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- Compact and well-designed
- Good performance in smaller spaces
- Effective laundry mode
- Not enough drying power for larger rooms
- Slightly awkward to move around
Smaller dehumidifiers are usually limited in their drying power, but Devola says otherwise with its DVH12L. This compact dehumidifier stands well under 50cm high, yet the manufacturer claims its capable of sucking 12l per day out of the air, with a high maximum airflow of 105m3/hour.
That’s twice the daily capacity of the Meaco Arete One 6L, and almost twice its 65m3/hour maximum airflow, despite being only slightly larger. Can the DVH12L do more in a smaller package and prove itself as the pint-sized dehumidifier your home could rely on, or does it struggle to measure up in practice? I’ve spent a few days working with it around my humid home in order to find out.
Devola DVH12L dehumidifier: What do you get for the money?
The DVH12L is a small compressor-based dehumidifier with a 12L per day extraction rate. It has a 2.7L water tank and a replaceable HEPA air filter and can operate in temperatures from 5°C to 35°C. It’s unusually compact for a 12L dehumidifier, with a 303 x 227mm footprint and a height of 468mm. The curved and tapered gloss white casing with grey top panel makes it fairly unobtrusive too, which is always a good thing with an appliance you might be using in your living room or bedroom.
There’s a simple digital display on the top to indicate the current mode and relative humidity. The six buttons arranged around this are used to switch between Manual and Auto modes, adjust the fan speed, set the timer, switch to the alternate modes or power the unit on or off. It’s a little odd that there’s not just one button to cycle through the different modes, but otherwise it’s all quite simple and intuitive.
The water tank pulls out from the base of the unit at the rear, and I found it fairly easy to slide out, empty and replace. You can also attach a 14mm pipe (not supplied) to an outlet just above for continuous draining.
What features does it have?
More than you might expect for such a compact and affordable dehumidifier. There’s a manual dehumidification mode where you can select your target humidity level and set the fan speed to low or high. The auto dehumidifying mode automatically adjusts the power and fan speed according to the ambient humidity level. Meanwhile, Laundry Drying gives you intensive drying at high speed for six hours to sort out your wet washing, while the Sleep mode offers quiet dehumidification with the lights dimmed to give you a chance of catching some shuteye.
An automatic Defrost mode and an auto shut-off cover you for operation in cold temperatures and protect you from the tank overflowing. Finally, an auto shut-off timer does exactly what you might expect, working in one hour increments from one to 24 hours.
How did I test the Devola DVH12L?
I test all dehumidifiers over several days inside a three bedroom house, allowing me to make meaningful comparisons on their performance, features, energy consumption and noise. We use two rooms for specific tests: a large living room that’s prone to damp and mould, plus a smaller bedroom in the north east corner of the house that doesn’t get much sun.
We try to keep both rooms at a comfortable 19-20°C temperature while we’re testing, and use a wireless air-quality monitor backed up by a temperature and humidity meter (hygrometer) to measure relative humidity (RH). We set the humidifier to run with a 50% RH target on the highest fan setting, and measure RH before testing, after one hour and then again after a second hour. We’ll also use the dehumidifier in other rooms around the house, and test any laundry drying features to check how effectively these work. Finally, we use a smart plug with energy monitoring and a smartphone noise meter app to check power consumption and noise levels during use.
How well does it work?
While it has double the extraction rate of the Meaco Arete One 6l, performance isn’t that different in larger spaces. In my living room, with manual settings and a target relative humidity of 35%, I saw the relative humidity drop from 68% to 64% in the first hour. After that, however, it hovered at 63% for the next two hours. I’d advise getting something more powerful for bigger rooms or open-plan living spaces.
In a smaller room, it’s a different story. In the back bedroom where I always test compact dehumidifiers, the DVH12L pulled the relative humidity down from 67% to 58% in sixty minutes. Differences in ambient temperature and time of year make it difficult to make direct comparisons, but the Arete One 6L managed a drop of 4% in the same period. After another hour, the humidity dropped further to 56% and after a total of three hours it had reached 54%. Left in Auto mode afterwards for another two hours, the humidity had stabilised at a very manageable 52%.
I’d usually recommend a bigger dehumidifier for laundry duties, but here the DVH12L surprised me. Having left it to dry a rack of washing over a six hour period, I returned to find that T-Shirts, socks, tea-towels and underwear were all dry enough to be put away in drawers and wardrobes. Jeans and sweatshirts just needed to be turned and aired for another hour or two before they were good to go as well.
What could be improved?
The Devola DVH12L isn’t quite as quiet as the Meaco. Where the Arete One 6L’s noise output stayed under 40dBA across its different modes, the DVH12L put out 42.9dBA with the fan speed at high and 40.6dBA at low. That’s actually not too bad by compact dehumidifier standards. However, it’s not easy to sleep if it’s operating nearby, and I could still hear its dull hum, albeit softly, even when it was working in the room above or in the room next door.
Meanwhile, power consumption varies quite a lot depending on the mode, maxing out at 171W while drying laundry or working more intensively, though coming down to 20W to 24.7W when cruising in Auto mode, presumably with the compressor turned off. Again, that’s not bad, but the Arete One 6L uses around 105W when working hard.
Finally, the design, with two inset handles either side of the unit, makes the 10.2Kg DVH12L slightly tricky to lift, whereas I can pick up and move the 7.9Kg Meaco with one hand, using its pop-out carrying handle. It’s not a big deal, but it’s a little frustrating when you’re moving it from room to room.
Should you buy the Devola DVH12L dehumidifier ?
Like I said, the DVH12L isn’t the best option for large spaces. Yet by packing more drying power into a compact unit, along with a strong set of features, Devola has created one of the best dehumidifiers for smaller rooms.
It’s easy to use, reasonably quiet, practical and effective, doing a solid job of reducing moisture levels in damp-prone spots where you need some extra help.
