EcoAir DC14 Compact Portable Dehumidifier, 14L - Washable Filter, Timer, 3.5L Water Tank, Laundry Mode, Drainage Hose, Digital Control Panel, Quiet Design, Cable Storage, Castor, white and grey

After a patch of plaster in a newly plastered room was taking an age to dry out and I started noticing patches of mould around windows and a damp feel to the house. I decided to get a dehumidifier. I originally looked at the DC12 but this was offered as a newer version, considering it could extract 6 litres more per day for only £10 more it seemed to be worthwhile buying the DC18. You can definitely tell it's working, I was emptying the tank every couple of days for the first few days so it was taking several litres out of the air quickly. It felt noticeably less damp in the house, it also seems to feel warmer overall and seems to heat up faster when the heating comes on, perhaps this is due to there being less damp air in the house. Also; condensation builds up less and the mould has not returned since being cleaned off and having this running and the plaster quickly dried out with the dehumidifier on. I now just set my target humidity and leave it on and it turns on automatically as and when required. The timer and laundry dry options are very useful. As well as being effective the unit is also styled well, much better looking than most other dehumidifiers on the market and doesn't look too out of place in a modern styled house. The carry handles make it easy to manovrer around, power cable is a decent length, emptying the tank and cleaning the filter is also very easy. The controls are also simple to understand and use. The dehumidifier feels well made and solid, no flexi plastics etc. Everything seems to click into place with a reasuring click and so I think it should stand the test of time. Eco air also supply a reasonable warranty with this too for extra peace of mind.Bad points: Quite loud, although it has a lower fan speed which is supposed to be quieter, I find it is the compressor that makes a pulsing sound as it runs that is the main source of the noise. And I don't believe the lower fan speed reduces the speed / noise of the compressor. If you have it in a hallway or landing you probably won't notice it too much if you are in the living room etc during the day, but on a night when everything is a lot quieter I find it is too loud to keep running overnight.A slight gripe is that the buttons produce a loud beep when pressed, and when the water tank is full this produces a loud alarm, if you were running this overnight and the tank filled, the alarm would probably wake you up. Would be ideal if you could turn the beeping down or off.Another slight gripe is that there is no on board storage for the continuous drain fitting and hose, personally I usually put all the bits I'm not currently using in a drawer somewhere, but then when I need them I can never remember where I've stored them. So having all fittings stored on board is always a plus from me.But overall a high quality dehumidifier that works very well, is easy to use and well styled.

I bought this item for a new build. To help the walls drying out during winter time and also to prevent some manifestations of mould that started appearing in less ventilated and colder places in the house.Starting by its looks I got to say that it looks great and well built for a dehumidifier. It is very compact, not heavy and the casters and handles make it very easy to move around. The water deposit its easy to open and you can check its level on the transparent circle in the front. The filter is very easily accessed and cleaned. Its console on top makes it look something more advanced than a simple dehumidifier. And it is! It has a lot of functions, all of them described above and in the manual in simple and clear steps.Once working you immediately notice it is very quiet for such a machine. Even the fastest fan setting. But it does not detract from its performance. I didn't have any evident humidity issues apart from those nasty corners but after a couple minutes spinning the humidifier said there was about 70% humidity in the air. In 3-4 hours it brought it down below the recommended 60%. The next day there wasn't a single drop of water in the windows!Now, I mentioned I bought it for a new build. As so the next day I removed some furniture and placed it close to one of the north-faced walls. In 2 hours the effect was clearly visible. The plaster that felt cold and slightly humid to the touch now feels properly dry. Same thing in the north-faced bathroom (more problems here due to hot baths). So far it has removed about 3 liters of water and the differences are clearly visible.To make it even better it is good value for money if you compare it against its competition.

Having reviewed several options to reduce the humidity and damp in our flat, I went with the EcoAir DC12. There are a plethora of devices on the market, both passive and active. The difference really comes down the speed at which the device can extract moisture from the air, the level of control you have over the settings, robustness and filtration levels. So how does this rate? Very well. We have a 2 bedroom flat and the windows were almost completely covered in condensation. Wiping them down or opening the windows worked okay, but the air was still very humid and a quick google on humidity levels will show you this isn't a healthy way to live whilst indoors. This unit works very quickly. Upon switching it on, the device showed an 80% humidity level. Given that humidity monitors can run into the £1,000's it's probably a rough estimate. Even so within 30 mins, the first trickles of water poured into the catchment tray and within 90 mins the humidity levels fell to 50%. You could tangibly feel the difference in the air quality and we were able to reduce the thermostat by 2 degrees C. So, despite this unit using energy, it's probably already paying for itself. The unit feels robust and is easy to use. Noise levels are similar to an oven fan running. Neither is quiet, but on the lowest setting its mostly unobtrusive, the higher setting sounds like a normal desk fan running and is quite obvious. We set the device to run for 2hrs each day, which does a good job of keeping the humidity down and the windows clear. Overall this seems a great device and relatively inexpensive when considering the improvements it has made to the air quality. My only gripe is it doesn't seem to be able to get the humidity​ level down below 50%, but given how humid the flat gets, I suspect any device would struggle and even at 50% things feel so much better. I'd definitely recommend this to anyone else in the same situation.