MeacoDry Arete Two 10l dehumidifier

Specifications
Type: compressor, dimensions 492 x 319 x 237mm, tank capacity 2.5l, continuous drain facilty, weight 10.7kg, power consumption 152W, drying capacity 10l/day, noise level 35dB

According to the Ancient Greeks, Areta was the goddess of excellence – so I had high hopes for the 10l Arete Two model Meaco kindly loaned me for this trial. Compared to the Arete One, despite consuming less power the ‘Two’ exhales 50% more air – 152 cubic metres per hour – making it a more efficient option. The problem is it’s a compressor unit so is not well suited to the British climate.

There’s another potential issue with the Arete Two from a boater’s perspective – it’s mounted on castors, not great if your boat is rocked by the tide or passing vessels. While the manual stated the unit is shipped with its castors inside the water tank, ours was not – they were pre-mounted and we could find no easy way to remove them.

On the plus side, the Arete Two is compact unit which can be stood right up against a wall. It also comes with an app which allows you to monitor performance from afar. While the app can also link to a voice assistant (“Alexa, set the Relative Humidity to 55%, then turn off after an hour,” that kind of thing) unlike some Gen Z’s we know the unit is not wholly app-dependent – it can be operated perfectly easily from its top-mounted control panel. All that’s needed is a single press of the power button and Arete Two is off and running with its pre-set aim of reducing RH to 55%. The panel also features a progress bar to show how the air is drying out, and the target RH can be altered by way of the unit’s variable humidistat – which is just another button to press.

The trial of the Arete Two was held on a crisp dry day which immediately followed a warm damp one. The RH at the start time was 72% and the temperature 8.6°C, rising to a high of 18.3°C during the day. Following a short RH spike to 77% the unit soon had the air down to 62%, which was maintained there or thereabouts for the remainder of the test despite the nighttime temperature dropping to 7.6°C. Over the 24-hour test period, the unit extracted 1.6l of water.

Verdict: Latest generation technology, but being a compressor dehumidifier makes it less than ideal for the UK. Worth considering for use in warmer climes though.