Why do dehumidifiers turn off and stop collecting water? This is something that callers ask us over and over again. I think that once someone has invested in a dehumidifier they want it to collect water on a daily basis and they are disappointed when it stops collecting water. Before I explain why the dehumidifier not collecting water is perfectly normal lets switch to another piece of equipment that we use in the house that we have a greater understanding of – our central heating.
An explanation – with the aid of the central heating example.
When we set the thermostat to say 22°C our radiators become hot, if we were to put our hands on the radiator later and found it to be lukewarm or cool then we would not think that the radiator is faulty, we would just accept that the room temperature is up to 22°C and the radiator has been turned off by the stat. We know that when the room temperature drops the radiators will turn on again and they will once more be hot to the touch.
Back to the dehumidifier and the same thing is happening, albeit in reverse. You select your set point and the dehumidifier dries the air down to this point, when the relative humidity falls below this level the dehumidifier stops working. When the relative humidity rises again the dehumidifier will turn itself on and start to collect water again.
Hopefully that makes sense and you now know why your dehumidifier sometimes stops working.
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311 responses
Hi,
Purchased a 20L Arête One a few days ago. Dehumidifier is collecting water fine which is super helpful for laundry.
Couple issues I wanted to highlight. When dehumidifier light is on there is a continuous low gurgling noise. Second issue is the when I switch the dehumidifier on, it displays a really high humidity level, which drops really quickly, more than 3% below the target rate. The machine does not switch itself off, although the dehumidifier light turns off, the fan continues to run (waited ten minutes).
Yas,
Thank you for your purchase and your feedback.
The low gurgling noise is the compressor and the refrigerant moving around the pipes, so that is all ok. You get a high humidity when it first turns on because at that stage you have been reading the damp internals of the machine, once the fan starts the sensor is then reading the room humidity and it will likely drop.
The machine will then continue to work until the relative humidity is more than 3%rh below your target. If this is a drop from start straight away, then the machine will run for longer to be sure.
Keeping your filter clean will help to make this process more accurate.
Chris
Hi there,
I bought the meaco arete 12l and have had it up and running for 3 days non stop – It’s filled up twice which I’m not surprised by as the flat had a bad damp problem however it seems to not go below 65 humidity for the past day and half (fluctuates between 65-71) Is it possible it’ll take a few more days of constantly being on to get to the desires 55 mark?
Stuart,
Thank you for your purchase, this is quite normal, it does take a while to dry a home out.
Chris
Hi Chris,
Tried my Meaco 12l Diamond for the first time. I’ve some damp in the kitchen so set rh to 40 against an ambient of 55. After 12 hours the display is showing between 40 and 43 but there isn’t one drop of water in the collection bucket. Temp is 20.5. Is the machine working or just measuring it’s internal rh?
Paul,
We don’t do a diamond model, so not sure what you have there, but at 43% there will be very, very little available water in the air to collect. Any water collected is probably still on the coils, or in the condensate tray above the bucket. A normal humidity for the home is 50-55%rh, no real need to try to dry to 40%rh.
Hope this helps.
Chris
Hi Chris, thanks for coming back to me. Yes the ambient in the house is 55, but I’ve had external damp repairs done on the os of the kitchen (old house, solid walls) and I’m trying to dry out the walls on the inside, particularly no-vent areas behind the washing machine and cupboards. However from what you’re saying I shouldn’t expect to see much. Thanks for coming back to me so quickly.
Hello,
Purchased meaco air dehumidifier dd8l zambez couple of months ago and every now and then we are getting a C4 error. The first time this happened I cleaned the air filter with a vacuum and reset the meaco (disconnected power for 10mins) and that resolved the issue. But sometimes after running the meaco we get the C4 error. Please advise what else I can do?
To clear that, unplug the dehumidifier and leave it for one hour. That should clear the code.
My Zambezi was repaired by meaco a few months back due to displaying c2 error, now it has today displayed c3 error a couple of times. What does this code mean?
Thanks
Jason,
Thank you for your purchase and your message.
C2 means a lack of airflow, normally caused by a dirty filter (try running it through a dishwasher) or the machine being too close to a wall or furniture.
C3 means that the ambient temperature around the machine was below zero.
Hope this helps.
Chris
Hi Chris
Can you please clarify – in one of your answers you suggest running the air filter for your product through a dishwasher cycle to clean it.
However, the manual for my Zambezi DD8L (bought from you via Amazon in October last year) says specifically not do use water.
Quote: “Clean the filter with a vacuum cleaner and not with water as water will damage the anti-bacterial properties
of the filter.” My appliance has started showing code C1 regularly.
Barry,
You are correct in what you say. The dishwasher advice is for those that are struggling to do a dry clean.
Chris
The display on our MeacoDry 10L doesn’t show any real digits anymore. It is just random lines being displayed. Is there are way to rectify that?
Sorry about that Christian.
Please call us on 01483 234900 so that we can help you.
Hi, I bought a second 12l Meaco dessicant dehumidifier a couple of months ago. The new one is constantly blowing out really cold air? What am I doing wrong? It’s set on CO. Our older one runs fine and actually keeps our hallways in 3 storey house warm but the new one we’re using in our lounge and it’s making the lounge really cold. Any help would be appreciated. Kind regards.
Thank you for your purchases. The dehumidifier has no ability to cool a space, because the air is moving it may ‘feel’ cold, especially if the lounge is a bit cooler itself. As the air passes through the machine it actually warms by 1°C, but the movement makes it feels cool in a cool room.
Hi.just bought the meaco 12l dehumidifier, it stats that is should be at 40 to 45 decibels, and has a quite certificate. This is more like 65 ,there is a loud humming sound like a fridge as well as the fan .it’s way noiser than the old dehumidifier I have which you can barely here the fan and its 15 yrs old .is it faulty do you think ?
Graham,
Noise is a tricky one, the subject can be confusing because it is complicated.
Measuring noise levels on a phone app are a nightmare! In the factory we test several production samples in a chamber using calibrated microphones from four sides at one metre. This is difficult to replicate in the home for obvious reasons. Further testing by Quiet Mark has shown that they agree with our data across our various models.
Sound power is measured as sound power level in the chamber on all four sides and the reading used is an average of those four readings.
Outside of a chamber you are not going to get the same results and you are probably not even measuring the same thing as you are probably measuring sound pressure level which is a completely different reading.
Measuring decibel levels at home with a portable sound meter and then trying to compare the results to a professional sound laboratory is impossible. Measuring at home you are recording Sound Pressure Levels, which is a different measurement, and as well as the quality of the instrument used, you also have background noise added into the figure. This last sentence is an important part of the equation.
So two different parameters.
The humming noise is the compressor, both dehumidifiers and fridges have a compressor, hence the noise is the same. Feel free to send a video to customerservice AT meaco.com so that they can listen and help you further.
Chris
I am also concerned about cold air being blown out
mine is 20litre and blowing much colder air too – could it be faulty ?
No, it will not be faulty, this is a misconception with users. The air is moving, so it feels cooler (just like a fan in summer). If you have a room that is a bit cooler in the fuirst place, then the air will feel cooler. Remember, that the machine is very energy efficient, so it only adds 1C to the air coming out, this is what you want, to keep costs down.
At the end of the day the machine does not have the ability to cool the air.
Hi,I am using Meaco DD8L Junior that I bought 1 week ago. The manufacturer explained that the smell from zeolite will disappear after first use.Unfortunately the smell is still noticeable also some sound from the dehumidifier coming out like non continuous low frequency transformer noise that make me slightly nervous .Is it a failure or its just normal condition?
Thank you.
The way any desiccant dehumidifier works is that it absorbs the air, this removes the water, but any chemicals that you have in the air are also absorbed. So if you are using air fresheners, perfumes or have new furniture, paint etc then all of these are absorbed as well. When they are heated up inside the dehumidifier and mixed together, they will smell different when blown back into the room. So it is not something that every desiccant dehumidifier does, it is something that happens when the dehumidifier is being used in the same room as these VOCs. It will last for as long as the VOCs are present. You can freshen the machine up by using it in a space where there are no VOCs present.
The noise will be the desiccant motor that turns the wheel and/or the fan motor.
Thank you for your reply
I don’t think the noise coming from the motor because it isn’t continuous noise caused by the motor work.There are sounds like out of proportion noise .The dehumidifier itself is noisy enough to make me confused to hear exactly where the noise coming from,but definitely isn’t the motor.
There is nothing else in the machine that can make a noise, so it must be one of those two.
MeacoDry Arete® One 25L Dehumidifier / Air Purifier – I’ve purchased this item and upon turning it on, it just blows air really fast and appears not to be collecting much, or if any water. I’ve set it to 55, but it’s not decreasing the current reading. I’ve put it in to Night mode and the fan continues to run at the same speed, also AP mode doesn’t appear to change anything from the normal running state. Any advice would be really helpful.
Nick,
Thank you for your purchase.
AP mode switches off dehumidification and just runs the fan to clean the air in conjunction with the HEPA filter.
Night Mode turns off all bleeps and lights and runs the machine in low fan speed. If the machine is already in low fan speed then you will not hear a difference in airflow noise.
Our recommendation would be to run it set to 55%rh and just be patient, the rate of dehumidification depends on the amount of moisture you are putting into the air and the amount of moisture that is being released by the organic material in your home. But it will get there.
Chris
Hello,
I brought a Meaco DD8L Junior dehumidifier about a week ago and have noticed the last couple of days it bleeps for 10 seconds every 2 minutes or so. It eventually stops bleeping, I think as I just leave it on at night. No light or warning light comes on when it bleeps and it doesn’t switch off, still collects water as the tank is not full when it bleeps. Filter is clean and clear but I don’t understand why it’s doing this. Can’t seem to find an answer anywhere.
Can you please advise
Thank you
A bleep would only happen in conjunction with the bucket full, so please make sure that the float is free to move and that the dehumidifier is on a level surface. If it continues then please call us on 01483 234900.
Hi Chris
We bought a meaco Arate 20lt around a week ago, the dehumidifer works brilliantly and has removed so much water from the air within the house I can not believe we did not drown before the purchase, the problem I have is, I thought that once the percentage of humidity was met the unit would go to sleep until the humidity rose to an unacceptable level then the machine would kick in again.
Ours keeps running, the percentage of humidity drops and is achieved by the machine but although the compressor and dehumidifer light switches off once the level is met the fan continues to run in the background, is this correct or should the fan switch off until the machine senses a higher level of humidity and then restart again.
Paul
I don’t mind the continuance of noise whilst the machine is working hard but surely the fan should switch off when the machine rests.
Paul,
The fan will turn off when the relative humidity finally falls steadily 3%rh below you target.
Glad to hear that you are impressed, thank you for buying Meaco!
Chris
I live in the U.S. and have loved my DD8L which I’ve used successfully for a few years now. Your last trouble shooting via email for the H1 code resolved the problem, but now I’ve got a C1 code. Looked through all previous comments and found nothing re: C1. Please advise.
C1 means that the machine is not getting enough airflow. This means that the filter needs cleaning, that there is not enough airflow in and out of the machine because it is too close to walls/furniture or that the internals are getting blocked with dirt.
Hi! I’ve read some of the answers for the Meaco low energy 20l regarding the use of a hose.
I have the same issue with continuous drainage: the water keeps going to the front container instead. I made sure the hose is properly attached and pointing down.
How can I solve this?
Thanks!
David,
We have seen and answered your message on YouTube as well about this issue.
Thank you for your purchase, the reasons for water not draining down a hose could be – the hose is not draining downhill, the hose is blocked, the hose is kinked, the water in the hose is frozen, the hose is too long (remove any excess not required) or the spout is blocked with dirt. You can also add a hole of 4 mm about 30 mm from the spout to help balance out the air pressure in the hose. This last trick works very well to resolve problems.