We now have three quality 12L dehumidifiers in our range which is causing a bit of confusion for some customers and we get asked on a regular basis what the differences are between the three models. They will all deal with your damp problems and help with condensation in a flat, apartment or a smaller house up to three bedrooms in size. But which one is best for you?
Each model has its own strong point so there are pros and cons to each model, depending on your requirements:
Best for Low Noise
Definitely the MeacoDry ABC 12L as at 35dB, it is the quietest dehumidifier available.
Winner of the Quiet Mark Award, you will not be disturbed in whatever you do – from sleep, work or play!
Best for Low Energy Consumption
The Meaco 12L Low Energy dehumidifier has the lowest energy consumption of any 12L.
Best for Air Purification
The Meaco 12L Low energy wins again because it is the only one to have a HEPA filter and it also has an air purification mode.
Best for reading the display
The Meaco 12L-AH wins here as it has a jumbo display making the numbers a lot easier to read.
Most manoeuvrable
The Meaco 12L-AH is the only one of the three to have castors.
Best for design
A subjective one but many customers prefer the Meaco 12L-AH and they also comment that they like the way the numbers change colour depending on the humidity level. The ABC range could also win here because it is available in five different colours.
Here’s a handy table that summarises and highlights the key differences:
At the end of the day which one is best for you depends on your needs but hopefully this short guide will help make the decision process easier for you.
Whichever Meaco dehumidifer you choose it will be covered by Meaco’s two year parts and labour warranty which can be extended to five years.
If you have any further questions not covered by this article then please email: sales@meaco.com or call us on 01483 234900.
Products featured: MeacoDry ABC 12L, Meaco 12L Low Energy
36 responses
Hi , I have read all the information regarding the various models but would like some advice to make a decision . We live in a 4 storey Georgian town house on 2 levels , with bedrooms / bathroom in the basement and living room/ kitchen at ground level. We are insulated on both sides and above , with only 2 exposed walls front and back which is where we have problems with damp . Which dehumidifier would be best suited to be quiet , low energy and possibly be positioned to dehumidify the entire area ( 80M/2 ) plus the ability to dry clothes when required on an airier in a closed room . Many Thanks Bernadette
Bernadette,
I would use one of the 20L dehumidifiers for this job.
Chris
I bought 2 Meaco ABC 12L dehumidifiers last year and I am pretty satisfied. This summer I gave one of them to a relative and needed a replacement unit for my own house. This time I got the Meaco 12L Low energy.
Now that I measured the power demand of the different units (with multiple power meters) I’m a bit confused. According to my power meters, my ABC 12L unit(s) draw about 135 Watts / 185 VA / 0.8 A, while the new 12L Low energy draws about 160 Watt / 170 VA / 0.75 A.
While the apparent power in the Low energy unit is lower, the active power is higher. Since the utility bills the active but not the apparent power, will the Low energy unit increase my electricity costs as compared to the ABC? Or will the LE unit extract more water per time unit, again in comparison to the ABC, given the same air temp. / humidity level.
Andreas,
Thank you for your purchases and your message. Detailed extraction rate data and wattages are on each product page under the extraction rate data tab. The ABC does offer about 5% more extraction for about 5% less energy used, some of this will be because of the HEPA filter on the low energy model. Hope this helps.
Chris
Where does the Arete One 12L stand in this comparison?
My understanding is that it is the best of them overall – and the newest, albeit the price difference is relatively small. (But it’s been difficult to navigate the differences between the models).
I sincerely hope so because I just bought one!
Arete 12L is the best to date.
Why is it that the technical specs page say that the ABC has a wider (30-80% RH) range than the Arete, which is 40-70%? Have you changed how you measure those levels or is the Arete not as good if you need a lower range?
Just wondering exactly what about the Arete is better than the ABC, since it seems they both can do everything the other can (ABC can do HEPA, etc).
Also, are the castors on the Arete optional?
Lewis,
That is humidistat range, not performance. You cannot set the humidistat on Arete to 30, 35, 75 or 80%rh, because to be frank, there is no point. So to guide customers to use the machines better we have removed those options.
Arete comes with castors, they will be in the bucket when you receive the dehumidifier.
In terms of differences the Arete design gives it a lot of advantages over any other 12L, including our own ABC 12L.
With Arete;
• The control panel is easier to use, the most often used buttons are larger and the least used buttons are smaller
• There is no defrost light or fan speed button, the machine looks after these things.
• Arete has a full night mode.
• Arete can be pushed right up against the wall
• Arete allows you to access the filter without turning it around.
• Arete has the water tank at the front, so it is easier to access.
• Because the water tank is at the front you can see how much water is in the tank.
• The tank is easier to remove on Arete.
• The water can be poured to either right or left.
• If you want to use continuous drainage then on Arete this can be done using a garden hose.
• Arete has a cable tidy
• Arete extracts slightly more water using less energy.
• Arete comes with castors.
• Arete has a better quality air filter and a H13 HEPA filter.
• Arete is slightly quieter.
Arete is the newest design, this is why it is better in all areas.
Chris
Thanks, Chris, a lot of what you are saying makes sense. I can’t see any reason to have humidity under 40 in the UK climate, as at that point you’re in a desert (I plan to set mine to 45% for paper storage reasons). Is there a reason you continue to sell competing models and not just discontinuing them for a superior one? I ask that because the price differential between the ABC and Arete is extremely close from what I could see.
And good to know the castors don’t come preinstalled, I don’t see myself needing them. Also, very handy that the Arete can be shoved up against a wall, as any space you can gain in a UK home is a win. I can also discontinue the usage of my Winix Air Purifier if this thing will do the same job.
Does the Arete come with any monitoring (or reminders) to change the filter or is it just a very basic function that leaves it up to the user?
In addition to the previous comment, I have since looked up the manual for the Arete. Unless I am reading it wrong, it seems there is a fairly baffling (to me) design omission. I presume this is the same in the ABC and other models that have HEPA filters.
According to the manual, you can set the dehumidifier to dehumidify the air or purify, but not both. That is, if you want the dehumidifier to stick to a set RH%, the fan will inevitably spend most of its time off, only coming on a few times a day once the humidity is under control. A dedicated air purifier, you want to always be on with a good CADR.
It seems very strange to me that there doesn’t appear to be a combined mode where it can still dehumidify, but the fan is kept on so that the air is always being purified as well. As it stands, the Arete is not capable of replacing a dedicated air purifer, which is a huge shame because the capability is clear there.
A dedicated air purifier will always be better than a combined device. The reason why the default is for the fan to be off when the compressor is not required in dehumidification mode is because this reduces the noise from the machine and prolongs the machines life. Overwhelming feedback from customers was clear that they do not like dehumidifiers that leave the fan running 100% of the time.
This is why it has the dedicated air purification mode for those that want it.
Whenever the fan is running, in air purification mode or dehumidifier mode, the air is being clean.
I will make a mental note of the ability to over-ride the fan settings in dehumidification mode where people want extra air purification.
Chris
Thanks for the information, Chris. Now, if only they’d come back in stock!
Loads of stock goes into Argos and John Lewis this week, lots more between Christmas and New Year into John Lewis and Appliances Direct and then everyone at the start of January.
Thanks, Chris, been keeping my eye on their online stores as well as email notifs, hopefully it is tomorrow.
Hi Chris,
So I (finally) got my 12L Arete in, and I’ve been playing around with it like a kid with a new toy. Have a couple of questions about how it functions that I hope you can clear up.
To begin with, for the first day, I set it to 40% and just let it rip. I noticed a few times over the hours the compressor would turn off, it would go into high fan speed for a few minutes, then turn the compressor back on and reduce fan speed. What was this? Curious as to why it went to high fan speeds. Does it take a few minutes to cool the compressor down every so often to preserve the life of it or something?
I notice that when it has hit a target level, the fan tends to keep running for around 10 minutes on the slow speed setting. Is this to clear the coils of all water, like it does when the tank is full? Just confused why it keeps running like that when it only turns the fan on for a couple of minutes when it’s just checking the levels every half an hour.
Coming back to this because I encountered what seemed to be a very strange ‘glitch’, also re-reading my last post I shuld have clarified a bit more.
What I meant with the 40% thing was that it couldn’t go low enough to hit the target level of 37% and so it would hover around 39-40%, with the compressor turning off now and then for a few minutes before restarting. Wondering what that behaviour is.
The glitch I mentioned was that I had changed the level to 45% from 50% recently, and it seemed to be working fine, but at some point during the day it got ‘stuck’. The display said 42% and the compressor was off, but the fan just kept going forever and wasn’t stopping. I tried setting it to AP and back, even turning it off, and it would just keep going for longer than 10 minutes and not turn off. I ended up breathing around the back of the thing to shoot the humidity up enough to turn the compressor back on, and then once it hit the target level, it started functioning again as normal. Very strange glitch, not sure if it was caused by me changing the target humidity or if this is something that is going to happen now and then. Ever had this reported before?
This sounds very much like defrost mode and is perfectly normal. I would trust the machine, if there is fault you will get an error code on the screen.
Doesn’t defrost mode only happen below 18c? This was occurring around 20c or even slightly higher. It seems to be happening again tonight as well, despite never doing this in the first two weeks I owned it. I’ll keep an eye on it, I guess.
The temperature it kicks in at depends on the relative humidity, but as I said, if you have error code, then the machine is fine.
I need a dehumidifier but with hepa filter and wondering if there’s a difference in hepa filters on different models (apart from size) or is it the same?
Thanks
Jo,
The Meaco 12L and 20L Low Energy dehumidifiers use a H11 filter and the arete range uses a H13 filter.
Hope this helps.
Chris
as above
thanks Chris,
so has the LE model become more inefficient since this article was produced?
the figure of 136w isn’t reflected on the product spec page for this model now! 162w seems about right for the ABC still.
can you confirm the ABC model is in fact more energy efficient now than the LE?
many thanks
hi, where are you getting the energy consumption figures from in the table above?
they differ from the specs given on the individual model pages on the website…
according to them the ABC is actually lower in energy usage the the LE model!
ABC has a usage range of 114w-178w (depending on conditions)
LE is 138w-196w for the same conditions given
i’m slightly confused!
from what i’d read on blog above and elsewhere on reviews on the internet i thought the LE was the lowest energy use of all?
Dave,
This is because the page you are looking at is dated November 2018 and is therefore out of date, the product pages will reflect where the products are now. We have a process of updating all of the old pages, but because there are several hundred of them, it does take time.
Chris
Hi there, we live right by the canal, with little ventilation in the house, so are finding that our clothing and shoes are continually getting mouldy now that winter is approaching . How often do we need to run the dehumidifier? We are concerned about energy bills but I’m wondering in the scheme of things how much you’d actually be saving by buying the low energy 12L, depending on how much you’d need to run it and therefore if we should just buy the ABC version as it has the highest water extraction rate? Thanks!
Rhynelle,
Running the dehumidifier will be far cheaper than dealing with the mould and the house will feel warmer too. The Low Energy Range has the advantage of the HEPA filter to help clean the air, if that is not important to you then go for one of the ABC dehumidifiers.
Chris
I can’t decide between Meaco 12l low energy and Meaco ABC 12l. I will use it on a 2 bedroom flat and would like it to be quieter, but there’s lots of condensation close to the bedrooms windows and mould growth is a problem. Which option would you recommend in my case?
You mention noise and the MeacoDry ABC range is quietest by far. So you should buy the MeacoDry ABC12L, water extraction will be the same.
Does it mean that the Meaco 12L Low energy dehumidifier with the HEPA would be the best choice to combat the growth of mould and limit any harmful effects from Mould Spores in the air ?
Simple answer – yes.