I have already explained why the new DD8L Zambezi is named after an elephant and why we are supporting the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation’s conservation work and their elephant orphanage in Zambia.
The dehumidifier is packed full of really good features and I am often asked why so many and where did the ideas come from. There are 6 world firsts on Zambezi as well as a host of other features and they came about because we decided to make this dehumidifier the ‘people’s dehumidifier’.
We went through feedback that we had received from customers over the years, both good and bad and looked for patterns. We search how people were using their dehumidifiers and we looked at where they were using their dehumidifiers and what they loved and what they hated.
If there was a feature that hundreds of people were asking for then it went in even if in our heart of hearts we felt that the customer was wrong (see note on the customer is always right!!) while there is one feature that only received one suggestion from a customer but we felt that it was such a good idea that we incorporated it into both the Zambezi, the DD8L and the Junior. More on that idea in another blog piece.
- The idea that received the most requests from customers was for a timer so that customers can turn the dehumidifier on and off when they want each day.
- Customers like the idea of air purification combined with dehumidification so the sterlising ioniser was added to Zambezi.
- Many customers mentioned little drips of water coming out of the dehumidifier when they removed the tank so Zambezi has a drip guard.
- The next feedback point was concern about how much energy desiccant dehumidifier’s use in Laundry mode so the Laundry+ low energy system was designed, whilst other customers worried about mould growth in the water tank so we coated it with an anti-mould system.
- The most common reason why people return a desiccant dehumidifier is because of a leak caused by a built up of dirt around the sump. Zambezi has a patented access system that allows customers to clean out their own dirt and avoids the inconvenience of having to wait in for collection and delivery and being without the dehumidifier.
- From telephone conversations with customers we could tell that they were confused about when to use the dehumidifier so the Turn Me On indicator was created and they were unsure about what setting to leave the dehumidifier in when they were going to leave it unattended for long periods of time, from this the unique Meaco 20+ Control came about.
Zambezi also collects more water for less energy thanks to the redesign of the condenser which is good news for everyone.
All in all Zambezi is definitely the best dehumidifier that we have ever produced, so many lessons have been learnt from our customers, returns and our engineer’s quality control process. We are very proud of the results and the initial feedback from customers has been excellent.
Products featured: Meaco DD8L Zambezi
