Best dehumidifiers for basements

Find the drain before you think about pints. A 50-pint rating works out to 6.25 gallons a day, so at that rate a 1.9 gal bucket fills more than three times in 24 hours. Nobody keeps that up on the stairs.

I haven't run these three machines. Test results come from others and are named, and the capacity figures are ratings from the makers.

How much capacity

Energy Star's chart, from a government program, is where I start. For a space under 2,000 sq ft (186 m²):

• Slightly to moderately damp, with an intermittent musty smell: 20 to 30 pints a day
• Very damp, with damp spots on walls and floors: 25 to 40 pints
• Wet, with sweating walls or seepage: 30 to 50 pints

Over 2,000 sq ft, those become 30, 40 and 50 pints or more. Energy Star also says it's better to oversize than undersize.

Everything else is a rule of thumb, and the rules disagree. GE Appliances' chart says 50 pints handles 2,000 sq ft (186 m²) when very damp, with an 8 ft ceiling, and 25% added to the area for a 10 ft one. HouseFresh advises 50 pints for around 1,200 sq ft (111 m²). Tom's Guide also gives 1,200 sq ft as the limit in its review of a Frigidaire 50-pint. Reviewed says matching capacity to area exactly is difficult, and recommends going large.

My take: for any basement over about 1,000 sq ft (93 m²), buy 50 pints. Below that, 35 is fine unless you see seepage.

The drain decides

A floor drain or sump close by. Buy the Frigidaire FHDD5033Y1 at $279. It's rated at 50 pints/day and Abt lists a continuous drain option, Wi-Fi with an app and a low-temperature limit of 41°F. Built-in pump: No. So the hose needs a downhill run, and Energy Star advises keeping it short enough not to become a tripping hazard.

No drain, or one above the unit. The Friedrich D50B1B costs $428, and the pump is what the difference from the Frigidaire's $279 buys. Abt says it can push water up to 15 ft, vertical and horizontal combined. It's rated at 50 pints/day, Abt gives coverage of 1,000 sq ft (93 m²) up to 2,000 sqft (186 m²), and it also runs down to 41°F.

There is a catch. HouseFresh says pumps broke within a couple of months of daily use on two models it tried, the hOmeLabs 4000 sq ft and the Moiswell 145 pint, and its advice is to avoid internal pumps. Neither is the Friedrich, so that's a warning about the type and tells you nothing specific about this unit. I found no independent test of the Friedrich I could read. If you can route a downhill hose at all, I would.

A smaller, damp room. The GE ADHE35BWF, at $228, is rated at 35 pints/day. GE's chart gives that size 1,400 sq ft (130 m²) when very damp and 1,000 sq ft (93 m²) when wet, though HouseFresh's stricter advice suggests treating those as ceilings. It has a 1.06 gal bucket and no pump. Abt mentions auto defrost and gives no low-temperature figure, so I'd ask GE before putting it somewhere cold.

Other things to check

Temperature first. Energy Star warns that frost can form on the coils below 65°F (18°C), and suggests considering a unit specified for low temperatures.

Tom's Guide tested a Frigidaire 50-pint in November 2024, and it isn't this exact one: that model had no app and a 1.7 gallon tank. In a basement of about 1,000 sq ft (93 m²), it took humidity from around 50% to 35% in 20 minutes. It also measured about 63 decibels on high against Frigidaire's advertised 51. Abt's listed figure for the FHDD5033Y1 is 51.5 dB, so I'd allow for a louder machine than the label says.

Weight matters on the way down. The Frigidaire weighs 41.45 lb, the Friedrich 44.3 lb and the GE 36 lb. All three roll on wheels once there, and none of them rolls down stairs. Measure the turn at the bottom too.

Replacing an old GE or Frigidaire? HouseFresh notes that Gree recalled 1.56 million dehumidifiers in 2023, sold under brands that include both. Check your old model before you keep it as a spare.

I'd skip all three if water is actively pooling on the floor, and fix that first. Energy Star says better drainage around the foundation may lower basement humidity. If you're confused by an old 70-pint unit next to these numbers, read why the pint ratings changed. For the air side of the same room, what CADR means covers purifier sizing, and the home sizer takes your floor area. Prices checked November 2, 2026.