What is the power consumption of a dehumidifier? There is no simple answer to this. The simplest answer is, "This information is in the technical data on the back of the dehumidifier." Let us explain how to find out which dehumidifier uses the least power. Compare dehumidifiers of the same size When comparing dehumidifiers to find the one that uses the least power, you must compare dehumidifiers of the same size. A dehumidifier with a capacity of 20 liters per day will use more power than a dehumidifier with 10 liters per day. (It's like comparing the diesel consumption of a bus and a car. You have to compare bus to bus and car to car.) What matters is how much power the dehumidifier uses per liter of water it removes! |
You must compare the same type of dehumidifier
Dehumidifiers come with different technologies. The most common are compressor or desiccant dehumidifiers. If you look at the power consumption for a desiccant dehumidifier, it will appear very high. That's true, but eventually, we will explain why it can still be sensible.
First, let's look at compressor dehumidifiers, as they are the most common. Therefore, you must compare a 10-liter compressor-based dehumidifier with another 10-liter compressor-based dehumidifier. You must compare a 20-liter compressor-based dehumidifier with another 20-liter one; you get the idea.
Remember the temperature!
The manufacturer must state the power consumption, but it's not that simple. With dehumidifiers, they use different amounts of power depending on the temperature. Yes, this also applies to compressor-based dehumidifiers. If the manufacturer states that the power consumption is 250 Watts, they don't say whether this is at 20 degrees or 30 degrees. It doesn't help much if you buy a dehumidifier that uses little power, and this is only at 30 degrees. After all, you're going to use it at 20 degrees, and there might be another dehumidifier that uses less power. There is no clear industry standard here, and people can easily be misled.
You must remember to check the power consumption for the temperature at which you plan to use the dehumidifier! Not all manufacturers state this, and it may be because they have a guilty conscience...
Here, we would like to commend Meaco, who often state power consumption at various temperatures. See example below.
How much power does a dehumidifier actually use?
Look at the table above. This shows the power consumption for the Meaco Arete 20L. As you can see, it uses a total of 281 Watts at 30 degrees and 80% humidity, while it only uses 179 Watts at 10 degrees and 50% humidity. How much power does a dehumidifier actually use? Well, it depends on the temperature and humidity where it is used. You have to consider where it will be used. Will you keep it in a warm laundry room or a cold basement?
Note also that the amount of water it can remove varies greatly with temperature and humidity. At 10 degrees and 50% humidity, it removes 2 liters of water per day. If you have 20 degrees and 60%, which is quite realistic, it removes 8.5 liters of water per day. "Theoretically," it should remove 20 liters of water. It does, but only if you have 30 degrees and 80% humidity. It is an industry standard to measure capacity at 30 degrees and 80%, so everyone does it. What almost no one else does is provide information on capacity and power consumption at lower temperatures.
The dehumidifiers in the Meaco Arete series are optimized for the Nordic climate. They are therefore designed to be as efficient as possible at lower temperatures. If you are going to compare them with other dehumidifiers, you must check how much power they use at the temperature you have where you will use it. Normally, this is 20 degrees and 60% humidity.
We sell many dehumidifiers, and what surprises us is that almost no one other than Meaco informs us about this. They provide a number but say nothing about the conditions under which it was tested. We recommend that you ask this question when considering buying a dehumidifier. We also encourage other manufacturers and retailers of dehumidifiers to be more specific when providing technical data. Customers must be able to make decisions on the correct basis.