This is the most common question that we are getting at the moment. Phone call after phone call telling us that their dehumidifier never seems to turn off and it is collecting lots and lots of water. Is this normal people ask us?
The answer is yes.
The Explanation – Why it’s normal.
The dehumidifiers have a built in humidistat that measures the temperature and relative humidity of the room and tells the dehumidifier whether to sleep or dehumidify. If you have a house that has never had a dehumidifier in it before then the dehumidifier will be running flat out for around two to four weeks while it dries out all of the air in the house and then the organic material in the house (wood, clothing, furniture, paper, books etc.) releases all of the moisture into the air that they have been holding on to, giving the dehumidifier more work to do.
As well as the above you are also putting moisture into the air each day (bathing, showering, cooking, breathing etc.) and this slows down the process of getting to a point whereby the humidity is low enough for the dehumidifier to turn off for a rest.
Then there is the weather, if it is raining a lot then the dehumidifier will run for longer. When it has caught up and brought things under control you will find that your dehumidifier turns off and then you will settle into a cycle of on/off/on/off as required.
After all you bought the dehumidifier to dry your house and that is exactly what it is doing for you. So don’t be too hard on your poor old dehumidifier!
Products featured: Dehumidifiers
240 responses
Hi I’ve bought Meaco 12L Low Energy Platinum Dehumidifier.
I’ve never used any dehumidifier in my flat before.
I just want to know if It’s advisable to leave it on all the time or I need to switch it off few hours daily?
Thanks
Thank you for your enquiry,
It is best to leave the unit switched on, further information from the instruction manual listed below to provide you a better understanding of its operation:
MEACO CONTROL LOGIC
When the room relative humidity is more than 3%rh below your target relative humidity the dehumidifier will stop drying the air, but the fan will continue to run for a few minutes. If the relative humidity is stable, then the dehumidifier will go to sleep for 30 minutes. During this sleep time the humidity reading on the display will probably increase well above the set point. This is because the fan is turned off and the sensor is now reading the relative humidity inside the dehumidifier where it is cold and wet. This is normal and the machine will not turn back on because this is the reading inside the dehumidifier and not the room reading. After 30 minutes the dehumidifier will wake up and sample the air with just the fan running for 2 minutes so that the relative humidity sensor can tell the control panel what the room relative humidity is, if the relative humidity is more than 3%rh above the set point then it will start to dehumidify again, if not then the fan will go to sleep again for another 30 minutes.
WHAT MEACO RECOMMENDS
GENERAL USE IN THE HOME
For general use we recommend setting the dehumidifier to reach a target humidity level of 50%rh or 55%rh and positioning the dehumidifier in a central position within your home, for example the landing or hallway. If you have more of a problem in one area of your house/flat, place the dehumidifier closer to that area. Leave all the interior doors open and keep the windows closed. Moisture in the air, from the entire house, will migrate towards the dehumidifier allowing the machine to reduce the relative humidity level. For best results, leave your dehumidifier running 24/7. Please note, when you first start using your dehumidifier, you may find it will run continuously, collecting a large amount of water, or struggling to reach the target humidity level. This is completely normal. There will be a lot of excess water in the environment that the dehumidifier needs to remove, meaning
it must work a lot harder. After a few weeks, the humidity level will stabilise meaning your dehumidifier will run less frequently and collect less water.
I hope this helps,
Omar@Meaco.
I have purchased a Meaco Zambezi for my wooden garage. It is struggling to get under 65%.
I am in the process of sealing up the space as much as possible and also am looking in to the possibility of installing some ventilation in the garage.
In the meantime is it ok to have it set at 65% and at fan speed 1 to safe energy until all the problems are sorted?
Could you advise me the best approach so that the unit is not running all the time.
Jeffrey,
Thank you for your enquiry. For an energy saving approach, until you have your space sealed, setting at 65% would give the dehumidifier the opportunity to stop once it has achieved this.
Hope this helps,
Omar@Meaco.
Good morning,
We’ve just set up our dd8l desiccant in our cellar. The area is about 6 degrees Celsius in temperature. The previous owners cut off an inch from the bottom of the doors to provide some form of air flow.
Now that the dehumidifier is in place should we reinstate the door to fully seal the room?
Also a few of your replies to other queries mention running units continuously in the initial period. As a test I ran the unit yesterday for four hours and the tank was half full. The previous owners had sumps and pumps fitted to remove roofing ground water. These are covered with ground level lids with small holes in them. Will the dehumidifier be drawing moisture from these sumps? If so would you recommend replacing the covers with concrete slabs?
Thanks in advance to the replies to my many questions!
Thank you for your enquiry,
To note, external air coming into the space where you are using a dehumidifier is never efficient, your drier air escapes constantly, the unit should be in a sealed environment, in a home this would mean ensuring windows remain closed whilst using a dehumidifier.
The dehumidifier will not be water from the sumps and pumps, covering the holes is optional to you, will not make a significant difference at all to the dehumidifier.
Hope this helps,
Omar@Meaco.
Hi I have purchased the Meaco Arete 12l. I have set the humidity level at 55 and the display is showing 50 and the dehumidifier is not switching itself off. Not sure why as we are well below the 3%.
Thanks for your comment,
The unit will only shut down when the humidity is stable, just need to give the unit time to get the humidity stabilized.
Omar@Meaco
I have just purchased an arete one 25l. It shows 58 on the display and I have set the target at 65. The dehumidifier has switched off but the fan is still on. Why hasn’t the fan gone off.
Thank you for your comment,
The unit will only shut down when the humidity is stable, just need to give the unit time to get the humidity stabilized.
Omar@Meaco
If my electric goes off and back on will the dehumidifier come back on to its previous settings and continue to work ? I’m considering buying a MeacoDry Arete One 25l
Thank you for your enquiry,
Yes the AreteOne has the auto restart function, if the power cut lasts for hours, then it could result to a default setting when power returns, default being 55%, the recommended setting.
Hope this helps.
Omar@Meaco
Hi,
I have purchased a Meaco compressor 10litre, and I have set this to 55% as per the recommended target. However, it has been on all day and the percentage hasn’t dropped below 63%.
Can you please advise?
After reading some professional advice, it states that you shouldn’t leave Humidifiers on all the time as it will wear them out and limit the lifespan on these.
Any help on this wouldn’t be greatly received
Thanks
Hello,
Thank you for your enquiry and purchase of Meaco.
Using a dehumidifier new, in your property for the first time, does mean it will take longer than 24hours to achieve the target, different settings require different lengths of time in order for the unit to achieve 55%. Of course it is not ideal to leave the unit on all the time, once the target has been achieved this will no longer be the case, your dehumidifer has a base logic whereby it turns on and off in 30 minute intervals to check if the humidity in the space has risen, if so it’ll turn on, otherwise returns into standby mode.
Give it time and you should find the humidity number reducing and eventually reach the target of 55%.
Kind regards,
Omar
I’ve just purchased a Meaco 18lt acrete Will the unit switch off when the water canister is full.?
Martin,
Thank you for your enquiry, the answer is yes, please read below for full detail:
Once the water tank is full, the dehumidifier will continue to run in fan only mode for 3 minutes to blow
any excess water off the coils and ensure that when you remove the tank there is no water left that
could drip out of the spout. The water tank full indicator will then light up solid and bleep five times. The
dehumidifier will stop running until the water tank has been emptied and inserted back in place. Once
the water tank has been emptied and inserted back in place, the dehumidifier will continue to run in the
previous mode.
Hope this helps,
Omar@Meaco
Why is I set my dehumidifier at 65 it goes down to 64 but doesn’t switch of is this normal
Hi Angela,
This is normal, Once the target has been reached (- 3%rh), the dehumidifier will stop.
Every 30 minutes the fan will run and check the humidity level, the dehumidifying indicator will turn off. If the humidity level has increased more than 3% above the target, the compressor will turn on and the dehumidifier will start to run again.
If the humidity level is within 3% of the target, the dehumidifier will go back to sleep and check the humidity level in another 30 minutes.
We always advise to set the default target at 55% unless there are other reasons you are setting it to 65%.
Hope that helps.
Omar, Meaco.
Hi,
I purchased the low-energy 12L Dehumidifier about 6 months ago. So far it has been doing a great job however, recently I have noticed that once the set humidity has been reached the compressor will stop however the fan will continue running indefinitely. Finally, I have to turn it off and disconnect from the wall to reset the unit. The defrost light is not illuminated. Is this normal?
Hello,
Thank you for your message, please note the machine will switch off when it’s below 3% of your set target (including the fan). So if you set 50 as the target it’ll turn off when the relative humidity % is below 47%rh.
This approach gives greater stability to the environment and prevents the machine from constantly switching on and off.
It would also be worth pressing the button below the display to ensure the flashing number is the target which you have set it to.
Hope that helps?
Kind regards,
Omar.