Please bear with me as I’ve never reviewed anything even remotely like this before! …

The AMCOR DC930H (the DC930 is identical but doesn’t have the heater) is a bit of an enigma. It combines three main functions (dehumidifier, heater, and air purifier) into one unit. At a price, of course – but probably cheaper than if you got the three different, medium-quality units individually. (It cost us £180, which at today’s exchange rate is over $300 – eek!) As such it probably represents a good buy mainly for those who want all three functions and don’t have much space to spare. People who suffer from allergies and / or respiratory problems will probably find it most beneficial. Yep, this is the sort of paragraph I’d normally end my reviews with, but in this case it seemed more appropriate at the start. Now you know my overall thoughts on the unit, I’ll explain why…

Appearance

The unit itself looks pretty nifty and with its little wheels is easy to move around. It’s not huge but some thought is required to find the best position for it. (The manual has some helpful suggestions in this regard.)

Weight: 15.5kg
Height: 540mm
Depth: 355mm

Manual

The manual is well-written, concise, and above all things is written in plain English so is easy to understand. Even the diagrams make sense, which was a bit of a shock...

Dehumidifier

Moisture removal is up to 15 litres (about 26 pints) per day depending on the removal setting and room temperature. With my tiny knowledge of dehumidifiers, I think this is pretty good… It can hold 6l at a time, and automatically shuts off when the full indicator comes on. A small flat like ours is easily catered for and it can manage up to a 5 roomed house / flat.

One of the niggles I have with this machine is that the fitting of the tank is poorly designed. It is absolutely impossible to remove it without getting water all over the floor when it’s full, so you either have to have plenty of kitchen towel ready or remove it when it’s only half full. (Even then it’s difficult to completely avoid spillages.) Also the sensing device for the automatic overflow detection seldom seems to go back in the right place when you replace the tank, even though it was in the correct position immediately beforehand. This isn’t a major problem of course but it’s an annoyance.

There are two fan speeds, the first is pretty quiet but the second is noisy enough to potentially disturb light sleepers if you leave the machine on overnight.

Heater

The heater can only be used when the second (faster) fan setting is used. There’s no temperature control, in fact there is only one setting, which I found disappointing. It warms gently rather than heats, though at least it takes the chill out of the air in the morning when you have to get out of your lovely warm bed into the cold cold snow of the world…

Air Purifier

The air purifier has a high rating for removal of allergens (pollen, dust) from the air and can be used with or without the dehumidifier. It also removes odours which can be useful, especially if you live in a small flat and had fish for the evening meal… I’ve noticed that my asthma and hay fever symptoms have decreased significantly since using this machine, though it’s difficult to be sure quite how much of that is down to the air purifier / dehumidifier. (We also replaced the carpets with laminate flooring and I’ve improved my diet around the same time.) The filter is easy to clean and should be done on at least a monthly basis.

Electricity Consumption

The electric usage is fairly good on dehumidifier only (253 / 273 w depending on fan speed) but when using the heater it quadruples. (Heater uses 800w.)

Overall

I know, I already did this at the start… but anyway. The AMCOR DC930H is a good machine but for the price I expected a little more control over the heating aspect and a better design for the tank. Four stars is a fair rating though as it’s mostly very good at what it does and I definitely don’t regret purchasing it.

I’d like to thank Melissa for adding this to the database for me.


Since this is only my third review in Wellness & Beauty, I’m entering it into my Challenge Yourself 2005 Write Off, which challenges epinions members to write in categories unfamilier to them. (This qualifies because W&B reviews make up less than 1% of my total reviews.)

My other two W&B reviews so far are:

Black Suede Aftershave
Benadryl Plus (Antihistamine)


Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 330
Battery Life: N/A
Noise Level: Average