Vax Dehumidifiers

Englander91

Englander91

Englander91

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Hello all, another buying advice thread from me. Today's topic is dehumidifiers.

My partner and I rent a relatively modern, small one bed flat with good double glazing, good insulation and, consequently, very poor ventilation. As a result, we get puddles of water from condensation underneath our windows in the bedroom and living room, along with the mould that goes with it. We've also got a bit of mould coming up in the bathroom around the window in there. We don't have a tumble dryer, so we have to dry clothes indoors and it takes a literal age.

I have therefore been looking at ways to rectify the following problems:
1. high humidity -> condensation -> mould
2. clothes taking forever to dry

I believe that one solution for me could be a dehumidifier - and I've found one on Amazon today only on what could be a good deal here.

As it's a rented property, it needs to be something that I can take with me when I next move, and not drastically expensive because I don't want to invest money in a property that isn't mine. Therefore, installing snazzy positive input ventilation (PIV) systems is a non-starter for now.

Anyone got any thoughts on what I've mentioned so far? Is the dehumidifier that I linked to any good? It reviews well on Amazon except it's "expensive" - but it's currently £75 off so that's a moot point at the moment.
 
I would personally recommend the following from Amazon: EcoAir DD122FW-MK5

Absolutely fantastic dehumidifier - so good I'm about to buy a second for another part of the house.

Timer function is really useful and has a clothes drying setting which I can testify works brilliantly well.
 
Busted - caught not using the search function when I definitely should have!

So I've read through the other thread, read lots of reviews and I've taken into account which models/brands are highly regarded. I'm currently torn between the Ecoair DD122 dessicant model and the fairly significantly cheaper (and cheaper to run) Ecoair DC12 compressor model.

DD122 is more compact, does pump out warmed air and is really quiet owing to it having no compressor.

The DC12 is cheaper to buy (£125 vs £166) and cheaper to run.

Going to mull it over a bit I think.
 
Been using a meaco dd8l for past three years or so. Dries clothes quickly and keeps my windows condensation free. It a dessicant model which runs quiet allowing me to run it overnight. Has timer function too. Well recommended
 
From what I've read recently desiccants are only good for very low temperature environments (cooler than 15c). The heaters aren't terribly reliable either.

In house that is heated sensibly, a compressor dehumidifier is more efficient than a desiccant.
 
darael said:
From what I've read recently desiccants are only good for very low temperature environments (cooler than 15c). The heaters aren't terribly reliable either.

In house that is heated sensibly, a compressor dehumidifier is more efficient than a desiccant.
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I've read similar things, but then again, I've also seen a couple of good reviews of dessicant dehumidifiers in real world conditions, including a test of the previously mentioned DD122FW MK5 here @20*C, and it looks like it works very well.
 
I certainly need to start having a proper look at dehumidifiers. The extension rooms are cold and quite moist. And winter isn't going to make them any better. I've taken a note of the two mentioned above for further reading.
 
I went for the DD122FW Classic Mk5 as mentioned in this thread - got it for £150. Arrived today and I'm pretty pleased with how it's whirring away. Humidity is down from 86% to 64% after a few hours and it's basically fully dried my lycra ready for tomorrow which is a godsend. It's also warmed the room up a bit, meaning that I haven't even had to put the heating on yet.

I have questions regarding the ioniser function: is it worth running it? Does it use more energy? So far I've found reports that it charges dust particles and makes them stick everywhere (my flat gets dusty quickly enough as it is) with the supposed benefit of making the air "healthier" because "These positive ions [which the ioniser removes using negative ions] make breathing a lot more difficult". I personally don't find breathing positive air particles all that difficult, so I'm thinking I'll just leave this mode off as I don't want to be dealing with more dusting?
 
Start making regular meter readings and enjoy watching your usage creep up. :D I'd imagine this will be more-so with your desiccant dehumidifier
 
Maccapacca said:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Nuaire-Drimaster-Condensation-Ventilation-Loft/dp/B0074K582E

We fitted one of these and we now have no condensation anywhere and the house feels more fresh.
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Was looking at these a couple of weeks ago - is yours the heated or non-heated one?

Reading around there seems to be a fair mix of people saying these are excellent and got rid of any condensation issues very quickly but some people reckon they're a bit of a con. So I can't decide! If I got one and found it didn't do much, i'd be left with a hole in the ceiling :p
 
Can't comment on Vax but we've got a Delonghi DEM10, looks like it's in your price range and works well for us.

Last winter I had it on all the time (it tries to maintain a constant humidity, around 70% according to my hygrometer* but it's a bit persistent and will continue switching on and off down into the 60s too from what I've seen so it gets switched off when dry).

This winter I'm trying to do a mixture of ventilation by leaving windows open a crack, and dehumidifier in the mornings to bring the bedroom humidity down as well as when drying clothes.

Reason being there isn't really a substitute IME for air circulation (and extra central heating to make up for cooling the room down).

* On that note everyone should have some thermometer/humidity-meters. I use a few of these http://thermometer.co.uk/humidity-meters/1034-low-cost-therma-hygrometer-thermometer-hygrometer.html They're only p/m 5% but that's enough.
 
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Six6siX said:
Reading around there seems to be a fair mix of people saying these are excellent and got rid of any condensation issues very quickly but some people reckon they're a bit of a con. So I can't decide! If I got one and found it didn't do much, i'd be left with a hole in the ceiling :p
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I really like the concept of them but think they are having laugh at the price. £280 for what is essentially a fan, a filter and a vent... I'd be tempted to find a MVHR unit on ebay if you want a mechanical solution and you don't mind a more complicated installation. Otherwise just use the window vents if traffic noise is not a problem...

Using a dehumidifier throughout winter isn't a good idea for your electricity bill.
 
I'd allowed moisture to build up in my house for a year and it had gotten to 70+%. I'm using an EcoAir DD122FW-MK5. I turn it on during the day when the heating is off and the house is empty. It took weeks to make a lasting impression on the humidity but now I run it for a few hours a week just to pull back humidity levels from low 60's to low 50's. I'm very happy with it.
 
Englander91 said:
I went for the DD122FW Classic Mk5 as mentioned in this thread - got it for £150. Arrived today and I'm pretty pleased with how it's whirring away. Humidity is down from 86% to 64% after a few hours and it's basically fully dried my lycra ready for tomorrow which is a godsend. It's also warmed the room up a bit, meaning that I haven't even had to put the heating on yet.
Click to expand...

Just FYI, the process of heating air causes a drop in Relative Humidity (RH). Air at 4c and 80% humidity when heated to 20c has a relative humidity of 30%. Half of your RH% decrease there will have been simply from heating the room via electricity (which is an expensive way to heat a room).
I find in winter unless you actively dry clothes inside it's easier to just let some cold outside air in and heat it up cheaper via gas CH. It is basically what these Nuaire Drimaster system do, pump outside air in the cold months and gets you to heat it to reduce the RH. Notice how it says "System standby in summer months" because it needs the temperature differential to achieve anything meaningful. It's to get around most people never opening windows in winter.

Also naked gas flames that don't get vented outside should be avoided (cooker, catalytic/flueless fireplaces etc) as one of the combustion products of methane is water. My flueless gas fire produces about half a litre of water (500 grams) per hour added to the air. 1 cubic metre of air at 20c holds 17.3 grams of water which is 100% RH. So you can see a few hours of running injects a lot of water into the house in comparison to its total air volume. Which is ok while its running as the air temp is high so the RH is at a reasonable level, but when it cools you get condensation as your RH increases.
 
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