues to extract anything up to 6 litres a day from my home. 2. Turbo is quite noisy and can be heard in other rooms with a sound like a hairdryer 3. After playing with the setting to get the RH% I like I’ve found that it has added about 1.90 per day to my electric bill based on 16p per kWhr. 3. I’ve cleaned the filter once with a very soft brush, easy as pie. 4. Emptying the water receptacle is easy, takes seconds. 5. Just realised I’ve turned the Expellair extractor off in the bathroom because there’s no condensation in there either
The extra cost is certainly worth it to me. I’ve found the bedroom cosier, bed clothes nice and dry, absolute zero condensation anywhere (had a big problem with this in winter 2015) and I can turn the gas central heating thermostat down to 16 centigrade and the place still feels warm and cosy. Overall I am absolutely chuffed that I made this purchase and I highly recommend this if you suffer from condensation
and / or mould
Update November 2 2018: I have the humidifier running most days, keeps my bedroom nice and dry, prevents condensation and I’ve not had the black mould come back either. I also use it to dry my laundry. I hang the clothes up and just turn the machine to full speed. Dries clothes quickly.
Superb purchase
Update 1: So after 1 week it has started to switch itself off, first during laundry mode, it works for about 2 minutes and it shuts down. I’ve tried it in eco mode and it does the same. No lights pointing to an issue, water tank is not full. It simply switches itself off pointing to some kind of issue. I’m now returning this item and having it replaced. Hopefully the replacement won’t have this issue.
Returning the product was so easy! Requested a return around 9pm, it was collected the following morning and the day after that the new one came! Really impressed with Amazon’s returns
This item is brilliant, does a great job. It is not quiet, but not loud.
It does a great job of drying the washing when hanging in a room and the timer and programs are great.
I like the set it going and leave it to do it thing. It is much cheaper than a tumble drier.
We have had it a while now and it still does the job brilliantly. Do read the instructions before using it, as it has many feature that you need to know about. Like shutting off when the water container is full. (If you are not using the optional waste water pipe)
One thing I will point out is that when you press the off button be prepared for it to take a little while to turn itself off as it has a shutdown routine.
I couldn’t manage with out it, purchased to dry laundry as I’ve 3 house mates and font want the house to look like a Laundry shop! It dries the clothes over night whilst we sleep in a small utility room. The only downside it leave black dust on the wall & black cobwebs! I now need to repainted the room. It worked well up to 10 months then started to do its own thing, switch it self on to different modes and switch it self off. When I eventually realised it was nothing I was or my house mates were going the years warranty had run out. I contacted the company and they couldn’t of been more helpful. They arranged to collect it and run done tests and repaired it and sent it back all free of charge and it working wonderfully super impressed with their customer service let’s hope it lasts fingers crossed.
Things I liked about this in the description were that it was lightweight so could be moved around easily ( as I wasn’t about to get a few of them), quiet, looked okay, had a dryer function and had an ionizer function. Things I didn’t like were that it was apparently not as great as a compressor and I was tempted by the higher model for the better filter and aromatherapy oil dispenser. However, I read that the filters were expensive and people tended not to use the oil dispenser so I chose this. The “small” water compartment didn’t concern me overly, but I noted it.
So I set it up (just got it out of the box, took the tape off the water compartment) and turned it on. Instruction manual was minuscule. There were no unpleasant burning smells and have never been. It gives a nice “fresh” ozone smell as you would hope. I put it on “auto” with the humidifier next to it and it went into high power mode (sounds like a hairdryer… you wont sleep through it… unless hairdryers put you to sleep) and quite quickly started lowering the humidity of the room from the high 60’s down to under 50 at which point it turned to “quiet” mode which is like a fan. I am a light sleeper and don’t think I could sleep with it in the bedroom. My wife has made it very clear that she can’t (and she isn’t a light sleeper) so its no good for the bedroom. Besides, the blue light is a bit bright for that to be honest.
I tried using it in the hallway, but even there it is disturbing and because it needs to be out from the wall by 20 cm (as it sucks air in the back) it would get in the way. So I use it before sleeping to reduce the humidity in the upstairs before bed or to deal with a specific room. I’ve also used it to dry out wardrobes and trouble rooms (bathroom and toilet) and its doing a great job with them. Humidity throughout the house is much reduced and I no longer get condensation in the morning and overnight I’m getting up to 60% humidity in the bedroom which although higher than I would like is a lot better than over 70 which it was before.
I’ve also used it for drying clothing and its been brilliant for this. Yesterday I had to unexpectedly wash and dry a double bed including the duvet on a very rainy day with no tumble dryer. I thought I had no hope, however this little thing was brilliant. It had dried the duvet in well under an hour (sucking 2 litres of water out of it in the process as I had to empty it at the end). Its really, surpassed my expectations in this regard. No idea why it has a “lower” dryer setting as I can’t think why you would want to take longer drying clothes, but I might be missing something. Not really using any of the “louvre” functions aside from “all around” either.
As for the small water tank, its never been an issue. I empty it about daily, but could get away with every 2/3 days usually, but I love opening it and being amazed by how much its sucked out of the air. On auto its very responsive. I just open the bathroom door and it goes into overdrive as it detects the moisture.
As said, its too noisy and bright for us to use it in a bedroom overnight, but it can draw the excess moisture out of the upstairs air (3 bedroom) before we all settle down. It also speeds up drying inside (1/2 a day max) and doesn’t leave a load of damp in the house afterwards. My asthma has much improved and I’m no longer coughing. I’m stupidly pleased with this, which is good as it was a lot of money. Sucks up way, way, way more water (about a litre per 6 hours on auto) than those useless disposable things (which I have a few of) and is very effective at keeping the air at the optimal humidity.
This dehumidifier unit has been fantastic over the winter. We live in a house with no vents in the windows, and no extractor fans. Opening the window in winter just cools all the surfaces so water condenses on to them – so if you are cooking, having a shower, or drying laundry indoors, you will quickly end up with a damp house.
This dehumidifier has dealt with all of these problems. We were starting to get problems with mould – it brought them under control. We were having difficulty drying clothes in a reasonable time – it really speeds up the process, and stops them smelling damp. It has also got rid of window condensation in the mornings, and excess moistre from showering and cooking.
The instructions say to leave the unit in a central location (we use it on the hallway or landing). As it dries the air in this location, moisture moves to even out the distribution, causing more moisture to be drawn towards the unit (GCSE/O-level science reasons I assume).
The unit has a humidstat to allow you to set a preferred moisture level (including a ‘laundry’ setting for permanent operation). The top vent blows out gently warmed, dry air when the unit is operating too, which can help speed up the laundry drying process. There is an ‘eco’ and ‘turbo’ mode, we normally use eco. The resevoir holds two litres, though the unit can easily draw more than this out in a day, but has an automatic cut off when full. The unit also comes with a tube for continuous drainage if needed – but in that case it might be best to get an industrial drier. The resevoir easily slides out of the base of the unit, and has a handle to carry it. The unit also has a filter for catching dust, cat hair and the like.
In terms of cost, it probably could add between 15-25 to your electricity bill in a month if used regularly on eco on a medium setting – but set against the cost of damp damage and the health issues around damp mould, this is worth paying if you can.
All in all – a great unit.
I am so pleased with this purchase. Our house had always suffered from condensation and mould and I wanted something a bit more industrial than the plastic boxes of crystals on the window sills! I have not been disappointed. The unit was plugged in (on eco) for the majority of daytimes over several weeks. I was emptying the reservoir daily and was astonished by the amount of water it was collecting. It was only really after a couple of weeks that the volume of water collected started to drop. We had apparently been living in a sauna! Now, I open the window blinds an there’s barely condensation and the mould battle has been won! The unit was also useful in helping to dry clothes inside the house – very useful indeed. Just a brilliant little machine.
I read much of other peoples reviews, which convinced me to make the purchase.
First 24hrs it sucked in 7lts of water on high settings from Conservatory/kitchen area, it kept me busy empting the tank as it holds 2lts, I now have the drainage hose provided, plumbed to a drain After first week it lessened in the volume of water sucked in to it, thankfully. avg 2-3lt per day on low setting. When used for drying laundry it is great, everything dry within a day. The air in the rooms it is located in, is both a lot warmer and smells fresher. I have two indoor cats and when they drop bombs into the litter tray, the rooms becomes colourful in fragrance, this products clears the air in minutes!
Overall thus far I am pleased with the purchase and even more so, when bought at the reduced price.
This has helped our condensation problems so much, I’m really pleased with how simple it is to empty (it’s covered and has carry handle, so no spills ever), it’s so simple to use and is compact enough to move around from room to room and take up very little space. It’s surprising how much it can remove from rooms you thought were ok or only had a slight problem. It removed a tankful in about 8 hours on average but our porch that was very damp, filled it in a few hours. No need to worry about it overfilling, it automatically switches off when tank full. I research for months to find the right dehumidifier for our circumstances and I am not disappointed.
Very easy to use, takes out huge amount of water everyday.
We wash the clothes in the evening, use the clothes dryer option and the clothes are dry in the morning.
Comes with a tube to apply on the dehumidifier in case you want it to be constantly on and your not there to empty the tank.
Takes out good amount of dust from the air, which is nice to clean it every now and then.
I read lots of reviews, and I thought about paying a bit more and get something good.
I haven’t regretted my option since I bought it. It is a great dehumidifier.
Edit: 3 and half years later this still works wonderfully. Takes as much water as it took in the beginning, the mesh takes huge amount of dust. Honestly, this is the best purchase I’ve ever made. Just be careful to put the filter inside, sometimes it doesn’t enter correctly within the line and goes inside the dehumidifier, it is hard to take out and it will eventually break if put incorrectly several times.
The smallest dehumidifier I have ever bought but works really well. Temperature makes no difference as it shouldn’t with a silica wheel. The collection tank isn’t large but it usually takes 12 hours to fill so I can empty it twice a day with the full light on only occasionally. Full power is clearly to loud to sleep with even at the end of a corridor off my bedroom but on low it is very quiet and seems to collect very nearly as much water as high power – don’t ask me why. I am getting 3 to 4 litres a day with it outside the kids shower room – always a damp place! And it has made the whole top floor much more pleasant without that slightly cloying damp smell. Really pleased. Will get this again when I need another.
Bought this as having a condensation issue in my bathroom and when looking into these a few people said they would recommend this Dehumidifier, I have now used it for sometime and it has cured my issue. I put it on just before I go for a shower and switch it off after its been running for 10mins or so after I have finished my shower and I no longer have the mildew issue on the bathroom, I also have not noticed a huge increase on my electricity bills but this could be due to the fact I don’t leave it on.At the same time of buying this I also bought LCD Digital Temperature Humidity Meter and this helps to gauge the Humidity in the bathroom and allows me to know when it has come down enough to be able to switch this off. It also has a great capacity to store the water it has collected which mean you don’t have to keep emptying it every 5 mins, Great purchase and it has saved me form having to get a builter in to try and install and extractor that would possibly not have worked anyway.
I would highly recommends this product. It is compact, effective and on eco mode only draws ~300W!
I live in a 2 bed flat; this sits in the hallway and I have it on at night. More often than not, the tank is full in the morning.
My partner suffers from COPD and we have found that his breathing has improved by having this on at night.
I have also used the unit in my son’s room which always seems cold; the tank fills up after just a few hours, so its obvious that the cold is down to the damp in his room.
I love the laundry setting which is great in the cold weather; we don’t have to use the dryer or have the heating on and clothes can be washed and dried on the same day.
The unit is quite apart from when the fan is on, however, it’s not that loud and soon shuts off.
The unit has 3 timer settings which is good if you want to leave it on whilst you go out during the day; it also has an ironiser to clean the air.
A brilliant unit which is highly recommended.
I chose a desiccant dehumidifier as the room we use for drying washing is often fairly chilly and a fridge compressor based unit would struggle in those conditions. Handily, desiccant units are also a bit lighter, smaller and quieter than fridge compressor dehumidifiers so there are advantages there for moving it about and using it in bedrooms. I’ve been regularly moving this unit up and down stairs and it’s no hassle at all.
I’ve been using it mostly on low or the “eco” mode that switches between high and low depending on the humidity. On low and at around 60% humidity at 15C or so it fills the 2L tank in about 12 hours, which seems pretty good to me and in line with the claimed performance on high. In terms of efficiency I’d also note that it does provide a bit of heating. Not enough on low to fend off a very cold day but enough to raise a bedroom a few degrees over a couple of hours.
The noise aspect is always going to be subjective. The noise on low is nearly all from the fan drawing air and is about the same as a desk fan or a large computer fan. Apart from that there is very little rattling or squeaking, just the occasional drip of water into the tank (and the fact that you can hear that occasional drip should give an idea of how low the fan noise is). For me the fan noise is very easy to sleep with but could be distracting if you’re trying to listen to a quiet radio or similar.
If I could pinpoint an area for improvement it would be the timer options and more flexibility in humidity triggers. For example it would be nice for me to be able to set it to fire up in the middle of the night, turn off at 8am, and to move the high/low eco trigger point up to 70% humidity. However, these sorts of options aren’t found in other models either so I’m not going to subtract stars for it.
Bought it for 130 almost a year ago and even seeing it on a lightning deal today for 100 doesn’t upset me as I’m so pleased I’ve had it for the past year. It had really helped to control the condensation I was suffering from in my bedroom every day last winter which in turn helped stop mould growing. I was having to wipe down the windows every morning and this has been amazing.
I have also really enjoyed using it to dry my washing now that you can’t really hang stuff up outside. Tip: try and arrange your airer/clothes hanger in such a way as to block air escaping on all sides except the one, then place the dehumidifier on that open side so that the hot air is blowing out into the gap. This then means your airer traps the hot air and your clothes dry faster, while allowing the dehumidifier to collect water faster in less time thereby using less electricity.
Only potential drawback of this is that it doesn’t have a digital readout of the humidity levels. However, the dial has settings and you simply select what you’d like it to be and the dehumidifier will turn itself off once that has been achieved.
It’s not too loud in the energy saving mode and if you set it up to turn itself on at a certain level of humidity before you go to bed then, assuming it is already below that when you fall asleep, I doubt it would wake you.
I think it’s a fantastic piece of equipment and only loses a star (at this time) as I’ve had to ask for a replacement. Puddle of water underneath the unit which has marked my flooring. Leak not coming from the Water Collector as tested this separately, but might have been some mis-alignment with where the water drips down into the collector. Sat completely level so not tipping or leaning in any way.
Arranged exchange via Amazon with ease, can drop off at Collect+ and looking forward to getting the new unit as has been fantastic at sucking the excess moisture out of my house. If the new unit doesn’t leak, it will earn that final star.
Edit:- 11/12/2105 – 5th star awarded as 1st unit must indeed just have had a fault. No leakage from replacement and continues to do a great job of maintaining the humidity in the house. Definitely less of a wet feeling around the house due to drying clothes, baths, etc. Some would say just open windows, but then the house is freezing and you are then creating cold surfaces throughout the house. Heating is on less as a result of this unit.
I would like to leave a proper review as really like this product when it actually works but can’t!. Recently bought this as have a condensation problem in our 2 bedroom house. It works very well. However after a week it stopped working – it wasn’t collecting water, it started to produce only cold air. We returned it without any hassle (thank you amazon) and got a replacement delivered next day. As soon as we took the new one out of the box and plugged it in we knew it was faulty again! It was rattling so bad my 3 year old run upstairs scared. It’s almost like someone dropped it in transit. We tried to re-position the tray, put it on number of different surfaces but something is clearly not working properly inside. Has anyone had this? I’ve just ordered another replacement and return again hoping for third time lucky, because when this dehumidifier actually works its amazing.
I had a leak in my room and needed a dehumidifier to dry it out. Initially bought a smaller cheaper dehumidifier – it was practically useless. Went for this dehumidifier and its a massive improvement!
Pros:
– Compact enough , about the size of a rather thick briefcase, easy to carry handle
– Not too noisy – gentle wooshing sound
– Most importantly – does what it says! Extracts moisture from surroundings- for me after 2hours there was about 250-300ml in the tank.Obviously this will vary depending on operating conditions.
Cons:
One selling point is the ‘silver nano filter’ which is supposed to kill/filter bacteria, spores, dust etc….however it looks quite flimsy and I doubt it will be able to purify the air much – but that’s just my opinion.
One thing of note, a desiccant dehumidifier like this will be able to operate efficiency at much lower temperatures compared to so called thermoelectric types.
I detected the smell of damp and general “foost/mouldy smell” about the place then discovered mould around windows and skirting – all due to condensation from drying inside- even though I had tried to keep extractor fans on and open windows when cooking & bathing etc..
Decided to treat self to this after bit of research – am really pleased with it so far!
I went for the desiccant as don’t always want the central heating on- but still want the damp drawn out of the air.
This item works well even at low temperatures.Am very pleased so far & impressed with the litres of water extracted from my flat in the 1st day of use.
Felt an amazing difference in the atmosphere of my flat in the first 24 hours! Had been slightly worried about the noise / smell possibly being a problem (from research before buying) HOWEVER have found that the smell is not overwhelming, and quickly lessens with use, It is like a new car smell.
The noise is a lot better then I anticipated – on low economy mode it is like a quiet desk fan, and is a quite relaxing sound, I was able to have it in my bedroom on the 2nd night and actually found it soothing) The higher extraction settings are louder but not in an irritating pitch.
I tend to leave the unit in my hall on low setting most of the day & don’t need to have my central heating on as high if at all.
I turn it to higher setting when cooking or bathing – there is an also an auto setting that does this for you (as in sensing the humidity levels and fluctuating between high and economy depending on the conditions) ,
The clothes drying settings do use more wattage, but work well and when using them I often don’t need to have heating on, usually I do it in the hall and leave all other doors open so moisture is drawn from all rooms.
The fan setting for clothes drying is great and distributes air from side to side, above and forward, I have found that an average load is dry in about 4 hours ( but I do move/turn things about on the airer)
I Like the ioniser – it does seem to make a fresher atmosphere when using it but usually I just use it on the low setting – I don’t know why – just feels more calm and a “treat” for me when on own (you get the benefit better when its quieter!!! lol ) Also I have this irrational feel that It feels good so I don’t want to break it by using it to much!!! It is great for relaxation!
The difference in the dampness/ and smell/ black mould etc in my house has GREATLY improved within 2/3 days, of using this item. Am really delighted with this purchase so far.
The niggles in my opinion are,
a) emptying the collection drawer would be better with a pouring lip on one corner of the drawer,
b) would be great if there was a starter timer on unit (the model has a cut of timer so you can run it after you leave home) but it would nice to
be able to set the timer to come on before you get up or for an hour before you come in.
c) a humidity display would be helpful.
These are only minor things though and in general I am very pleased with my new buy AND have become a condensation bore as the amount of water this small unit has pulled from my flat has impressed me so much I am telling everybody who will listen,,,
I think the size and portability of the unit is great and in my opinion it looks cute!
best buy for ages (not had electric bill yet though – am hoping that the removal of damp and the turning down of the central heating (and strangely fridge freezer thermostat) will compensate for running costs! )
Still love it tho! (so far!)
Condensation be gone!!!! Before I owned one of these marvellous little machines my mornings consisted of wiping all the Windows and windowsills down and wringing out the cloth, before the mould could set in. Not any more!! It is sooooo satisfying to put it on overnight and in the morning pour all that water down the drain in one fluid motion 🙂
I would not be without this machine it has literally changed my life and my winter clothes drying problem. Very happy.
Ps hasn’t caused that much of an increase in electricity usage either…I’m very frugal and would happily pay the extra money for the convenience of this machine, but we havnt noticed that much difference. I’d say we use it for about 16hours a week over the winter months when we can’t dry clothes outside.
I purchased this DD unit to replace faulty meaco dd8l
Nice portable design. Control panel on top. Exhaust with louver to direct or swing air. Handle to carry around. Water container with cover and handle, easily accessible from right side.
Unit operates with two fan modes (fan low, fan high) and two drying modes (drying high, drying low). I hooked up unit to energy monitor to understand how it works and how much energy it consumes.
First thing to say, fan is always ON (unlike meaco which alternated between complete silence and loud fan noise). I would rather prefer a silent dd, checking air now and then. Thus only 4.8 stars
Depending on selected mode, it is rather tolerable on low and noise can be further reduced by closing louver(redirecting air horizontal muffles noise to certain extent). I can sleep with it but prefer timer to switch off unit completely after 2h.
On fan high it is significantly louder.
Changing modes on control panel is completely silent(unlike meaco which was beeping every time you press buttons)
There are three everyday modes, high humidity, normal humidity and auto and two laundry modes. I hooked it up via energy monitor to understand how it operates.
High humidity mode
Humidistat is set to 40%. Fan is always high, drying mode is high consuming 650w according to energy monitor. It will dry air quickly and deep. There is significant amount of heat generated as well. Your bedroom will get dry and temperature will rise 5-6 degree higher within an hour. It will then maintain dry conditions switching drying mode on (650w) and off (30w) according to sensor readings. Remember fan high is always ON. Noisy but very effective
Normal humidity mode
Humidistat is set to 50. Fan is always low, drying mode is low consuming 350w according to energy monitor. It will dry air slower and not as deep (46-50 according to weather station). It is less noisy and does not generate as much heat as mode above. Perfect for every day use.
Auto humidity mode
Humidistat is set to 50. Fan is low when drying mode switched off and fan is high/drying mode low (350w) when unit is working. It is basically normal mode with fan working harder to bring humidity down quicker
The two laundry modes operate continuously with fan high and drying low(350w) or drying high (650w). Never tried to find the lowest humidity level for laundry modes but I am pretty sure it will cut off under 40 to prevent air going too dry.
Ioniser is nice feature but could not say if it’s made any difference
Timer settings are 8, 4, 2h. The unit will switch off completely after set time.
Overall, very pleased. It makes british fall/winter much more comfortable. I can finally breath and not sufficate from damp weather
P.S.
Don’t place dd unit blowing dry(<30) and warm air towards you, it may cause skin problems
It works perfectly fine, so far. I have no complaints.
It fills up very quickly, but that’s a good thing.
The rotary selector could have been more informative, but I have found that an optimal setting is slightly past the mid-point, where the area with the double drops begins.
As others have pointed out, it’s best to have it at such a setting and keep the switch on the low-power setting, in order to save on bills. The massive wattage might scare you but keep in mind that the above settings will keep the device from running continuously. So if it’s running on and off evenly throughout the day, that means the power consumption is cut in half already. So try and find a setting that suits your needs.
I like the 2-year warranty, I hope the manufacturer is good for it.
I read reviews about this product, that weren’t actually that great.
Many people said this product stopped working after 3-6 months and most people said they had issues within 12 months.
I’m now well into my second year with this product and I have it on 4 hours every night on full mode from October until March, and it still works like a dream.
The great thing about this is, it gives off warm air AND it works in cold cold tempaeratures where other dehumidifiers do not – THAT IS KEY.
This products ability to work into low temperatures means it works when other dehimdifiers will not and removes more moisture from the air.
I no longer get condensation on my windows or anywhere else in the house.
This product is noisy and your sleep will get disturbed even in “eco mode”
I am surprised I havent wore this product out yet, but when I do I will buy another, money well spent and money I will eventually spend on again when I finally wear this one out.
Purchased on 28 Jan 2014 and working as should. We are using it on daily basis. Heavy black mould used to build up every 2 month around the windows (Irish weather) during autumn-winter-spring that had to be dealt with using anti-mould sprays and cleaning. Since using this dehumidifier I’ve only had to clean around the windows once and the mould buildup was only minor. Very handy with drying clothes too. On the other hand it might not be suitable in itself for larger apartments, this is one bad only. Also we are trying to open the windows more when the weather is dry and always keep the bathroom fan running until visible water vapour is gone. Also using the controls smart way, like “auto” during night (sleeping in different room) but low daytime when we are around helps to minimise annoyance and power consumption. We can easily watch movies, have conversation, work or read few meters from the machine in low setting, it’s very quiet. In high setting i wouldn’t try to really relax, but for normal activities it’s okay sometimes.
This product solved the condensation problem in our bedroom in winter mornings. The relative humidity has been reduced from ~80% to ~60% in the middle of the room and from ~95% to ~80% right next to the window where condensation occurred. I use it every night for ~8 hours at the low setting.
The noise of the fan is well audible but the level is not bad at the low setting so that it does not disturb our sleeping. At the high setting, you may feel like you are sleeping in an aeroplane…well it should actually be much better than that but we do FEEL that way.
It also filters the air and I feel it is quite efficient. As soon as I enter the bedroom I can clearly feel the air quality is better than in other part of the house.
The high setting consumes less than twice of the electricity but I feel it is more than twice as efficient compared to the low setting. So if I can turn it on only for a couple of hours in early morning, that would prevent the condensation with lower energy bill. However, there is no timer to turn the devise on while it has a timer to turn it off, which is really a shame!!! I give a half negative point for this.
This doesn’t work as air purifier alone without dehumidifying the air even when the humidity is low enough. If it did that would be a nice feature to let us save energy. I would give -1/2 point for this as well.
Finally, I remember somebody asked if it is worth paying the price difference between this model and the ‘simple’ model. I think it is probably not. The ‘simple’ lacks E7 Technology, 2/4/8 Hour Timer, and Ioniser, none of which I usually use. The E7 Technology turns the operation between High-Low-Stand by modes but as I already said it doesn’t allow air purifier only operation. Unlike temperature, humidity doesn’t seem to vary quickly or our body doesn’t feel the change as much as temperature change, and so I don’t think an automated operation like this (resembling the thermostat) is not necessary in my opinion. Also as I said, the timer is an off-timer only, and it does not let us set when to turn it on. The filter works well without turning on the ioniser. So if I have a chance to buy another dehumidifier, I will probably select the ‘simple’ model rather than this one.
Overall, I would give 4 points.
I weighed up the two different types of dehumidifier: condenser and desiccant. Condensers are the original type, and work like a fridge turned inside-out. The benefits are proven technology and long operating life. However, they are heavy and noisy. I expected to be carrying this thing around the house frequently and using it while working at home, so these drawbacks were significant.
Desiccants like the EcoAir are a newer type and are supposed to be quieter and lighter, so I went for this option. I was pleasantly surprised at how small and light the machine was. It’s the size of a home-office paper-shredder. Noise level depends on what mode you use — it ranges from very quiet (like the fan in a laptop) to moderately loud (like a fan heater on maximum speed) — but even at maximum power the noise is a steady ‘whoosh’ and is not unpleasant. If it’s in an adjacent room with the door shut, it won’t bother you.
I’m very pleased with the performance of the machine. It will dry out my damp garage, including a wet car, collecting the full 2 litres of water overnight. It stops my utility room from steaming up when I hang up the washing in winter, and dries the washing much quicker than the electric oil-filled radiator that I used to use. I expect it will be cheaper to run too – 500 watts for the dehumidifier versus 2000 watts for the radiator. Some users have posted negative reviews about this unit’s performance, but I can’t fault it. According to my humidity gauge, the EcoAir took the humidity in one room from steamy to 10% overnight. This was much drier than I wanted, so I now use the timer to prevent excessive drying. Another online review mentions a burning smell on first use, but I didn’t get that problem. I also think the unit looks quite smart.
The built-in timer is easy to use, with just three simple options of 2, 4 or 8 hours. The control panel is well laid-out and took me just a few minutes to master. I’m not sure about the ionizer – I believe it managed to remove the musty smell from a damp room, but I haven’t tested it much so I could have just imagined the improvement.
The tank is easy to remove and empty, but also is the only slight weakness I can see in the machine. The tank is quite a complicated bit of kit, with a swivel handle, a close-fitting lid and a float sensor built in. With frequent emptying, this is the most likely part to get damaged and I don’t know if you can buy a spare.
In conclusion, this does everything I expected of it, for a reasonable price. It may not last as long as the more traditional types, but I still think it’s worth the money.
Update (27/1/2016): I recommend EcoAir for their customer service. I suspected a fault in my DD122, outside the Amazon return period but within the 2 year warranty. I contacted EcoAir, filled in their online form, and they immediately arranged a courier to pick up the unit. Luckily for me the fault turned out to be user error, so I cancelled the courier and my unit is now working perfectly. Still a happy customer!
Update (20/10/19): The machine conked out after 4 and a half years. I sent it back for repair and it now works like new again. I had to pay, as the warranty had expired, but it cost me less than half the price of a new machine, so I’m still a happy customer. The water bucket is still intact despite my concerns about its fragility. This is a great product!
Really nice piece of hardware.
I have a 1 bedroom flat which was having issues with condensation forming on the windows, and mould growing on the walls. Step 1 was to remove all the mould manually. Once that was done, I set the dehumidifier loose on the flat – it’s easily pulling out 1.5 litres of water every day, and could easily pull more – I have to keep it turned quite low to avoid getting chapped lips in the mornings.
Exceptionally quiet for a dehumidifier – the extractor fan from my bathroom drowns out the noise.
Only minor issue is that you need to have a reasonable amount of clearance around it – instructions recommend 20cm all round the unit. This means that you will not be able to keep it in a closet, for example – but that will be the same for all such devices.
This is the second dehumidifer I have purchased, the other one is a Delonghi DES12. I thought the Delonghi was good but this is even better. Lighter and more portable and works faster at removing water even though the comparable capacities suggest this is less powerful. The cleaning element also works well – especially notable in the bathroom. Being able to direct the air jet is a bonus for drying washing hanging indoors. Have used this daily since purchase and very happy so far. It is also quieter than the Delonghi but cannot be placed directly against a wall as it needs at least 20cm distance – although this has caused no issues for me. If it lasts at least a few years it will be an excellent purchase.
Our house has suffered with damp and condensation for a long time now, and with a 2 year old boy, black mould and peeling wallpaper has not been the best of houses to raise him up in.
We have tried moisture traps, leaving windows open nothing worked.
We always had to have the heating on full blast and even then it didn’t warm the house up, we had to wear jumpers just to keep warm,
Having had the ecoair in operation for 2 days now the changes are amazing, no more jumpers to keep warm, even in the morning its warm enough to not wear them.
Heating had also been turned down 20% so this should offset the cost of the dehumidifier.
The dehumidifier is a fabulous piece of kit. Sucked so much water out the air, got the humidity down from 65–70% to round about 54%
Was disappointed this doesn’t have a 2/4/8 hour timer, like I thought it had, but I can live without the feature.
Seriously shoppers don’t hesitate to buy this item, it may not have the same features of its bigger brother but it can certainly hold its own in a crowded market.
Change your families comfort and buy one now
Ok so back to this machine, yes it was a great machine, we have been using it and basically trying to run it to its death (full blast at laundry mode) all the time (min 8hrs /day, usually 12-16hrs daily) for the past few weeks. Its costs us more on replacing the mould damaged stuffs than paying for the electricity! Yet it still works by sucking litres of water out of the air. The most annoying thing is having to keep emptying the water tank (and yes, the water collected is probably the cleanest and clearest water I have ever seen!). We generally collected 2 litres every 4 hours due to the dampness and hanging laundry indoors. And the laundry usually are quite dry after having them on full blast for a day.
Build Quality is good. Not sure why prople complains so much about the build quality. All the plastic parts fits and there is no sharp edges or loose parts, no noisy loose component shaking sounds. The thing I noticed is that our unit come not in pure white but slightly yellowish maybe magnolia color? (unlike the pure white as shown in pic). The unit that we have have a 2 year warranty and probably the QC have improved, so I think this is really good.
Ease of use… well just press on/off and press button to choose modes…. much easier than a TV remote so it is quite easy to operate.
Noise in low is very quiet….no problem for a baby to sleep. On high it is a bit loud like turning on a car aircond on full blast mode.
Effectiveness? Very effective, so far we have no condensation and moulds no longer spread like crazy, they just dried up and died off. I think this unit can make our place too dry… if we leave the unit in our bedroom on high and went to bed, we usually end up with very dry mouths/throat the next day (perhaps this differ from people to people). Cold damp bed sheet is a past and cold dry bed sheet feels way better nowadays.
We live in a two story two bedroom small house and the only place that still have condensation is the far end small window of the house behind hanging waterproof jackets. Obviously we blocked the air from circulating by hanging waterproofs there. Other than that everything else is condensation free.
In my opinion, dampness causes lots of health problem later in life, mould and mould spores are not only a health hazard but the damage they cause to properties is a pain in the you know where, so a dehumidifier is a no brainer and worth every penny, even museums and other significant important place uses them.
The unit was run for about 15 hours a day for the first few days and collected 2-3 litres of water per day. This has significantly reduced over time which I assume is because of not only a drop in air humidity, but moisture has been drawn out of the carpets, fabrics and walls, to a stable level. I have just purchased a cheap hygrometer to check RH level and will update accordingly.
My example use case:
When estimating running costs, you should take into account that on eco/automatic setting, the humidfier is only active above certain RH levels, but the fan remains on all the time to draw air into the unit to take measurements. Its rated energy consumption of 500/300W on high/low I assume are for actively dehumidiying. There is no indication of ‘fan only’ energy consumption, but let’s make a (very) conservative guess at 100W. We can also conservatively guess that once humidity levels have been reached, the duty cycle of active/idle is 50:50 (obviously this depends on many factors, the primary ones being external humidity and people in the flat breathing/having showers/washing etc).
So considering the above lets say that on low power mode you’re looking at something like:
300 to 100W at a duty cycle of 50:50 gives and average energy consumption of 200W
200W for 8hrs a day (e.g. overnight) uses 1.6kWh
The per unit cost of electricity for me is 14.93/kWh, so 1.6kWh * 14.93p = 23.89p/day
If you ran the unit every day in this fashion this would cost 87.19 per year, but we can assume that we only use the unit for half the year (during the winter) which would cost 87.19/2 = 43.60. This of course has some major assumptions, so using an electricity meter on the unit would give accurate results, but it suggests that it is an affordable item to run.
Noise levels:
The unit is acceptable to me to run on low setting overnight, albeit outside the bedroom. On high, it is quite loud and likely to cause a disturbance. What you should remember is that it needs to process a lot of air to perform the extraction therefore the fan flow rate is quite high.
I have noticed an occasional vibration when starting the unit, this has appeared after about a week of use and I will continue to monitor.
Build:
The unit is well made, with quality plastics, and the style is typical of most Asian products.
Odour:
When working hard, the unit does release a smell related to the heating of the desiccant. It is not unpleasant, but it is noticeable. It can also warm the air significantly, so you may wish to factor this into use in small space.
I have not tried the unit on the clothes drying mode, but I suspect it does a good job, especially if you direct the exhaust air flow through the clothes.
Overall I am happy with the unit, it has improved the environmental quality of my home hugely. As long as the unit is durable I think it is an excellent product with adequate running costs. I would point out that drier air not only warms up faster via central heating, but also ‘feels’ warmer as well as the reduced water content reduces the conduction of heat from your skin. Therefore any costs incurred from drying the air, may be slightly offset by reduced heating bills. Worth a thought…
Living in an old Victoran house now fitted with uPVC windows and doors we suffer from damp problems every winter. I spent quite a lot of time researching dehumidifiers and was gong to buy the next model up – the mk5 classic. But when this wasn’t in stock I opted for the ‘Simple’. I’ve had it about two weeks now and it is truly amazing. Within half an hour of use it had extracted a cupful of water. Left overnight on a medium setting the tank is a third full. The house feels dryer and warmer too. Some reviews as well as the manual mention that it may smell when in use but this hasn’t been the case. It’s also very quiet in use, and feels very well made. As the name suggests it couldn’t be simpler to use. I’m glad I bought this model now as the Classic seems to differ manly in having more automated controls. It even looks stylish. No wonder it is rated number 1 on Amazon and has so many great reviews. I would highly recommend it.
I decided to buy this dehumidifier after having constant issues with mould and damp in our ground floor flat. Both my son’s and my room stunk of mould which was growing all over the place due to structural issues and then condensation all over the double glazed windows. We’ve had thermal plaster boards put onto our external wall as apparently the flat only has a thin layer of insulation. This dehumidifier has made a huge difference with slightly warmer and cleaner air. No more smells of mould and no more condensation on the windows. I use it through the night on the lowest setting to help keep the warm air circulating after the central heating has been on as our big double bedroom has a tiny “suitable for a small bathroom” radiator.
overall would highly recommend as it makes a big difference to your home
So far this has exceeded my expectations, I can’t believe how much water it is drawing out every night- 2 pints of water each 4 hour period I have it on. I haven’t left it on during the night as it is a bit noisy on the high setting. I’m not sure if it keeps pulling out so much moisture every day as I only have it on for 4 hours at a time (I don’t like leaving electrical appliances turned on whilst I’m out at work). Maybe the damp in my daughters room would disappear quicker if it was on all the time but I’m not willing to do that yet, until I’m at home all day.
There is a bit of an odour when you first turn it on but I’ve found that that soon disappears. So far so good and I am impressed with it. Would I purchase it again – you bet I would. Not sure how much electricity it is using but to be honest I’m not that concerned as it is doing exactly what I want it to.
Judging by the amount of water collecting in the water tank, the humidifier appears to be efficient. However there is no indication of the relative humidity [RH] of the atmosphere; either before or after use.The room in which it has been used no longer has condensation on the windows. I have used the unit in the ‘Auto’ position which should turn the fan speed down when the RH reaches the comfort zone [50-60%RH]. However there has been no alteration of fan speed when in the auto mode. It may be that the RH is still over 60% and thus the fan speed has not been called on to reduce. Without some indicator it is not possible to confirm this.
I selected the Desiccant model so that the noise of a compressor would not add to the noise of the fan speed. However it must be said that with the fan on the higher speed the noise is intrusive, whilst on the lower speed the noise level is acceptable.
The machine has not been in use long enough for it to become necessary to vacuum the filter, so I can make no comment on this.
In use there is the smell that that the instruction manual mentions. I would agree that it is a burning smell. I have not used the unit long enough for this smell not to be produced, which apparently will happen.
Bearing in mind the absence of a RH indicator and the noisy fan I have only given the unit four stars.
Would I buy it again? Yes, because it seems to be well built and appears to do the job required.
1. A new (to me) 3 bed property, with double glazing, cavity wall insulation and loft insulation all designed to reduce draughts (also known as healthy air circulation!)
2. Two bedrooms facing north which have clearly had a damp problem in the past
3. No external wall space for a bathroom extractor fan
4. No tumble dryer – I would rather line dry, but in winter inevitably some clothes end up drying on an airer in front of a radiator
5. Heavy initial use of a carpet washer and steam cleaner to clean away the grime of ages, and to strip wallpaper
All resulting in condensation, a foisty smell and a worry about further damp problems
How the EcoAir is doing:
It’s November and the relative humidity outdoors here (according to the Met Office) is in the range from 85%-100%.
I’ve started out by running this for ten hours a day, morning and evening, mostly on the Eco setting and using the timer. It’s extracting 2L a day on average. I know that if I ran it for longer, it would extract more.
There is no window condensation now other than in the bathroom after showers, that window and the cotton bathmat dry nicely within an hour.
Bedding and pillows in use, and towels left out to air feel lovely and dry.
A load of laundry takes two hours to dry on the “high laundry” setting and produces at least a litre of water in excess of the normal rate, sometimes two – actually I’m a bit horrified how much water drying laundry releases.
The unit hasn’t actually dropped to the lower setting yet on its own, although it is designed to do this on Eco, suggesting that the humidity indoors isn’t yet below 60%. I’m sure the fabric of the house is still drying out.
Comments:
I could leave this on 24 hours (although switching to low overnight) but I’m happy to dry out the house more slowly.
As it’s in a bedroom I’ve had to run it for the last couple of hours each evening on the “low” setting as it’s too noisy on “high” for relaxation. It’s easy to set the timer so it switches off once I am asleep.
The warm exhaust air is helping to warm the bedroom, but I’m going to need to move the central heating thermostat away from its current location outside the bedroom door as the unit is locally increasing the temperature and downstairs is now a bit too cool.
However although the house is cooler, the fact the air is drier partly compensates for this and I believe I will be able to turn the central heating down by 1 or 2C (e.g. from 21C to 19C) without causing a mould problem.
I’m using airers for laundry rather than the radiator. There is no more effort required to dry laundry than there would be to use a tumble dryer, although it does help to rotate them after an hour as part of the drying effect is from the warm exhaust air blowing from the unit. The downside is having airers in the room but the upside is that this is cheaper than tumble drying – assuming the energy use calculations others have made are correct.
There’s no over-drying of the air, as there can be with air conditioning, which tends to give me sinus problems. An unexpected bonus is I’m not getting any congestion, so what I thought was a cold may in fact have been damp. This is another reason I am drying the house out slowly, so that we can acclimatise.
Summary:
This seems to work well. It’s not been a “switch on and forget” machine because it is a little noisy so I don’t want to run it overnight, plus I need to boost it for laundry, cleaning and decorating. But used in combination with central heating it’s making home very comfortable. I’m looking forward to seeing what bills are like, I am expecting to make some savings on heating and trips to the launderette to dry bedding (when weekends are wet) to offset the cost of running the unit.
Update:
I’ve now run the unit for two weeks. That’s an average of ten hours a day, plus two hours on “laundry” for each load dried – average eight loads a week. It’s extracted 35L of water (about half of which is from drying laundry). It has finally begun to operate in “Eco” mode by dropping to low power at times, which suggests that the house is now within a healthy humidity range.
I’ve learned it’s worthwhile opening the bathroom and kitchen windows (but with the room door shut) for a short period after showers and cooking, to let the steam out. It’s also worthwhile re-spinning towels and bedding on a fast spin, and part line-drying.
Update 2:
It’s coming up to a month now, I find that I only need to run the unit for six hours a day on Eco plus two hours on Laundry – to dry a load a day. When it’s on Eco it boosts to High occasionally but now the house has dried out it’s mainly running on Low. I’m pouring away about 1.5L a day – at least half is from laundry, I re-spin most loads now which does make a difference.
Not sure I like this yet. maybe I haven’t figured it out fully yet I don’t know. it sounds like a fan belt about to snap. I did notice when it’s been working a while it won’t go onto the light blue section. (first half) it will only go over into the darker blue part. (second half). don’t know if that is normal but like I said I’m still getting used to it. mind you I have to say it has gotten rid of a heck of a lot of moisture from the air in this house so it’s doing something right. it’s kicking out a 3/4 to a full water tank which still surprises me even after the short time I’ve had this. you can either water your plants with it or fill your water butt up outside for later. I do other things with it like filling the cistern with the water. can’t be wasting all that lovely water.
According to my experience, it works weel. At high speed, it extracts about 2 liters everyday from my room. It is lower than expected, but I can feel the damp has been significantly removed from my room.
For noise level, you will definitely not want to sleep in the same rrom when it is running at high speed or laundry mode, but the quite mode is quiet enough for me to sleep. However, the quiet mode is not very effecient. I’ve run it overnight in quiet mode once, it extracts far fewer water than high speed.
I see that in other reviews, this model was reported stop working after a period of time. I haven’t experience any problem yet, but will update my review when I come across it.
At last, I would definitely recommend this model to anyone looking for a dehumidifier for a moderate sized room.
Wow .. why have I never tried one of these before ??? Years suffering with window condensation and black mold at ceiling height we thought it was ingress from our wobbly roof and old UPVC units, wrong ! I was more than skeptical at first but this beauty has been happily pulling out 2 ltrs of moisture a day over the past few days and I’m astounded. Windows are now condensation free for the first time in 18 years, and the house feels warmer as it is quicker and cheaper to heat the now drier air, seriously this machine is a no-brainer.
Right the machine itself. Not too large sits nicely on our cramped landing, very easy to operate, Eco mode during the day, where the machine will shuffle between settings depending on the relative humidity of the air even shutting itself off should it no longer be needed (although ours hasn’t reached that stage just yet), and low power mode overnight so not to risk being disturbed if it cranks up the power automatically, the machine also has a built in timer to turn itself off after you have left the house if it’s not needed. Auto swing louvre to distribute warm air expelled whilst running, laundry mode in case you need to dry clothes indoors. Easy to empty 2ltr side reservoir, even at it’s worst I only emptied once a day and machine auto shuts off when full so no need to worry about forgetting, there is also a pipe supplied if you want to run directly into drain. The fact it has an ionisor and silver filter to kill airborne bacteria (&mold spores?) is a very welcome bonus and rounds the machine off nicely.
Next the two ‘issues’
Smell: yes it will emit a not wholly unpleasant background odor for 2-3 days whilst the machine beds in, this is typical and expected due to the desiccant nature of the machine, for us smell has disappeared completely now.
Noise: In low power mode hardly noticeable, In high power modes the noise does ramp up but again I bought this machine knowing this so will not mark it down for performing as expected. If your not in the same room as the machine when it ramps up it quickly disappears into background noise and is nowhere near as loud as a tumble dryer.
The only caveat to this review would be I’ve only had the machine a week now however I will update if we ever experience any future issues, but as it stands I am extremely impressed with this machine and the difference it has made in just a short period of time.
Works, is quiet and efficient. Makes a big difference in our small holiday chalet. The big test will come in the winter months. Easy to use and empty. You can set a desired humidity level and the unit cuts off and on (like a heater). Two fan speeds, the lower is quiet, eg you can watch TV whilst its running and you can sleep while it’s on ! Higher speed is obviously noisier but gets the job done quicker. Cable is on the L/H side of the unit, water tray pulls out on the R/H side. There’s a small circular window on the front so you can see fill levels. It’s supposed to cut off when full, haven’t tested that as I’ve always emptied before that point. Hot air is expelled forwards or upwards depending on the position of the adjustable top. In winter this will both cure damp and warm a small dwelling or flat. Too cheap is a false economy, too expensive (eg an Ebac) is probably OTT for most needs and not going to give you (much) more. After research this seemed about right. Looking like a good buy – so far so good !
OK the only thing that I cant confirm that it is working ok is the Ionizer function, Sadly my wife has suffered terribly this year so far with her hay fever, and her eyes are permanently bright red and swollen to some degree on a daily basis, and having required her to make several doctors visits and even one to the emergency A&E eye clinic, the symptoms vary but despite running the Ionizer function it sadly does not seem to help as far as we can tell, NB. THIS MAY NOT be a problem that can be improved by this ionizer device as it is a very sever condition, and is far worse than she has ever had previously.
SO to the main function of the device and why I purchased it was for the dehumidifier function, and this works brilliantly, the smells others mention is definitely not there in ours, it does give of a little heat even on the lowest setting, but not a problem.
Would buy again without hesitation.
We have a large old house over 3 floors and have had problems with damp in several rooms. Plus we’d been feeling really cold over the recent wet weather we’ve had, despite having the heating on full. We bought two of these, one for the first landing and one for the second. The difference was almost instant. With all the dampness removed from the air the heating was much more efficient and heated the house far better. The dehumidifiers pump out some warm air too which you can feel. We keep ours going day and night, unless the weather is good enough to have all the windows open, then I turn them off. Can’t comment on how much they are to run but I reckon they are well worth it. We had problems with clothes in wardrobes smelling too which we haven’t had since we got them. They are really easy to use. There’s a button to turn the ionisation on or off. The next button is a timer – 2, 4 or 8 hours. One to direct the warm air being pumped out (3 options). A laundry button (2 options, high and low) so you can put it near a load of clothes on airers and let it dry them. A button for the level of dehumidifying you want, ie low (which we keep ours on all the time just about) which is the quietest, a high level which is obviously a bit noisier and one which toggles between the two levels, depending on the level of humidity in the air. It’s really easy to empty the water tray, just pull it out, carry it with the handy carry handle and empty it out into the sink. Some on here mentioned the noise but I don’t find it noisy at all. As I said, we have ours on the landing and we close our door at night and can’t hear it. The kids doors remain open and it doesn’t disturb them. Probably best on the low level at night though. There is a slight smell if you get your nose right in front of the air being blown out but it’s really not noticeable. I think there was maybe a smell when we first got them but that soon disappeared and to be honest I expected it, like anything new. I’m sat in front of one of them now and can’t smell anything untoward. Feel free to ask me any questions if you’re thinking about getting one. Hope this all helps.
Why we bought it: We had suffered from bad condensation on the upstairs bedroom windows every Winter for the last few years (ours is a very old house but with double glazed windows and from what I’ve read this is often not a happy combination). Finally I decided to do something about it, other than having to have the windows open most of the day long during the Winter to keep on top of the situation. After the first night of using this it was unbelievable – the next morning there was virtually no condensation, and after the second night there was absolutely zero condensation. So I wish I had got this product sooner, it’s incredible how much water it will draw out from your air. I couldn’t believe it. The item itself is neat and compact and once you have your situation under control, the maintenance level is nice and quiet, and we have this machine on 24/7 and it’s just outside the bedroom doors and it does not disturb sleep whatsoever. I now have the machine set to maintenance level, and it toggles between low and high (when more humidity is in the air that it needs to deal with), and at night time I just turn it right down to the one drip low setting and it’s very very quiet but powerful enough to prevent any condensation on the windows whatsoever. So, the product is brilliant and a fantastic price for the quality of the item. We have also noticed that we set our central heating at a much lower temperature to achieve the same warmth in our house than we did before we had this machine, so it’s saving us money on our gas central heating bills.
The main reason I have written this review, though, when I’ve never taken the time to write a review for anything else I’ve bought via Amazon before, is that the after-sales service is just out of this world….
After-sales service: If only every other company had the same quality of after-sales service as this one. I rang them immediately I received the item, for advice on which settings to use, given the layout of my house and our particular condensation problem, and received very helpful advice from the lady I spoke to. After a few days, the machine was still pulling loads of water from the air, even though we had had it set on the highest laundry setting to get on top of the problem. The information I had read about the product seemed to suggest that I should be able to turn the setting down after a few days, so I rang the company again, to ask for some advice on this, and a very helpful engineer/technical expert spent much time explaining to me in great detail the ins and outs of condensation problems and how the machine worked. From our discussion it soon became clear that ours was not a typical situation, which we already suspected!, and so we needed to adapt the settings accordingly – the condensation problem had built up over some years and also as ours is a 19th century house too, but with some unhelpful (for condensation) modernisations. I was advised to stay with the high laundry setting and ring back in a week and they would look at my situation again – and so it continued, and for a while I rang every week or couple of weeks, for further advice on how/when to alter the settings. Now that the situation is under control, and we are not emptying the machine so often, I no longer have my regular chats! It would be easy not to bother writing the review (and it has taken me far too long to do so! I got this machine back in November!), but I just wanted to thank the company for the excellent service I have had from them. I cannot praise the competence, knowledge and politeness of the staff at Ecoair enough.
I bought this Humidifier becuase we have had such great servce out ot the last one. We bought a BQDD122FW from B & Q about 8 years ago and it did the job admirably. We used it in the bathroom for 2 hours after we have finished showering. It removed the excess mousture and kept the mould at bay. My wife also used it to dry clothes in a small room. When this failed we looked for something different but they were either too heavy (ones with a refridgerant pump) or too expensive).
When I realised that the Ecoair had virtually the same model number as our old B&Q dehumidifier we bought one (the Classic Mk5). sure enough it is exactly the same controls and spec., and it does the same job in the same way. If your looking to buy somethikng to suck the moisture out of an old 5 bedroom house this is NOT the one to buy. Go for a big 20 litre per day job. However if you just want to keep your bathroom mould free and/or dry clothes quickly especially those delicates that you would not put into your tumble dryer, then go for this one.
You may hear people say that dessicant humidifiers are expensive to run but the actually work (IMO) faster that the others and therefore cost to run is not a great deal different between the two.
I only received this product yesterday. However I have had it on, on the landing, for the last 12 hours on the auto function and it has extracted almost a full tank of water! I would not have classed my 3 bed semi as particularly damp, I didn’t suffer from condensation or mould. However I have been experiencing condensation building up on the roof felt and then running and dripping onto the ceiling boards. I have been informed this is due to not enough ventilation in the roof space for the size of the property but until I can afford to replace the facias and sofits and so add more vents, I needed to try and remove as much moisture as possible before it gets to the roof. Of course it is too early to tell if it is going to work for this purpose but based on the amount of moisture it has extracted so far I have high hopes!
I purchased this dehumidifier as we have quite a bad problem with condensation, mould around the windows and even mouldy clothes in our wardrobe (yuk). We had previously tried a mini dehumidifier which didn’t seem t make much difference. Anyway after using this you can already tell the difference when you go into the room. I cant smell the usual musty smell and the condensation has vanished, wonderful! I opened up the tank and it has collected about a pint of water from just 24 hours! I’m not sure how expensive these things are to run but I guess well find out soon enough. We have ours on the medium setting but there is also a high clothes drying setting which would be a lot more expensive to run. All in all it is worth the expense when it comes to health so would highly recommend the product. Five Stars!
This dehumidifier is very simple and straight-forward to use and the instructions are brief and helpful, but if you’ve owned one of these machines before you can probably skip it altogether. There are around 4/5 settings including a ‘Laundry Mode’ for drying clothes. They say you should only use the laundry mode for (you guessed it) laundry, but also to dry very damp rooms – which we have – and it seems to work very well at this setting. There are also two power settings which are easily switchable.
Having put it one for just about over an hour, it had already drained about a pint worth of condensation / water from the air, and I’m sure if I’d let it on for more it would carry on, so I think it drains it very quickly and efficiently.
You can empty it manually by removing the ‘drawer’ section at the bottom (REMEMBER TO SWITCH IT OFF FIRST) or, you can insert a tube in a knockout section in the back and place the other end in a container / drain / sink and allow to drain itself. A tube for this purpose comes with the product.
Be weary that it does have it limits and will automatically shut itself off if it gets overheated or full and in need of emptying, so best to keep an eye on it.
Not sure if its worth 130 odd though but I guess you have to pay for this quality. The price is rather high, but there is nothing to complain about.
Recommend it as a really useful household tool. Chose desiccant as expected to use it at lower room temperatures. Chosen as an option to use with other options of gas central heating, wood burning stove, electric fan heater. It looks good and neat to have standing around or to tuck in a corner. As it has rained every day for a year (?) and I have to go out in all weather to manage animals, getting coats, overalls, gloves, boots wet several times a day, it helps to dry everything out. Great option for drying washing. The air feels good and fresh. It does warm the air but not hot like an electric fan heater, so could be used for drying when not wanting any heating. Like seeing how much water it collects. Really drys your hair (long, thick, rain pours off it as don’t wear a hat) also.
An update: Bought it in November 2013, I had no idea it was that long ago, it is still running and extracting moisture. It is on the landing always switched on at middle setting, it comes on for a bit whenever, showers, wet days, damp coats and clothing no worry, keeps the house fresh aired.
I bought this item when the weather started to cool as I was getting a lot of condensation and mould in my Motorhome, which I use frequently. I was amazed at how much water this machine can collect in only 2 hours. It also has a handy timer switch on it so you can set it for 2, 4 or 8 hours so it can be working whilst you sleep or are out and about. It’s fairly quiet during the day but takes some getting used to if you have it on whilst you sleep, with the quietness of the night it emphasises the sound of the fan. If the humidity is kept at around 50% then mould cannot grow and I saw a reduction in the frequency of new growth. There is an Eco setting which I do use, but I’m not sure how economical it actually is. Overall very pleased with my purchase and I would recommend it as fit for purpose, but as I said earlier not sure about how much it costs to run.
The Ecoair DD122FW MK5 exceeded all my expectations. I placed it on the landing and as long as I leave the bedroom doors ajar, the windows are almost completely dry in the mornings with the exception of some slight misting. The mould has stopped growing and the air is warmer. For the first couple of days I ran it on high to bring down the humidity levels. I typically have it running most of the day and night on low or even set it on timed. The humidity level has gone from about 78% to 44%. Don’t expect miracles however. One alone won’t keep the upstairs and downstairs of an old house damp free. I was so impressed with this one that I bought another for the kitchen which also keeps it warmer and has kept the living room nice and dry too. Only criticism I can find is that it’s almost too effective in that the small water collection tank needs emptying at least once a day. I’ve no facility to hook it up for constant drain. I’ve found that the best thing to do is if it has been on all day, empty the water pot at night, otherwise it’ll stop half way through the night when it’s dampest and the windows will still be wet in the morning.
The clothes drying facility works best if you have the clothes in the same room as the Ecoair. I’ve only used the clothes drying facility once and that was from the landing with the clothes on a heated clothes horse in the nearest room. They were all dry within 6 hours. Provided the weather’s not freezing, this dehumidifier warms the air and makes the area in general much warmer to the point where you can turn your heating off (not in January though). Although we have 2 of these one is noisier than the other for some reason. It’s not a problem however as the noisiest one has been placed down in the kitchen. In general, the noise isn’t bad and certainly worth putting up with in return for a warm dry house.
If you’re fed up with damp air and mould in your house, I can’t recommend this product enough, especially if you’ve got children with asthma problems. The air will be a much better quality for them to breathe. Excellent.
Bought this dehumidifier in an attempt to solve huge amounts of condensation in my house (3 bed semi). It certainly doesn’t disappoint. I had previously tried to combat the problem with disposable dehumidifiers that you can buy but windows were still dripping. This dehumidifier cleared it up in two days and now easily keeps it in check. It runs for approximately 4 hours a day and collects a full tray almost everyday.
I was originally drawn to this dehumidifier for one reason above all others because it states it works at low temperatures which it actually does as our thermostat is left at 10 degrees. Most dehumidifiers don’t work well below 15 degrees.
The only reason it loses one star is it has developed a slight barely audible noise when on low fan speed, a kind of rumble.
Can’t comment on reliability yet but with a two year guarantee what does it matter.
I bought this as there were lots of good reviews. I feel it only fair to add my opinion to the mix.
I bought this dehumidifier as my house is an old terrace property. In the winter the condensation can be really bad.
My first impressions were that it is a well packaged device and the unit itself is very well made.
I have been using it for 4 weeks and so far so good. On economy mode it removes 3 or 4 liters of water during the day and so far i have almost no condensation. My windows used to be 100% covered now there is just a thin bead of moisture along the bottom of my windows.
The unit is quiet but I don’t think it is quiet enough to have in a room where you are trying to sleep.
I would happily recommend this to a friend.
By the way, the speed of delivery from the suppliers was also excellent – Well done !
We purchased the Ecoair DD122FW MK5 after we found moisture and damp building up in our new home (which is not so new – built 1926). Due to solid walls and lack of TLC in our home we have replaced floors after finding they were rotten (thank you to the surveyor – NOT) and put right what had been over the years put wrong!
We can now monitor the air Rh value using our recently purchased Thermometer/Hygrometer and in conjunction with the Ecoair dehumidifier have managed to stabilise the humidity. This unit works extremely well and is very quiet compared to other units on offer, the Laundry mode is an added bonus! The price, size and functions for this unit are just what we were looking for and worth every penny.
Highly recommend this unit – if you have a small 1920-1940 Bungalow where you have a build up of damp and condensation on your walls/windows, this unit will rid you of the spores and moisture, keeping your furniture/floors from either getting too wet or from drying out!
Unit arrived within a few days and very well packaged, comes complete with permanent drain hose (option on other units).
I’ve only had it a couple of days but so far I am very impressed. It was delivered speedily through amazon and took less than a minute to set up.
It comes with a short leaflet explaining the settings, all of which are simple and intuitive.
Ioniser: Can switch this on to filter/clean the air
Timer: Can set it to 2, 4 or 8 hrs (not used this yet)
Laundry mode/high laundry mode: A high power mode to dry out a very damp room or laundry pretty quickly (8 hrs or less)
Low and high normal mode: Low ‘economy’ mode works at getting the room to 55% humidity, high mode works at getting down to 45%.
There is an ‘auto’ mode that will toggle between low and high normal mode, as and when required.
Airflow: You can set it to ‘wide’ air flow to cover a whole room, ‘spot’ to focus on a small area or ‘up’
I put this on high normal mode and within 4 hours the water tank was close to full (I really do have a damp house!). I left it running on low economy mode overnight and by morning, again the tank was full. After this short amount of time, we wear beathing easier and the damp air feel of our house had noticebly improved.
The water tank just slides out for emptying and has a handy fold down carry handle. However, there is no one opening to empty the tank through, you kind of have to just turn it upside down and the water comes out a number of gaps like near the folding handle, the drain hole and a gap near the front of the tray.
When we first swtiched it on, there was a mild odour, a kind of ‘new car’ smell, hard to describe but a synthetic smell which was not really unpleasant and not very strong and it soon disappeared (few hours). I know other reviews have mentioned the smell but we were not bothered by this at all. The unit also warms the air slightly, which for us using it in winter is a welcome side effect.
As to noise, on low economy mode, it is a low hum and it doesn’t really disturb you being in the same room as it. On the higher modes, it is nosier, like an air con unit on full blast, so we put it in a room that we are not using (i.e. upstairs during the day, then move it downstairs at night) as it is loud enoughto make sleeping or watching TV a little annoying.
It has a carry handle and is reasonably lightweight, so it is portable, making me more likely to move it around the house as and when I want.
Lookswise, it is reasonably sleek and has a little blue light on the side, as well at the buttons’ LEDs on the top, so emits a glow when in a dark room. While not beautiful, it is better looking than some more’ industrial’ looking dehumidifiers.
I like that it has a humidistat and that you can set the humidity level to suit your needs, which also means you don’t have to waste loads of electric with it being constantly on because it is quite expensive to run.
it also kicks out a bit of heat so warms the room aswell which is nice in the winter but not so nice if you have to use it in the summer. It has a silver filter that kills the bugs and that makes the place smell kind of new and clean.
anyway, all in all a very good buy
There’s a lot of chatter about how expensive dehumidifiers are to run, but I think there are several things to consider. The fact that the temperature had increased by nearly 4 degrees could mean that the radiator in the bathroom will be turned down once we put the central heating on. The warm air blowing out of the machine will keep the towels dry and mean we won’t need to use the tumble drier as much. The health issues around dampness concern me and given the climate in the UK I expect that people struggling with heating bills could hugely benefit from having a dehumidifier. Not to mention the condensation streaming down the windows in the colder months and black mould forming on the walls and ceiling. 140 well spent in my opinion.
We recently moved into a period home and we really bad problems with condensation on windows. Some of them were so bad that there was mold growing on the actual glass -that’s right, the old owners just let it grow! The central heating was not enough to dry out the air so I decided to buy a dehumidifier and went for this one, because of the price, positive reviews and the fact that it’s quiet to operate.
I’ve had it for two days and I am very very happy with it. The condensation problem was solved overnight: the unit was literally on for the whole night and it in the morning the reservoir was almost full. Since then, it just turns itself on when it needs to (probably 1 hour in total a day) and no trace at all of humidity in the house.
On the low setting it’s not too noisy and you can easily sleep with it on, provided it’s not in the room where you are. On full power it’s quite noisy but I can’t see myself using it in that mode, except maybe when mopping floors.
I also think it looks quite nice, although my partner disagrees but then he’s always had strange tastes, except when he chose me, of course!
Before I review this item allow me to give you an idea what this unit is covering. We live in a three bedroom semi-detached house with double glazing. No children/pets.Eco-air reckon this size unit is ideal for a three bedroom house and on that basis I bought one.
The main problem we had was high humidity upstairs in the main bedroom while we slept and of course,the bathroom. During the Winter when the windows are closed,the condensation was bad and when sleeping you could feel the damp and as a result didn’t sleep well at all.There would be the occasional mould patch near the windows as well.
We also noticed that by simply cooking in the kitchen downstairs and even with a cracked-open window,the upstairs windows would attract the humidity and needed continual wiping to stop water collecting on the sills.
The Eco-air unit has been a revelation and to the point where I am taken aback by its performance. It has many settings available though I feel the clothes drying function will be an option we’ll hardly ever use.
During the day I run the unit on Economy mode that will trigger automatically to High if the humidity raises too much.It never has. At night I run the machine on High and in terms of noise levels,let me tell you, I’m a light sleeper but I have become used to it very quickly.
I also bought the TFA Humidity Meter to monitor the units performance and in a typical week,it has brought the relative humidity down from what was on average 75-77% to 59-62% in the main bedroom when checked first thing in the morning.Elsewhere,the levels are in the low 50’s.
Not a huge difference you may reckon in the bedroom but let me tell you the actual difference is incredible.
None of the upstairs windows show any condensation what-so-ever,the bedding feels as crisp as it was when fitted and as a result,I’m sleeping much better than ever. When I’m about to go to work I empty the tank and this is where you notice exactly why you bought this thing in the first place.
The machine running on Economy during the day has hardly drawn a drip of condensation…which of course is good, but when run through the night on High for approximately 8 hours,the tank has taken between 500 and as much as 900ml of water out of the air. Go put that in your measuring jug and see if this is going to be the answer to your prayers. Just now it’s averaging 680ml per night.
Cost to run? Well as it’s going to run on High for 8 hours,this is always going to be the most ‘expensive’. It used 4.3kWh and this calculated to 7p per hour to run.
This is where the other benefit of the dehumidifier comes into play. So it costs 56p per night to run but it exchanges the damp air and sends out warm air through it’s fan therefore heating the rooms too so I’ve been able to reduce the gas used through the central heating.
The De-Ioniser is interesting because to my mind the air feels crisp and healthier though I don’t know how much of this is ‘In the mind’.
Summing up then,I feel that for general household use and especially during the Winter if you’re experiencing damp,condensation,unhealthy conditions this unit is the answer to your prayers and a no-brainer.
It has brought the humidity down to 50% or so (I leave it running downstairs at evening/nightime and put it upstairs in the day) but this rises to 60% rh or so during the day and has been pulling out 4.5 litres of water out of the air and walls per day, its been nice not to have condesation on the double glasing as it was a chore de misting them in the morning and then drying out the shammi leathers and cloths ready for the next morning, so far its turned out to be a good purchase and hopefully Ecoair have fixed the faults of the previous models like bits falling off and heating elements packing up after a couple of months of use,if not I’ll be back on here adding bits to this review. 😉
We got this dehumidifier to help make our basement flat less musky and we are amazed at how well it does the job!
It has loads of settings, two specifically for drying laundry which I use a lot as we don’t have a tumble dryer, as well as auto mode which stays on until the tank is full and 3 timer settings (2 hours, 4 hours and 8 hours I think) – and they are all really clearly marked on and easy to use. You can also adjust the fans to make it blow out dry air more widely or to sweep up and down.
The tank is really easy to empty and it’s clear from a light on the control panel when it needs to be done. It has a little handle and is easy to move around, it’s not too heavy at all. Makes the air really nice and clean and fresh smelling and the flat is noticeably less humid, it’s also pretty good looking for a dehumidifier and is not an eye sore at all. Can’t beleive we didn’t buy one sooner!
The dehumidifier arrived relatively quickly (ordered on Sunday evening, got it on Wednesday), and when I first opened the box, the first impression was very good.
It is sturdy and well-built, the plastic casing feels good and well made. It feels like good quality plastic, and not the rubbish brittle ones. The whole thing is very compact, the handle at the top, buttons, and rounded corners made it feel ergonomic.
At the loudest setting, it sounds like a waterfall, not too bad really. At the lowest setting, it sounds like an air-con. I haven’t tried sleeping with it in the room, but I expect it should be enough to just use it in the day. In about 30mins of use (in Auto mode), it has reduced the humidity in my room from 76% to 70% and still going. There is no indicator showing the current humidity of the room, but you can just buy a humidity meter at 5.
The air that comes out is warm! Seems like good value for money.
One negative point is that there is a rather bright blue light from the side when it is turned on, which could get annoying in the night.
I had a Delonghi (DNC-65) model eco-frienddly dehumidifier which served me nearly five yrs and it failed due to problems with the fan. I guess these items are not easy to repair and no point in doing so after five yrs of service. So, I was looking for a replacement ecofriendly model which doesn’t have compressor and come across this eco-air make which is similar in look to my previous one. The item was ordered and delivered within 48 hrs,as always an impressive service from Amazon.
The Dehumidifier is very good lokking with neat finish and style and is very compact. The operation of the machine is very is easy, just plug and play through digital control. You don’t need the manual, in case it is required it is well written and detailed with pictures. I usually put it in Auto mode during daytime and at night switch to Low mode. The low mode is really quiet and doesn’t disturb your sleep in the bedrom (yes, its kept in my bedroom). Also, there is a nice blue antibacterial light which glow all the time and I’m not diturbed by this light. There is also an ioniser function which puries the air. The unit shut down automatically when the reservoir is full (2 litre capacity). So I can’t fault this machine in any aspects of its operation and its highly recommended.
That machine had been used for a number of years and was in fact second hand so I was happy to look for a similar model.
This one looks like the most recent version of my previous one.
Good points: It does what I need it to do; which is to remove humidity from my bedroom at speed so that I don’t have to have it on all the time, which frankly would drive me nuts as I need quiet to sleep.
You can choose how powerful it works by either going with Auto, Normal or High. Most days 2 hours of High takes my room below 50%rh of humidity which is enough to stay clean of mould.( Mould grows at around 68%rh. It is preferred to keep the room around 50%rh,. Of course the damp and humidity levels will vary depending on where you live. I live in the wetter southwest near a river so the humidity tends to be very high. On drier days using the dehumidifier, the humidity will go down to 40%rh very quickly, wetter days take longer. Without the dehumidifier the humidity easily rises to 68%rh. I bought a humidity meter to keep track of humidity and was shocked at how high it was in my room. Just heating doesn’t help.
You can set a timer for 2, 4 or 8 hours. I find this handy as 2 hours is usually enough, if not, just don’t use the timer and turn off when you want to.
The noise isn’t too loud. I can even sit in the room and read with it on High if I want.
If you use the Auto setting the machine sensor will power according to how damp the room is.
It is fairly lightweight and easy to move around.
It doesn’t take up much room.
You can use it dry washing. It has a Laundry mode button with 2 settings, Turbo and Saving. The you set the louvre opening to Up and it does a really good job of sucking up the wet. I find it particularly handy for washing that didn’t quite get dry on the line.
It has an optional Ioniser button, which releases negative ions……all I can say is that it seems to make the room feel fresher.
The only Bad point I can think of is that the container for the water to be collected in does fill up in 2 or 3 days, or 6 hours, so you need to remember either keep emptying or there is an option to use the tubing that comes with it, and fill up another larger container. If the container is full the machine switches itself off. A good safety point, but if you are not in the room you can forget and find nothing has happened cos you forgot to empty it. There is a light indicator when full if you are in the room to see it.
Urgent Update !! 9th January 2012
My dehumidifier has stopped working after just 5 months. As it is under warranty I have contacted the company on the back of the Warranty, and not the seller, and am waiting til Wednesday for it to be collected and repaired.
I will update on how well this is done, because I am not happy with how much effort it took to even get to speak to customer services at Meaco. The man on the phone was also quite rude, not what is wanted when there is a problem.
Latest Update 27th Jan
My dehumidifier is back with me now and is in good working order. I returned the machine to the actual manufacturers, Ecoair, as the people there were polite and helpful on the telephone, and have been efficient in organizing the collection and return needed. All seems well, I only hope that the machine will now continue to work for a long time as these are not cheap.
If there are any problems I will post back here but fingers crossed I won’t need to.