Whole home
MeacoDry Arete One 20L
Meaco’s 20 L table is the reason this is the whole-home pick. At 20 °C / 80 % RH the official take is 14.02 L/day — a more useful British-house row than the 30 °C headline. At 20 °C / 50 % RH the accompanying German-language table reads 5.78 L/day. The body is a larger Arete at 618 × 366 × 272 mm and 15 kg. The tank holds 4.8 litres, and published noise is 38–40 dB(A).
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The Arete One 20 L is the larger shell in the family. Dimensions are 618 × 366 × 272 mm. Weight is 15 kg. The tank holds 4.8 litres. Refrigerant charge is R290 / 65 g. Airflow is 145 m³/h on low and 160 m³/h on high. Meaco’s headline is 20 litres per day at 30 °C / 80 % RH. The more useful official row for a British house is 14.02 litres at 20 °C / 80 % RH — still a strong take while the room is warm and wet. At 20 °C / 50 % RH the German-language Meaco table that accompanies this range reads 5.78 litres. At 10 °C / 50 % RH it reads 2.0 litres. A 20 L badge does not exempt you from physics.
Noise is given as 38 and 40 dB(A), a step up from the 10 L and 12 L pair but still the quiet end of 20 L compressors as published. Night mode and laundry mode carry over, with a 40–70 % humidistat. Auto-restart, child lock and H13 HEPA are included. Continuous drain is the same 12.5 mm hose you supply. Meaco also sells a separate condensate pump for the taller Arete bodies if the drain point is higher than the machine.
This is the size that makes sense when a 12 L was emptying often, or when the airer shares a kitchen-diner with the rest of the house. Laundry mode will help a closed room; it will not dry a houseful of towels in an hour, and it is still the wrong tool if the utility is unheated. For that room, the EcoAir desiccants are the honest spec.
The comparison that decides the money is Arete One 20 L versus Pro Breeze 20 L. Meaco wins on published noise, the extraction table, HEPA and warranty. Pro Breeze wins on tank volume (5.5 L), an included hose and the softer band. We pick Meaco as the whole-home card in the Best 5 because a machine that lives in living space should be the one whose quiet figures and documentation match that room. The Pro Breeze keeps the laundry-workhorse card.
Published specification
Extraction figures and room sizes are manufacturer claims, often measured at warm/humid lab points. UK rooms are usually cooler, so real take is lower. We have not run our own lab tests.
- Type
- Compressor + HEPA
- Claimed extraction
- 20 L (manufacturer claim; 20 L at 30 °C / 80 % RH)
- Room guidance
- ~80 m² / larger home (published on UK listings; Meaco EU sheets also quote 50 m²)
- Tank
- 4.8 litres
- Published noise
- 38 and 40 dB(A) (Meaco)
- Operating temperature
- 5–35 °C
- Power (manufacturer)
- About 211–225 W at 20 °C depending on the humidity row (Meaco tables)
- Weight
- 15 kg
- Continuous drain
- Continuous drain on 12.5 mm garden hose (hose not included); Arete pump sold separately for the 18–25 L bodies
- Laundry mode
- Yes, plus night mode
- Filter
- H13 HEPA included
- Warranty
- 5 years
Best suited to
- A heated 3-bed (or similar) that wants one compressor for living space and laundry.
- Buyers who will pay for Meaco’s table, 38–40 dB(A) and five years.
Not the right pick when
- The drying happens in a cold utility — desiccant territory.
- The budget is the Pro Breeze 20 L band and the machine will live next to the airer, not the sofa.
Specification strengths
- Official headline is 20 L/day at 30 °C / 80 % RH.
- At 20 °C / 80 % RH Meaco’s table is 14.02 L/day — the more useful British-house row.
- Published noise is 38–40 dB(A).
- 4.8 L tank, H13 HEPA, laundry and night modes, and a five-year warranty.
- Airflow is 145–160 m³/h, with a 40–70 % RH humidistat.
- Castors on a 15 kg body.
Weak points on paper
- 15 kg and 618 mm tall — not a 10 L you tuck beside a bookcase.
- Hose not included; tank still without a handle.
- Still a 5 °C compressor floor.
Head to head
- MeacoDry Arete One 20L vs Pro Breeze 20L
Two 20 litre compressors for damp houses and indoor laundry. Meaco documents quieter running and a stepped extraction table. Pro Breeze gives you a 5.5 L tank, a laundry button and a hose at a softer band.