MeacoDry Arete Two 20l dehumidifier

Specifications
Type: compressor, dimensions 618 x 366 x 272mm, tank capacity 4.8l, continuous drain facilty, weight 15.1kg, power consumption 230W, drying capacity 20l/day, noise level 50dB

, pipping the Cotes commercial unit by 0.8l. But unless you’re in the Caribbean it’s unlikely that you will witness the unit reaching its full potential.

Reflecting its superior performance, everything about the Arete Two 20l is super-sized compared to the 10l unit: it’s larger in every dimension, half as heavy again, has a water tank of almost double the capacity and it pushes out 82% more dry air per hour. The intriguing thing is that it does this while only using 51% more power – so it’s not only a bigger unit, it’s a more efficient one too. In common with the 10l unit, the 20l can be monitored via the Meaco app, a useful but not essential tool. It also has castors and is a compressor dehumidifier.

We ran our trial of the Arete Two 20l on a day which started out damp and marginally on the mild side; the RH was 75% and the temperature 13.5°C. Again, like the 10l unit, our sensors recorded an initial spike in RH, topping out at 77% before dropping back to 70% by the trial-end. Over the 24-hour period, the unit extracted a total of 4.4l, a shade under a gallon in old money. 

We queried with Meaco whether we should have expected more from the Arete Two 20l. They replied that given the damp conditions of our test environment 4.4l was an excellent amount of water to collect in 24-hours – perfectly fine for a whole house, they said, let alone a boat.

Verdict: The same applies here as it does to the 10l Arete Two; a modern, slick operator that’s inexpensive to run – but better suited to warmer climes than the cold and chill British winter.