As the unpredictable weather sets in, many of us turn to drying our washing inside. It’s important to remember that in doing so, we are increasing the moisture levels in our homes. With the windows closed, the moisture that’s coming off the clothes has nowhere to go. We take a look at how to use a MeacoDry Arete® One dehumidifier to dry your clothes quickly and efficiently as well as protecting your home from damp, mould and condensation.
Take a look at the MeacoDry Arete® One with us; have your questions answered, start to take care of humidity in your home and save you money on your energy bills too.
So many people are looking for ways to avoid using the tumble dryer and to save money during the cost of living crisis.
Tumble dryers cost a huge amount of money to run. So it’s only right that you should look for different ways to dry your washing.
If you just leave your washing as is, to dry naturally, you’ve got two problems: slow drying and damp.
First of all, yes, it will dry absolutely fine. But where is the moisture from the clothes going to go? It’s got to go somewhere. It doesn’t just disappear. And this is going to cause a build up within the house and it’s going to lead to condensation and damp problems, as well as that dangerous issue of mould, that can cause health problems too.
The other issue, the one that a lot of people notice, is that initially everything dries absolutely fine. But, as the weeks and months go by, it takes longer and longer for the clothes to dry. Maybe the first lot dries in half a day. Then, as you go on, the next lot dries in one day. The next lot dries in two days. And as you get deeper into winter, you’re drying more and more washing and you find that it takes longer and longer to dry laundry. Until, you get to the stage whereby your clothes haven’t dried after 4 or 5 days and they start to smell again. And you have to wash them all over again.
This is because as we get deeper and deeper into winter and it gets colder outside, we naturally want to keep our windows closed.
Pictured: handling laundry on the clothes horse inside the home
This means we are not ventilating our homes. The moisture that’s coming off the clothes has nowhere else to go. It gets trapped in the house. The humidity in the house gets higher and higher and there’s no reason why the clothes would want to dry.
And you get stuck with these damp clothes. Saying, I’ve got no incentive to dry. The house is damp anyway, why should I dry?
And they stay wet. You end up with damp, musty clothes that just need to be rewashed again.
So what’s the best way to get these clothes dry? To stop you from having to use the tumble dryer and to save you money?
Well, first things first. Before you get the clothes out of the washing machine, put it on an extra spin. Get rid of any excess water in the washing machine itself.
Then, when you stack the clothes on the airer itself, put the smaller items on the bottom and the larger items at the top. Don’t overcrowd it, so the air can get in between the clothes.
Then what you need to do is, take your Meaco dehumidifier.
That will extract the moisture out of the air. It goes into the tank and controls the whole problem.
Pictured: MeacoDry Arete® One set next to a clothes horse full of drying laundry
Position your clothes airer and then set up your Meaco dehumidifier so that it’s end-on to the airer. This way, the clothes will dry faster. Then, what I would do, is half way through the dry, I turn it around to continue the process from the other side.
I would expect these clothes to dry in a maximum of 6 hours. The smaller the room, the faster the clothes will dry.
You can dry them even faster with this secret weapon, down here. And that’s getting one of our MeacoFans involved as well.
I’ve just got it oscillating up and down so it’s pushing air through the clothes.
If you think about it, if you were doing this outside, you would do this on a day that was dry, warm and windy. And that’s what we’re recreating here.
We’ve got air flow going from both the dehumidifier and the fan, in order to recreate that windy day. And, of course, the dehumidifier is providing that dry element and providing that little bit of warmth around the clothes as well.
Pictured: Breathing in that fresh, clean smell of dry laundry
Verdict: using a dehumidifier to dry laundry
This is an incredibly cheap way to dry your clothes efficiently and quickly without having to spend a huge amount of money. And, it’s also softer on the clothes as opposed to that harsh heat you get from a tumble dryer.
All round, a winner that looks after your clothes, looks after your house and looks after your wallet.
How much does it cost to dry laundry with a MeacoDry Arete® One Dehumidifier and Air Purifier?
Let’s have a quick look at the cost to run data. All figures are based on 24.50p / kWh*.
The MeacoDry Arete® One 10L Dehumidifier and Air Purifier costs just 4p / hour to run. Based on a 6 hour dry time, this dehumidifier will cost 24p to run per load of washing. If you’re also using the MeacoFan 1056 to increase air flow to dry your washing more efficiently, it costs less than 1p / hour, even on the highest fan speed. Therefore, we can estimate this technique will cost less than 30p per load.
This is in contrast to the average UK non-heat pump tumble dryer costing between £1.60 and £2.00 a load (the latest figures suggest an average of £1.01 per load**). Based on the estimated UK average of 270 loads a year, that’s costing you £272.70 a year compared to £64.80 with a MeacoDry Arete® One 10L Dehumidifier and Air Purifier. Explore the range, here.
*24.50p / kWh comes from Ofgem’s standard rate of electricity in the UK from the 1st October 2024.
**According to the Energy Saving Trust, the average UK tumble dryer uses roughly 4.5 kWh per load on average, which would cost you £1.01 per load based on 24.50p / kWh.
Let us know how you get on on social media and send us details of how quickly you can dry your clothes. And let’s start saving money together.
Products featured in this video:
MeacoDry Arete® One Dehumidifier and Air Purifier | MeacoFan 1056 Air Circulator
9 responses
You omit to mention latent heat of evaporation. STEM students understand science stuff. When a dehumidifier is working it provides more heat energy than the electrical energy consumed. No law of physics is broken. The extra heat comes from the latent heat of evaporation as water vapour is condensed to liquid water. Of course if the fabric of a room is wet then the evaporating water has an equivalent cooling effect but if one is just drying high humidity fresh air then one gets a small amount of free heat.
John,
Thank you for your insightful comment! You’re absolutely correct about the role of latent heat of evaporation in the operation of dehumidifiers. It’s great to see STEM students engaging with the science behind these appliances.
Thank you for highlighting this important point. It’s worth mentioning that we strive to keep our content accessible and easy to understand for all readers, avoiding overly technical details that might lead to confusion. We hope you can appreciate this approach. If you’d like to discuss anything further, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
Kind regards,
Omar@Meaco.
Absolute Brilliant
Dubious at first but was amazed at the drying time of the laundry and the removal of the condensation in the house
So pleased I have purchased one
Thank you for your review.
couldn’t believe how much water was in tank,having purchased the meaco arete dry1 20 litre,I ran it on night mode for 9 hrs overnight 4 nights on checking tank it was half full each morning,now it’s barely empty every morning,, don’t hesitate buy one
Best thing going, got rid of the condensation from my bedroom window
Thank you for your feedback.
What is the difference between Arete 18L and Arete 20L in terms of functions and performance?
It all comes down to extraction rate, in this instance, you’d be looking at 2 Liters more extraction over a 24 hour course.
Aside from this, same control panel and same features.
Hope that helps.
Omar@Meaco