I tested Meaco's new dehumidifier and its drying power seriously impressed me – it's got to be one of the best models out there right now for chilly UK homes

If you're in the market for a dehumidifier, to tackle your winter washing indoors, or perhaps you've recently discovered a rather damp corner in your home? Either way, investing in one of these machines is a surefire way to keep the humidity levels in your home at a safe level. The average home should be between 40% and 60% at all times, so if yours is higher than 60%, then this machine will do the work for you.

I've been testing the MeacoDry DD8L Pro Desiccant Dehumidifier, RRP £259.99, Meaco, in my home for a few weeks. I used it in my kitchen to help speed up the drying process of my laundry. I moved it to my living room, to see how it tackles the levels in this space while it's being used by my toddler and me, and then to my bedroom — to test its night mode and if it's actually possible to sleep with it switched on.

Sitting at a slightly higher than average price point at £259.99, this Meaco model is best for smaller to medium-sized rooms and homes. It's a compact machine that benefits from a sleek design, and best of all, it can be pushed against a wall whilst in use, which is almost unheard of — normally, dehumidifiers need around 10cm of clearance space on all sides while switched on. It connects with an app for full smartphone control, which I did find extremely handy, but the one thing that I really didn't like was its control panel. I found it difficult to read fast, unlike other machines that I've tested, which benefit from a coloured ring light which shines green when levels are OK, or even a number display.

Here's what else I thought of this Meaco dehumidifier, and if it'll be a permanent appliance in my house from here on out.

At a glance

Sitting at just under 60cm tall, this dehumidifier has a 2L tank but can extract up to 8L of water in a day. It works best in small to medium-sized rooms.

Since this model is a desiccant dehumidifier, it has a heating element inside. It can work in temperatures between 1°C and 35°C, but it does have to cool down for 30 minutes after every 4 hours and 30 minutes of being switched on. The same goes for when you turn the machine off after each use — it will cool down before fully turning off. Better yet, its filter is washable and never needs replacing, while its design doesn't sit on wheels and is a little tricky to move from room to room, albeit it isn't heavy whatsoever.

It has an LED display, and while the buttons are easy to work out, I did find it a little confusing. Instead of displaying its current humidity level in numbers, it uses a bar chart. This makes it hard to get a fast reading. The app control panel is a lot more intuitive, and it's what I found myself using to control the machine the most. It offers 3 fan speeds — low, medium, high — and 3 modes, auto, laundry and set humidity. The machine can work to target as low as 35% humidity.

Whilst reviewing this dehumidifier, I really rated its power versus its small footprint. I used it in my living room, kitchen and bedroom. In my living room, it managed to bring the humidity down from an initial 53% to 46% in less than 1.5 hours. In my kitchen, it started at 55% at 14:50, and by 15:23, it was reading 33%. After dragging it upstairs to my bedroom, it worked hard and fast to go from 61% to 47% in just 40 minutes. Impressive.

One night, I hung out a load of laundry and left the machine on its special laundry mode and went to bed. This mode has a timer for 6 hours only, but by the time I came down 7 hours later, all of my washing was dry anyway.

Depending on which mode you use, this machine can be noisy. Its high fan is turbulent, so you won't be able to have this on while watching TV or sleeping. Its low fan is bearable, and its night mode does make it easy to sleep with it on, so long as its fan is set to low, that is.

Specifications

• RRP: £259.99
• Type: Desiccant
• Extraction rate: 8L/day
• Water tank capacity: 2L
• Max room size recommended: No specific size — small-medium rooms
• Noise level: 40-50dB (we found it was more like 56-64dB)
• Power: 200W-600W
• Dimensions: H57.7 x W35.6 x D23.0cm
• Weight: 8.7kg
• Portable?: No
• Continuous drain option: Yes (hose not supplied)
• Laundry mode: Yes
• WiFi connectivity: Yes
• Timer: Yes, up to 24 hours
• Operating temperature: 1°C - 35°C

Unboxing

The Meaco DD8L Pro dehumidifier arrived on my doorstep inside a box, and its packaging featured minimal plastic. A very good starting point. It was encased with two moulded pieces of cardboard, and the main unit was sitting inside a bag made from PAP 22, which is widely recycled with cardboard and paper.

Its cord storage attachment came separately, inside a paper bag. I didn't even have to refer to the manual to fit this, as it was pretty obvious.

The filter was already inserted into this machine, so other than peeling back the plastic sticker from its screen, it was ready to go. I had also left it upright for 24 hours before this, FYI.

Design-wise, it looks great. It's not too big or too small, it's pretty unobtrusive and quite sleek thanks to its black and white colourway. Once plugged in, the confusion starts: its control panel is a little busy. At first glance, your eyes will be drawn to the battery-bar-like diagram in its centre. This is how you read the humidity level in the room, which is admittedly not the easiest and fastest.

How do I know what the humidity reading in my room is? I asked the same question, I won't lie. It's confusing, but the bars below the line show the current humidity level. The target humidity level is the number circled above the line.

I've tested other dehumidifiers that have been on wheels, so I do think this machine would benefit from being on castors. It explains in the manual that you can buy them separately.

It also doesn't benefit from any sort of handle, so moving it is quite difficult. Even though it isn't heavy at all at 8.7kg, it's just awkward to move around.

Its cable tidy is handy as you can use it to wrap the cord around.

Set up

One of the best things about this dehumidifier is that it can be placed anywhere in your home. Yes, it can be pushed against a wall! Its cord isn't super long, at 175cm, but at least it can be placed in a corner if need be.

After I pressed the power button, I waited 10 minutes to record its reading. In the manual, it says it can take up to 10 minutes to gauge an accurate reading.

It's recommended in the manual that you place this machine in a central area and keep it running 24/7. It says to keep all internal doors open and external doors and windows closed. The smart dehumidify setting is the best as it reaches a target level of 55%. If you have a problem in one specific spot in your home, then place this unit near that spot and close the door.

It can also be used anywhere that's cold, such as a conservatory, garage, boat and even a caravan. If the temperature drops below 0°C in any of these spaces, the machine will automatically switch to low fan speed. This can only be altered once the temperature around the machine rises to 3°C.

Setting up the Meaco app was simple — once I had connected it to my WiFi, it was pretty much ready for me to control from my phone.

Design

Its black and white design means it won't stick out like a sore thumb in pretty much any room, and it will also work in smaller rooms, too. The fact that it has been designed so that you can push it against a wall also makes an easy job of hiding it away while you want to use it.

While it doesn't have a handle or wheels, it does benefit from a child lock to save it from inquisitive hands. There's also a night mode and a timer option. In night mode, all lights switch off on the machine so that you can snooze in the darkness.

Its water tank is on the right-hand side of the machine. This slides out to access.

As for the filter, this sits at the back of the machine, and it slides away from the machine for easy access.

Its control panel is an LCD touch screen. Some actions need to be touched once, and others you have to press and hold to activate. This isn't labelled on the display, but it's written in the manual. You need to press and hold the night mode button to activate the child lock. The smart laundry mode (t-shirt button) needs to be pressed and held for 3 seconds to activate the Wi-Fi. To choose a humidity level, you need to hold the water drop button on your machine. You can choose the ideal humidity level of the room, from 40% to 70%, in 5% increments.

Ease of use

In total, there are 8 buttons on the control panel. These buttons are:

• Power: To turn it on and off.
• Water drop: Press once for smart humidity mode, which sets the machine to reach 55% target. Press and hold this button to set a level from 40% to 70%.
• 3 water drops: Press once for low fan, twice for medium fan, three times for high fan.
• Night mode: Press the moon button for night mode. Press and hold for the child lock.
• Timer: Press to turn on, keep pressing to choose a time from 1 hour to 24 hours.
• Ioniser: Press to turn the ioniser on and off.
• Louvre: Press once and it will swing between 0°C and 15°C, twice for medium, which is 0°C and 14°C, press again for 0°C and 85°C and another time for fixed open, at 85°C.
• Smart laundry mode: Press the t-shirt button for smart laundry mode — this sets the target to 35%.

You can turn on the Ioniser in all modes, and this works to remove germs, bacteria, mould, spores and odours as well as ticks from the air, while doing everything else. When the tank is full, the machine will display the water tank full indicator, which is a diagram of a bucket filled with water.

The machine will also beep twice (except when in night mode), and it will turn off until the tank is emptied. The machine will only operate for 4 hours and 30 minutes at a time. Once this time is up, it will go to rest mode for 30 minutes, then it will resume its previous job.

Smart Humidity mode
The machine will automatically switch on to this mode, and the target humidity is 55%. You can choose from an auto mode or set your own mode, choosing from 3 options — low, medium and high.

Variable Humidistat mode
Set the machine at a target humidity level, from 40% to 70%, in 5% increments. Once this has been set, you will see a ring around the number you chose. In this mode, the machine will run until it reaches this target, -2%. It will stop at this point and go to sleep. It will then, every 30 minutes, switch on to check the humidity level, and if this has risen to more than 2% above the target, it will power on again. Otherwise, it will run in this mode until its tank is full.

Laundry mode
This automatically sets the target to 35% and will run until the machine's water tank is full. There are no modes; it works at one level of power (high speed with wide louvre) for 6 hours. After 6 hours, the machine will turn off.

Night mode
In this mode, the fan will be set to the lowest, and the machine won't beep. All lights will turn off, and the louvre is set to fully open.

Performance

I live in an end-of-terrace, 3-bedroom property. It's not necessarily damp in my house, nor do I need a dehumidifier to be on all day, every day. However, I do tend to dry some washing indoors, in my kitchen, on my over-the-door drying rack. I notice that in the summer, this washing obviously dries fast. In the winter, though, it takes an age.

I've reviewed 3 dehumidifiers, and out of all of them, I preferred this one the most. Probably because of two things: It can be placed pushed against a wall or door, and it's nice and compact. I will admit that the control panel annoyed me as I hated that I couldn't get a reading fast, but the app was very easy to use.

This is the first desiccant dehumidifier I've tested. This means that this machine uses a heater (inside it) to pull excess moisture from the air. Hence, it has a cooling-down period once it's turned off. There are two types of dehumidifiers, with the difference between a compressor and a desiccant dehumidifier being the way that they work. A compressor has a refrigerant inside to condense moisture out of the air, turning it into water and dumping it into a tank.

Meaco claims that this machine works at temperatures from 1°C-35°C, while it can operate at temperatures between 5°C and 35°C. You can use it to reach a humidity level between 35% and 70%.

There is a continuous drainage option with this dehumidifier, but the hose comes separately.

I used this machine's tank for roughly 6.5 hours, in continuous laundry mode, before it flagged as being full.

While testing, the lowest percentage that I recorded was 33%, and the highest was 61%.

Drying laundry

I first tested this dehumidifier in my kitchen, as this is where I tend to dry laundry that can't be tumble-dried. I also have a tumble dryer in this room, so the air often gets quite moist in this room. On initial switch-on, this machine read 56%. After 10 minutes, it said 47%.

The most impressive reading I had from this room was in manual mode at a high fan speed. The machine worked to decrease humidity levels from 49% to 42% (its target was set at 40%) in just 40 minutes. I did notice, however, that it was almost stuck on this number — it darted around the 42-43% mark for another 30 minutes, until I switched it off.

At another time, this Meaco dehumidifier needed only 1.5 hours to drop the levels in this room from 53% to 46%. In this instance, it was set to 40%.

Most impressively, I turned the smart humidity mode on one day at 14:51. The machine read 57%. By 15:23, the machine read 33% — this was the lowest recording I managed to get the entire time I tested it.

When tackling washing, I noticed that it displayed a high humidity level — so it knew that there was an issue in my kitchen. I hung a load of laundry out overnight and set the machine to its laundry mode, which lasts for 6 hours only before the machine turns itself off. The next morning, all of the washing I hung out was completely dry. This includes thick jumpers, too!

Reducing humidity

In my living room
The humidity level in my living room initially read 53%, but this machine made easy work of bringing it down to 46% — and in less than one hour. Admittedly, this machine did find my living room to be a little harder to work with — mostly because it's the room my toddler and I often spend all of our time in.

In my bedroom
This room isn't damp, but it's definitely the most moist place in my home. I set this machine on at a target of 40% (no dry throats and noses whilst sleeping, please!). It started at 21:13, at 61% and to my surprise, it managed, by 21:47, to drop to 45%. It was then that I switched this machine to low fan — it was very noisy, and we were both struggling to hear the TV over its racket. It then became clear how much work it was doing — by 21:59, it was back up at 54%.

App

The app for this dehumidifier is the Meaco app. I found it very easy to setup and use in general.

The app's control panel is easier to use than that on the machine, so I did find myself defaulting to using this a lot. It also makes an easy (and fast) job of checking the status of your machine and the humidity level in your room.

• Choose the set humidity level
• Turn the timer on/off
• Turn the child lock on/off
• Turn the ioniser on/off
• Set the level of the louvre
• Choose a speed — auto, low, medium, high
• Turn the machine on/off
• Choose a mode — smart humidity, laundry, night

Energy use

Considering how much a dehumidifier costs to run? Assuming you'll be using it all day long, as this is what's suggested for the best results, you need to check the machine's wattage. This depends on the speed that you choose to run the machine on, and in the case of this Meaco model, that's between 200W and 600W.

As per the January 2026 energy price cap, this dehumidifier works out at only 6p per hour to run in low fan speed. For 24 hours of continuous use, using the maximum timer limit, that's still only £1.50 a day.

When set to medium fan, that's 11p per hour. That's £2.64 a day. At its most powerful, in high speed mode, it's 17p every hour, which works out at £4.08 a day.

Noise levels

This dehumidifier was noisy in certain modes. The decibel level in my room, at the time of testing, was between 28-29dB. Meaco claims that this machine runs at 40dB in low fan, 47dB in medium and in high fan speed, 50dB. Here's what I recorded:

Low fan speed: 56-57dB
Medium fan speed: 60-61dB
High fan speed: 63-64dB

I wouldn't suggest sleeping with this dehumidifier on, unless it's on low fan and in night mode. In auto mode, it might switch to high fan, which is very noisy, and I found that I could barely watch TV with it in this mode.

Portability

This dehumidifier isn't heavy. It weighs 8.7kg (that's with an empty tank), but what it lacks in weight it doesn't make up for in portability. It doesn't sit on wheels, and it doesn't have a handle. There's a recess underneath the control panel, at the back of the machine, where you can pick the machine up. Other than that, it isn't hugely portable.

It does benefit from cable storage, which is a big plus when it's not in use. This is at the back of the machine, and here you can wrap the cord and use it as a resting place for the plug.

Maintenance

When the tank full indicator flashes, it's time to empty the tank. This slides out from the right-hand side of the machine and is easy to empty. I didn't find it messy at all. There are two sides, both of which have an opening hole. These are both labelled with the words 'OPEN'. You need only open each flap and pour the water out. Then pop this flap back on until it clicks, and you can go ahead and re-insert the tank into your machine. This job isn't messy at all.

The manual recommends cleaning the dehumidifier. regularly. This includes cleaning the exterior with a soft, dry cloth.

The filter will never need replacing; it only requires cleaning. Meaco recommends cleaning it every two weeks — at a minimum — and you can vacuum the dust from it, before cleaning it in soapy water. It needs to be completely dry before reinserting it into the machine.

If you're planning on storing the machine and won't be using it for a while, then the manual suggests unplugging it and letting it dry completely for a good few days. Use the cable tidy to keep this out of the way and clean the filter. Store the filter somewhere dust-free and away from sunlight.

This was the filter after almost 2 weeks of use. It looks virtually no different to how it did when it was first inserted.

Rating online

On the Meaco website, it's given a rating of 4.58 stars from 50 reviewers. Most shoppers claim it works wonders in their garage, but a few say that the instruction manual isn't the best.

At Amazon, it's rated 4.5 stars out of 5 from 1,600+ reviews. Nearly all shoppers love its effectiveness and its special laundry mode, while most use it to prevent condensation build-up. Those who weren't fans complained about its noise levels and its higher price tag.

Verdict

After using this in my home for a week or so, I do have to admit: it's one of my favourites out of the 3 I've tested. This is mostly due to its compact size, but also the fact that it looks nice and sleek, and it can be pushed against a wall to make it out of sight of my toddler (and guests, too). It's definitely best for small to medium-sized rooms as its 2L tank isn't the largest, but it did manage to collect water for 6 hours in total before flagging as full. I would avoid sleeping with this machine on as it's noisy, unless you'll be using it in low fan mode — but if humidity levels are high, this fan speed might not be able to do much.

This machine claims to reach a lowest humidity level of 35%, and I actually managed to get a reading which was 33%. Impressive! It dried a small load of laundry fast, even though its laundry programme only runs for 6 hours and switches the machine off afterwards. It's also worth noting that its heater needs a break every 4 hours and 30 minutes — it will go into a cool-down period. The same applies when the machine is switched off, as it needs 10 minutes to cool down internally before you unplug it. The highest reading I got was 61%, and this was in my bedroom, which was no surprise. Within 30 minutes, and on high fan speed, the machine managed to drop the humidity to 45%. Speedy!

Design-wise, its LCD screen is easy to use, but it's not easy to read — the current humidity level is displayed in a bar chart, instead of in basic number format. It's not on wheels for moving, so this will make it tricky to move around your space. Thankfully, it isn't super heavy. I do love that its filter never needs changing — only cleaning every 2 weeks.