Rated a Which? Best Buy, this is our most energy efficient dehumidifier range yet. Ultra-quiet and with a host of special features, living with Arete will be a breeze. I had the MeacoDry Arete One running whilst I worked and watched TV and it didn’t bother me at all. The official stats say it runs at just 35dB, and it certainly felt very quiet in practice. When I tested the laundry function on the Russell Hobbs 20L dehumidifier to dry t-shirts in a small bedroom, it definitely sped up the drying time' said our reviewer. 'The T-shirts closest to the dehumidifier dried in 3 hours, but those further away took aboutdouble that time to completely dry'. How we test Meaco has made the Arete One easy to use. Via the control panel on the front, you can set the target relative humidity, between 40% and 70%. I’d aim for 50% in most cases, although a higher setting, such as 60%, can help reduce running costs. When running, it shows the current humidity level. 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.

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. The Arete One also has an automatic shut-off function when its water tank is full. At this point, the unit will beep and a red light will be displayed to alert you that the tank needs emptying. This is a useful feature that cheaper dehumidifiers tend not to have, and gives peace of mind that your home's flooring isn't going to be damaged by any overspill. There's also a small window on the front of the dehumidifier that shows you the current water levels. Basically, if you have a larger house with large rooms and a damp problem, then this is the kind of dehumidifier you should look at if you want to deal with the issue. But is it up there the best? If you have a lot of laundry you need to dry indoors over the winter months, then we think thePro Breeze 20L Premium Dehumidifier with Special Laundry Modeis the best dehumidifier for drying clothes fast. Plus, the MeacoDry Arete One dehumidifier'sSmart Laundrymodeworks brilliantly for drying washing indoors – wet laundry was dry in hours rather than the days it can usually take in the draughty Victorian terrace we tested the unit in.

Does the MeacoDry Arete One offer good value for money?

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! The laundry setting is a nice idea but I haven’t found it to be particularly effective. It’s probably fine for smaller loads or if you’re ironing your clothes. It's not on for long enough to get my clothes to the level of dry that I would like. Instead I just put it on constant overnight and then switch it off in the morning. Meaco’s existing 20L MeacoDry ABC dehumidifier produced a maximum 44dB(A) of noise at one metre and consumed roughly 244W. The Arete One is specified to top out at 40dB(A) and consume around 250W, although – as we’ll see later – measured consumption is actually much lower.

If you want a dehumidifier of a similar power and price point, the slightly more expensive ProBreeze 1500ml Mini Dehumidifier remains our best budget buy, offering a better extraction rate of 0.5L and a larger 1.5L water tank, which means you won’t be emptying it quite so frequently. That said, the ProBreeze 1500ml Mini Dehumidifier is also larger in size, measuring H30 x W22 x D16cm compared to the Russell Hobbs' H22 x W14 x D14cm frame. And, the ProBreeze 1500ml is twice the weight, weighing in at 1.85kg.As Chris Michael, Managing Director of the air quality brand Meaco says, inside the home, 'excess moisture in the air can come from drying clothes in the house, boiling vegetables, putting the kettle on, bathing, showering, open flame gas style heating, damp clothing, breathing, and the damp British weather.' Thanks to this, the Silentnight 39899 dehumidifier has noise levels of just 25dBA, and as our reviewer says 'when I say it’s whisper quiet, I mean it. I couldn't hear this dehumidifier whilst it was running at all. That makes it perfect for anywhere you want to maintain peace and quiet' – like the bedroom. I was testing the 12L Arete One, which means that it can extract up to 12 litres of moisture from the air per day. And thanks to a generous 2.5L water tank, there's plenty of capacity to collect this condensed water. That means you don't need to constantly empty the dehumidifier as I found I was doing with other models. Power requirements change, too. The first example draws 179W, while the second one requires 211W. At the maximum draw, the MeacoDry Arete One uses 235W of power. That isn’t unusual for a compressor-based dehumidifier, working out at around 3.3p per hour. 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.