Published on June 13th, 2018 | by Sunit Nandi

REIDEA Portable Air Dehumidifier Review: Humidity? Ain’t Nobody Got Time for That.

Introduction

Even in the 21st century with upgraded living standards, housing is still not ideal. Cases of moist and damp rooms in apartments and bungalows are widespread. Condensation on windows is also an issue. Strong smell of mold may be common in less used rooms which can be easily verified with a mold test kit. You can get one by looking up mold test kit reviews online. Then there are less lucky people who live in extremely humid regions, or have homes that are old or too weak to install air conditioning. What does one do in such a case? The answer to this is to use a dehumidifier. In the past, dehumidifiers have been bulky, noisy and power hungry machines. However, with recent advances in technology, small, quiet and power efficient dehumidifiers have been made possible which take advantage of the Peltier effect. REIDIA has taken this concept one step further by making a dehumidifier that is about the size of a pack of cornflakes. Today, we have with us an unit sent by them for review. We sincerely thank REIDEA for this opportunity.

We will unbox, install and test out this product for all of you, and tell you what we feel about this appliance. Read on to know more.

What is it?

The REIDEA Portable Air Dehumidifier is a small home appliance that purifies and dehumidifies the air in the room where it is placed. It is extremely small, low-power and silent, yet powerful. According to its product page, the major highlights of this appliance are:

Large Capacity: 700ml Water tank keeps your space cool and comfortable by removing up to 300ml of water per day at temperature at 86°F, RH80%. Suited for spaces up to 20m².
Whisper Quiet: The REIDEA Room Dehumidifier applies peltier technology with no compressor. Perfect for relaxing and sleeping. It emits noise below 25 dB.
Energy saving: The electric dehumidifier operates at a low temperature, and low consumption with auto shut-off function when maximum capacity reached.
Environmentally-Friendly: ideal for Cleaning air and removing damp, mold and moisture from home, kitchen, bedroom, caravan, garage, Bookcase, Wardrobe, Shoebox, office, bathroom and so on.

Now that we have a background of the product, let’s unbox the package that arrived in the mail.

Unboxing

The REIDEA Portable Air Dehumidifier comes in a box about the size of a pack of breakfast cereal. The front side has an illustration of the product inside.

One side of the box has its specs written on it.

The other side has its features mentioned.

Now, we open the box. We’re greeted with a small white box right inside it.

The small box has a UK power adapter for the appliance.

Now, we keep the power adapter and its box aside and look into the package.

There is a small piece of foam blocking the view, so we take it out and keep it aside. We now can see the top of the dehumidifier in a polythene packaging.

We take out the dehumidifer from it’s box…

… and finally remove the polythene film. The front side has many small holes through which it sucks in air into its body. There is also a power button at the top.

Turning the device to its back, we see it has an air exit vent at the top, a DC power port in the middle left and a water collection tank at the bottom of its body.

The tank is detachable for the body in order to drain the collected water.

Here is a close-up view of the water tank.

Taking apart the tank, we see it consists of two components, the tray that covers it and a vessel that holds the water.

The tray has a two holes. The open hole is from where the water enters the vessel from the dehumidifier. The hole that is closed by the washer is where the water can be exited off the tank. Finally there is a air-filled ball cock, that rises with the water level and stops the dehumidifier when the tank is full.

Here’s a close up of the ball cock.

Here is a close-up of the vessel.

Now, that we have unboxed the appliance, let’s move on to using it.

Usage

Using the REIDEA Portable Air Dehumidifier is very simple. You need to plug the adapter into the power plug and connect the pin to the power port on the back side of the appliance.

After that, the power button needs to be pressed. Once the LED ring around the power lights up green, the dehumidifier has started working.

If you place your ear close to the device, you will hear a light and slow hum if it is running. It is virtually silent if you’re sitting at a distance from it.

The dehumidifier keeps running hours after hours till the water tank becomes full. Once the tank is full, the ball cock floats above the water surface and presses upon a switch to stop the dehumidifier.

The LED ring will turn orange to notify you that it is time to empty the tank.

Press the power button to turn off the dehumidifier. You can then take out the fully filled water tank.

By pulling out the black washer/tab, you expose the water outlet.

You can then drain the water from the tank with the outlet. Just make sure to do it in the sink to avoid splashing water everywhere.

After that, put the tank back into its slot and press the power button. When the LED ring turns green again, it means it has resumed normal operation.

Experience

The REIDEA Portable Air Dehumidifier turned out to be a very handy tool in India’s hot and humid weather. It is definitely not as fast as a full-fledged dehumidifier unit or an air-conditioner, but if given some time, it gradually scales up to a capacity comparable to its bigger counterparts and more than justifies its low price and low power consumption. After plugging in, wait for 20 to 40 minutes and bam! the air suddenly appears lighter, easier to breathe and you no longer sweat like a pig. Wait 20 more minutes and the musty smell of the room is gone. After waiting another 30 minutes, the smell of perspiration of other people in the room is gone too. If you keep it running for hours, the overall environment of the room changes and feels a lot less gloomy.

The dehumidifier makes a very faint humming noise which can be heard only if you are close to it by less than a foot. You can keep the device by your bedside and go to sleep. You won’t hear a thing. It also consumes very little power, not more than what is required to charge a smartphone. It can be kept running all day and will virtually not have an impact on your electricity bill. Its portable size lets you can carry and use it in any room, as well as take it alongwith you for use in hotels and holiday rooms while travelling.

Coming to condensation capacity, the manufacturer states that the dehumidifier can remove up to 300 ml of water per day at 30°C. In order to test real world capacity, I left it to run indefinitely after unboxing till the water tank was full. The average temperature in my room was 34°C during the test. The dehumidifier was powered up at 9 PM IST on 9 June 2018. On 12 June 2018, at about 10 PM IST, the 700 ml water tank was full the and the LED turned orange. If the water tank became full in an hour more than 3 days, then the dehumidifier has been capturing a little less than 233 ml per day.

Overall, I was more than impressed with the REIDEA Portable Air Dehumidifier.

Getting for yourself

The REIDEA Portable Air Dehumidifier can be purchased on REIDIA’s web store for $36.99 or on Amazon UK for £19.99. It is a very capable dehumidifier despite its low price and is also listed as Amazon’s Choice on Amazon UK. You can buy this product without hesitation.

Summary

Pros

Powerful condensation capacity.
Quieter than a whisper.
Consumes less power than a charging smartphone.
Auto cut-off when the water tank is full.

Cons

Takes longer time to start reducing humidity compared to traditional dehumidifiers or air conditioners.

Conclusion

The REIDEA Portable Air Dehumidifier is well worth every penny. It is small, quiet and consumes low power. Yet, its absorption capacity matches that of bigger and more powerful units if left running for quite a while.

Is the damp bothering you? Get one for yourself today!

Techno FAQ’s rating: 10/10

Tags: air dehumidifier, dehumidifier, portable, portable air dehumidifier, REIDIEA

About the Author

Sunit Nandi I'm the leader of Techno FAQ. Also an engineering college student with immense interest in science and technology. Other interests include literature, coin collecting, gardening and photography. Always wish to live life like there's no tomorrow.