The quietest dehumidifiers for a basement

What size dehumidifier does a basement need?

Between 20 and 50 pints a day for a basement under 2,000 square feet, by ENERGY STAR's sizing table.

Most unfinished basements with a real damp problem sit in the bottom two rows. This guide therefore leads with 50-pint and 35-pint units, and the quietest 22-pint unit appears only for a small finished room that is slightly damp.

The capacity on the box is often the warm figure

The Department of Energy moved its portable dehumidifier test from 80°F to 65°F in June 2019. ENERGY STAR says the change was made "to more accurately reflect expected performance in a basement setting", and warns that under the new method a unit "will likely report a smaller capacity", about 30 pints for one rated 50 under the old test.

Some makers still quote the warm figure. Waykar sells a unit as 34 pints, taken at 95°F and 90% humidity, while ENERGY STAR's listing for the same model number shows 10.16 pints a day on the DOE test. In a 60°F basement, the second number describes your room.

GE and Danby print 50, 35 or 22 pints with no test condition beside them, and Frigidaire's spec sheets do the same. Frigidaire's units are on ENERGY STAR's list, though, which makes them checkable: 49.95 pints a day for the FHDP5033Y1, 49.71 for the FHDD5034Y1, 35.85 for the FHDD3534Y1 and 22.57 for the FHDD2234W1. Danby's DDR050BSPWDB and GE's discontinued APYR50LC, ADYR35LC and ADYR22LC have no ENERGY STAR listing that we found. Their figures may well be right; there is simply no cool-test number to hold them against.

Each maker's figures, speed by speed

On Frigidaire's current units, 47 to 49 dBA on low and 51 to 51.5 dBA on high. Those are the only figures on units still on sale with a speed beside them. Two parts make the noise, the fan, which you control, and the compressor, which you do not, and the published figures move with the fan.

Danby says 49 dB for its 50-pint pump unit without naming either of its two speeds or the weighting, so it has no row. GE's current models, the ADHE50PWF pump unit among them, list no sound level.

Fair comparisons are speed for speed, which among units still on sale means Frigidaire against Frigidaire. On low, the FHDD5034Y1 with no pump is 2 dBA quieter than the FHDP5033Y1 pump unit, and at the top speed the gap shrinks to 0.5 dBA. Those are small gaps. With roughly 10 dBA needed to double perceived loudness, 2 dBA is noticeable side by side and easy to lose once a floor is in the way.

The larger gap sits between speeds on one unit: 4 dBA on the FHDD5034Y1, 2.5 on the FHDP5033Y1. Our decibel chart places 47 to 51.5 dBA beside a fridge hum and normal conversation.

What makes a dehumidifier loud at night?

Auto modes that raise the fan speed, a compressor that cycles on and off, and sounds the makers call normal.

Auto modes change the fan speed

GE's manual for its ADYR and APYR models says Smart Dry "compares the set humidity level with the actual humidity and adjusts the fan speed automatically". Frigidaire's Auto mode, the factory setting on its three-speed models, picks the fan speed by itself as well, while its Quiet mode holds low. Danby's Dryer mode runs "in Continuous dehumidifying and high fan speed mode". In a damp basement, any of these can mean high speed at night.

GE's advice is to set the fan to High for maximum moisture removal and to Low "when the humidity has been reduced and quiet operation is preferred". Under a bedroom, that points to high during the day and low at night, set by hand.

The compressor cycles

A dehumidifier with a humidity setting turns off when it reaches it and back on when the air gets damp, and GE's manual describes a protective delay of up to 3 minutes before the compressor restarts.

A cool basement adds a second cycle, frost on the coils. GE, Frigidaire and Danby describe it in nearly the same words: the compressor shuts off and the fan keeps running until the frost clears, then the compressor comes back. Each restart changes the sound.

At night a change is easier to notice than a steady hum.

Sounds the makers call normal

Frigidaire's use and care guide lists rushing air from the fan, a "gurgling or hissing" noise from refrigerant, dripping water, and a "high pitched chatter" that it says today's high efficiency compressors may make. The dBA figure includes none of them.

A full bucket announces itself differently by brand. Frigidaire's guides give it a Bucket Full light, not an alarm. Danby's display shows P2 and beeps 8 times, and GE's manual for its discontinued models said a full or missing bucket set off an alarm for about 10 seconds. A pump or drain hose keeps the bucket from filling, one more reason to run one.

The floor carries what the figures leave out

Every figure in this guide describes sound in the air around the unit, with no distance or standard stated, and not one maker publishes anything about sound carried through a floor.

In a basement that second path is the one to worry about. A compressor on a wooden platform, or on a floor that is not level, passes vibration into the structure, and joists carry it upstairs. Danby's manual warns that an uneven or flimsy surface "could result in damage or excessive noise and vibration", and lists "Floor surface is not level" among the causes of noise. GE asks for a smooth, level floor strong enough to hold the unit with a full bucket.

Stand it on the slab, a better base than a wooden shelf or a platform built off the floor. If the basement gives you a choice, keep it out from under a bedroom. A few feet toward the furnace or the laundry corner can do more than 2 dBA on a spec sheet.

Leave clearance. GE asks for at least 18 inches on all sides, Danby for 16 inches at the outlet, front and rear, and Frigidaire's guide for the 50-pint FHDD5034Y1 for at least 12 inches around the unit. A unit pushed into a corner has to work harder, and a wall close to the outlet reflects sound back into the room.

Close the doors. ENERGY STAR says doors and windows to the space should be closed while the unit runs, and a closed basement door also stands between the unit and the rest of the house.

A basement is a different room to listen in, too. By day a furnace, a water heater, a washing machine or a sump pump may run near the dehumidifier, and a 47 or 50 dBA unit may barely register. Those stop at night and the room above goes quiet, which leaves the low-speed figure, heard through a floor, as the one that counts.

If that water heater is a heat pump model, it has a compressor and fan as well, and our heat pump water heater guide compares the makers' figures. For the freezer, the laundry and everything else down there, the page on keeping a quiet basement follows each machine's sound into the rooms above.

Should a basement dehumidifier use a drain or a pump?

A gravity drain if a floor drain sits beside the unit, a built-in pump if the water has to go up. Either beats the bucket.

ENERGY STAR describes two ways to get rid of the water: the removable bucket, and a hose to a floor drain or sump pump. In a basement the bucket is a poor choice. It needs emptying every day in wet weather, and when it fills the unit stops, exactly when the basement needs it.

A gravity drain is silent and has nothing to fail, but the hose must run downhill all the way. Danby says to cut the garden hose to no more than 6 feet and warns that any bends or upward motion will stop the water. With a floor drain beside the unit, the Frigidaire FHDD5034Y1 or FHDD3534Y1 is all you need.

A built-in pump pushes the water up and out. Danby gives 16 feet as the maximum distance and rise for its pump hose, the same lift GE gave its discontinued APYR50LC, which covers a laundry sink or a window well in most houses. No maker gives the pump a noise figure, and the dBA figures do not say whether the pump was running when they were taken.

If the damp is under the house rather than in it, our guide to crawl space and whole-home dehumidifiers covers the low-profile and ducted units that have no bucket at all, and what their manuals say about drains, traps and pumps.

Cold basements and the 41°F floor

The units here that state a minimum rate themselves down to 41°F. Frost can form on the coils well above that: in a space that usually sits below 65°F, ENERGY STAR says, coil frost can affect performance, leaving the compressor to cycle on and off repeatedly without removing moisture. Plenty of basements are like that for half the year.

Danby rates its 50-pint pump unit between 5°C (41°F) and 32°C (90°F). Frigidaire's spec sheets say "Low Temperature Operation: Yes" with no minimum, and its use and care guide for the FHDD5034Y1 says the unit operates down to 41°F. GE's manual for the discontinued ADYR and APYR models gave the same 41°F floor.

A basement at 45°F is inside every one of those ratings and will still frost the coils now and then, so expect the defrost cycle described above. GE's manual adds that lower room temperatures reduce the moisture removal rate, another reason to buy more capacity than the square footage alone suggests.

What you give up for a quieter unit

Mostly drying speed.

Low speed moves less air

Frigidaire lists 235 CFM on high and 174 on low for the FHDD5034Y1. On low, a wet basement takes longer to dry.

Smaller units are usually quieter on low

The lowest figure in this guide belongs to the 22-pint Frigidaire, 43 dBA on low, and that unit would not keep up with a wet basement. The pattern is loose, since the 50-pint FHDD5034Y1 lists 1 dBA less on low than Frigidaire's 35-pint unit. A 50-pint unit on low is a better answer than a 22-pint unit on high.

GE's quiet figures are on discontinued units

When we checked on October 5, 2026, GE's pages said the APYR50LC, ADYR35LC and ADYR22LC are no longer being manufactured and offered no Add to Cart. GE's current 50-pint pump model, the ADHE50PWF, publishes no sound level at all.

Warranties are short

Frigidaire gives a year of parts and labor. Danby gives two years, the strongest argument for a unit whose noise figure cannot be placed.