Russell Hobbs RHDH2002 20 Litre/Day Dehumidifier for Damp/Mould & Moisture in Home, Kitchen, Bedroom, Office, Caravan, Laundry Drying, 50m2 Room, Smart Timer, White

Product Information

When thinking about dehumidifiers, does an image pop into your head of a large, ugly, white box, rattling noisily away in the corner? If so, then you have clearly not encountered the Russell Hobbs Fresh Air Mini Compact Dehumidifier. This product comes with a free one year manufacturer guarantee. A free second year guarantee is available upon registering your product. Overall, it's not the most powerful dehumidifier you can buy, and it can't cope with high moisture levels – we found it made little difference when drying wet washing for example. However, it did a great job of clearing condensation on windows and managing moisture levels in a small bedroom when left running overnight. As Chris Michael, Managing Director of the air quality brand Meaco says, inside the home, 'excess moisture in the air can come from drying clothes in the house, boiling vegetables, putting the kettle on, bathing, showering, open flame gas style heating, damp clothing, breathing, and the damp British weather.'

Thanks to this, the Silentnight 39899 dehumidifier has noise levels of just 25dBA, and as our reviewer says 'when I say it’s whisper quiet, I mean it. I couldn't hear this dehumidifier whilst it was running at all. That makes it perfect for anywhere you want to maintain peace and quiet' – like the bedroom. That extraction level may not sound like much, and this certainly isn't a dehumidifier that can cope with large damp problems or help to dry washing. But, in practice, our tests found it worked well when left running in the bedroom overnight in our tester's single-glazed Victorian terrace. It reduced the build up of condensation around windows in the morning, and the air in general also felt fresher whenever it was running. It also did really well to help eliminate steam and fumes in the kitchen whilst cooking. This dehumidifier is designed for managing fairly low moisture levels in small rooms up to 15m² or 2200 cubic feet, so it isn't going to cope with major damp issues or be able to control humidity within an entire house like larger capacity dehumidifiers. That said, the ProBreeze 1500ml Mini dehumidifier still impressed us during testing, and as long as you don't expect too much of it, this mini dehumidifier has a lot of plus points, not least its affordability. The De'Longhi Tascuigo AriaDry DEX216F is the largest model in the range and able to extract 16L of water from the air per day, and although the tank capacity isn't the largest, at 2.1L it still offers adequate capacity. This multi-purpose appliance also has an air purifier function with a double filtration system that can remove dust and other allergens from the air, plus a dedicated Laundry Drying function.

The EcoAir DD1 Simple MK3 Dehumidifier can extract up to 7.5 litres of moisture per day in cold temperatures as low as 1ºc, so it's a very useful option for conservatorys, basements or garages that don't have dedicated heating, as well as unheated rooms in the home during winter months. Compressor dehumidifiers tend to be the most common design available in the UK. They work by drawing air into the dehumidifier via a fan, and then running the air over over cold coils to condense the moisture from it, whereby the condensed water is collected in a water tank.The coils are kept cool by refrigerant which means the unit also needs a compressor built in. The only downside of compressor dehumidifiers is that they need the air to be warm for this process to work. Most will work above 5°C, but they're most efficient at an ambient temperature of around 20°C (depending on the individual model). Despite its compact size, this dehumidifier is also heavy. And noisy. We also didn’t find it that much help with drying clothes, although it did a good job of managing general damp and reducing condensation and mould on windows and walls. I found the dehumidifier was pleasantly quiet compared to cheaper version I've used in the past. However, it does give off a low-level hum which I could hear down the corridor. PRODUCT FEATURES: Timer, dryer & SMART modes, LED display, electronic controls, continuous drain function and auto defrost

However, just like the MeacoDry Arete One, as well as an impressive extraction rate the Russell Hobbs RHDH2002 20L dehumidifier has some great features, including an easy-to-read LED screen that displays current humidity levels and a useful Smart mode that monitors the humidity levels for you, turning the dehumidifier on and off as soon as it rises above the recommended home humidity range between 45%~55% for more economical (and hassle-free) use. There's also auto-shut off functionality when the water tank is full. The alternative is a Peltier dehumidifier, which, although not specified, is likely the method the Silentnight 39899 600ml Dehumidifier uses. In contrast to a compressor dehumidifier, a Peltier dehumidifier uses a far quieter thermo-electric process to extract moisture from the air. Although the Russell Hobbs RHDH2002 20L dehumidifier is one of the most affordable large dehumidifiers we've come across and is cheaper upfront than the comparable 20L Meaco Arete One dehumidifier. The Russell Hobbs RHDH2002 uses a lot of energy in comparison, so running costs are higher.As for energy consumption, you can find out more in our guide to ' How much does it cost to run a dehumidifier?'. However, the easiest way to find out is to compare each dehumidifier's wattage. The higher the number of Watts the appliance requires, the more expensive running costs will be. So, if you’re after the smallest dehumidifier on the market, we think the Russell Hobbs RHDH1061G wins the accolade of best small dehumidifier, with good all round performance for its size housed in one of the smallest builds on the market – along as you don't expect too much from that 0.3L extraction rate. For more details, you can read our full Russell Hobbs RHDH1061G Portable Dehumidifier review. How to choose The cheapest and smallest dehumidifiers on the market can often only extract 0.5L of water from the air per day – in many cases even less – but larger and more powerful dehumidifiers can extract up to 25L per day which can make a huge difference to your home's health if you struggle with damp issues and condensation. The reservoir on the front of the dehumidifier features a small window which is supposed to help you gauge how full it is, but I struggled to see through it. However, the dehumidifier sounds a loud alarm when the tank is full and automatically shuts off.