We wanted Arete to be useful all year round. So every Arete One dehumidifier includes a H13 HEPA filter, a 75% bigger and better quality HEPA filter. This is a medical-grade filter that cleans the air during dehumidification, and can also be used as a stand-alone purifier during the warmer months of the year. Because my house can get a little damp, wet washing can take so long to dry indoors. Especially over the winter months. When I had the MeacoDry Arete One dehumidifier running, the wet laundry I had hanging on my clothes airer was dry within hours. Cleaning the air in your home. Meaco wanted Arete to be useful all year round. So every Arete One dehumidifier includes a H13 HEPA filter, a 75% bigger and better quality HEPA filter. This is a medical-grade filter that cleans the air during dehumidification, and can also be used as a stand-alone purifier as well.

For emptying, the tank simply pulls out the front of the machine so you can pour away the water. Just be careful, though – the tank is quite heavy when full. It's wise to think carefully about the size of room or the amount of moisture the dehumidifier is going to be up against. The 12l version would suit a small-medium size room with mild humidity, but if you have a big or very damp-prone house - or you're drying a lot of washing - the 20 or 25l model really does the job well. In fact, the MeacoDry dehumidifier range as a whole comprises the most energy efficent dehumidifiers that we've come across, regularly beating their main competitor – Pro Breeze – on cost to run.

Key specs

If you want to run the dehumidifier permanently, you can connect a garden hose to it, dumping the water straight into a drain. That’s useful if you’re in a building that suffers from damp. In terms of noise, on the highest speed fan setting I measured the MeacoDry Arete One at 48.8dB, which is certainly loud enough to hear; on low speed, it was 45.9dB when measured from a distance of 1m. To access the water tank, you just pull the two large handles at the front of the unit. Although a word of warning, the water tank can be heavy when full, so you’ll need a steady hand to walk to the sink as it’s easy to splash the water around. However, you don’t need to fiddle with any lids or covers as I encountered with other dehumidifiers, with the Meaco you just pour the water away via a little outlet at the side of the tank. Overall a really easy experience. It’s certainly an effective dehumidifier. In a small bedroom with damp and mould issues, I saw the humidity fall from 67% to 52% within a couple of hours, and I had to force the target down to 45% to keep the purifier busy. Despite its compact size, this dehumidifier is also heavy. And noisy. We also didn’t find it that much help with drying clothes, although it did a good job of managing general damp and reducing condensation and mould on windows and walls.

Yes – it’s an excellent dehumidifier, especially for larger spaces. I don’t have the MeacoDry ABC or Inventor EVA II Pro 20L to hand to make direct comparisons but the Arete One is right up there with them in terms of performance and is either competitive or slightly better on noise and power consumption.

This dehumidifier is really easy to move around. It’s not light, in fact, it weighs 10.9kg, but there is a handy retractable handle situated on the top of the machine, which makes lifting it a lot more comfortable. Dehumidifier users most often leave their dehumidifier near bedrooms and in operation for the majority of the time. As such, quiet operation was essential. The Arete range runs twice as quiet as any other comparable compressor dehumidifier on the market. We know that the thing you do most often is empty the water tank. So we wanted to make sure that was easy to do without too much effort and without annoying spillage The advantage of the size, drying power and capacity is that the Arete One can dehumidify larger areas than your average 10-12L dehumidifier. I’ve had it working on an upstairs landing and a large downstairs hallway, and in both cases, it did a solid job of controlling humidity and drying out areas affected by damp or mould, although in these sorts of environments you need to leave it running for longer periods to make an impact. The Arete One is at its noisiest in clothes drying mode, where you’re looking at sound levels of over 50dB and power consumption of over 208W. What’s more, it’s not the most effective dehumidifier I’ve seen for actually drying your clothes; even after six hours some garments were still slightly damp to the touch. In the past we found the Ebac 2650eworked a little better, albeit over a longer 8 hour boost cycle. However, different washing loads and humidity levels make like-for-like comparisons impossible, and the Arete One is still a decent option – you can always leave it on at a lower humidity target or turn on continuous operation if you want it to finish drying out your laundry.

It's a bit of a bonus that this dehumidifier also comes with an air purifier function –something most dehumidifier's don't offer – and I found it worked really well. It’s definitely worth adding in that HEPA filter which you’ll find included in the box when the dehumidifier is delivered. That said, this dehumidifier can also act as an air purifier, so there is an optional HEPA filter that you can fit into the dehumidifier. I’d recommend using it as this filter can help to clean the air whilst the dehumidifier is working.Bonus! Compressor dehumidifiers tend to be the most common design available in the UK. They work by drawing air into the dehumidifier via a fan, and then running the air over over cold coils to condense the moisture from it, whereby the condensed water is collected in a water tank.The coils are kept cool by refrigerant which means the unit also needs a compressor built in. The only downside of compressor dehumidifiers is that they need the air to be warm for this process to work. Most will work above 5°C, but they're most efficient at an ambient temperature of around 20°C (depending on the individual model). The extensive feature set makes this the perfect dehumidifier for almost any home and can be deployed in any room as well as conservatories, garages, boats, or caravans with exceptional performance. As mentioned, the water tank stores 4.8L and simply slides in and out of the body of the unit. On even the heaviest day of testing I didn’t have to empty it more than once, although I’ve generally been working at room temperatures of around 22°C with humidity levels starting at around 62-67%. If you’re dehumidifying a seriously damp space or one that’s been flooded, then you may have to empty more often. The unit also supports continuous drainage, although you’ll need your own hose and a nearby drain or sink.During our testing process we found it really easy to use and operate, and our reviewer loved the Smart App connectivity (something few dehumidifiers offer) as it gave her a lot more control over how she could use the machine, saying 'the in-App experience is fantastic, the menus are really clear, and changing the settings is simple'. Most dehumidifiers are noisy, averaging decibel levels of between 34-48dB. That's because they draw in air via a fan and then use a compressor and refrigerant to cool and condense the air to extract the moisture from it.