MeacoDry Arete One

The MeacoDry Arete One is a compressor dehumidifier and air purifier, launched in 2022 and still sold in 6, 10, 12, 20 and 25 litre sizes. The 12L, the one most homes need, removes about 5.2 litres a day in a typical 20°C room for 151 W, about 4p an hour, and starts from 35 dB on its lowest fan. It's a Which? Best Buy, it's Quiet Mark approved, and Meaco backs it with a five-year warranty, so it remains one of the safest dehumidifier buys in the UK.

Its newer sibling, the Arete Two, has since added an app, timers, a humidity display and a faster laundry fan for about £15 to £20 more. That's the Arete One's real weakness: there's no timer on the 10L and 12L, laundry drying is adequate rather than quick, and it's heavy for its size. If you mainly want drier air and fewer streaming windows in a heated home, it does that job quietly and cheaply, which is why it's the value pick in our guide to the best dehumidifiers.

Meaco launched the Arete One in 2022 as its quietest dehumidifier, and it's still on sale alongside the Arete Two that replaced it. It draws damp air over a cold coil so the moisture condenses into the tank, then passes the dried air back into the room about 2°C warmer. A built-in humidistat switches it on above your target humidity and off once it gets there, and a HEPA filter lets it double as an air purifier.

It suits a heated home with the usual winter problems, such as streaming windows in the morning and a musty bedroom. Pick the size by home rather than room: the 10L for up to two bedrooms, the 12L for up to three, the 20L for four bedrooms or a damp house, and the 6L compact for a single room. Run it alongside good ventilation, as our guide on how to stop condensation on windows explains, and aim for 50 to 55% humidity, the middle of the range in our guide to the ideal humidity in a house.

As with every compressor model, it needs warmth to work well. Below about 10°C it spends more time defrosting than drying, so for a garage, a cold conservatory or an unheated spare room the DD8L Pro desiccant is the better tool.

Expect to pay around £165 to £180 for the 12L and £230 to £260 for the 20L. Appliances Direct has the 12L at £164.98 and the 20L at £229.98, while Meaco sells them direct at £179.99 and £259.99, though Meaco's 12L is out of stock until later in November. That makes the Arete One about £15 to £20 cheaper than the equivalent Arete Two. Prices jump around Black Friday and stock disappears in the first cold snap, so check both before you buy.

It's cheap to keep running. The sum is power in kW × hours × the unit rate, and at the October 2026 Ofgem price cap of 26.32p per kWh the 12L, drawing 151 W in a 20°C room, costs about 4p an hour, 32p for eight hours, or about £9.54 a month at eight hours a day. The 20L draws 216 W: about 5.7p an hour and 45p for eight hours. Those assume it runs flat out; once the humidistat switches it off at your target, you pay less. Try your own figures in our running cost calculator.

Prices correct as of 5 November 2026. Running costs use the October to December 2026 price cap, which changes quarterly.