Meaco DD8L Zambezi

Specifications
Type: Desiccant, dimensions 548 x 358 x 200mm, tank capacity 3l, continuous drain facilty, weight 7.8kg, power consumption 350-660W, drying capacity 8.3l/day, noise level 50dB

Why Zambezi? Because Meaco supports the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation which cared for Zambezi, an orphaned elephant, until he lost his life in 2018. Today, the Foundation receives a £2 donation for each DD8L Zambezi unit Meaco sells.

Out of the box, the Zambezi is an impressive beast. Smart and solid feeling, it has digital display controlled by a set of up, down, left and right buttons around its on/off/mode confirmation switch. It took me a minute or two to find my way around the options, but once I’d sorted that everything was straightforward enough. In addition to RH and fan speed, the controls also set the angle of a louvre to direct the outputted air.

The day of the test was a chill but largely sunny day, with a starting RH of 73% and a temperature of 8.4°C. Within an hour, the Zambezi had reduced the RH by 10 percentage points with the temperature inside theenclosure standing at just 8.8°C – the unit was obviously working hard, with our sensor immediately above the air output registering RH values in the 30s. After six hours the Zambezi had succeeded in meeting its target of 55% RH, by which time the temperature was 17°C. For the remainder of the trial the Zambezi kept the RH firmly in check, with figures mostly hovering around the 50% mark, although dipping to 47% at one point. The temperature was managed admirably too, reaching a maximum of 18.8°C. Overnight the mercury dipped back a little, but never any lower that 14°C. A total of 4.2l of water was extracted during the course of our 24 hours trial.

Verdict: Far from being an elephant in the room, the DD8L Zambezi is a real workhorse. It’s versatile too. Well suited for use on medium to larger boats.