Challenge 12L Dehumidifier

Product Information

A dehumidifier removes excess moisture from the air to dry out the room, depositing it safely inside its water tank until you are ready to pour it away. Its job is to help you reach the optimum humidity level, and some even purify the air, removing allergens and dust through their filter. Performance: Along with the Russell Hobbs dehumidifier, this Challenge dehumidifier is one of the most compact in our round-up measuring just H22 x W15 x D13cm. That makes it hugely portable, although its small size does means a low 0.3L per day extraction rate (about the size of a large glass of wine) and its water tank is also small with a 0.5L capacity. Look at our test scores. Every dehumidifier we review has an energy efficiency rating, so our highest-scoring models are most likely to be the least wasteful.

It also offers Smart App controls, which means you can connect it to WiFi and operate it remotely via the Pro Breeze App or connect to Alexa or similar voice-activated devices. It has a decent-sized water tank capacity of 4L, and an automatic humidity sensor which means you can set your desired humidity level, switch it on, and just let it do its thing. Which one you need depends on the size of the space you want to use it in, how many people are living in the home generating moisture through activities such as cooking, washing and doing laundry, and the extent of your damp problem. The downside is that this dehumidifier has a far lower extraction rate than most, extracting just 0.3 litres of water from the air per day. For comparison, the best in class Meaco Arete One dehumidifier can extract between 10 and 25 litres of water from the air per day depending which model you opt for. Water tank capacity is also reduced, with the Silentnight model only able to hold 0.6L of water. That means you'll be emptying the tank frequently. However, considering its weight, I found the handle felt quite flimsy. I didn't entirely trust it would support the weight of the dehumidifier if carried by this alone.

Why use a dehumidifier?

Some dehumidifier brands routinely do well or badly in our tests, while others are a lot more hit and miss. Portability: A model with a handle or wheels/castors (or both) will be easier to move around, especially if you buy a large, heavy dehumidifier. If you’re only ever going to use the dehumidifier in one room and won’t want to put it away much, this might not be so important to you. It might not win the award for the most attractive or ground-breaking dehumidifier on our list, but that's not to say that Challenge's offering is ugly. Yes, it's a plain white box, but it's hardly an eyesore— and it's no slouch in the performance department either. Depending on the settings you can extract up to 10 litres of water per day in this design, which has a water tank that measures 2.1litres. It has a good recommended room range that is larger than your average dehumidifier, and for this reason we think it’s great value. At 43dB it’s also very quiet in operation, which is reassuring if you want to use it through the night. It has just one setting and a very discreet water indicator on the side of the design that you’ll need to keep an eye on should you want to empty the water tank. It also comes with an auto-shut off feature so you needn’t worry about it overspilling.

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. However, if you opt for the MeacoDry Arete One 12L Dehumidifier you also get a built-in air purifier, larger 2.5L water tank, better laundry drying performance, quieter operation, and better energy efficiency. Still, the CONOPU dehumidifier performed well during testing. I used it mostly in the kitchen to try to eliminate build up of condensation when I was cooking, and it worked really well at removing some of the excess moisture. In the bedroom, it got rid of some of the morning condensation but I have quite a large room so it struggled to keep up, and unfortunately its noise levels meant I opted not to leave it running all night long. More on that below. If available, make use of timer or automatic shut-off features so the dehumidifier isn’t running continuously while you’re out of the house or asleep.Then there's noise levels to consider, although as most of cheap dehumidifiers use Peltier condensers noise levels are already lower than more powerful compressor dehumidifiers. All dehumidifier's should give their operating volumes (measured in dB) in the specifications.