We have just moved house from a house with a log burner and big south facing window that was excellent for drying clothes. We do now have a spare room that we can hang washing into dry. Temperature will be around 16 -18 degrees on average. Will a 10L / 12L Maeco dry a couple of loads of laundry in 24 hours in a room roughly 4m x 3m or do we need one of the bigger units. If we don't plumb it in will the relatively small tank fill up in less than 24 hours. The other option other than Maeco is Ebac but they don't specify noise of there units which is putting us off.
We've a couple but the Maeco is a dessicant one and will work in lower temperatures. TBH they are all good.
Can't help with the calculations but we have a 25 litre version which was sized for a 4 bedroom house.
We leave it running all the time and it just kicks in when it needs to. Keeping the humidity down in wetter weather helps the house feels warmer.
Then, we shut it in the back bedroom with a load of laundry, flick it into laundry mode where it spends 6 hours aiming for 35%. Works a treat.
If be tempted to go bigger as in laundry mode, your use case sounds very similar to ours. Basically the dryer only goes on for bedding.
Meaco Junior here, it is very effective and will dry a load of washing (2 people) in a few hours. I always do a second spin then hang on the rack. There's a hose connector if you want to bypass the water collector to a larger one
Runs at about 18p an hour according to my smart meter.
I recently put an overhang on my shed and can dry washing outside but undercover. Total game changer for us.
the Maeco is a dessicant one and will work in lower temperatures
We have a Xdry desiccant one that was the STW recommendation 12 or more years ago. Still good - but it now lives full time in the workshop and van taking care of the winter cold damp out there using cheap middle of the night energy on Octopus Intelligent Go. Deliberately went for a compressor not a desiccant for the 2nd one for laundry in the house - whilst it can't do cold temperatures it does warm(er) temperatures for a lot less money - roughly a third as much. Vonhaus for what its worth. I like the fact that it's smart so I can tell it to come on in the night for a few hours in an app or shouting at Alexa.
Our 12L MeacoDry ABC is permanently on in our 3x3m utility room and dries one or two loads a day. The clothes need hanging well on the drying rack to ensure air flow. We empty the tank most days but it depends how much moisture the clothes are holding after spinning.
We have another dehumidifier (in addition to the Meaco) that's a compressor version and that's on most of the time in the kitchen, drying my cycling kit and washing (usually at least a couple of loads a day) - Clothes go on two drying racks. The added advantage is the bay window never get's damp anymore from condensation and there is no mould at all. Previously, general cooking moisture would leave to some black patches on the UPVC frame over the course of a winter.
If we don't plumb it in will the relatively small tank fill up in less than 24 hours.
It depends on how much moisture you're drawing, but the power of the Meaco Jr will far outstrip its capacity. I put one in the cellar, I ended up rigging it up to drain into a 75L drum and running continually on low it still needed emptying like weekly.
Do you guys actually monitor the RH in your houses?
When it's raining outside my interior RH gets up to about 70% but it will quickly drop down to about 50/55% when it's not raining which is pretty much perfect and you can dry clothes indoors at that sort of RH as long as it doesnt go above about 60%.
Will a 10L / 12L Maeco dry a couple of loads of laundry in 24 hours in a room roughly 4m x 3m
I think this is what I have and the answer is yes (if you're hanging the laundry on drying racks).
you can dry clothes indoors at that sort of RH as long as it doesnt go above about 60%.
While you can eventually the dehumidifier speeds it up and promotes the much needed airflow reduces the risk of that musty mouldy smell people end up with when they leave their clothes out too long to dry
Very much a BS or Sliced bread thing. Mrs Surfer wanted one to dry some washing indoors and had a M&S voucher for half of the price of a good model in their store. Its been brilliant. We are both very active walking, running, gym, out with dogs etc so always washing gear. It works far better than I expected and seems to use almost no electricity. Dont go for a very small model IMO as you will be forever emptying the water tray.
We bought a Meaco recently (Arete), 12L to go in our utility room and dry the laundry. I returned it after 2 days - it's a nice bit of kit, but it wasn't actually shifting the humidity much or drawing much water. Replaced it with the next size up (20L), and much happier with how it does; it'll drop the humidity from c65 to c50% in an hour or two with the door closed, and fills up its tank in 8-10 hours.
Will be absolutley fine in my experience - mines just the little 8 litre junior Maeco, and I've said it loads of times on here but its one of the most useful things I've ever bought. Clothes drying, decorating, drying my gross stinky SPD boots in winter, its currently in the garage where I can put my soaking wet toy car away after a wash for the winter and it completely dries it out, warms the garage, stops the discs rusting, stops tools rusting etc.
We have had Meaco and Ecoair dessicant models, both excellent and very effective. Both about £180 IIRC
Will dry most of the washing in 24hrs, just thick towels might take a little longer
Went with Meaco Aerate One 12L from various rave reviews and dried the washing in the bathroom on the clothing setting with door closed. Worked great and quick. Don't need a huge capacity if you keep the clothes drying to a small room. Though to also use as dehumidifier for the house you're moving it between rooms depending on need unless you have a dedicated one for clothes.
All geat until the buttons stopped working. The thing still runs as a dehumidifier but none of the buttons do anything other than beep. Can't use the clothes mode now. Can't even turn it off without pulling the plug.
There are big threads on various forums, reddit etc with loads of people with the same problem, and warranty replacements fail soon after also. Though they do have 5 year warranties.
Very disappointed considering the reviews seem so good and rated far above other brands.
We have an Eco Air DD2 and it's great. We chose a desiccant type one because we sometimes dry clothes in the utility room which is not heated and desiccant type are more efficient and effective in the cold. If you are always going to dry clothes somewhere thats usually heated (eg kitchen / bedroom) then choose a compressor type one as they tend to be more efficient in warm conditions.
Ours has an extracting capacity of 9 litres per day. We put the laundry on a couple of clothes racks, point the air outlet vaguely at the clothes and shut the room door. A full load of mixed fabrics is usually dry within 3-4hours on laundry mode (ie max power). We usually keep it on 50% humidity mode and it takes about 8 hours to dry the clothes, we think its a good compromise, it saves some electricity and clothes are still dry within a reasonable time and don't get musty. Synthetic fabrics ie biking stuff is dry within 30mins to 1hour. Really good when you discover your knee pads are absolutely disgusting in the morning and you have afternoon ride planned.
The water container is large enough for a couple full loads of washing (maybe more) so no issues with having to keep an eye on it and emptying it regularly while clothes are drying. It has an option to put a fixed drain pipe if thats works for you.
We originally wanted a smaller capacity one but they were out of stock at the time, I think they would have worked absolutely fine for clothes drying duties when limited to a room, no need for a big one if you don't want/need it.